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The
Long Way To The Top Tour
Spectrum has had some interesting gigs in
2002 - starting with the spectacularly successful
Long Way To The Top Tour in August - September.
The lads caught up with some old mates - and
made some new friends too. Check the gallery
for some previously unpublished informal shots
of some famous faces (and other bits).
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The
2003 Port Fairy Folk Festival
The
fun and interest continued in 2003 with the
Spectrum trio's appearances at the legendary
Port Fairy Folk Festival. It was about five
years since Mike, Bill and Robbo's last appearance
there, and in many ways, Port Fairy was the
inspiration that put the band where they are
today - all over the bloody map, playing fab
festivals! |
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The
Canberra Blues 'n' Rock Festival
Canberra hosts the National Folk Festival
annually, but this was the first Canberra
Blues 'n' Rock Festival, and it was diligently
planned and the location was perfect. Furthermore,
the organisation was spot on and the schedule
ran smoothly. The only problem was that
not nearly enough punters showed up. Still,
the promoters were optimistic that there
would be another bigger and better Festival
next year, but there wasn't. We had fun,
and Jenny got some good shots of us strutting
our stuff. And we got paid.
I dunno about this festival business - some
entrepreneurs want to start at the top,
instead of building the thing up. I would
hate to see festival become a dirty word.
Fortunately there are still plenty of tried
and true festivals to go round, but it's
not the licence to print money some less
altruistic promoters have obviously seen
it as. (Pick the oxymoron).
(For more Canberra shots try the invisible
link.. www.stephenlees.com) |
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The
Whim Creek Music Festival
Another Spectrum festival gig was at Whim
Creek. Where's Whim Creek? Check your WA
map and you'll find it about an hour or
so from Port Hedland and Karatha - right
up the top end, in the legendary Pilbarra.
About ten people live at Whim Creek, which
swelled to a massive 57or so for Spectrum's
rivetless performance on ANZAC Day. That's
the stage (pic) being constructed
out the back of the Whim Creek pub, and
that's as outback as you can get, baby!
We came across Angry Anderson there too,
which was a bit of a bonus. |
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The
Melbourne Music & Blues Festival
The
inaugural Melbourne International Music &
Blues Festival (begging the question - is
blues not music?) was another example of how
you can get it wrong even with class overseas
acts and experienced promoters at the helm..The
experience was worthwhile for Spectrum as
we employed the services of Simon Burke on
keyboards for the first time, but acoustically
it was a nightmare for all but the few who
managed to find the sweet spot in Jeff's cavernous
Shed. |
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Ariel
@ Capers Cabaret
Mike,
Bill & Robbo were joined by Glyn Mason
and Harvey James last Melbourne Cup week
2002 for a couple of performances to launch
the re-issues of Ariel's A Strange Fantastic
Dream, Rock & Roll Scars and The
Jellabad Mutant. It was a wonderful
couple of nights, and the fact that not
an awful lot of people showed up mattered
little - as it didn't matter that it is
a cabaret gig after all, and the
sound guy had palpitations at the sound
check when Harvey played his first chord.
There is a rumour that Capers is closing
down. Ill check that before repeating it
of course.. |
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Spectrum
@ the St Andrews pub
It's 5.40 on Sunday arvo at the St Andrews
pub, the gig you can count on when you thought
you'd stopped counting. Mike and Daz (Daryl
Roberts) have just had a musical encounter
that has amused them both, but it's just good
to see the original spirit of Spectrum, which
was afterall conceived as a keyboard-based
band, is alive and well in 2006. Not to mention
that after years of neglect, I've managed
to put up a couple of new photos on the Photos
page. Hooray for everything! |
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