OK, a 3 hour siesta has refreshed me enough to try and gather my wits after two very short nights, several pints of decent ale and a bottle of wikkey knocked back with John, Nicole and Vanessa (the boys showed them, though - ouch!).

Moses, the Singing Ref and StageManager can add their views - but I would rank this as one of the top performances of Cloudstreet, form the ones I have seen. Two 45 min sets, opening with King Willy and the Fiddleship respectively (the latter being the title track of their new album, due early June). About half the audience had heard them, or of them, before; but all warmed to them from the first few seconds, and you could see John and Nicole's faces being pleased when all the choruses being blown back at them in multi-part harmony. They are no longer the unknown quantity of 13 months ago when they hit the scene, and many of their songs are regularly sung by others around the clubs. Quite the opposite in fact, they have a clear and distinct following, and a few of the faces in the room had obviously come from other places to see them.

And yes, they did sing the Mill (in glorious 5-part harmony on their new album) and generously asked me to come up and sing bass harmony with them. A very proud/moving moment for yours truly. I sang crap, but you'll never hear that anyway.

Back home (they'd stayed with us Thursday/Friday nights) for a late night nosh, they too seemed very pleased with the gig and the atmosphere. As a bonus, they also shifted a fair few albums on the night.

I had been looking forward to having them stay with us, as I wanted the chance to chat to them over the two days, and I was rewarded with discovering two lovely, sharp-witted, sensitive and generous people - all this comes clear in their performance anyway, but up close you realise it's not a front, it's who they are, and even more so. And there's lots of love too, for people, for music, for each other. I could never imagine John or Nicole being able to offend anyone; the worst feeling they could generate would be a nice kind of envy. After all, they had the vision and courage to do what many of us would have liked to have done.

Only a few months left till they head home; and much as I hate this US expression, this is a case where it truly fits: I am missing them already.





I'm not joking


I fucking do - the bastard, lovely, Aussie heart-stealers!