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Duh, after I wrote my previous post I realized that I left out "Sometimes" as the final, final encore song, after "Read About it"!! Duh! Duh! How COULD I forget "Sometimes" -- I quoted a line from it in the preface to my master's thesis!!!

There was one bit of business last night that was probably different from the other concerts. At one point Peter mentioned some sporting event (I think the Melbourne Cup) that brings all of Australia to a complete standstill. He said that the event would happen at 11:10 p.m. our time, and anyone who could tell the band who won the event would be invited backstage for a beer.

Well, wouldn't ya know, between the main set and the encore some guy with something scribbled on a piece of paper elbowed his way up next to me (remember, I was standing RIGHT in front of the stage, very first row) and tried to talk the bouncer into getting the note passed to the band. The bouncer said that he really had no way of contacting the band.

Then Peter and Jim came out for their duet on "In the Valley." (I almost hate to call it truly "acoustic" because Jim was definitely using an electric piano.) As Jim started the intro the guy with the note was yelling out to them, in the only bit of yobbo-ish behavior of the night. I got kind of annoyed because I know how meaningful this song is.

But in the pause between "In the Valley" and the next encore song, when Martin, Rob and Bones were filing back on stage, this guy yelled enough to get Jim's attention, and he leaned over the gap between the front of the stage and the crowd railing, grabbed the note and put it on top of his little synthesizer keyboard. Wonder if that guy got to go backstage to collect his beer!

Still more to come!!!

Still excited,
Patty in Maryland