A big coupla days..

1) The Spectrum-to-Ariel show looking very splendid at Palms at Crown 2) Mike is thankful for his medication*

3 ) Andy Burns with swingin' Ronnie Charles on Saturday 4) Spectrum invites the Saucer crowd to keep on dancing
gig report
Fri. 18.11.16 Spectrum to Ariel on the Brian Cadd and The Bootlleg Family Band show at Palms at Crown
Sat. 19.11.16 Spectrum on The Masters of Rock benefit at The Flying Saucer Club Elsternwick
Weekend of biggies keeps the band on its toes
20.11.16 - The build-up to the Brian Cadd and The Bootleg Family Band show at Palms at Crown on Friday night saw the band, plus former Arielist Glyn Mason, put in some considerable hours of rehearsal over the past couple of weeks. I know we did the Spectrum-to-Ariel thing with Glyn at The Caravan Club, but that was back in June and, although we've subsequently incorporated two or three of the numbers from that show in our regular Spectrum set, we just haven't had enough time for them to become comfortable. I s'pose we could've done the lazy thing and played it safe with our regular set, but in the event I think the rehearsals helped the augmented band's cohesiveness generally.
Everything goes out the window when you wander out onto the enormous Palms at Crown stage to be confronted by a full house of rabid Brian Cadd fans, but I can think of worse scenarios and, anyway, I think that we pulled it off, albeit one number short (I'll Take You High) of the projected ten songs. Although most of the audience only recognised the one song, (the last one of course), they were very polite - after all they were there to pay homage to the one and only Brian Cadd, not to see us.
The band stayed to see Brian and the Bootleggers turn in a great show - Brian even invited me to join him on harp for the last number of the night, which helped fill in the time before we loaded out. It's not often we get the chance to play on such a plush concert stage in front of such a lot of people, so we were happy just to be there. Brian's roadcrew made it as easy as possible for us, and in that regard I'd like to thank Denis Bourke and the crew.
The next evening (Saturday) we had the last spot at The Masters of Rock Myeloma Foundation benefit. Sadly Jim Keays is no longer available to headline and so I was pleasantly surprised to see the room at The Flying Saucer Club (the Elsternwick RSL) jammed to the rafters with happy punters.
It was a mixed grill of raffles, auctions and performances - Ronnie Charles, accompanied by the versatile Andy Burns on piano, (pic 1) was prowling the stage sounding uncannily like Tony Bennett when M and I arrived, to be followed by the comedy duo, The Sharon Molls.
Madder Lake was on next, introducing their new lead singer, Michael O'Laughlin. Michael sounds spookily like Mick Fettes and obviously has an intimate knowledge of the Madders' ouevre - Brenden tells me he's been a fan of the band for years. Michael's accuracy in pitching means the Madders' harmonies are a rediscovered feature. The crowd's response told the story and only time constraints prevented them doing an encore.
After the main auction it was Spectrum's turn. We only had thirty five minutes but I made it a bluesy, accessible set and this time the crowd's demands for an encore were satisfied when we threw in Esmeralda to finish off the night.
Another year, another Myeloma benefit. The Flying Saucer Club proved to be an intimate and suitably atmospheric venue and the crowd - and the acts - went home happy.

* pic courtesy of Christine Mintrom