One of the things I like about this city is the Sydney Festival

It runs for a couple of weeks in the summer, with great music and activities.
Especially good are the free events. Backpackers must love Sydney in the summer.
Golden beaches, northern winter gear forgotten, and free gigs all over the place.
Last week the festival opened and a big chunk of the city had its roads closed, and stages were erected.
Huge range of music, and a trio of couples had public weddings.
I ended up with a couple of mates down at the Domain Park where a local musician, Paul Kelly was playing a warm up set for an international. Brian Wilson.
Weather was a bit crap, but the intermittent showers were really light and refreshing.
Mr Wilson seemed to be very distant and kept scratching himself. He looked like your dad sitting on the couch at home but suddenly transported to a stage in front of an audience of thousands. Huge video screens amplified every movement.
The crowd loved the music and everyone was dancing and singing along to songs which seem to have embedded themselves into the group unconsciousness.
The people I was hanging with, kept making comparisons with how dynamic contemporaries of Brian, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were.
I argued that Mick and Keff weren’t musical geniuses that had had suffered a breakdown and a long reclusive period.
They are brilliant showmen, but Brian was never really a front man. This is possibly the secret to the harmonies and instrumentation, and why the entire band ‘features’ in a lot of the Beach Boys music.
I got to thinking about it, and I reckon some performers like Prince can be both amazing live, and as creative forces.



Last night it was the famous ‘Jazz in the park.’
This event has been regularly held for years. It was shut down for a while cause it was ‘too popular.’ The audience in the Domain Park would overflow and cause the organisers to have conniptions.
The event was restored and this year the main act was El Barrio. I reckon there were possibly more people who showed up for the Salsa then to gawk at last weeks Beach Boys living legend.
When we arrived a valiant four piece jazz band on stage was almost inaudible over the racket of picnic dinners.
We made sure we didn’t sit behind the ‘installation like’ jerry-rigged Bedouin tent held aloft with inflatable trees.
Found a spot behind an old couple who looked like they had been there since lunch quietly reading books and ignoring the hub bub.
The field was covered with picnics and blankets, and umbrellas, and booze, and children, and pillows, and collapsible or inflatable furniture.
I saw one older couple Unpacking folding chairs from the back of a huge Honda Goldwing which was parked amongst a crowd of tiny little Italian scooters.

I’ve been overseas for a bit, and busy the last couple of years so it’s been a while since I attended a ‘Jazz in the park’ and things have changed a bit…
Being buzzed by the police chopper during the Paul Kelly set was a bit crap. They whipped out the flashing lights and played the search light over the nearby buildings as though they were hunting for those evil (huh can’t really call them ungodly these days ha ha) terrorists.
Bicycle parking and chair hire: funny little bike parking station had been set up behind the stage, and the queue to return rented chairs once the performance was finished was almost as long as the queues to the toilets.
The sound-desks have turned into sound-towers
The food stalls are better quality. For some reason the beer drinkers had to use plastic cups but people supping wine were allowed to walk off with liquid filled glass clubs (a full bottle of wine.)