Review by Jeff Scott
Neil was in town to help with the final touches in getting "King For This Place" ready (opens this weekend), and the Fly By Night club managed to get him for a single show.
With remarkable foresight, they managed to get him on the one night I was able to make it (drove from Geraldton to Perth Friday night, had a wedding to go to on Saturday night, and flew to Sydney midnight Sunday, straight after the show).
The support act was very good - can't remember his name now, but pretty much a younger version of Neil Murray - grew up in an aboriginal settlement in the Kimberley and writes good songs.
Neil opened with This Bliss and Big Truck. The sound in the hall was superb - Neil was also using a number of foot pedals to enhance his acoustic guitar sound, which I've never seen him do before. His guitar playing was also the best I've ever heard him, possibly assisted by the fact that the sound was so clear.
We then had a new song, don't know what it's called. Based around a bluesy sort of bass riff, and about the trials and tribulations of being in love. This was followed by Broken Song, Spirit (GREAT guitar work) and another new song, a political number about the state of the country called Sometimes I Feel.
Next was Bulukbara Man, preceded by a bit of Neil's personal history. He grew up in country Victoria, in the language area of the Tjapwurrung people, and the particular tribe which lived in his area were the Bulukbara. Unfortunately the Tjapwurrung were pretty much wiped out by white settlement, and he describes the song as being about them and him. He also digressed into a lengthy lecture on the life cycle of the eel, which used to thrive in the area ("eels that run with the moon") and which are also threatened by dams and the like in the area. The eels used to breed in the rivers, then swim to the sea and up to Queensland to the warmer water before returning to breed, but now they can't get in and out so easily, and the local eel industry imports baby eels from Tasmania to put in the dams instead.
Anyway, we finally got to the song which is one of my favourites, but I still can't work out EXACTLY how to play it (see here for my closest effort).
He then put the guitar aside for a bit, and read some of his poems. Most of these I'd heard before - they're generally pretty short and funny pieces about his experiences as a teacher and member of the Warumpi Band. He finished this section with "Windy Mick and the Falcon", one of my favourites.
Guitar back on, another new song about Broome (which was where he went to write "King For This Place"), followed by Native Born. I hadn't heard this live before, and it was excellent.
Finally, he encored with another new song called (I think) Anywhere Tonight, a slow love song. This one started at about the time we really had to get moving in order to get to the airport to fly to Sydney, but there was no way I was leaving before he finished. So of course this song is about eight and a half minutes long and has the line "I'm in no hurry to be anywhere tonight" at the end of each verse. As soon as it finished we bolted for the door and raced to the airport. Got there in time to find out the plane was delayed by twenty minutes.
All in all, a great show. Only disappointment was not being able to hang around and say g'day afterwards. Oh well, next time.