Daily Archives: Fri September 15, 2006

Fear Factory – at last!

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Well, I’ve been about a bit the last couple of days. Elaine got me settled in at her place before driving me to see “number one son”, Dale. Dale was actually born in Yorkshire, but moved out to Brisbane with Elaine and her hubby-at-the-time when he was a handful of months old. He’s the first of Elaine’s three kids to give her grandkids and the two little girls were both there. Dale dug out his old death/thrash metal collection which he used to listen to a lot. He’s got a recording studio out back and a rather meaty looking muscle car out front. He’s won a few competitions in it, and he’s also a regional and national Thai Boxing champion. So don’t dent his motor.

Next stop was Brisbane centre to meet Belinda and Albert (and a friend of theirs). We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the busy city centre. This weekend there was a street festival on with some pretty good bands playing for free. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to admire them as we were heading for a gig we’d paid for.

I’ve been told that The Tivoli is a strange venue for a metal gig, but the usual one had another band on. Having said that, it seemed OK to me. No seats and a balcony for those wanting to just watch. You could even stay in the (bloody expensive) bar and watch the gig live on LCD screens. Funky.

Kill Dry Logic were the first band on, but we missed them. Devil Driver were the main support and also due to play the cancelled Auckland gig. They seemed alright and certainly got a good reception from the crowd. I’d say over half were in there at the end of the gig cheering them offstage. They’ll be back.

Fear Factory were great as ever and thankfully played a longer set than the 40-minute one we had to settle for in Nottingham about 18 months ago. The crowd, however, just didn’t seem to want to get going. Jumping up and down seemed to be fine, but try starting a pit and you ended up in a big empty void by yourself. Bloody soft southerners.

I crashed at B & A’s that night, finally putting head to pillow at 2:30am. Even allowing for the time difference of 2 hours from NZ, that still made for a long day.

Getting on with life

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The last few days have had their ups and down (mainly downs) but you’re not visiting here to read about my personal life, you’re wanting stuff about other countries and stuff. A quick “thank you”, though, to everyone for your comments and mails. I’m a big boy – I’ll get over things, and Lou and I are still on good terms. Just… not going out together any more.

An extra special “thank you” to Megan and the two older people who look after her. I never did get any more pictures of her, but I think Lisa managed to get about 5 minutes (of the several hours) I spent making stupid faces and gurgling at her. If that makes it onto the internet, I will sue!

This last week or so has, to be fair, been a flipping nightmare. As well as being officially dumped, the Fear Factory gig for which I’d altered my timetable and headed to Auckland in the first place was cancelled with only a few days to go. Then my house sale had another hiccup, though thankfully that’s recovered so it’s only delayed things by a few days (I hope).

As a result, I’m actually kind of glad to be out of Auckland. Much as I do like the place, it now holds too many memories.

I’m writing this in Elaine’s lounge in Brisbane. After a 4:30am rise to catch the first AirBus of the day from Auckland to the airport, my journey was plane (har har) sailing. The staff on the Virgin Blue flight were superb – I thought the last time I flew with them may have been a fluke, but it seems they deliberately pick their staff for their ability to make you laugh while still taking their job seriously.

The senior flight attendant was one “Clark Kent” (his badge named him as Beauregard, so I may have just let slip his secret identity) and he and the rest coped rather well with a drunk bunch of footie fans towards the back of the plane. Don’t get me wrong – they weren’t disruptive, just rather boisterous. “Clark” gave us the usual instructions including how to put on our “Gucci designed” lifejackets and a reminder that after using the lavatory we should press the big blue button marked “flush”. Handily, the male passengers were also informed that the female flight attendant had been fully trained in how to spot open flies, so it was best to double-check before leaving the toilet.

I definitely laughed more on this flight than on any other I have been on, and I needed the lift. Thanks to them and I’ll certainly consider them for the future. Having said that, I’m flying Quantas to Melbourne in a week as I couldn’t get a Virgin Blue flight at a reasonable time of day!

Elaine collected me from the airport after getting stuck in a horrendous traffic jam, but at least this meant that she got to arrive, grab me and leave before the car park charges mounted up too much. I had my first official KFC in Australia, so that’s been gotten out the way as well. Technically, that was breakfast. Mmm… healthy.

As soon as I switched on my laptop, I found about 8 wireless signals I could take my pick from. I believe I’m using number 11’s right now. Not the best in the world, but it’s easier than using a cybercafe.

We’re off to see Craig, one of Elaine’s sons, shortly. From there, I’m being dropped in the centre of town to meet Belinda & Albert for a walk, dinner and Fear Factory (which hasn’t been cancelled in Brisbane). I’m staying with them overnight and seeing my cousin tomorrow for the first time in more years than I’d care to remember – and her kids for the first time ever. Late Saturday till Monday I’m spending with Elaine out on the Gold Coast and around Brisbane city. Hectic!

No idea about the rest of the week as all three of my kind hosts are at work, though I fly to Melbourne on Saturday to start my stint down there with the Luxfords. *phew*

Expect pics and things soon!