(thanks to Jess, Mon, and whoever else took photos on my camera!)

The Barleycorn Music Club have supported Streep since our first shows as a full band, and we were privileged to play at their annual music festival today, held on the sports field at St Joseph's College. Huge sound system (which resulted in the police being called later), wide open space, food and drink on sale, and a range of musicians performing all day. Some of the crowd literally looked like they were camping.

There is a special place in heaven for the partners and spouses of musicians who play live music. As if her loyal support at shows isn't enough, Jess also displayed her skill as a roadie. And Rich displayed his skill at blowing his nose and creeping people out by walking around everywhere with a roll of toilet paper in one hand.

Above is the description used in the festival program to explain our band to those attending. The guy who wrote it (pictured on the left below) explained that he had written it at 3am after his second joint. In spite of his apology, it really does sound like the kind of thing we'd say about ourselves.

Hemorrhoids, scrotums, and marijuana were just a few of the topics that found their way into the MC's short speeches between bands... a serious contender for gold at the Inappropriate Remark Olympics. Likeable guy through, in spite of the occasional dodgy comments.

Simon and Dyl  took advantage of the food stalls to grab some supper - pizza with "funny smelling" mushrooms. I silently high fived myself for eating before I arrived. 

The stage was outdoors, and covered by one of those trendy Bedouin-looking tents. So technically our warm ups and pre-set talk happened 'back-tent'.

This was also the perfect opportunity to brush up on some minor details, like an entire new song I hadn't learned yet due to not paying proper attention to emails. Another excellent use for the iPod. Our new song, 'Waltz Disney', was warmly received - it's hard to find someone who isn't familiar with at least one character mentioned in the song.

With 5 minutes to go, one of the Barleycorn team came to give us a pep talk and some final instructions. He then wandered off, summoned his fellow team mates into some sort of group hug, and gave them a pep talk for good measure as well. Confidence was now high, and we took to the stage.

In the world of live music, there is having a fast sound check, and then there is having a sound check while you're actually playing your set. The uncharted territory of including the sound engineer as a band member of sorts. Simon was singing / speaking instructions about monitor levels in between song lyrics for the first 5 minutes. I wasn't complaining though - the keyboard sound was super clear. And the conversation between the engineer and band made for some good comedy material, especially when we started asking for things like "more peanut butter in this monitor please".

By the time it became dark, the Raucous-Fun-O-Meter was registering illegal levels. Even happier days for Andrew 'Icon' Kerr, who won a nice little classical guitar in the lucky draw.

Next up after Streep was The Louise Day Band (in which three of the five members of Streep play as well). As the crowd vibe was very much a picnic / chill on the lawn approach, no one stormed the stage area. The guy in the top left didn't quite storm the stage either, but I cant figure why he stood next to the subs with such a Walker Texas Ranger stance. For at least three full songs. Without moving.

After LDB finished, we packed away our gear, and headed off to a place described by Simon as "Chippies". When we arrived, we discovered that Chippies was closies, and so the post-gig crew headed off to go and watch the late show of 'The Princess And The Frog".

See you at the next show. Yes, I mean you. The one who didn't come to this one.