At last, the final show in the hat-trick series. When we entered the room, it looked to be a small dining hall on Temple's campus, with a nice large stage set up in the corner. There was a decent amount of room, which we didn't necessarily need, as the crowd wasn't much bigger than the night before.The show began with Rick alone on stage, just playing some eerie sounding, yet flowing chords. Roel joined him soon afterward, while Angus and Hamish milled around in the audience. Hamish had his camera and was filming the crowd once again. At some point at the beginning of the show, some of the audience was sitting on the floor. Hamish and Angus dragged a sofa over to where they were, and presented them with places to sit.
The chords on stage grew and grew, as all four members joined the stage, Hamish on didg, and it evolved into Crow. Crow was laid back, but had a hard edge to it. Hamish addressed the audience during the song, making sure everyone was comfortable and having fun. The bagpipes came in with a vengeance during the bridge and Crow was rocking as usual. Crow led right into Bitch, and as soon as the crowd heard Rick's guitar at the beginning, there was a cheer.
Rick was dressed in a grey and black striped button down shirt, with greyish tan velour pants on. Roel was wearing the brown tank top with the seam in the middle, and I believe shorts on the bottom. He needs to stand up more, I think! Hamish was wearing a tight tank, which was tie-dyed with light purple and pink colors, and a black sarong type pant on the bottom. He also had the brownish green wrap on, that he had worn the night before at Chameleon. Angus was the big surprise of the day. He was wearing the black leather pants, with a purple and black t-shirt on top, which had images of Andy Warhol on it. The surprising part was that his hair, while still black, had definite streaks of purple in it. Looked really good! (And matched the shirt.)
The guys then stopped to thank the gang at Temple for their royal treatment that day, it had made them feel really welcome, but the PA system just didn't really work. But, Brian called out that he was working on that. Hamish said that this was kind of the situation where they were rehearsing. Since there were only a certain number of people that could fit into a rehearsal room, so they were going to try to give us the vibe that we were "in the basement, in the alley" with them, as this was the vibe they rehearsed with.
Roel started the drum into to the Unknown, and the guys jammed around for a bit. Rick was playing the new blue didg, and Hamish was playing a few chords on the keyboard. Hamish brought out the camera, and encouraged the crowd to go crazy when he filmed them. Rick also played a bit on the keyboard and Roel remarked that it sounded like the Doors. Angus then started to sing lyrics from "Light My Fire", and most of the guys joined in also. The jam continued for a bit, and then Hamish started to sing "Jingle Bells", to which he remarked "I'm so happy Christmas is coming" and then added, "I was, until I found out I couldn't go home" which brought out a big "awwww" from the crowd. So, he said, he'd "...just be out in the desert, sitting cross-legged, on my own. Angus replied "Have another beer, it all will be ok, Hamish". Hamish then started with the didg at that point, and Angus picked up the pipes to begin Unknown. There is a 4 beat break towards the end of the song, which brought screams out from the crowd.
Hamish recognized a fan in the audience, saying, "you've got to see this bloke dance back here!" Rick started the introduction to Name, with Angus joining in on bass. Name started out quietly, and fell into the familiar rhythm easily. I'm still missing the extra "aye-e-yi" at the beginning, but the song was great to listen to and well received by the crowd.
River was after Name. It began with just bass drum beats from Roel, and Rick's simple guitar melody. Angus' low and slow beginning was once again filled with emotion and had almost a lullaby feel to it. Once again, I'm lost for words on describing how powerful this song has become. Rick joined in with harmony on the second verse, and the crowd sang quietly along. When the strong guitar and bagpipes come in halfway through, it is such a shock, but definitely a good one. It shakes the song up, and leads well into the conclusion of the song.
Hamish said they were going to do a new one. After playing around a bit, Rick asked who was ready, to which Angus replied, "I'm ready", Hamish said, "well, I'm ready", Roel said, with an English accent, "Are you ready, sir?" and then Angus replied, "Are you being served, sir". Roel went on to say something about "didgeridoo man" and continued talking in the English accent. Someone must have told Roel about Temple's more notable alumni, because he said. "Really, Bill C0sby went here? Did he take his Jell0 pudding p0ps?" which cracked both him and the crowd up.
Roel then counted off the beats, and they began Wear. Wear has an ominous beginning and very dissonant guitar parts throughout, but has fabulous harmonies throughout and especially in the chorus. Since the majority of the crowd had been to other shows that weekend, they were starting to get the lyrics and sang along with the choruses. Wear led right into Fragile, which still starts with a slight off beat, and then launches right in. Fragile was very solid at Temple, and had a great guitar solo for Rick in the middle. Once again, the crowd thoroughly enjoyed the song.
Rick began playing the beginning to Two Weeks, and Roel was vocalizing around in the background, and counted off by saying "one, two, buckle my shoe". Rick was singing lead once again on this song, with Hamish and Angus joining in on the verses. Hamish changed the harmonies to one of the choruses, which had a great effect, and overall, the guys sounded very joyful singing this sing. After 2 Weeks, Hamish asked us if we could take anymore, and we cheered. Roel said, about Rick "Don't he sing purty?" which cracked us up. Hamish mentioned again about the didg raffle, and brought out the "mother" didg to show it off.
They started Flow at this point. I'm really starting to like Flow a lot, after hearing it three times this weekend. It clearly has Brother qualities to it, but really shows the evolution the band is going through. I also enjoy the fact that all four band members have distinct vocal lines which come together to form the song, really showing their unity as a group.
When Flow was over, one of the fans in the audience threw some fur-lined thongs onto the stage, directly at Roel, who exclaimed, "ooh, these are my personal favorite!" He then hung them from his ears, called them earrings, and started to talk like a little old woman. It was very funny. Rick ended up with the red thong on his head for Good. Hamish then asked that they get the disco ball going, which the crew at Temple quickly did. Roel started to play, and said "Get your freak on, everyone, get your freak on!" and then started to sing Lady Marmalade. Hamish then counted off for the crowd to sing, and they were silent. After a few tries, the crowd finally got it, and they continued, with a disco version of It's All Good. This was a kick to listen to. It was the same Good, but it had a new life with the disco feel. Halfway through Roel started singing the Lady Marmalade chorus again, which segued nicely back into the Good chorus. They had the crowd sing along for one of the Good choruses, and apparently they weren't loud enough, cause Angus said "It would be, if you sang a bit bloody louder!" Good ended with the crowd singing along loudly, and Rick placing the red thong on Hamish's head. Angus asked where his was, and ended up with the white one.
When Good was over, Hamish said that they were playing the Scottish and Irish festival, because "we too, enjoy wearing no underwear at times." He then announced that it was Leels' birthday, so they wanted to send wish her a happy birthday. Once he had the phone, the crowd all began singing happy birthday, which was really cute. Brian had given Hamish a wireless mike, so the crowd could hear Leels say hello to the crowd. Leels asked if they were having a kick ass show, and of course we responded with cheers.
They started the beginning to Clumsy and Angus was over at Hamish's mike vocalizing along with Rick. Before he came back over to his mike, he leaned down and pulled the white thongs on, which brought screams and laughter from the crowd. He came back over and picked up his pipes, and it looked like he had a rabbit tail, due to the fur from the thong being at his back. During the drum solo in Clumsy, where Angus introduces the "funky drummer", he instead said "Ladies and gentlemen, Lady Marmalade!" Rick rocked out the guitar solo in the middle, and towards the end, Hamish started singing the Angel's song, "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again" again.
After the song, Hamish called out for the names for the didg drawing, cause he wanted to have the drawing. The crowd yelled back that they hadn't turned names in yet, cause we all thought it was going to be after the show. Hamish then said "We've got to have the drawing right now after the show!" which made everyone laugh. Hamish thanked us all for coming, and asked how many students were there, to which there was very little response. He then asked is anyone from the newspaper was there, which it didn't seem that there was, cause it got a sad "wow" in response. Hamish said he was having a great time. In the background, Rick was playing the beginning to Freebird, which someone had yelled for earlier. They tried to get the crowd to sing along, but they were too quiet. They then started "Country Road", and then Rick said "ok, ok, I got it!" and began "American Pie" - "All ten verses, ready?" He then said "There's also - you might think I'm crazy" to which Hamish replied "I know you're crazy!" When he repeated the verse, "you might say I'm crazy", Angus sang a loud "you're Crazy!" When he finished the verse, Roel started the drum loop, and they began Crazy.
The fans started blowing tons of bubbles and Rick and Angus were having fun both dodging them and reaching out and popping them. At one point Rick took a bubble blower from one of the fans and was blowing them back out into the crowd. He tried to blow bigger bubbles and pointed up at one when he succeeded. During the last bridge, Hamish thanked the crowd, and Angus said, "It's safe to say, you guys rock!" Hamish picked up the pipes, and ended the song with a bang.
After the show, the guys hung out with the crowd, and signed CD's and shirts. They had the didg raffle, and one very lucky fan won and got a quick didg lesson from Hamish. The guys were awesome, making time for pictures and conversations with many. All in all, an excellent weekend!
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