From Dire Straits to the Foo Fighters.

I’ve been to some amazing concerts, and though many of my recollections have passed into the abyss that used to be my memory, there are a few that still stick around. My first concert was at the rugby ovals that used to be the old dump, in Rockhampton. The band was Dire Straits, and it was their “Money for Nothing Tour”. We sat in the members building on the side of the field, and it was a two storey building so we were above the field where most of the crowd were. I must admit that I remember the computer game in the clubhouse more than the concert, but “Brothers in Arms” was excellent.

Then there was the Baby Animals concert that we broke into at the Sound Shell in Rockhampton, by standing on the roof of my car and jumping over the fence. I ended up with dents all over the roof, can’t remember anything of the concert apart from “Early Warning” and a picture of the Queen with a beard? I’m not even sure who I was there with...

I also went to a few Screaming Jets concerts, but the one that’s the most memorable is the one in Brisbane when I had my Army medical. Once again, I’m not sure who I was there with, but I ended up next to the speaker, and the next morning I had a ringing in my ear. This would have been okay, but the hearing test they gave me was in a large Perspex cell, with earphones and a button to press when I heard a noise. I was deaf through a whole wavelength due to the ringing and I was sent to a specialist to discover the cause the next day, but by that time the ringing had gone and I was able to confuse the doctors by having good hearing. Not sure what tour it was or what songs they played though...

We also used to go and watch concerts at the QE2 stadium next to Griffith   University. We didn’t get in or anything, back in those days students couldn’t afford it, so we would sit on the hill next to the cemetery and watch through a gap in the stands. I got to see the Rolling Stones on the “Voodoo Lounge” tour, U2, and AC-DC to name a few. We had to hide the casks of wine we were drinking from the police on horseback who would patrol, but apart from that we had a pretty good time.

I also saw Cold Chisel at Boondall in Brisbane, and I can actually remember Ian Moss’s guitar playing. He was that good. But I still remember the ride home on the train more. We were gathered in one of the train carriages on the way home from the concert, when a group of four large men began to sing songs from the “Sound of Music.” They weren’t that bad either, and when they began to encourage the rest of the passengers to sing a song, an intoxicated friend of mine agreed. He sang the “There was an old Farmer” song, if you don’t know it, look it up. It’s suggestive without becoming obscene, and he knew so many verses that the whole carriage was clapping along and laughing.

My most recent concert was Tenacious D and the Foo Fighters. Apparently I might be in the film clip from the Gold Coast concert...