One day my bass player, Andrew, rang me and said “Powderfinger are playing tonight- you have to come, it’s their CD launch”.  Now- I’d seen Powderfinger a couple of times before, but never really taken much notice.  My first bands first show was actually supporting them at Metropolis in Brisbane at the beginning of 1993.  I decided to go along, as I didn’t have anything to do that night, and I’d not been to The Site for some time.

Now, let me digress for a small moment, I feel I need to explain the words “you have to come, it’s their CD launch.”  In Brisbane in the 90’s (it may well be like this again now too- actually, I think it is, but it definitely wasn’t in the early 2000’s ), if another band had a big show, especially a CD launch, you went.  Even if you didn’t like them.  It was just the way it was.   Over the years, there was a core group of bands that my band (Feeble’s Junky) played with a lot (Bulldozer, Bullrush, Pharaoh’s Playground, Stone, Lemongrass to name a few), and like I said- big gig= you’re going.  It was also a kind of unspoken rule that if a band that was bigger than you had a big show, you went, even if they were unlikely to come to your show.  Now, this may have not been the case for many bands, but it certainly was for Feeble’s, and those that we played with a lot.

OK, digression over.  You may now continue.

So the upshot of this show, was that it was the first of many Powderfinger shows I’d go to over the next decade or so.

I was absolutely blown away by the professionalism of these guys.  The show was so well organised, with merch stands and all that.  Most of the local shows I’d been to up until that point had been fairly unorganised affairs in pretty shitty pubs. It was also the first time I’d seen Fat, Sidewinder & RF Brahm.

I bought the single at the show, and still have it today. I clearly remember Reap What You Sow and the crowd going nuts. I also remember hearing Tail (I’d not heard it before the show), and marvelling at the time signature, as well as the way Jon played it.

Andrew had decided that he was going to drive down to see them at The Patch in Coolangatta the following night as well, so I decided to go with him.  As it happened, we got extraordinarily drunk that night (I think we ended up at The Gig– one of Brisbane’s dodgiest bars in the 90’s).  I remember sharing a cab home with him at about 7am- the deal was we’d both set our alarms for 5pm and he’d come and pick me up at 6, and we’d drive down the coast.  Well, I woke up at 10pm and rang Andrew- I figured he’d already come round and then gone without me after I didn’t answer the door.  In reality, my phone call woke him up.  Needless to say, we didn’t make it to that show.