12.11.11 NSW Castle Hill RSL

[shimmery]

Just bouncing back in from a fun fab night at Castle Hill!

What a FUNTARSTIC show and great night all round!! A little bit of sadness creeping in that it's the last one for NSW of the tour and that will be our last Roy show but loving all the memories and my mind's filled with wonderful moments from the shows we've been to!

Castle Hill was great and lovely staff there, they made sure everything was nice for dinner and pre-show coffees in the dining area. We were there about sunset and it was a lovely time of day to be there with the sun going down golden through the trees outside.

Was a surprise start to the evening for sure, we saw Damien before the show even started! Was so gorgeous and thoughtful of him, he spotted us & Braffy and Dawn & came out before the show started to say hi as he said he wouldn't be able to stay back for a chat after the show, so we had a lovely little chat with him before. Lovely start to the evening! He looked really well and happy and the whole vibe tonight was fun all round and a celebration of the tour.

Jess Chalker was tonight's support act and she was lovely as always and the crowd very attentive during her set.

Then it was time for Damien and the band!

A few differences to the setlist tonight and tons of highlights, really every song is a highlight of course!

2nd song in was I Drove All Night then it was Only the Lonely, so that was new and fabulous and then also tonight was the first time P & I had heard Leah and we adored it Damien mentioned on stage how he was influenced by the beautiful Island harmonies on his holiday in Fiji and WOW the way all the guys came up to the microphones and did those harmonies, it was mindblowing!!!!!

Beautiful was STUNNING again and this was the first time I'd heard the two flutes version - again, incredible! Every show I've been to there's been different arrangements and surprises, you always wonder what new magic you'll see each show!

In Dreams just SPELLBINDING again and the audience loved every beautifully emoted moment. Love Hurts was gorgeous tonight, always a fave but even moreso.

MASSIVE surprise moment!! When Damien went to start Hallelujah everyone started clapping just from the first few notes Eric played. Damien stopped proceedings and said to the audience how did we know what was coming next - and then for fun they just changed direction totally and started doing an off the cuff and PERFECT version of Crowded House's BETTER BE HOME SOON!!! WOW what a thrill to hear Damien and Eric sing it together & with perfect harmonies, it was gorgeous and Damien said after the song it was the first time they had done it, just totally on the spur of the moment! It was PERFECTION!

I've jumped ahead but my mind is jumping everywhere remembering things! The audience really got into the whole show, quietly at first then the whole place was really rocking on by Mean Woman Blues/Handle With Care and went off totally of course as always for the Pretty Woman encore!

Lots of fun with the dancing and banter, Damien is absolutely hilarious with these anecdotes and tall tales he tells on stage. We had a lovely group at our table and they were all massive Roy fans and now additionally massive DAMIEN fans!

Had a nice little chat with Eric and Cesar tonight and also Brian lovely to see you and say hi after the show too!

Finished the evening with a little birthday Hut for Dawn, I hope she really enjoyed her birthday and she will want to tell those stories. Great to see everyone, and hopefully not long til the next tour, this one was a blast!

Sorry now teh coma is starting to hit HARD and I'm already losing ability to write much more, but am sure all the others will fill in teh stories on their return. safe and happy travels all :


Most of all.....

THANK YOU DAMIEN!! We will miss you till next time it's been so great to share these fantastic concerts with you the last few months, I don't think I stop smiling from start to finish each show just LOVING EVERY MOMENT!!!! You and the band are AMAZING, the BEST!!

[princess1]

Thanks for your wonderful report Shims, I'm so glad you all had a wonderful time

[astrokath]

Great report, Shims, and 'Better Be Home Soon'
That would be wonderful!
And you're right, this tour has been so much fun, it is a bit sad for it to be ending.

[nixter]

Wonderful repor Shims. Thank you you certainly had a great night.

[thebraff (Braffy)]

;D ;D ;D ;D

Shims has said so much already

I should have paid more attention to 'Better Be Home Soon' (since I got home at 5.20 am and Mr Braff was pacing the pavement since he had to be at work at 5.30)

It was a fantastic concert and Damien's voice is just ringing out loud and clear

There was a darn smoke machine though and it was going off right near Chris on keyboard and Steve on the drums. It wasn't as bad as the Enmore Theatre though but still annoying *hint for Damien*

That was a very special moment when Damien changed tactics and went with Better Be Home Soon. The audience lapped it up.

Dawn has the full set list but I was so happy to hear I Drove All Night. I hadn't heard it since the Enmore.

Goodnight and Beautiful are always lovely to hear and it was good that Damien mentioned in the lead up to Beautiful how if anyone is going overseas at the moment that it is being used in a worldwide advertising campaign for Estee Lauder. He got a great response for that.

Shims has mentioned Leah. This is the 2nd time I have heard him sing this now and I am sorry for all you other people who have been to concerts and I am grateful for the youtube links of the song but the rendition of it last night wins hands down. It was breathtakingly AMAZING
They were all as one as they stood at the front of the stage singing it with Damien's voice ringing out as the main one. It would be nice to see that recorded one day.
So many fabulous songs. Running Scared, In Dreams the list goes on. The long notes that are held, and held, and helddddddddddddddd

they did the rap version of Sweet Dreams last night but there was no way that Eric was going to do the rap vocals so he did 'rap guitar'

Lots of extra bits for Dawn to say. (I hope your alarm went off OK Dawn )

It was lovely to see Brian and MrsBrian and son with his fiance. Brian will give you the reactions from their table.

It was also marvellous to see the standing ovations that Damien received.
I am sure that there was no one that left the large and full room not delighted with the performance that they had witnessed.


THANK YOU DAMIEN AND BAND

[Trilly]

D and band are absolutely ON FIRE right now, aren't they?? ;D great reports, thanks ladies!

Leah is to die for, is it not?? The version with the flamenco and the harmonies from the band is just dynamite!!!

OMG- Better Be Home Soon!! fantabulous!!! That must have been wonderful!!! D singing the Crowdies!!! Bliss!!!

Oh and the rap guitar... Sweet!!!

How thoughtful of Damien to speak to you all before the show. ;D I'm so pleased for Dawn that she saw him on her birthday too!

[Glawz]

Gawd, I must still be in teh coma, as I get happy tears in my eyes just reminiscing about our wonderful concerts as I read Shims and Braffy's reports. ;D:'(
Yes, this gorgeous man certainly has a major effect on all of us, and it's lingering.......longer and longer thank goodness, has to last a long time until we see him live again!!
Better be home soon... what a bonus! I've always thought Damien would just kill Crowded House tunes - I'll bet it was just mind boggling Would have loved to have heard that.
Yes, his voice is certainly better than it has ever been, (if that's possible) - Leah is stunning and the harmonies just beautiful.
Sorry to waffle - I share your joy at the wonderful night you must have had.

[dmac]

If I start to make no sense at all I apologise....after getting to bed at 5:30am and getting up at 9:20am (I warned reception that alarm may go off at 9:15pm Braffy )haha ohhhh and then driving home sitting on the limit (radars and unmarked cars were busy) on the Newcastle Speedway aka F3 and then shopping.....finally home and literally the Grateful Dead
Really like Jess Chalker's new haircut....makes her look younger (and introduced myself as the tacky gift giver ....but we discussed the mileage D gets out of his "nose warmers", etc )....we saw Jess pre-show
It was good that she sold some CDs, unfortunately George wasn't there though, so no D sales
Shims and BF managed to catch up with Damien when he went looking for us all in the bistro, but we hadn't been able to get a seat there, so after we waited at the entry and finally went in, we had our drinks organised and Damien popped his head in the front exit and Braffy and I were able to catch up....he sweetly wished me happy birthday with hugs and kisses and we had a talk about the Album, the next tour how it was sad but good that it was the last performance and would you believe Def Leppard.... hmmmm he knew quite a bit from the hut haha and I'm glad he likes them ;D Braffy asked D if she could get a phot of D and I ;D ;D ;D for my birthday and thank you both
We caught up with Shims and BF before the show and managed to have a quick hiya with Brian and Mrs Brian and son and partner just before Jess
Must say that smoke machine was concealing Chris and Steve and hate to think what it did to Damien's throat even though it didn't sound like it was affected (pheeew)
I'll put up the list in order, with a few show comments
Began with
*You've Got It and
*I Drove All Night
D then talked about Kikki Bo and that look and how gorgeous she is and went on to describe how when he changes the nappies and then dances across and tosses them into the bin over his shoulder backwards(they always land in the bin ) except for the one which exploded :oha he didn't think it would explode like that
Next with the recorded rap intro and
*Sweet Dreams
Then a talk about the sweet harmony of the Chilettes and
*Love Hurts
Then talked about his dance routine and how scandalous it was that he could still only do it to the left after 30 shows
Then the hip thrusting
*Working For the Man
Jess then came out with a non-working mic.....so had to dance and she had to use Cesar's mic for
*Blue Bayou and she danced off the stage
After mentioning about the inspiration of family for the next song Damien talked about the use of
*Beautiful for the international Estee Lauder Commercial ;D ;D ;D and it was truly Beautiful with the 2 flutes which of course led into....let's make use of the 2 flutes again ....would you like to hear
*Stairway to Heaven? ;D went down a treat
and another of D's originals from Remember June
*Goodnight
I then gave D his gift and he mentioned how he had mistakenly thought a previous gift was a 'nose warmer' until he realised it had eyes , elephant ears, a trunk and a g-string, but was okay because he'd worn it ...loved the loud guffaw from a woman in the audience and the titters and giggles...this Gift (picture to come) was a black coloured apron with I kiss better than I cook (I had added & hug) and he happened to mention how he's use that and how handy it would be so he wouldn't be naked
Damien then took off his guitar (yessssss that's all ) to sing the next set of songs, Steve also changed drums for guitar
*In Dreams
Chris also left his keyboard and joined the guys with his guitar for the most amazing rendition of
*Leah I have ever heard...love that Bass voice, then
*Running Scared (Braffy was in Heaven )
A joint jumping, seat dancing
*Mean Woman Blues > a little "Go Johnny Go"
Then the flawless
*Crying and a rocking
*Handle with Care
While they were off stage I put a strip of red fluoro cardboard on the stage with please promote Beautiful (was done) Test Kitchen and CDs,etc (not possible without George)
After much clapping, foot stomping and calls of more more ...
Steve came back and did his terrific drum solo and the guys all came back with their celebratory drinks for cheers (look what we found ;D) they rocked a ripping
*Pretty Woman (some ladies down the front were dancing) and D mentioned that the ladies in front wanted him to promote his new TV Program ....so he did
They then started the intro for Hallelujah and folks started clapping....Damien said 'how do you know what we're going to do and he and Eric went instead into
*Better Be Home Soon....oh wow......they should be doing this one too wonderful harmony ;D and finally
*Hallelujah and a standing ovation so there was some on the spot clapping and dancing by audience folk to Going Home
The guys have really fine tuned their playing and vocals, so SA is in for a treat and Damien has never sounded better.
There was again the audience participation singing (& even dancing)
We had a fairly delicious ;D hut and always great to chat after a show
When lined up at the cafe for dessert and tea was chatting with a "virgin" and he was blown away by D's talent and will now be keeping an eye and ear out for his next album and tour...funny how that happens.
I am so pleased that D went on DWTS as he has picked up much more recognition as a lovely, talented guy and so the crowd of admirers increases.
Braffy and I did more Damien DVD watching and tea drinking back in the apartment
Thank you to Damien, the Band (mainly Eric, Chris, Steve & Cesar), Jess & Diana and the lovely Damienites and family & friends I have enjoyed time with this Tour
ohhh and yup.....it's not just the music, it's the man

[thebraff (Braffy)]

Fantastic report Dawn.

I had already checked that your clock was on am for both the time and alarm, so there would have been no probles there.

It was such a wonderful night.

[Smiley]

Sounds fabulous daaarlings! I can only dream of having such opportunities to see our gorgeous man!

I've always thought of Damien as being similar to the Crowdies so am thrilled to hear he sang Better Be Home Soon. Would love to have heard that!

Always exciting to hear how the crowd goes off and new fans! Damien live is definitely an experience never forgotten.

Thrilled that Damo is being really personal with DLO-ers of late..I hope it continues til Tamworth! My first "local" gig and only 2nd Roy concert! No matter..will be there with bells on anyway!!


You girls all sound like you could do with a good sleep! Haha..nothing like Damien to bring the teenager out in us all!

Thanks for the terrific reports..you all write so well.

[Di]

;D Thankyou for your fantastic reports. sounds like you all had an awesome night.
Dawn so glad you got you Birthday & I knew you would...he is such a sweetie

I Damien

[Brian]

Sorry I'm late with the report but just surfaced after a hectic weekend

First of all what a buzz to see sooooooooo many people lining up to get in and there appeared to be a good mix in ages as well.

The band and Damien were at their best tonight --it was great to see them having so much fun and they sounded terrific tonight --There is not a weak member of the band.

My favorites were Running Scared "That final note gives you goose bumps"-In Dreams, Beautiful and Leah but that's not fair really because I could add many more.

Damien mentioned that Estee Lauder were using his song "Beautiful" in a WORLD promotion and the same named perfume.

The band seems to be having so much fun it is sort of infectious and the audience responses to it.

After some promoting from Dawn, Damien reminded everyone about his Cooking Show on Channel 7two next week.

As far as my son and his fiance's thoughts go the verdict was without question --He has got so much better --wow-- The best show we have ever seen from him was their comments over and over again and they were over the moon in be in very front seats with a crowd of just under 500 there.

Terrific to chat with Braffy and Dawn during and after the show and meeting Shimmery after to show recapping on what a terrific show once again

[Glawz]

Just read you reports Dawn and Brian Thank you so much.
Dawn, yes Jess is absolutely gorgeous. Maybe there were no CD sales for Damien because they sold out??? Sales were going pretty well at all the Vic venues and I think he ran out of RJ the book.
I agree Brian, there is nothing like seeing/hearing Damien live and those notes at the end of Running Scared are to die for That song has been one of my faves since the beginning but the way he sings it now is just amazing. I also think it's wonderful that your family are now in love with Damien and that they also appreciate what a great talent he is.
Thank you all for the wonderful reports and for enabling mwa to relive our experiences from last week in Vic.

[Trilly]

Great stuff guys, thanks again.

It's wonderful to hear about the enormous reaction D and the band have been receiving everywhere on this tour. They've been blowing everyone away, including "newbies" and those of us who have been around a while. D must be so incredibly proud and pleased by it all. ;D

[maggiemay]

Thanks for the wonderful reports