Most Of My Friends Are Very Fruity Indeed

“Most of my friends are very fruity indeed, such fun to have around.” (The Whitlams – You Sound Like Louis Burdett)

Moving around working event to event and festival to festival has meant never staying in one place for a long time. This results in not being able to plan ahead to book a show, a big gig or a concert as you can’t book so far in advance. You are just simply not sure if you will be in that city in 6 months time.  

By the time you do get somewhere the gig has either been and gone, or will come after you leave, or its already sold out.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been times I have been in the right place at the right time and I know the right people to get into some amazing gigs, but I have missed some I have really wanted to see because of always being on the move.

Now I am finally in a longer contract job and I can plan ahead and book to see a few great gigs. When I saw that The Whitlams were going to do a 25th Anniversary gig with the Philharmonia Australia, I just had to book a ticket, or two, because surely I will find someone to go with me. Life gets busy and I ask a few friends would they like to join me, no one is able to come. I try a few others, all busy or can’t for some reason. Finally, I put an email out to a big bunch of people at work on the day of the gig, still no one. Oh well, I am going.

The Whitlams were the soundtrack of my university days.

The band my friends and I listened to over and over again, in the theatre during bump-ins and at the river where we would sit on the grassy hill overlooking the water under the big shady trees.  Occasionally we would walk through the bush, up a track, jump in and float with the flow of the river back to the sandy shoreline the locals called ‘The Beach‘. We would follow this with backyard BBQ’s at the end of a long hot summers day. You can imagine our excitement when we heard The Whitlams were coming to play a gig at our country town university. They would be playing at Rivcoll, our university bar during the next “O” Week (Orientation Week) and it would only cost us $2! (the same as a glass of wine in those days).

So here I am 19 years later, feeling far more grown up, yes almost like an adult, sitting in a beautiful concert hall to see them play again. This time with a full orchestra, however, I was still drinking red wine out of a plastic cup.

But while I sit here by myself, I am not alone.

While the band and orchestra play all those songs that are so familiar, I am surrounded by all my friends who were there that night 19 years ago, and the memories of jumping up and down in our sweaty Uni bar.

Also by Alycia Stanley:

Where Are The Crew?

The Time After: Dealing With Post Show Blues