Devoted American fan Nathan Wheldon finds Mark on one very cold night in Toronto.

Author: Nathan Wheldon.

Date: 11 March 2005.

Article Text

Finally getting around to reporting on the show Tuesday March 8 at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. First here is the song list.

• True Tears Of Joy
• Shoulder To Cry On
• Kitchen Of A Perfect Home
• Ghost Of Vainglory
• When The River Runs Dry
• Sad Songs
• Home Again
• Ready To Go
• What’s A Few Men
• Holy Grail
• Parting Glass

It was a fantastic show (worth a 2000 mile flight, one way), about 150-200 were there at the bar but there were only a few who knew Mark and his music. Mark was kind of nervous but he brought it. I never knew one guitar could sound so full but he rocked the place out with River Runs Dry and Holy Grail. A lot of the other songs were nearly identical to the version on the new Daytime and the Dark CD, however. Mark kept introducing songs with “None of you will know this one” of course I did know it but he was right because only a very few knew all his songs. However, when he played Holy Grail I looked back and everyone started bouncing like they all knew the song.

Introductions: he introduced the song Home Again with saying it was a song about Melbourne and how everyone complains about the weather there. He said his wife is a Kiwi and hates the weather in Melbourne but wouldn’t move back to New Zealand either. Then he said Melbournes got nothing on this place though. It had been at least -13 earlier in the day with high humidity being on the edge of a lake and 20-30 mile per hour winds which would put the windchill factor at probably -30.

Before What’s a Few Men he stated it was an anti-war song and that in the last year or so he has started to lose faith in his country’s government and was disappointed they were fighting a war that wasn’t theirs.

Later on he mentioned that his wife’s name was Jo and so I asked if that is what the song Jo-Land was about. Twice he said funny you should ask, then he started talking about when he went to Queensland once and that he didn’t really like Queensland but he met some girl there at some point and that he didn’t really like Queensland but the song was more about Queensland than anything else. I didn’t fully understand because it was noisy while another band was playing. Is Jo slang in Australia for something?

After the concert Tammy, Roger, and I hung out waiting to see him and he came out and talked to us for a bit. I made sure to let him know I was from Idaho and had travelled 2000 miles to see him play. He seemed a little taken aback about why someone would travel that far just to see him and he was really grateful for it. He asked how I knew about it and I just said this message board and he looked a little confused again and finally said ‘on the Internet?’ I agree with Tammy that he couldn’t quite grasp that.

Talking to him and his promotion guy I think he will be back in Toronto pretty soon. I mentioned to the promotion guy I was from Idaho and he gave me two CDs, one is a compilation of a lot of songs from his first three albums and the other is the Daytime and the Dark album! I think I’m the only one I know who has that album now, it takes a bit getting used to but it is very good. I will make another post with song listings and covers.

I was very impressed with Mark, very down to earth. Also, shorter than I expected. Perhaps he was really nice because there was only about five of us that wanted to get to talk to him and stuff but he seemed at ease with people talking to him and took time to listen to us. I got my picture taken with him and got him to sign the two promotional CDs. It was very well worthwhile the cost of the trip and the three days off work.

Comments

Jo, in Queensland terms, is a reference to the long serving Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson. Joh was a strongly conservative Premier best known now for oppression and corruption. Joh ruled from 1968 until the Fitzgerald inquiry into police and political corruption led to his downfall in 1987. For the record, Mark definitely knows how Joh is spelt. Calling the song “Johland” would have been too obvious as a swipe at Queenslanders.

— Stuart in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.