26th September Harrigans Hunter Valley NSW

[Di]

;DWOW Shims, love your report, I felt like I was there sounds like you all had a brilliant night. Damien is so thoughtful, Carla must have been over the moon!! Can't wait to see the pics and hear everyone elses reports! Enjoy the rest of your stay and don't drink too much

[Roxy]

Thank you Shims for a wonderful report. Sounds like this was a brilliant night for you all. Can't wait for the weary travellers to get back and give us More details. ;D


Looking forward to the piccys too

[princess1]

Thanks so much for posting Shims, it sounds like you all had a fantastic night again, its so good to hear that Damien is enjoying himself too and what a wonderful surprise for Carla, I can't wait to hear all about it and see the pics & vids, its soooo exciting

[12ktina]

Wow, that sounds like a fantastic night.... under the stars with Damien!! And now you are all on the road together? What fun!!

So pleased that Carla got a special birthday surprise!! Now that will be a birthday hard to top!

[CarlaM]

OKay first let me say.............

THAT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!!!!


;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

OMG what an amazing 2 days it has been but WOW, what a Birthday I had on Friday. As most of you know, Dale bought me a CAR FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! How fricking cool is that?
I almost died of shock, infact....he used his phone to tape my reaction and I swear to God, it's quite priceless although definitely NOT G RATED!!!
I will try to cut the story short but..
In the morning, Dale handed me a present and a beautiful card. The present was an IPOD!! I started to cry as I have wanted one for so long but only had a small Mp3 player that didn't hold many songs.
The best part was....
He had recorded little videos from ALL 5 of the children, in order of age, so Stephanie went first and with her being in Japan, the message meant even more and I just broke down and bawled. Everyone of them said the most amazing things!!!
Straight after that, we had to take Madi to school and when we got back, we pulled up in the driveway and there is this gorgeous burgandy Mazda 323 with pop up headlights sitting in the driveway. Dale goes "Happy Birthday honey"!!!
And...as I said, my reaction was pretty priceless!

I was in complete and utter shock and totally blown away as you can imagine.
So...our road trip to the Hunter Valley began with my new car! Dale drove the first half of the trip (through Sydney) and I drove the last half on my L's (yes everyone, I am 38 and on my L's...haha).
The car is gorgeous (shall put some pics up soon) and it drives so well. We got to the Hunter just after lunchtime and had a lovely lunch in a nice cafe. We then went to Harrigans were we were staying and saw Braffy and Dawn, closely followed by Shims and BF.
I was screaming and bouncing about my car as you can imagine
We saw Neski and Brendan at the venue just before we all went in together

Now...onto the part you all want to hear about... THE SHOW!!! ;D ;D ;D

The venue was so different to any we have been to before but the weather was absolutely perfect. It was a lovely clear night and with just a slight breeze and not cold at all. Just gorgeous!

The stage was set up in a grassy area of the Harrigans Pub and there were some tables and chairs but in true Damienite style, we bee-lined for the front of the stage and proceeded to spread out our rugs, chairs, bags and selves!
The stage was high and yes we had the under the nose seats but it was a great spot and where we all love to be of course! ;D

There was 2 support acts, both girls and they were pretty good actually. Obviously we were all excited and anxious for Damien to come on but we were fairly patient little Damienites

I had a few lovely B'day drinks and then got a couple ready for when D came on!

Damien came on about 9pm and was in his new checked shirt and vest and black jeans and con's and looking fantastic of course! ;D
He spotted us crazies down the front almost straight away and so did Indi and Eric...we got lovely smiles

D started with Catch the Wind and if my memory serves me, I think he went into Irishman in New York straight after that. As mentioned, Dawn has the set list.

I am not quite sure when Damien did the Birthday song to me...I did not see it coming so it took me by surprise.
I was soooooooooooooooo happy but at the same time, so embarrassed, part of me was hiding, and the other part wanted to take it all in!
Shims remembers exactly what he said, so I shall leave that part to her but yes, Damien said I was turning 21!
Hahaha I wish (and yes I called that out too)!!!

It was such a lovely thing to do and I was so grateful and got the chance to thank him afterwards which was great

Thank you so much D....you topped off what was truly the best Birthday ever! Love ya!

Dale was taking pics through the entire show...he took the tripod and although our camera is nowhere near as good as Trills (the legend), he did manage to get some good shots. They look okay on the camera so I am hoping they are okay once we check them all out later on.

Damien's voice was stunning all night, he sounded fantastic and the set list was awesome.

As Shims has mentioned...
I was absolutely over the top stoked to hear...

Message To My Girl

I have mentioned it numerous times in request threads and was just gobsmacked when he started singing it. Eric told us later on that Damien made him learn it the night before!

Which goes to show what a legend Eric is too!

Damien told the story about his little crush in primary school and about the Wall but we got a name this time...haha...it was Ashlyn (sorry if that's the wrong spelling). It's so cute how the story is slightly different all the time but always manages to make us all laugh

I am in a bit of a vague state today and still totally blown away by the perfect day/night that I had but I am sure that as I remember other things, I will post them.

We were lucky enough to see D after the show in the pub where we were all sitting and having cake and red wine!!!
Damien came up behind us so we were all surprised to see him. I think I had cake in one hand and a glass of wine in the other...how classy!!!!
He said Happy Birthday and I got a lovely cuddle and kiss and he joked about how he was sorry because one minute he was singing me Happy Birthday and the next minute bagging out Wollongong being the worst singers.
By the way, when he did that, myself and all the girls let out this sound as if to say....you are in SO much trouble. Again, he didn't say it once, he said it a few times....so I yelled out that I was on STRIKE!!!
Nah seriously, I think it's very funny and by all means D, please continue to tell the country that Wollongong has the worst singers in Australia!!!

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for all the lovely Birthday wishes and to the beautiful Damienites, Shims, Braffy, Dawnie, and Neski for making it such a special and perfect day. Dawnie hun, you are just so beautiful and thank you for the amazing cake and wine!
Thank you for the lovely gifts and most of all, for being such amazing friends!

A massive thank you to Damien for being such a big part of my special day and for embarrassing me terribly but at the same time, for putting the HUGEST SMILE on my face and making me feel so special!!!

The biggest thank you of all, of course goes to my gorgeous husband Dale who is the most thoughtful and wonderful man in the whole world and I feel so very lucky and blessed!

[shimmery]

I forgot to add earlier that we had KISS last night on the set-list as well (much cheering from the front row )

Wooooo what a brilliant time! so glad you enjoyed the reports "so far" I'm back home again now and will write up more tonight - but first I NEED SOME SLEEP

What a night and day we've had - those of us at the hotel all ended up having a brilliant catch-up over our nice hot country buffet breakfast and then we moved on to the nearby cafe for much needed COFFEE & another massive Hut and loads of laughs, before we all ended up at the Village again for MORE coffee


That was some night, as usual we were the last to leave be kicked out - I seem to have foggy memories of b/f and Dawn Greek-dancing past the table at sometime after midnight so I think you can get the feeling of how things were like

Carla and the gang have told me to go ahead and tell the birthday stories and everyone will be back later to tell more, there are so many funny ones

Not the least of which was the surprise we all got while we were having our Hut in the pub after the show at about 11 pm and talking non-stop (as usual) while eating Carla's lovely birthday cake (which had been arranged & brought by Dawn ).


Next thing we heard an Irish voice come up behind us saying "You know you can't be sitting here all night eating that cake!"


We thought it was one of the guys who worked there asking us to move on for being there too long! Then we saw the ones who were facing where the voice came from suddenly look like this and the rest of us thought (?) We turned around and one by one we were all then like this as we realised who it was!


Damien had his drink in his hand and was going past with Eric, Indi and George, and stopped by to surprise us all and see the birthday girl for a few moments before heading off, we were all thrilled and almost in shock as we have no idea where he came from, he was just suddenly there!


Everyone had a few nice words with Damien before he had to keep moving, I'll leave their stories for them to tell. He said how he'd included "Message to My Girl" tonight and we were saying how much we loved it and thank you! Some of my memory of all this is a bit patchy as we were all taken by such surprise I could hardly take it all in at the time.

Damien was wearing the black vest and country shirt look last night for the show. Dawn complimented him on his nice vest it is entirely possible that I may have said to him, "Wild Colonial Boy! "

Was so nice of Damien to stop by for a moment like that, it made the night and we all really appreciated it

I have some videos to put up later - most especially CARLA'S BIRTHDAY SONG as well as Message to My Girl and the Fisherman's Blues. Will definitely have the birthday song up later tonight but just for now I really need some sleep as I was saying earlier so will have a nap and be back later on

[shimmery]

OMG Carla I didn't realise you were there when I was writing all mine then Welcome back, we must have got home about the same time Sorry if my report overlaps yours there!


THANK YOU ALL for one of the best road trips/adventures/shows/huts EVER!

[shimmery]

Sept 27, 2008 17:46:00 GMT 10 CarlaM said:

OKay first let me say.............

THAT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!!!!


;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I reckon!! WOW wasn't it something Carla, so happy it was just so funtarstic for you

OMG what an amazing 2 days it has been but WOW, what a Birthday I had on Friday. As most of you know, Dale bought me a CAR FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! How fricking cool is that?
I almost died of shock, infact....he used his phone to tape my reaction and I swear to God, it's quite priceless although definitely NOT G RATED!!!

The re-enactment of the moment by Carla and Dale in the Hut later was just hysterical What an awesome surprise Carla!!!

I am not quite sure when Damien did the Birthday song to me...I did not see it coming so it took me by surprise.
I was soooooooooooooooo happy but at the same time, so embarrassed, part of me was hiding, and the other part wanted to take it all in!
Shims remembers exactly what he said, so I shall leave that part to her but yes, Damien said I was turning 21!
Hahaha I wish (and yes I called that out too)!!!

;D ;D ;D ;D

Damien announced to the crowd mid-show that, "There's a special celebration happening tonight" - at which point I GRABBED Carla's arm thinking OMG!!! and with the other hand dived in my bag for my camera!


He continued, "A very special friend of mine in the audience tonight, Carla M__ is having a birthday, she's turning 21 so let's all sing a very Happy Birthday to her,"


Of course by then we were all SCREAMING and I was desperately trying to get the video ready - I didn't catch the first bit but do have Damien leading the crowd singing "Happy Birthday dear Carla" and all the cheers and will post tonight - also there is the funny part at the end when you can hear Eric off-camera saying "21?" Damien says, "21!" Then you hear Eric say "Security?? ID check there!" Was all so GORGEOUS!!!!!

[shimmery]

Sept 27, 2008 17:46:00 GMT 10 CarlaM said:

Damien told the story about his little crush in primary school and about the Wall but we got a name this time...haha...it was Ashlyn (sorry if that's the wrong spelling). It's so cute how the story is slightly different all the time but always manages to make us all laugh

It's so fantastic we all have each other to remember all these stories, lol that was such a funny moment and when Damien said that, Carla and I looked at each other and said, "we've got a name now!" for the famous crush

He said Happy Birthday and I got a lovely cuddle and kiss and he joked about how he was sorry because one minute he was singing me Happy Birthday and the next minute bagging out Wollongong being the worst singers.
By the way, when he did that, myself and all the girls let out this sound as if to say....you are in SO much trouble. Again, he didn't say it once, he said it a few times....so I yelled out that I was on STRIKE!!!
Nah seriously, I think it's very funny and by all means D, please continue to tell the country that Wollongong has the worst singers in Australia!!!

OMG how funny was it - just after this beautiful Happy Birthday song, Damien was up to one of the sing-a-long songs and (jokingly) bagged Wollongong again - Carla beside me wailed and yelled out she was going on STRIKE, and I absolutely collapsed laughing at her reaction

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for all the lovely Birthday wishes and to the beautiful Damienites, Shims, Braffy, Dawnie, and Neski for making it such a special and perfect day. Dawnie hun, you are just so beautiful and thank you for the amazing cake and wine!
Thank you for the lovely gifts and most of all, for being such amazing friends!

A massive thank you to Damien for being such a big part of my special day and for embarrassing me terribly but at the same time, for putting the HUGEST SMILE on my face and making me feel so special!!!

The biggest thank you of all, of course goes to my gorgeous husband Dale who is the most thoughtful and wonderful man in the whole world and I feel so very lucky and blessed!

Just so wonderful to read, Carla and we all had the best time and so glad you had such a Happy Birthday!!!

B/f and I had such a great time as well and just loved being able to spend so long with you all and really catch up with everyone. It all went so fast it doesn't seem real! We are all hoping Damien will play the Hunter Valley again, it was a beautiful venue and great atmosphere and we all had so much fun together up there

[Smiley]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D


Carla! That is so fantastic! I am grinning from ear to ear...(at a net kiosk...people might wonder what I'm looking at!! )


Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It just had to be said!

Thanks Shims and Carla for the reports- sounds like a fabulous Damienite time was had by all!

I can't wait til tomorrow...for our last dip in the pool.....

[thebraff (Braffy)]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hello all, I am back.
There is not a great deal to add, except I had such an awesome time away. Almost like a Damienfest weekend
We all arrived at Harrigans with half an hour of each other (except Neski who was staying elsewhere that night).
Dawn and I had eaten around noonish - 12.30 before we left her home, whereas Carla, DH, Shims and b/f didn't eat until 3ish. They therefore weren't too fussed on going to the restaurant to eat for our booked in 5.30 dinner. Dawn and I went and while we were eating excited texts were coming from Neski - what time are you going to line up?, Where are you?, etc. etc.
In the meantime, I saw Carla and Shims through the window and thought they were there to stare at us or to pass a mesage on so I went out to them only to find out that they were lining up to go in to the show. They had quite a long wait. We had been given 'various' times that they were opening the doors. After we finished our dinner Dawn and I decided to go back to our room and collect the basket that had been left behind. While we were doing this they opened the doors. Luckily we had already given Carla Dawns blanket and low chair, so when we finally got back to the girls they were already laid out helping with the colonosation of the front (the blanket - not the girls )
The others have mentioned that there were two support acts. Both females who write their own songs. Dawn has their names. I know the second one was Peta. They were both very good but to tell you the truth I only wanted to hear Damien It was getting later and later. After both the support acts they then had a demonstration of Irish Dancing
They were good too, but sorry, I still only wanted Damien.

FINALLY Damien came on ;D
Dawn has the set list.
Carla and Shims have mentione dthat Damien said Ashlyn's name and how he wanted to meet her at 'the wall' and at the end of 22 Steps he sang 'If I were him, I'd know your birthday wish .......and I'd meet you at the wall'
There was no interval during this show. It was really funy, because he said this is the last song etc. and then he sang it. At the end he said something along the lines of, look this is where I go off and you want me to come back again, so I just won't go off, I will save time and do the encore now. In the meantime of course, Eric had already left the stage and he had to come back on again I wish I could remember what he actually said.
You will probably hear the next bit from someone, so I may as well say it myself

Dale had moved postionsfrom being next to Carla to being next to Dawn and myself. He had the camera on the tripod and was getting some great shots.
During the evening some ladies had started dancing in front of us. That was OK, they stayed at the side.
Later, when Danny Boy (and I must say here, that I think it is the best version of Danny Boy that I have heard Damien sing ) 2 young ladies slightly inebriated late teens, started dancing right in front of us. I could handle that, but then one in particular kept dancing in front of Dale with the camera going. I thought he was videoing it, and we kept asking them to move aside, they were blocking the camera. the more we asked and in the end demanded they move the more they went in front of the camera. Apparently, to Carla, Shims and Neski it looked like we were both about to deck this twit
that wasn't on my agenda, but I was annoyed at her going in front of the camera all the time. We found out later, that Dale wasn't videoing, but taking constant photos and only occasionally did her dress flick up and across the photo. Dale deleted them as it happened. Just as well as he wasn't videoing, because not only would you have heard Danny Boy, but 'please get out of the way, the camera is on,... Move please you are in front of the camera........... Get out of the bloody way......... MOVE WILL YOU....etc
After the concert we moved back up to the Pub area. Instead of going into the bar where they were serving the drinks we went into the adjoining area where Dawn and I had eaten. We had already stashed away the lovely rainbow mud cake that Dawn had bought for Carla's birthday in the cool room there. The restaurant was 'shut' but they gave us a knife, plates and a light for the 2 + 1 candles that Dawn had already put on the cake before handing it over. It was so funny that Damien had said that Carla was 21 and Dawn had already placed 3 candles on the cake. Two on one side and one on the other for that same reason.
Damien coming through the area out of nowhere was such a buzz. Thank you Damien, you know how to surprise us.
I think he got such a surprise to see us there too. Although, we DO have a reputation to uphold and we had a fabulous HUT. It was great having Brendan, b/f and Dale there too. Three men at our HUT It was great.
It was extremely late when we all went to our rooms after making plans to meet back there for breakfast. We were told to be there before 9.30 am (ouch!)
DEawn told me this morning that is was a 3 am lights out in our room.
I must say that we all made it in time for breakfast. Yummy, yummy.
Shims and Carla have filled you in on the rest of the day. Coffee here, coffee there, British Lolly shop, The Chocolate Shop and a bit of coffee here and then we all went our seperate ways after lots of
Let me say it here and now....I love the weekends away, whether it be a Damienfest, a Damien road trip or whatever. I love you guys to bits and we have so much fun
Just remember......... What goes on tour, remains on tour OK?

Yeah, I know I've written another bloody book.

PS. we missed you Hyp and we hope that Hypermum is feeling a lot better

[princess1]

Woooo Hooooo excellent reports ladies Thanks so much

[shimmery]

Sept 27, 2008 19:23:45 GMT 10 thebraff (Braffy) said:

In the meantime, I saw Carla and Shims through the window and thought they were there to stare at us or to pass a mesage on so I went out to them only to find out that they were lining up to go in to the show. They had quite a long wait. We had been given 'various' times that they were opening the doors. After we finished our dinner Dawn and I decided to go back to our rom and collect the basket that had been left behind. While we were doing this they opened the doors. Luckily we had already given Carla Dawns blanket and low chair, so when we finally got back to the girls they were already laid out helping with the colonosation of the front (the blanket - not the girls )

lol, I was wondering there for a minute

Yes we had a bit of a wait there. I think we started lining up at about 5:45 pm as we had heard the gates opened at 6pm and that we should be early if we wanted to go up the front as it was sure to be packed. In the end I don't think the gates opened til about 6:45 and by then most of us were all waiting there together - we were very lucky as meanwhile Damien was doing soundcheck and we could see him singing the "Birthday Wish" line from "22 Steps" MANY times - and everytime we were banging Carla's arm Then, though SOME chatterboxes missed it from talking non-stop the rest of us heard some familiar notes and started to jump bceause it was Damien doing Message to My Girl

During the support act I took a pic from right up the back near the bar so we can show you how it looked from futher back. I now uploading pics but will be a little while yet.

Was great to see the support acts doing their originals and enjoying the experience, was a great vibe

Damien came on about 9pm so we all had time to have our picnic dinner by then and enjoy the atmosphere

Carla and Shims have mentione dthat Damien said Ashlyn's name and how he wanted to meet her at 'the wall' and at the end of 22 Steps he sang 'If I were him, I'd know your birthday wish .......and I'd meet you at the wall'

That's right - was really funny as Damien sung that "& I'd meet you at the wall" bit really quickly as an aside at the end of the song, got a great laugh from the Damienites and those who picked it up, tied in so well with the wall story. Damien also told the Celebration story with the wild pogo dancing and the impersonation of judges comments (hysterical)

There was no interval during this show. It was really funy, because he said this is the last song etc. and then he sang it. At the end he said something along the lines of, look this is where I go off and you want me to come back again, so I just won't go off, I will save time and do the encore now. In the meantime of course, Eric had already left the stage and he had to come back on again I wish I could remember what he actually said.
You will probably hear the next bit from someone, so I may as well say it myself

Yes Damien went straight through with no break even to the encore! It was very funny as there were let's say some "enthusiastic" women who had by then come up in front of us and were standing at the stage waving wildly and screaming for requests at the time when Damien usually went off before encore. Eric had already gone, and one of them mentioned "Danny Boy" I think it was so since it was mentioned, Damien just decided to go straight into it, and Eric had to be called back The whole night was funny like that, all these spontaneous funny moments.

Dale had moved postionsfrom being next to Carla to being next to Dawn and myself. He had the camera on the tripod and was getting some great shots.
During the evening some ladies had started dancing in front of us. That was OK, they stayed at the side.
Later, when Danny Boy (and I must say here, that I think it is the best version of Danny Boy that I have heard Damien sing ) 2 young ladies slightly inebriated late teens, started dancing right in front of us. I could handle that, but then one in particular kept dancing in front of Dale with the camera going. I thought he was videoing it, and we kept asking them to move aside, they were blocking the camera. the more we asked and in the end demanded they move the more they went in front of the camera. Apparently, to Carla, Shims and Neski it looked like we were both about to deck this twit
that wasn't on my agenda, but I was annoyed at her going in front of the camera all the time. We found out later, that Dale wasn't videoing, but taking constant photos and only occasionally did her dress flick up and across the photo. Dale deleted them as it happened. Just as well as he wasn't videoing, because not only would you have heard Danny Boy, but 'please get out of the way, the camera is on,... Move please you are in front of the camera........... Get out of the bloody way......... MOVE WILL YOU....etc

LOL one of the funniest moments of the night and defintely the most unusual rendition of Danny Boy I can remember, not for the way Damien sung it (gorgeous ) but for what was going on down the front Things were getting pretty wild and woolly by then being a Friday night and a picnic-style gig. Some more "enthusiastic" women had arrived down the front and were wobbling around all in front of where poor Dale was with the camera. I thought if it was a video it would have been a scream as all we could hear from the side was protesting cries of "MOVE! Get out of the WAY!! That way!!! No NO NO!!! That way!!! MOVE!!" The rest of us were trying to hold back the laughter as we heard all this going on. Later on when Damien came by for a moment at the cake time we mentioned seeing the "brawl" that almost broke out during Danny Boy, not the sort of song you'd usually envisage for that kind of thing

[thebraff (Braffy)]

We were trying to protect the 'pretteh'

[shimmery]

Speaking of which!


VIDEO!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CARLA" as sung by Damien, Eric, the Damienites and 500 others - 26th Sep 08