One of my most favourite music-makers has been taking the Australian music industry by the reigns and filling everyones ears with spectacular tunes that charm people that have all kinds of musical tastes. He's been played on many different radio stations around Australia and more recently I've heard him being played on Dutch radio. He's quite amazing! Roy and I were lucky enough to see him live at the Powerhouse a few years ago after the release of his second album "Like drawing blood" and since his third album came out I've been hoping ever-so-much for news of gigs happening in a city near me. It was a little too much to hope for a gig in Switzerland and I had read that he will be playing in Holland whilst I am here (SOLD OUT). I also read that he would be playing in NYC the night after we were due to leave New York to come back to Europe. I was a little saddened at the thought.
Then, I checked his tour page on his website and discovered that he would be doing a couple of shows in NYC while we were there. I kept checking the website to find out more information and it was a little ambiguous so we weren't quite sure whether we would be lucky enough to catch the wizard of music whilst he was in town. The show that we were interested in was part of a music conference called CMJ and the website kept telling me that I needed to buy a conference badge (nearly $200) in order for us to attend the show. We were perplexed and a little disappointed and we almost considered not even trying to get into the show, fearing that we would be turned away at the door. We didn't give up though. At the last minute we charged out of our hotel room and speedily walked to the venue to see what 'the go' was.
We walked through the whirly doors (what are those doors called that go around like a horizontal turn-style?) asked the doorman where the show was, he told us to go upstairs and wait in the lounge until the doors opened for the show. We walked up and immediately felt out of place. The lounge was full of hipsters on their iPhone 4's (most probably tweeting about ironic things). I didn't quite feel comfortable enough to try and squeeze between people to sit on the couch. It wasn't too long before this big bouncer guy and an organiser came out and told us to get into two lines. One line was for people with conference tags and the other was for people on the VIP list. I joined the line for the tags, got to the front and told the guy we didn't have one and he told us to join the VIP line. We got to the front of that one and told the guy our surname, he flicked through some pages, gave up looking and gave us arm bands. WE WERE IN! I was pretty excited by this time. We jumped in the elevator and rode it to a mysterious floor, walked out into a small corridor and entered a room with big windows looking out to a beautiful view of Manhattan. I was even more excited by this time. Also, there were large buckets of free bottled water. So what, it was water.. but it was free. I was happy.
The atmosphere was quite strange. It was daytime, very bright and there were people sitting around on their laptops and smartphones with conference tags hanging around their necks. I turned my focus towards my outdated smartphone just to try and blend in a little bit. Listening to the crowd, I heard quite a few Aussie accents.
The crowd thickened and gravitated to the stage as the time drew closer to when the musical genius was set to start playing his magic. My excitement grew exponentially and I edged my way towards the front for a good view. Four dudes came on, including the ever-loved Wally de Backer and they launched into the beautiful music that had become so familiar to me. I was in a happy place - we were in New York City at an intimate concert of one my very favourite music creators. It was great!
Even with his fast gaining fame, he maintained a very humble and down to earth demeanor. He admitted that he was nervous because it was such an open and bright space but that didn't stop him from showing us his talent. Ahhh... so awesome!
Then, I checked his tour page on his website and discovered that he would be doing a couple of shows in NYC while we were there. I kept checking the website to find out more information and it was a little ambiguous so we weren't quite sure whether we would be lucky enough to catch the wizard of music whilst he was in town. The show that we were interested in was part of a music conference called CMJ and the website kept telling me that I needed to buy a conference badge (nearly $200) in order for us to attend the show. We were perplexed and a little disappointed and we almost considered not even trying to get into the show, fearing that we would be turned away at the door. We didn't give up though. At the last minute we charged out of our hotel room and speedily walked to the venue to see what 'the go' was.
We walked through the whirly doors (what are those doors called that go around like a horizontal turn-style?) asked the doorman where the show was, he told us to go upstairs and wait in the lounge until the doors opened for the show. We walked up and immediately felt out of place. The lounge was full of hipsters on their iPhone 4's (most probably tweeting about ironic things). I didn't quite feel comfortable enough to try and squeeze between people to sit on the couch. It wasn't too long before this big bouncer guy and an organiser came out and told us to get into two lines. One line was for people with conference tags and the other was for people on the VIP list. I joined the line for the tags, got to the front and told the guy we didn't have one and he told us to join the VIP line. We got to the front of that one and told the guy our surname, he flicked through some pages, gave up looking and gave us arm bands. WE WERE IN! I was pretty excited by this time. We jumped in the elevator and rode it to a mysterious floor, walked out into a small corridor and entered a room with big windows looking out to a beautiful view of Manhattan. I was even more excited by this time. Also, there were large buckets of free bottled water. So what, it was water.. but it was free. I was happy.
The atmosphere was quite strange. It was daytime, very bright and there were people sitting around on their laptops and smartphones with conference tags hanging around their necks. I turned my focus towards my outdated smartphone just to try and blend in a little bit. Listening to the crowd, I heard quite a few Aussie accents.
The crowd thickened and gravitated to the stage as the time drew closer to when the musical genius was set to start playing his magic. My excitement grew exponentially and I edged my way towards the front for a good view. Four dudes came on, including the ever-loved Wally de Backer and they launched into the beautiful music that had become so familiar to me. I was in a happy place - we were in New York City at an intimate concert of one my very favourite music creators. It was great!
Even with his fast gaining fame, he maintained a very humble and down to earth demeanor. He admitted that he was nervous because it was such an open and bright space but that didn't stop him from showing us his talent. Ahhh... so awesome!
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