Wow, what a weekend! It had it all really - like good Thai...some sweet, some spicy, some tangy and some hot. OK, so it was more than just some hot...it was all the hot we could handle. Perth hasn't had any rain for about 100 days - and what it lacks in rain it makes up for in pure, unfiltered, blister inducing sun. We from rainy ol' NZ to 42C....mental. And it barely made it below 35C the whole trip. It meant we spent A LOT of time in the pool, or near the pool sipping cocktails. A tough life for sure.
Actually the trip got off to a crazy start when Clubba Laing (our erstwhile trumpet man) was called back to NZ for some important bizo...he literally got off one plane, got the call, and had to climb straight back onboard an outbound flight. More on that later I'm sure, but suffice to say our gigs this weekend were dedicated to Clubba and his whanau.
Hopepa and I did think about shining a light into the sky in the hope that some masked super-hero horn player might see the come to our rescue, but in the end we held it down with just the two of us - and I think we did Clubba proud.
Much like the Capped Crusader, the Freddys tend to do our best work as night descends - when the moon is up and the temperature down a few degrees, when the light gets magical and marauders from midnight and beyond start to unravel slowly but surely to the music. And so it was at The Fremantle Arts Centre last weekend.... a great venue, a switched on crowd, a beautiful night and a slamming gig. We also had the mighty mighty Gilles Peterson in support - a true legend of the musical underground for more than 20 years. Gilles was one of the first DJs to pick up on Midnight Marauders when it first dropped, so it was an honour to share the stage with him in a proper gig and his mix of classic latin, afro and soul alongside the freshest joints had the crowd whipped to a frenzy by the time we hit the stage.
Not going to spend too much time talking about our set, other than to say it was full of twists and turns, and we had a blast. We celebrated DJ Fitchie's birthday with a giant sing-a-long and plenty of whisky after the show.
The next night we hit Busstleton for Womubu Festival with the incredible Antibalas Afrobeat Orch. These guys rule. Plain and simple - you just gotta check 'em out. For all those in WGTN, they're playing as part of the International Arts Fest on Mar 9th... A DEF MUST SEE. While Womubu was one of the smaller festivals we've played, it was also one of the best in terms of atmosphere and location - again I urge you to get to Old Broadwater Farm one day and support these guys - they're onto something special and it deserves to be successful and grow.
Was great to drop some reworked FFD classics on the crowd, and I gotta say the WA crowd totally get where we're coming from. Can't wait to come back.
