It was one of those moments when you hear your crazy calling and decide in a split second to just indulge it. Your favourite singer was performing 3 nights in a row on the same island as you ... why not go to all three gigs?
Sure it meant driving more than the entire length of said island in less than 3 days, while going to three concerts, booking motels, concert tickets, taking a half day off work, but life is for living and following your passions, and everyone knows I'm passionate about the glorious Tami Neilson.
Luckily for me my husband is a fan boy of almost equal proportions (competitive moi?), so he was all up for the adventure.
The first night of the adventure was a Thursday night, and Tami was performing at Charles Luney Auditorium here in Christchurch. It was sold out and it was a very refined, well behaved audience... well except for the devotees like us, who of course know the words of her songs and cheer and whoop enthusiastically.
The show was part of the Cavell Leitch New Zealand Jazz and Blues Festival. It was an exploration of the road from gospel to rock and roll. Tami sang examples of early gospel and blues and talked about the influence of various artists such as Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mavis Staples on artists such as Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan and many others. The second half of the show was her own work. Her band, her 'Red Hot Band of Rhythm', are all top New Zealand musicians she has worked with often and they are obviously loving what they do.
Friday lunchtime, we leave work at 12, rush home, throw some clothes and snacks in the car and head nonstop for Dunedin. Another awesome concert - a different crowd and venue gives a different vibe, more intimate and grateful. You get the sense so many more people here actually know her music.
Next morning, and we're heading to Queenstown, through parts of the country we haven't seen in decades, if ever.There's a little snow around, hardly any traffic, and the rolling hills through the Rock and Pillar range are truly breathtaking. Road trips in New Zealand are just wondrous.
It's a weird little crowd at this last gig. They've got a definite country pub thing going on, a lot of them have been drinking for quite a while, so are behaving rather boorishly and in the end, Tami, after trying her darnedest to engage with them, gives them what they want, music to dance to - she even sings Happy birthday.
We get back home that night wishing we didn't have work in the morning, but the memories and the music are buzzing in our brains, and does so for days after.
If you have a passion for music, check out the wealth of music and learning to be had within Christchurch City Libraries' databases, like American Song which offers rich pickings in many genres, Gospel being among them.
So, moral of this long tale? Take a chance, if you say, "no, that's crazy I shouldn't" then I strongly recommend that you do. Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Find out more
- Find Tami Neilson in our catalogue
- Tami Neilson's website
- Find music eResources (including streaming music)
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