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| 20.03.2011 Adalaide Australia |
| SAT 19/03/2011 - We arrived in Adelaide from Perth at about 9.00pm on Saturday night and went straight to the bands motel. After the rooms had been sorted out we had a few beers at the bar. It was an early night for all as there was a big day ahead tomorrow.
SUN 20/03/2011 - We picked up Damian and Adam from the Motel at 8.00am and went straight to the Clipsal Stage. The tour manager then returned to the Motel and picked the band for a 9.30am soundcheck. All was sorted out by 10.00am and the boys along with "Damo" returned to the motel for some more rest. I decided to spend the day at Clipsal and went for a walk around the site. Bumped into "Peppermint Twister" who had come all the way from Queensland and had a bit of a chat with her. The big race went from 2.30pm until around 5.00pm. At around 3.30pm the heavens burst and Adelaide was drenched with around 30mm of rain up until about 6.00pm. The sun briefly returned and helped dry things out a little bit. The boys returned to the venue at around 5.30pm. We were hoping that the rain would hold off for the rest of the night and I told everyone that I would make sure it didn't rain again until after "SWEET" had left the stage. (A big promise indeed!!!) Back in the green rooms we were mixing with the other atists on the bill. Rogues Gallery (Featuring John Swan and the Brewster Brothers from the Angels) were about to go on and wanted to meet Andy first, as a few of them were passionate Sweet fans since their childhood days. Andy told the Brewster brothers that he had covered "Am I Ever Gonna See You're Face Again" in the early Nineties and they said that they were yet to hear it. After taking the opportunity to photograph the occasion, they then quickly left to go on stage. Andy told me he had never actually seen the Angels live so he took off to the side of stage to watch them. To Andy's great delight, about the fifth track in the Rogues Gallery set was "Take A Long Line", one of Andy's favourite Angels tracks. Not long after this we all returned to the dressing room to prepare for SWEET's set. The set list for tonight had to be narrowed down to a strict 45 minute set. They selected the following set list.
Hellraiser
Peppermint Twist
Wig Wam Bam/Little Willy
Teenage Rampage
The Sixteens
Love Is Like Oxygen/Fanfare For The Common Man
Blockbuster
Fox On The Run
Action
Ballroom Blitz
The guys went on at 7.05pm and the crowd was estimated to be around 20,000 people. Obviously the rain earlier in the day had put a lot of people off coming as they were expecting up to 50,000. The guys put everything into it from the first number and pretty soon the crowd started building as people were coming from everywhere to see & hear some music that they hadn't heard for a long time. Not long into the set I noticed Pat Simmons from the Doobie Brothers standing side stage next to Adam. The crowd enventually built to 30,000+ and Pat Simmons had gone from curious, to smiling then clapping along and totally enjoying himself also. After 45 minutes had elapsed the guys still hadn't played Action or Blitz. By now the crowd had gone right off and were screaming for more so Andy asked the stage manager if they could have another 6 minutes and he didn't hestate in saying yes. (This surprised many people as they are usually very strict with bands adhering to their allotted times, but I had spoken to him earlier and found out that he was a Sweet fan since he was fourteen and was really looking forward to seeing them tonight.) So for the encore the crowd got Action and Blitz. Just as the guys were taking their bows and about to vacate the stage, the heavens re-opened and it was bucketing down again. My promise was delivered!!! As the guys were going off the stage Pat Simmons waited there to congratulate Andy for putting on such a great show. Andy was on cloud nine. Not only had Sweet delivered, but he had met and seen the Brewster Brothers, then met, chatted with and shook hands Pat Simmons from the Doobies. Even stars get a buzz from meeting their idols. When the guys were in the dressing room after the gig, there were people coming from everywhere (corporates, sponsors, media etc) all saying that that was the best show they had ever seen, and not just at a Clipsal500!!!
After the guys had washed and had a bite to eat, at various times they all went up to the stage to watch the Doobie Brothers playing. At one stage I went and had a look out of curiosity and noticed that the crowd had remarkedly dropped since Sweet had played. I reckon the crowd had dropped back again to about 20,000. Towards the end of their set, someone whispered in my ear that I might want to be there as well as they were going to invite Andy up on stage with them. Sure enough, for the last number "Listen To The Music" Andy and Pete were invited to add vocals (and tambourine). If you could have only seen Andy's and Pete's faces. Neither could stop grinning from ear to ear. Andy later told me that the highlight of his life was being invited on stage by Spinal Tap, and now being invited on stage by the Doobies was up there too. So, a great Sweet gig was seen by many, and that many included some very important and influential people in the Adelaide music scene. I know for a fact that there are already many people wanting the boys back next year in 2012. Let all of us here Downunder keep our fingers crossed. After mixing backstage with all the Doobies we all eventually headed back to the motel for end of tour drinks. Due to the guys flying out in the morning (But also because the bar closed just after midnight) we all decided on an early night.
MON 21/03/2011 - We met up with the guys again at breakfast in the motel before taking them back to the airport at around 10.30am for their flights back home. We all said our farewells and look forward to the guys returning in the near future. I will send some photos to Stewart to load on here as I haven't got a clue how to do it. I will also do something similar soon to cover the Perth part of the tour. Bye for now. |
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