Beyond Therapy - Unplugged!

Have you ever said you would do something - then hours later wondered what on earth you've let youself in for.....?

Janine, Ruth and I were right there last night.

I promised Geoff I'd go to see Beyond Therapy play their acoustic gig at Cunnigham's in Yarra Junction. No issues there - I'd pretty much go just about anywhere to check out a band! I THOUGHT that the venue was located at the start of the Warburton Highway (might take me an hour or so to get there from the city right?...Mistake number one!

I left home around 4 pm....dropped LHM at the place where he was sleeping over (cool!), drove back into the city and picked up Janine from work at Southbank (4.45), quick cup of coffee, drove down to Albert Park to collect Ruth (with fabulous new hairstyle - 5.20) and then we made our way to the Eastern Freeway!

Geoff had kindly booked us a table for dinner at 7.45...I thought, "great we'll be early", and the three of us were starving so we were looking forward to a good country pub feed! Mistake number two...We finally FOUND the pub at around 7.35 so we weren't early at all, however the 'good country pub feed was delivered!!

The drive was a lot of fun, but the night got better from there.....

Firstly...the pub. What a sensational place. From the minute we walked in and warmed our behinds in front of the fire, till the moment we left, we had an absolute ball! There's something about country pubs that just wins you over, the location, the atmosphere, the people (and last night) the music!

Tiffany, the lovely waitress in the dining room sorted us out with some great food, Ruth and I liked the sound of chicken kiev and Janine decided on some risotto, sides of garlic and cheeses and herb bread filled us up after our trek...(I know! I know! all that garlic - but we didn't plan on kissing anyone ok!) Geoff kindly bought us a glass of red wine had a bit of a chat and then headed off to start up the band! (Actually they had to come collect him as they thought he'd absconded, when really he was just out the back enjoying a glass of red with the ladies!)

We ate dinner, drank some more wine, and missed most of the first set - bugger! (sorry guys but we really were starving!)

The very small room was choc-a-bloc of the most fabulous characters you could think of...

• Al, with the biggest akubra I've ever seen, kindly offered all three of us a swag on the floor of his "snowy mountain hut" if we didn't want to drive back to the city. (Apparently we'd have to put up with the smell of horse shit because he said he wouldn't take his boots off!!!)
  
• Jools, leather pants and the most violent foot-stomping I've ever witnessed - I worried for my toes! Jools' mates whose names I don't remember who danced all night just about and urged us to do the same!
  
• Johnno the birthday boy and his mates, who were very untidy when mum came to pick them up at the end of the night, but they were having a ball! ( I think you know you're getting old when you look around the pub and wonder if two-thirds of the patrons (AND their mothers) are old enough to actually be there!!!)

Now to get to the important bit (poor Geoff has rather impatiently read all through the stuff above to get to this)...the band.

Acoustic is definitely the way to go in this tiny venue! Perfect! And once the lead singer (go Gary!) upped the volume so we could hear him - it was great! Geoff the percussion was really very good and Bill you really should leave the guitar smashing to the big names, it really get's expensive when you do that! (poor Bill was so enthused, his guitar came off the strap, fell and cracked the headstock)... luckily musicians' faithful "gaffa" saved the night!! No such disasters for John though!

A really good mix of oldies and newies that we could all sing to! Favourites...hard to pick, but definitely the AC/DC songs which took on an almost (but not quite) "Hayseed Dixie feel. Others included (all the pub-favourites) and in no particular order - just what I remembered in my bleary haze this morning (and no coffee yet - ran out of milk!):

• Gloria / Jailbreak
• Betterman
• April Sun in Cuba
• Hard To Handle
• Mustang Sally
• Walking By Myself
• Run to Paradise
• Jessies Girl
• Boys Light Up
• Summer of 69
• Backstreet Pickup
• Blister in the Sun
• Wild Thing/Louie Louie
• (edited to add a couple of Elvis songs too)

Is it just me, or is it hilarious hearing teenagers singing along to songs that were written before they were even born!?

Anyway the band was great (did I say that already?) and before I left, I made sure I told the publican exactly that, so expect to be booked again guys;) I'll remember to pack my saddlebags and a water bottle for the drive next time!