Thursday night was a great night, for several reasons.
Firstly, myself and the lovely Rachy went to a mexican restaurant that we hadnt been to before, and though she found the margaritas lacking, the food there was considered to be edible. For those of you that know me, you will know that as long as it isnt made of pig or any creature that can be referred to as a bottom feeder, i will probably eat it with gusto, however my darlings tastes are much further refined than mine, and while she loves mexican, it must be of correct taste and texture. So finding a place that is not our regular taco bill or mexican cantina that she likes is difficult. However Montezumas on Bridge rd in Richmond is now on the list. From my own perspective, i will comment that they make the best taquitos i have ever eaten. My only negative comment about it is that they encourage you to go and buy your drinks from the bar seperately from your meal. If i wanted to do that, id go to a bar. When i go to a restaurant, i like to sit and tell someone else to get me food and drink. In saying all of that, the waitress did comply and bring us food and drink, though she did seem mildly put out by it.
After dinner, it was off to see the Violent Femmes at the Corner Hotel in Richmond. The opening band was a bizarre group called Wagons. I didnt really mind their music, which i can best describe as punked out folk/country, but their image was terrible. Its not just an issue of dressing down, looking at this band, they were plain ugly. Major redeeming point for them was the fact that they had a washboard solo.
Femmes came on at about 10pm and stayed playing for well over two hours. They played an excellent mix of newish stuff and old stuff, and the audience was singing along word for word to approximately 50% of the material there. A small negative was a minor altercation directly in front of me between a boozed up bloke and a pint sized girl. He was being a dickhead and jumped in front of her purposely to block her view, so she slapped him in the face. It was getting really annoying, so i asked him nicely to let it go, and i guess i must have intimidated him a bit, because he moved to another area of the pub.
Must say the Violent Femmes are an incredibly tight band, these guys really know and love their music. The drummer, Victor De Lorenzo is awesome, running around his drums and really performing, not just playing. The singer, Gordon Gano is absolutely fantastic, and though his voice isnt standard, it absolutely suits the type of music the Femmes create, and fills it with emotive richness that is hard to find in much of todays soulless music. Brian Ritchie, the bass player, and now, an Australian resident (yes kids, he moved to Tasmania) is undoubtedly one of my all time favourite musicians. As a hack bass player myself, i truly appreciate the excellence that is Brian. He can really wail on that bass. Further pushing up my list of people i think are great, is the fact that it is him, and not Victor who plays the xylophone on Gone Daddy Gone (i didnt know this till i saw it live.)
Special guests at the gig were a 3 peice horn section from Tasmania who were very very good, even managing to reproduce the cacophonic sounds required for Kiss Off. Also on guitar was Australian (yes he was born in New Zealand, but he is one of us now) legend, Spencer P. Jones.
The night was awesome, truly enjoyable, and they have announced one final show on the 13th, which i am strongly considering going to see. If you ever get a chance, go see this band, even if you dont know much of their stuff, they truly rock and are fantastic entertainers.
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