Mark Seymour’s 11 November 2000 gig at the Carindale Hotel.

Author: Stuart Fenech

Date: 12 Nov. 2000

Article Text

The venue was very small, being only about 30 metres by 30 metres, with a very small stage. Mark Seymour performed by himself with a simple guitar (similar to what can be heard on the King Without A Clue bonus disc, and extra tracks on the Last Ditch Cabaret single).

I believe this was the first night of a new set list or similar, as he commented at one stage about “the opening night” being the hardest (but this was not the first of his current tour). He continually switched around his planned set list, which he commented must be confusing his sound man (Robert Miles) senseless.

The crowd was alright, always cheering after the songs, but the biggest response was from the two well known Hunters and Collectors songs (unfortunately but predictably). Before Mark actually started performing, he just walked in and started tuning his guitar. The crowd did not seem to realise (I was watching him and realised who he was, but very few other people seemed to). Mark was not looking too happy, which may have been because his tuner was stuffed (as we were to find out later).

Mark was looking younger than he does in the photo shoots for his solo career to date. He was looking similar to how he was in the “Under One Roof” photo of Hunters and Collectors in 1998. He seems to be balding slightly and was wearing some tight-ish trousers of some sort and a simple shirt. I was positioned less than ten meters away from him.

Besides Mark himself and the guitar, he had a trusty bottle of VB to help him through. At some stage another bottle was added there (which he commented about “a gift” and the he had to “finish this one first”). He only went through the one beer for the show but I still found it interesting to see beer as a method of refreshment (the ‘pub culture’ is kind of new to me). There was of course a bar at the back of this place.

The songs played, in not much of an order, were, from the Hunters & Collectors range:

• Holy Grail
• Throw Your Arms Around Me

After Holy Grail, which was about the 4th or 5th song, he declared “you can all go now”. Everyone knew the words and was singing along, particularly when he left part of it for us to sing (like in Under One Roof). He sung the verse himself after we had sung it anyway.

From the last album:

• The Ghost Of Vainglory (second song played).
• Home Again
• Last Ditch Cabaret (towards the end)
• Richard Cory (recorded on King Without A Clue bonus disc)

These met with a fairly warm reception, and some people knew the words. I was particularly impressed with the rendition of “Richard Cory” which was better than on the bonus disc for the album.

New songs:

 See You Around [“I’ll See You Around Sometime”]
 Always A Fool For A Pretty Face [“Always A Fool”]
 Eye Of The Needle
 Ballad Of The One Eyed Man [“One Eyed Man”]
 Ready To Go [“I’m Not Ready”]
 Sad Songs [“Sing Me A Sad Song”]
 Don’t You Know Me
 Blue Morning
Songs in [] indicate early names of nicknames I gave the songs at the time.

There were two or three other new songs that we were not given a name for, bringing the total time playing to about 85 minutes.

“See You Around” is an excellent ballad about a broken relationship. If it turns out as excellent on the album as the simple live performance was, this could be a single.

I think it was before “Eye Of The Needle” that Mark talked about him musically wanted to go in the direction of folk music (he felt he was being called)> he mentioned that hopefully he would be able to take some of us along with him.

“I’m Not Ready” seems to be a song about not wanting to die. I’m not exactly sure where this came from or more lyrics on it, I will have to wait for the album.

“Ballad Of The One Eyed Man” Mark described as being about a seriously disfigured man he came across in Kings Cross at night (bad place to be at any time). The one eyed man was with some friends, and Mark had to give them money, but could not give them enough. Mark explains that what they did to him then he will never forget (seems pretty bad, and he was not about to explain it).

“Sing Me A Sad Song” is just a title I have thought of for a song that I do not think we were given a title for. Mark talked about it for a while before hand. It is about a women he had a relationship with at some stage (that he met in a small club like the one we were in). Mark explained that it ended in a lot of tears, at which stage a couple of guys towards the front cheered. Mark mentioned that the young man in the front seems to find this appealing, and then commented “I’m not so sure I like this”.

“Don’t You Know Me” is the new single for release early January. This was not played until the encore. The whole song is a lot better than the small snip that you may or may not have found on the Mark Seymour official website.

When Mark initially went offstage, the crowd was very slow at making a racket to get him back. Eventually some people started off yelling “Encore” (with three claps) and that caught on. When Mark got back on stage, he said that the lack of wanting him back was “f***ing s***house”. The crowd was pretty slack in getting their act together.

In the earlier songs Mark said “thankyou” after every song, while towards the end as he got more relaxed we got “thankyou very much”.

Upon entering the place we got little business cards that read:

—–

LOG ON.
LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.
STAY INFORMED.

NEW SINGLE
‘DON’T YOU KNOW ME’ OUT 15/01/01
NEW ALBUM
‘ONE EYES MAN’ OUT 12/02/01

markseymour.com.au

—–

The Internet site was in very big text, the major focus of the card. Mark mentioned that there were 5 people in the album recording and it was not the easiest thing converting it to the one man show he was doing. For one song he mentioned that it went on for another two minutes with all sorts of strings and things (I can not remember which song though).

At one stage Mark talked about all his songs being “sad”. He said that even his kids like sad songs. He went further with this, explaining that they love Britney Spears, but every so often a sad song comes on that they really like. He continued talking about his songs being sad, and finished up with commenting “because happy is boring”. I like that statement, a lot.

That is all I can remember!

Mark Seymour live is nothing like the Hunters & Collectors experience in that it is a lot smaller, more personal, and not as heavy (much simpler arrangement). That given, if you like Mark Seymour’s solo material, the show will impress.

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