I’ll Be There

On Friday night I went to see Hey Geronimo again, for the twelfth time. They are my favourite band, and I happily try to bring a friend with me each and every time, though I have seen them a handful of times alone. On Friday though, Tristan and my cousin Ricky came along. Ricky has been living with us for the past few months, I guess he’s settling in alright. I don’t talk to him much because he’s studying and attending classes, so he hasn’t really been the topic of many posts.

Anyway! Ricky was keen to come along this time after I asked him this time last year (during his short visit here) if he wanted to come see my favourite band. I thought, you know, try and get another friend (or in this case, family member) into gigging or at least get a taste of live music. He said he really enjoyed it this time as well, which is great to hear.

It was raining really heavily on Friday. In the morning it seemed alright, but by evening there was lightning and a bit of thunder. My mum phoned me before Tristan picked us up, and told us to please cancel and not go (she thought the rain would get to us). I freaked out and told her there was no way I was missing this. Which, in my words, is basically just, “Nooooooo!” Because no, I am not missing my favourite band for a rainy day.

It’s funny, because countless other times I have missed bands just because of crummy weather, distance, trackwork, or being flat-out lazy. Dedication to my favourite band means that, yes, I will go see them even if it snows in Sydney, even if I have to travel two hours, or even if there is trackwork. And let me tell you, I did once see Hey Geronimo in pouring rain, which was coincidentally the same day I travelled two hours to Bondi to see them. A few months ago when I saw them, Tristan and I probably spent more time on the train than at the gig. Thanks, trackwork.

We went to the station by car, bought our tickets and got on the train. At the next station we were stuck for a while, and there was an announcement that a lightning strike had disrupted train signals, so we had to wait. Eventually, there was an announcement that the train wouldn’t be going to the city anymore, and it would be going in the opposite direction, so we had to get off. At this stage there were no trains around and it looked like we weren’t going to get anywhere by train any time soon. A poor girl was on her way to a party or something, and she was in tears over the phone to someone, saying she had no idea how she was going to get there because the trains were down.

Eventually we deduced that there would not be a train for a while, so we got back on the train to go back to the car. We decided to go to Strathfield, or at least somewhere there was a carpark, and then catch the train the rest of the way. I kept tabs on Twitter, to try and figure out where the lightning strike hit. By the time we got back to the car it was pouring. Turns out Strathfield had no station either, so we decided upon the next station, Ashfield. (Ashfield is one stop after Strathfield, but it has a carpark. Tristan said Ashfield was pretty much in the city anyway.)

After staring at my phone as Tristan drove, and we listened to random music on my phone through the car speakers, I realised that the lightning had hit Ashfield. A tirade of complaints about Sydney Trains flooded Twitter. People were stuck at Summer Hill, or stuck without a train, some people caught buses. (See, we considered this, but there was no close bus for us to take. One that would be easily accessible, anyway. Usually in the event of trackwork, train tickets are allowed to be used on buses.) At this point, the rain had stopped, but it didn’t seem like the trains were going to beginning running again any time soon. We decided to drive all the way to the city.

It was quite amusing because reading through my Twitter timeline, I noticed that Hey Geronimo were stuck at Sydney airport, while we were sort of getting stuck in traffic along the motorway. Later we found out from keyboardist Chris that they were actually circling the airport for ages before they could actually land, before the pilot said that they would be landing in 50km/h winds. Dude, crazy. Drummer Tony also said that they had to spend over a hundred dollars on a taxi to make it to the venue.

That said, I actually was worried they might cancel the gig because of the weather. I am glad they didn’t. We got to the venue before them, and I waved at them furiously when they walked in (we were eating at The Dip again), obviously happy to see them. But yeah, we made it there too, even though parking was $25 for the night. (Later I commented on how clean the carpark toilets were, considering the state of most public toilets, and Tristan said that maybe that was why the parking was $25. Because the toilets were clean.) So, yeah, I only caught the last two songs of the first band, Jenny Broke The Window, because we were very hungry and wanted to eat first. Fair enough, though, I still got some photographs. Here are my photos at Casual Band Blogger. I hate photographing in GoodGod, though, I really do sometimes, because it’s so bloody dark in there. The atmosphere is nice, but it is just hell to photograph in there [insert complaint about how all the stage lighting was red when Hey Geronimo played].

Tom Lark, from New Zealand, who had supported the band throughout their tour, played next. His music was really quite good! Will make an effort to look into his music later. His bassist was quite funny, and pointed to a plastic container at the front of the stage.

“Our mate told us about these Emperor puffs,” he said. They had just bought the famous Emperor puffs (just custard puffs really!) from around the corner in Chinatown, and were grabbing a few and eating them during their set.
“We only just got custard in New Zealand,” said Tom. Or something along those lines, I don’t quite recall. It was hilarious though.

The setlist
Hey Geronimo’s setlist

As usual, I loved seeing Hey Geronimo play. They played a few new tracks, and played Bermuda, during which the string of Ross’ guitar broke. Pete said it was probably the “Bermuda string”, which got a few laughs out of the audience. When Pete mentioned that the band would be going to India for a gig or two, someone yelled out, “Hope you don’t Bombay!”, which got a little scoff from Pete, followed by laughter, because it was such a terrible joke.

Bingers & Pete
Bingers & Pete
Ross playing guitar
Ross playing guitar

Ordinary Girl was a beautiful new track the band played, which was written by new bassist Bingers (Bill). I loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was such a great song. Someone called out for Dreamboat Jack by exclaiming, “What about the drummer in the band?”

Pete said, “Ah… every time someone asks for that one!” Of course, every time someone asks, it’s the time they don’t play it, haha.

Looking at the setlist before the band played, I was thrilled to see that The Beach Boys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice was on it. I was more than thrilled, actually. I was about to pee my pants.

Disappointingly, though, they had to cut things off early and didn’t have time to play that one. Pete expressed disappointment as well when I talked to him afterwards, and said that it was like one of the best songs they’d done. Oh well, next time I guess. Hey Geronimo have an incredible knack for covering songs.

Pete
Pete
Ross and Pete
Ross and Pete
Chris on keyboard
Chris on keyboard
Another shot of Pete
Another shot of Pete

But yeah, of course I danced. No Hey Geronimo gig is complete without dancing. Tristan joined me, and I remember screaming out the words to… something. Something, whatever song it was, I knew all the words, obviously, but I was standing in front of Ross at the time, while he was playing his guitar, and I think he was overjoyed that I was singing and dancing like a maniac. Pete was talking to a crazed fan named Adrian, of course I introduced myself and we realised we were both crazy about Hey Geronimo and exclaimed “YES!!!!” when we realised we were both at the gig where Hey Geronimo supported The Presidents. Pete (unfortunately?) spilled the beans that I was their biggest fan and made it into one of the songs on the EP. Apparently, I’ll have to find out in the new year which song it is…

Before I left, they made sure to give me a copy of their new EP Erring On The Side Of Awesome, at which point I exclaimed that I had a curious question for Bingers.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Yes! So am I! High five!” (He was pleased to hear this, and said something to Pete. Chris is also twenty-two.)

I bid the guys farewell, and Tony said he was going outside as well. “I’ll walk this way with you guys. Fuck it, I’m not going to India,” he joked.

And so in terms of distance, I said I wouldn’t let it stop me from seeing my favourite band, but I’m not going to India just to see them… but there’s still the mystery of a song, somewhere, that will keep me wondering a little bit.

Comments on this post

Hey Georgie – you are one lucky lady! I wonder if the song title would be “Hey Georgie!” ? What a weird coincidence that would be if it were the name of the song! :D . I think it is fascinating that you have gotten to be good acquaintances with them to make them to write a song about you. How nice is that?

I wish I could meet my favorite singer one day before he decides to stop touring completely. Unfortunately, I think he already has stopped touring. Meat loaf is in Vegas at the moment, and I think he finished off his last set at the venue Rocketells. I’m not sure, I’ll have to ask my friend Caryl who knows more about Meat loaf’s shows than anyone I know! I’ve only been to three of his concerts one in 2006, and two in 2011-2012 ish? He is amazing to watch on stage and in person. He did walk up to me at one of the concerts. So in a way – that’s almost like meeting him? I also did get a high five from his co-singer Patti Russo. Which was pretty cool. But blast – I lost all the pictures on my hard-drive when I had to re-do my computer! :( .

I’m sure though Meat loaf will be around for awhile at least. If Tristan and I ever get to Australia, I’ll be sure to have you bring us with you to a “Hey Geronimo” Gig. I really like listening to new music. In fact – Tristan got me into Killswitch. A some what of a metal core band. Different – but still good music. Same with Depeche Mode. I have new songs on my music list now that none of them compare to Meat loaf – his songs always brightens my day (same with Aerosmith – which I will see in concert one of these days).

I love RAIN. However, I hate to be out in it, when something like what you just describes happens. I remember driving in my Grandma’s old Mustang – that whenever it would rain, and she would drive through a puddle, the car would die. The engine got wet and thus; leading it to die. That was not a safe car. I’m glad Tristan was able to bring you guys safely to the concert or gig. Sucks that the trains ran late and even off course due to the rain – and same with Hey Geronimo. Sometimes mother nature sucks, but we all know that we do need the rain! Especially here in California. We had rain for two days straight. I loved it! Of course when there is rain, there is snow! So, since Tristan and I will be meeting with my dad in the mountains where he lives – (he lives at the bottom of the mountains so no snow there) – there maybe some traffic coming back. But anyways, sorry for the rambling – I went off topic.

But anyways – I can’t wait to see what song title Hey Geronimo comes up with!

Congrats on being able to see your favorite band even in the rain! I love the pictures that you take! I just visited and commented on Seb’s blog and those are amazing pictures as well! I don’t know how you do it but y’all take amazing pictures!

It must be awesome knowing a band so well and being able to talk to them face-to-face and everything. I’m so jealous! I wish I could do that so much! :/

That seemed crazy to have to get on and off trains and then driving everywhere! I’m glad you got to your destination though! I hope it wasn’t that long of a drive, though I’m sure you would have made a longer one if the need arised!

Thanks Erin! The photos from Seb’s blog are actually from a different gig and a different band. He’s still pretty new to the world of live music and photography. :)

It’s pretty good – I guess you just have to be pretty dedicated to seeing them and making an effort, though I can admit that Hey Geronimo aren’t exactly international stars. This made it easier for me to get to know them and to talk to them after all their shows. I know for certain that it would be a lot harder to meet bands like Green Day or Coldplay, for example, who are a lot more famous.

I live pretty far from the city, and I don’t mind long drives, but I guess when you have something planned out well, you don’t expect to change them. But it’s good Tristan had a car, otherwise we wouldn’t have made it to the show!

Yeah, I completely agree. Bands like Green Day and Coldplay are hard to go and meet.

& Yeah, he said that in his post but even still y’all both take really awesome pictures. It always looks like you are in the front row of the audience.
I bet the cameras that you have are expensive though!

First and foremost, I love your blog. The design is super cute!

I’ve never heard of this band. What kind of music do they play? Are they mainstream or underground?

Thank you very much Kay, it means a lot considering I spent hours on this design about a year ago and am ridiculously proud of it, haha!

Hey Geronimo are a local band from Australia so I guess in that sense you could say they are pretty underground. Their music mainly gets played on the underground radio station (Triple J Unearthed) where they find up-and-coming artists. They have been getting quite a bit of attention outside of Australia recently too though. :)

Oh Georgie! You are really a die hard fan. Nothing can really stop you. As for me, I don’t fancy on local bands that’s why I never get to experience those things. Also, it would be so costy and difficult to literally follow if I do what you do to my favorite band which happens to be The 1975. :((((

Anyway, great pictures as usual! ♥

That sucks that it was such a mess to get there with the lightning strike and all the trains being down. Main thing, you got there in the end.

That is so awesome that there is a song about you. They need to tell you noooowwww. ♥