Chameleon Club Show

Chameleon Club was interesting. After winding my way around the one way mess of streets in Lancaster, I finally found the club. I identified it from the street by the familiar faces of the Brother fans that were already gathered outside the door.

After lot of meandering around beforehand, as we weren't sure when the doors were finally going to open, we made our way inside. Of course, we all rushed to the front rows, but when we looked behind us, we were startled to see that there were very few people behind us. Total attendance was probably less than 50 that night, but it made for a very interesting night.

Angus, Rick and Roel came onstage around 8:30 and started off playing a slow jam that kept building. Hamish was walking around behind the crowd with his camera, surprising a few of the fans in the crowd. The song they were playing kept building up, dropping off, adding vocals, lots of didg, and Hamish had DidgeriDrew up on stage also, so there was double the didg power.

The didg jam led into the chanted beginning of All I Know, which is such a powerful beginning to that song. I really love the darker turn that this song has taken, it really shows a lot of emotion. The ending is sped up, and it has this frenetic quality that just really shines, along with Rick's great guitar licks.

At the beginning of the show, Hamish was wearing the long green wrap, which covered a long sleeve bright tie-dyed shirt, over black leather pants. The shirt was bright blue, pink, orange and yellow, with a heart right in the center. Rick was wearing a green textured tank shirt, with brown and beige leather pants. Roel was wearing the brown tank, with the seam down the center, and shorts, I think. Angus began with a purple button down shirt, with the design of a phoenix sewn in reddish colors on the sides and the back and black leather pants. He shed the shirt early on in the show, and played mostly in a white tank. His hair was still all black at this point in the weekend.

After All I Know, the guys remarked on the "rather intimate" gathering, and Hamish was impressed by the number of people who had been at the show the previous night. Hamish spoke about the didg raffle, and said that all of us that were at both shows could be entered into the draw at Temple if we were there. He said that he was going to go into the draw as well, cause he "was going to all three shows".

Hamish introduced the next song as "another one that we don't remember". They started Turn Me Upside Down and it sounded good, just as we remembered - Hamish said, "we made sure we knew chords". There was sudden reverb on the verse, and Hamish said "whoa", but kept on going. Roel sang the second verse, which had very interesting lyrics... overall, they did a nice job, ending with Angus and Hamish vocalizing back and forth to each other, not ending the song. Angus ended it by saying "and the door... closes", which brought us right into the familiar drumbeats of Crazy.

The bubbles were flying as the guys launched into another energy filled version of Crazy. Rick was chasing after the bubbles on the stage and the audience joined in to sing some of the verses - admirably, based on the rather small size of the crowd. After the applause, there was a definite silence, and Roel advised us to "keep it down out there!"

Rick started playing some cool guitar work for the intro to Louie, and Roel's drumbeats got the crowd clapping. Hamish flew around the stage with the pipes and Louie was rocking. When it was over, Hamish asked if anyone would like to be didged, which cracked the crowd up. A girl in the audience was then brought up on stage to be didged. Hamish advised her to close her eyes, and it once again cracked the crowd up. Hamish used the monster didg that was being raffled, and it had a low, ominous tone. The girl reported that the didging was fabulous.

This led into River, which was once again extremely powerful. We were expecting the low, slow beginning which I mentioned from Sterling, so the crowd was quieter. The power that Angus brings singing the song like this is amazing. The song is cautious and hesitant, yet full of emotion. Hamish was playing the didg in the background, with Rick's guitar, and it created a striking atmosphere. The verse then comes in with complete abandon, massive bass and wailing bagpipes. River is... I can't really write the feelings well enough.

After River, the guys started Let it Flow. Since this is the second time we'd heard it, the crowd was getting the lyrics down quite well. Hamish's back wasn't to the crowd at the keyboard at this show, and Rick said something completely different than he said at the Sterling show. Flow came to a quick conclusion, and Hamish and Angus left stage. Rick and Roel were left on stage, and sang a bluesy soul filled version of thetimeisnow. Angus and Hamish returned at the end of the song and joined in for a nice gentle accapella harmony at the end.

In Your Name followed thetimeisnow. This song was full of power and Angus really performed it well, pulling much into the song. Hamish remarked afterward that this was Brian's hometown, and thanked him for bringing all his mates, which made the small crowd laugh. He said that if there were under 40 people at the show, Brian was throwing a big party back at his house for everyone. Brian shouted out that there were 43 people, and Hamish said, "no, not including the crew", bringing the crowd to laughter once again. Hamish was then handed a napkin that said "The time is 9:30", to which Roel remarked "this place is going to turn into a pumpkin!" Hamish said "the time is not now, the time is 9:30". Hamish advised the crowd to grab what they needed during the next few songs, and when the show was over, they'd meet everyone outside, so that the club wouldn't get closed down, and do autographs out there. He then remarked that they'd never been in PA during this time of the year before, it was very "brisk".

They immediately launched into a new song, Wear Me Down. It begins with Angus singing low again, with Hamish and the didg in the background, with Rick playing some very hard guitar licks. This new song was well received by the crowd, and it led right into Fragile. The crowd was rocking during Fragile once again. This is definitely becoming a favorite around here.

After Fragile, Hamish announced that Brother would be coming back for a festival in February which DidgeriDrew's folks organized. "The Scottish and Irish Festival, because we are very Scottish and we're very Irish" and Angus responded with "Freedom", ala Braveheart. They then launched into a power charged version of Bitch, with the crowd singing along. The new verse sounded great, once again, and I think it really does complete the song.

After Bitch, Hamish and Angus both picked up their bagpipes, and wailed their way into Romp. There's nothing like this song to get the crowd going. DidgeriDrew was back on stage, didging along for Romp, which brought the needed low bass song to the song. Drew really filled the break in the song well, and Hamish recognized him for it. Angus seemed to be having a lot of fun with the audience, bringing us in to sing along with the song, and Hamish joined Roel on the drums for a bit. The crowd exploded into applause after the song.

Angus thanked us, and said "until tomorrow", and they went right into It's All Good. Angus and Hamish went back and forth on "hey" at the beginning, then launched in to a really rocking version of the song. Excellent job was done by all, and the crowd was clapping through the end. Hamish thanked us all for coming out on a Sunday night, and that he knew some of us had come quite a way, but all he could say was that tomorrow night was going to be different, once again. He repeated that if anyone wanted anything signed, and got kicked out, they'd meet them out on the street. So very nice of them.

After the show, people milled around, took pictures, got things signed, and the boys were true to their word, going out in the brisk winter night to talk and sign things for fans. Once again, a great show, despite the tiny crowd on a Sunday night. The guys were funny, and full of banter, and all the songs were performed with energy and feeling. Made us look very forward to the last of the three shows.

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