A Double Shot Of Bibby – Sydney Festival Village Bandstand/Brighton Up Bar, 24th January ’15

In town to belatedly launch an album peppered with expletives and tales of rampant inebriation, Peter Bibby seemed a tad out of place on Sydney Festival’s Village Bandstand Stage.

Under glorious afternoon sunshine the gathered masses appeared to be a blend of innocent bystanders and curious fans, eager to see if a family friendly Bibby show was within the realms of possibility.

Performing on his lonesome, the set opened with a couple of quirky non album tracks concerning comfortable chairs and medication before we soon morphed into carefully selected and sometimes edited tracks off the Butcher/Hairstylist/Beautician album.

Void of the usual back up of bass, drums and violin we were treated to tender reworkings of ‘Goodbye Johnny‘, ‘Friends‘ and crowd favourite ‘She Hates My Boozin‘.

With plenty of children milling about the difficulty in maintaining a G rating was exacerbated when a couple of youngsters plonked down right in front of stage.

Regardless, ‘Stinking Rich‘ went ahead with the careful self administering of bleeps merely enhancing the humour. Likewise ‘Cunt‘ got a cheeky airing, the effortless changing of ‘cunt’ to ‘country’ floating harmlessly over the head of the oblivious whilst obtaining giggles from those in the know.

In what seemed almost like a last ditch burst of rebellion the set closed with a little ditty about murder. “I want to be murdered and chopped up into little bits” may not contain any naughty words but it doesn’t exactly file neatly into the family entertainment category either.

Whilst it was pleasure enough to experience a delicate performance of somewhat gritty songs, further excitement was around the corner: in a stroke of last minute fortune Peter Bibby And His Bottles Of Confidence were to be slotting onto a bill that evening at The Brighton Up Bar, this time in three piece mode.

With four hours to fill, there was adequate time for scoffing of food and beverages prior to making our way to Oxford St for phase two of the evening. Upon arrival it was noted we weren’t the only stalkers that had returned for another dose, with a few familiar faces recognisable from the afternoon’s festivities.

Accompanied by his ‘Where’s Wally?’ rhythm section, P. Bibby emphatically swilled VB and promised to “sort you cunts out”. And that he did.

Freed from the shackles of censorship ‘Home Alone‘ was unleashed early, explicit content delivered with frequent fervour.

Ploughing through ‘Stinking Rich‘ and ‘Medicine‘ and spinning anecodotes about vomiting in children’s playgrounds, it was clear the man was back firmly in his element.

The brief impromptu set was completed back in solo mode as we were treated to the as yet unreleased track called ‘Hippies‘. Scathing, scarily accurate and extremely amusing, it was a great way to conclude the night.

Filing out onto the street, we marvelled at the spontaneous turn the evening had taken. It was a fine chance to see a unique songwriter in two different modes on the same day. This called for ongoing merriment as we headed out into the night to put a bit more work into the next day’s hangovers.

Photos: Benon Julius William Otto Koebsch

Author
Recent Posts

Gavin Stocker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Outside of Across The Ocean Gavin Stocker writes, records and performs music under the moniker of P Truck.

He can also be found clinging to his youth on a skateboard or wandering aimlessly through the bush.