5th September Dapto Leagues Club, Wollongong NSW

[CarlaM]

Hope to have the photo's up later this evening...we have visitors till after dinner.

So exciting that Phase 2 is under way!

Damien and family and the guys will be in Byron Bay tonight so I hope they have better weather than we do down in Wollongong (has been raining non stop for a few days now and cold....brrrrr!).

Once again, a fantastic night!!!! Damien's voice is sounding absolutely GORGEOUS!

[Womby]

Just did a long post and lost the lot
You have done a great job of reporting on last's night's show Carla and I don't have a lot more to add other than to agree that it was a great crowd and Damien really seemed to be enjoying himself
Roxy I think we heard a little of Fisherman's Blues during the soundcheck but it wasn't in the set list
Eric had to do a little dance at one stage - I think it was when he kept kicking his beer over with his big foot I think he was doing a moonwalk but it was a bit hard to see over the top of the speakers I did have a bit of a stiff neck after the show - how much closer could we have been to that stage
I loved "Hot Wheels" ;D The poor guy was so drunk he didn't even know what his t-shirt said until we read it to him He was a happy drunk though and a HUGE Damien fan so we excused his behaviour
I have a "little" souvineer of the night I won't go into details about here - will post a photo later in the secret thread Had a fantastic night (even though the weather was lousy) - great show and great company as always ;D
And "Alone" Got all teary eyed during that one

[Smiley]

Fantabulous reports! Love it love it love it! Thanks!

[houndsoflove]

Where's Womby and her report.....she's proberly died and gone to heaven with Damien Overload

[princess1]

Thanks Carla & Womby , its so exciting hearing about the first show, it sounds like you had a fantastic night. I can't wait to see the pics

[Nuffy]

Hellooo1 Just got back from staying over at Wollongong the night watching TWJ and listening to Catch the Wind on repeat till about 2am late. Sorry haven't read the other reports yet. But it was great meeting up with Womby and Carla.
Sorry, I'll have to write my report later tonight cause I've got to rush off with hubby to meet friends. But I'll just say WOOOHOOOO!!!! Fantabulous show and people were even up dancing. Not to mention the BIG ROAR of admiration that came out of "Mr Lightning Bolt" (or was it "Mr Hot Wheels"?) who thought Damien was AWESOME!... Yes... not just for the laydeez.

Phase 2 is well on it's way

[shimmery]

Thanks so much for your reports Carla, Womby and Nuffy, glad to see you are all back safe and sound, it's a worry in all that rain we had last night!

lol Womby, this "souvenir" didn't involve a Swoon City style womby-scramble did it?

Wow sounds like Dapto went off and it was very enthusiastic, sounds like lots of laughs and Damien was enjoying himself on stage too !

So glad you all had a great time The set list has changed a bit there, with some songs into the start of the show that weren't there before, another really nice setlist & Damien has so many songs to chose from too, it's always going to be gorgeous. I hope they deliver the new keyboard soon, can't wait to see that!

Woooo Phase 2 is underway!

[rivers]

Sept 6, 2008 9:16:31 GMT 10 CarlaM said:

Photo's coming a little later on today. The worst thing was, we were too close to get great pics. I had to wait until D stepped back to try to get one. I took a few near the end and I rushed them so I don't have any fantastic ones but I do have a few.

Carla, thanks for the great report.. getting me excited for next Sunday at CHPRSL!

just curious.. you said when close you cant get good pics.? im up close at CHPRSL and wondering if i should be worried. When i did my dash to the front row at the end of the show at Revesby RSL some months back, i got good shots.

Cheers,

[starsuz]

;D sounds like it was fantastic, thanks for the reports everyone

[Nuffy]

Thanks for the great reports Carla and Womby - glad your dd got home safe... eventually Carla

After a very timely meal which the hungry travelers wolfed down (very elegantly, of course) we decided to wait near the auditorium's entrance. it took a while to work out above the club noise that we hadn't missed the soundcheck. ;D ;D Our conversation would suddenly stop each time the door would open as we listened to snippets of Beautiful (listening out for the piano but realising we couldn't hear it ... but it was still... ), Alone awww! ... and the others songs as Shimmery has correctly posted. Despite hearing Fisherman's Blues it wasn't played during the show. They must use the time to rehearse for other shows too, I guess.
So many funny things happened tonight... Eric - yes, he HAD to do a dance and it was a moonwalk Womby... Dawn and I could see it very clearly from where we were (thought they did look a lot smaller from where we were!). Lol Hot Wheels was sitting in our are most of the night and we just couldn't get used to the occasional ROAR that would come from him at the oddest thing... talk about jumping in our seats! I'm pretty sure Damien, Indie and Eric (no James tonight) could hear him pretty well too So happy he was a happy chappy though

I have agree that (at least up the back, where Dawn and I were) there were 'pubbish' elements - some and some just Why do people come to a show and talk at the top of their voices when it's an acoustic show?? At least when I asked the big group nicely if they could keep their voices down... I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't make a scene and actually did pipe down. I guess some people just don't realise what they're doing.

No black jeans but the blue ones looked grrrreat! Some new stories told too... haha.
So much light and shade tonight. I loved that he opened with Shine Like the Sun ;D. Later, Alone was so intensely beautiful to hear and the arrangement's a little different to the couple of times I've heard it, too. It's got such a heartfelt message. Damien really projects that intimate conversation so well. Thank you Damien for adding it to the set-list. I loved hearing Baby I Love your Way again, always will be a favourite... but not sure if I'll get used to the middle bit with the special voice FX gadget... sorry Eric! . I love the way Damien's done it before to maintain the smoulderingly sensual mood throughout the whole song and still managed to vary the intensity, as well as, the focus just on himself, clean and pure. That's what makes his version so special
Eric was on fire tonight and had an experienced guitarist come up at the end to congratulate him and ask him about his training and stuff. Yup, we all definitely appreciated those magic fingers. Indie also got a huge roar from the audience when Damien re-introduced and thanked her a couple of times.
All in all, a fantastic show. I can't wait to hear about the next ones... maybe even a sneak previe of a new song?

oops... sorry, this is sooo long!

[shimmery]

Never apologise for a long post, Nuffy, we all love reading all the reports!

Wow, so exciting about "Alone" and a new arrangement as well!!! - cannot wait to (hopefully!) hear it at the next show I attend!

That first night at the Basement we could hear the soundcheck from outside in the street when we arrived - aaaaaaaaaaah was gorgeous to hear those lovely notes leading the way to the venue ! I think Damien might have even been singing "Alone" then too, but he didn't during the show. Looks like the soundcheck songs don't always point to what the setlist will be.

[Nuffy]

Thanks Shimmery One day later and I'm still hearing him sing it in my head!

[dmac]

Not much to add from me, unfortunately my camera couldn't cope
This was taken from just in front of the section Nuffy and I were seated in
The acoustics were terrific and we were able to hear everything extremely well. But we were up the back with a few intoxicated and other noisy people. As Nuffy said at least they were much quieter after she asked them. We were initially worried that Mr Lightning Bolt (the song he wanted sung) was not a friendly drunk and his roars were very loud and at strange times, however he proved to be a fan, he did manage to just walk onto the stage from backstage...no problem. There were some people in front of us who weren't used to "rowdy" cheering or woohoos and tended to jump several feet, but finally were keen to hear more at the end and encouraged calls of more more and started banging on the tables themselves. These ladies also joined in with D in his Irish dancing as did some ladies down the front....although it wasn't Irish, but definitely enthusiastic dancing.
Eric's moon walk was punishment for making a mistake, he did it very well too and received hearty applause as he was centre stage when he did it.
Have to say the highlight was to hear the simply beautiful arrangement of alone and the sad story behind it. the good news is that his friend is fine now....imagine having Damien write you a song and sing it to you.......it helped the friend to open up to D and finally discuss his problems....terrific huh ;D
The intro to Danny Boy was similar to that of Beautiful. Damien was in fine voice and they have been working on new harmonies, so you're all in for a treat with the different arrangements and harmonies. D did joke that he would have been singing a lot higher if he'd worn his black jeans which reminds me.....we'll have to ask for the jeans story because Eric was having a chuckle about it when asked after the show. We had a chat with Eric after the show and with Indi. We talked about how sick she was at Lizottes with a flu bug and how she was sick for a month with it, so sick she hadn't even felt like having a drink during that time. She even contemplated trying to come out and just stand on the stage, glad she didn't though.
Apparently they took twice as long as they should have to get to Dapto because of the traffic, so the sound check was just before they let us in and that was later than stated.
Thanks Carla, Womby and Nuffy for your reports ha ...I knew I wouldn't be able to see what D was wearing

[lyn1969]

hi carla thanks for the excellent report it sounds like you had a really great time and as always damien was fantastic i,m really looking forward to the harigans concert not long to go now woohoo

[princess1]

Thanks Nuffy & Dawn, the reports are awesome