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Home Reviews Concerts Guy Pratt - The Paddo Tavern, Brisbane, August 1st, 2009
Guy Pratt - The Paddo Tavern, Brisbane, August 1st, 2009 |
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Written by John Elliott
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Tuesday, 04 August 2009 |
The last night of the Australian tour and the second night of shows in Brisbane saw another successful performance of Guy Pratt's latest show, "breakfast of idiots".
So successful has the tour been that all copies of his book, "My Bass And Other Animals", had already sold out and he was reduced to signing bits of broken guitar, more of which later, but not copies of Dark Side of the Moon! As he told the anxious fan afterwards, he was only 11 at the time, and didn't actually play on the album.
This was the second time I'd seen the show on this tour, and a much more relaxed Guy went through his often strange, highly amusing and somewhat bewildering stories of life on the road and in the recording studio with various luminaries of rock and pop. It's better here not to recount them, as you should either buy the book or go to the show – hearing them in person is always far better.
At a live show you also get the benefit of Guy's quite good impersonations – the ones of three slightly (completely!) inebriated Floyd members is one to savour, especially as the story that goes with it usually gets the biggest response of the night. His impersonations of other well known artists are also quite impressive, especially Madonna. My favourites were of David Coverdale and Jimmy Page, even though the latter does, as he admits, head into Rik Mayall territory. All the same, that section of the show is one of the highlights and with his stylish recounting I'm sure a career as a thespian in Stratford could be on the cards after this outing?
As a particular nod to the Aussie audience, his telling of an encounter with Molly Meldrum, a supposed icon of Australian music, when a member of Icehouse brought a local flavour to the show, although I did feel that he could have made more of his Australian links to really get the audience on his side. His combination of stories and guitar playing – not just the bass, with the odd few bits of singing combine to make for a show that seems to pass too quickly and clearly he knows how to deal with the odd heckler in the audience. A beautiful put down was delivered with charm and grace.
The usual quiet Aussie crowd did seem to confuse him at times but he took them along a journey that ranged from his first band to the heights of playing enormodomes throughout the US. Strangely that day at a book signing in the city, sitting down signing copy after copy, he was asked to sign one for a Rob Bulow. “Wow, that's strange. My first band had a bloke in called Rob...” as he looked up. The shock and several expletives later meant another reunion on a tour that has seemed to become one of re-acquainting with old friends, bandmates and the odd strange fan.
With a similar setlist to previous shows Guy still manages to throw in quiet a few impromptu ad libs and new stories with a crucial one tonight being stories of smashing guitars – or at least the desire and attempts at such rock godishness. All have seemed to end in strange failures, disasters or sulky bandmates and tonight was no exception. Acquiring an old bass from a local pawn shop during the day, Guy decided to end the last show of the tour in style, a la Townsend, and consign the poor undeserving black bass to rock history. All went well – it did actually smash, sending pieces flying into the audience, but the stream of blood down his left hand meant that all was not well and the bass had wreaked some sort of revenge. Several bandages and repairs later, Guy was happy to sign bits of the smashed guitar, even offering to sign in blood. A rather unique souvenir to remember a very entertaining evening.
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I thoroughly recommend catching any future shows as Guy is not only rather good at playing bass, but has a promising career as a stand up comedian, but maybe not as a guitar smasher.
All pictures are © John Elliott for Brain Damage. No unauthorised use.
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