The Mary Tour

On Wednesday night a group of us went along to a gig at The Bended Elbow, for Sparkadia's Mary Tour. Although a disappointing crowd for a uni night in Ballarat, AB himself talked about being a trail-blazer to this venue for gigs. Could be...

I waited for Mary to get to Ballarat, and then we met Katie, Michelle, and Michelle at Thai Fusion for dinner. A few wines got us started, and the always great food here made sure we were set for the night. Kay joined us as we were wrapping up, and we walked down Lydiard Street to the venue.

First up were The Trouble with Templeton, before the Canadian group Imaginary Cities impressed. This 6 piece band, with a female lead vocalist, played some catchy indie pop tunes, and engaged with the small audience - including passing a beer to a guy who got up and danced.

Opening with The Great Impression, Alex Burnett started out the Sparkadia set, and worked his way through a mix of his first and sophomore albums.

Tracks like China, Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs, Hurt Me, Fingerprints and the tour title Mary, featured from the awesome album released this year. Many of these gained the sing-a-long response they deserved, regardless of the smaller crowd size. The older songs were also sharp, with Too Much To Do early, Animals, and then ending the encore with Jealousy. Great set.

Given the small venue, we had a chance to chat to Alex after the show, and grabbed photos with him. Katie was working on an idea that he could write a song about Katrina, given he already has one now called Mary....ha. We also gave him breakfast recommendations for the next morning in Ballarat. Ha. Too many wines!