Amanda Palmer Ninja Gig

Went to the Amanda Palmer gig tonight, but now its nearly one and I am very tired. This is just to reserve a space I guess. I just finished off the small bottle of Yamazaki whiskey I bought from Japan, so still feeling pretty awesome after bike rides, live music more bikes and powerful storm generated by a lovers quarrel between Zeus and Thor.


And here’s the write-up:

The Carillon is ringing out tunes, like the Cell Block Tango and Coin-Operated Boy. This is roughly how the Amanda Palmer Ninja Gig began. All the while Mr Fibby and band plead and beg and curse towards the concrete bell tower. They need her to stop so that they may begin. And just as all of the bells stop, a thunderhead rolls across the sky, blotting it out.

Kaelee and I rode our bikes to the Rat Patrol headquarters (or perhaps just one of them) where this entire adventure began. The Rat Patrol is DIY bicycle club, a motley crew that cruise around town on junkers, clunkers, choppers, tandems, all of which are Frankensteins, welded and bolted together from the corpses of dead bikes. I managed to meet and briefly chat a few members, before Ms Palmer rocked up and then it was on to get down to the Carillon on Aspen Island. There would have easily been sixty, seventy, maybe even eighty people, all pedaling towards the city centre.

This mob swarmed the bike paths and cluttered up suburban rodes as it made its way down to Garema for a brief break and photo-op, before setting off again towards Commonwealth Park. Then through the park and around the lake towards the bell tower, where more people were waiting to hear the performance.

A piano showed up, Mr Fibby and Band produced instruments and were about to play when suddenly the Carillon piped up, its bells chiming away, until a tune began to form. Amanda Palmer was up there knocking out Coin-Operated Boy on an old-looking pedal keyboard. CCTV at a nearby kiosk showed her playing away. Then the Carillionist wanted to show her a thing or two and what song she could knock out of the bells. At this point Mr Fibby who were waiting to open began screaming at the tower and then the CCTV monitor for her to stop so that they could start.

Behind them , clouds came steamrolling over the sky, blackened with storm that wanted to flatten anything in the way. And when the lightening made a crease across the night and the first drops began to fall, it was then that everyone ran for the nearest shelter under the bell-tower. For a short while there was some relief. But the wind made sure that no one would be left dry, as it seemed to blow in from all directions. As people made makeshift shelters, someone had the forethought of bringing a big enough tarp for Mr Fibby to continue playing under.

After a short while, Amanda Palmer stepped out, asked for a ukulele and began playing a few tunes, including Map of Tasmania and Creep. People sang along and cheered despite the seemingly apocalyptic storm. Then things were handing things back to Mr Fibby and band to tell one final tale about Koschei the Deathless.

At this point most people had left, the cold and the wet finally making Kaelee and I leave. We rode through the night back to the bunker to get somewhat dry and dredge up some food and to drive her home. An excellent and tiring night all round.

Here are some photos. Most have a resolution of 1200 x 900 pixels. Right-click them to see there full resolution, unless your monitor is huge.

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