Max & I arrived at the Hi Fi Bar around 7pm last night to help set-up for a Halloween benefit show, organised by our friends The Vagrants. Max’s job was to work the merch table & my task for the evening was ‘stage-manager’. The bands started coming on at 8:30. I’ve gotta say, stage-managing can be a fairly challenging job. I’ve never done it before – but now I know how that guy feels; the one who’s standing in the wings yelling at the band to get off because they’ve run overtime. If the first band goes 10 minutes over & the 2nd band does the same, you never catch up & the headliner gets their set cut short (and the stage-manager gets an arse-kicking). Luckily, everything went pretty smoothly.

Renata out front of The Vagrants, last night at Hi Fi Bar, Melbourne.

The Vagrants played a great show, inspired by the ghoulish costumes they were wearing. At one point they must have had 10 people on stage, including a backing-vocal section. Nat Allison Band was great too. I didn’t get to see much of anything out front, holed up at side of stage, but there were some excellent musicians in the bands. Jimmy Cupples, a winning contestant from ‘The Voice’, headlined the show with his backing band of killer session players. I found him a little uneasy at first, before he warmed to the club environment. Gotta be said, the guy has a great voice. The band played a bunch of classic rock covers to round out the night.

Vagrants on-stage mayhem, last night at Hi Fi Bar.

More info about this month’s Revelry show (11th Nov) coming soon.
We’ve got a stack of local guest stars joining us & a magificent crew of volunteers helping out on the day. It’s a liquor licensed show – and it’s an all ages thing too. Doors open at 1pm, show starts at 2…

CLFO