Holding the Man - A Life Changer - Part 3

Holding the Man - The Red Carpet!

The whole 'movie premiere' spectacle was a new experience for me. We had made ourselves gorgeous in readiness for the event, and Caroline had pulled me into a gaggle of her family, who were all equally as lovely and welcoming. As I stood there in my prime position directly behind the official red carpet photographers,waiting for the stars of the movie to arrive, my thoughts went to John. I had a pretty firm idea of my John and how he should look, sound and act. My only contact with Craig had been via Twitter and he had come across as warm, friendly and a bit cheeky. But would he be my John?

There was a buzz on the other side of the photo area as the important people arrived. There they were; Craig Stott and Ryan Corr - John and Tim.

Craig Stott and Ryan Corr

They moved out onto the red carpet and the cameras began to flash. They were smiling, laughing and waving to family, so I quickly lifted my camera to begin to take advantage of my incredible position. I got pushed forward by people who took one look at my camera and decided that I should be the 'official' unofficial photographer of the group. Apparently I was also considered 'tall'. This amused me no end, as I'm pretty much as average as you can get height-wise. Only 5'6, 5'8 at a push with the heels (I don't do high heels!). Still, this let me stick my camera (and others that got passed to me) high in the air to shoot over the heads of the photographers who actually knew what they were doing.

Director, Neil Armfield, Craig & Ryan 

Ryan came across as a handsome, toned-down version of Tim, and I felt quite comfortable with that.

Craig , Sarah Snook & Ryan 

It was fantastic to see the cast and crew in high spirits and so very proud of the story that they had brought to life on film.

Cast and Crew of Holding the Man

But there was Craig - smiling, chatty, bubbly, self-assured and altogether Tim-like. Not my John at all. I just couldn't imagine this sassy little dude doing the quiet and calm John thing.

Geoffrey Rush, Ryan, Craig & Anthony LaPaglia

I started to think that I was going into a movie which wasn't going to quite match the pictures in my head, particularly when Craig had a rather adorable emotional meltdown over meeting Australian comedy icon, Magda Szubanski.

Aw!

But then, I caught a couple of moments on camera that made me rethink...

There was Tim and John. This was going to be just fine!

I have to mention this magic moment. Standing directly behind the person doing the interviews certainly had benefits...

Most of the photos I caught of Craig during the interview were of him talking, so they were actually pretty funny, but he was rather pleased with this one, so I'll put it here just for him.

As things were winding up on the red carpet, Craig made his way over to his family and exchanged hugs and kisses. I was floored when he looked at me and somehow made the connection between my online presence and the real me, coming over to give me a hug and kiss. What a sweetie. I got to have a little fan-girl moment of my own.

Holding the Man: The Movie.

We filed in and waited patiently for things to get underway. The cast and crew had to do the rounds of three cinemas that were screening the movie before coming to us, where they would be sitting. We had some quick speeches and lovely introductions. The sense of pride from all concerned was palpable and left us expecting something amazing. The only disappointment was that I didn't get to share my viewing of the film with Caroline. I know she would have held my hand and passed me the tissues had she been there. But she was in another of the cinemas with Craig's family, thanks to the last minute acquisition of a ticket to the sold out event.

The feels began right from the opening scene, with Tim's distraught phone call to his friend, Pepe. It pretty much set the scene for the amount of crying that would be involved. But then I got caught up in the production. The richness of the detail was incredible. Kudos to all involved in creating the sets, costumes and music for this amazing film. The good old wheel-out folder bed took me straight back to my childhood, as did the decor schemes of the 70s and 80s. 

As far as the screenplay goes, I guess, in the back of my mind, I was anticipating a story-line similar to that of the book. Now, don't get me wrong, the movie was extremely faithful to Tim's story, but brilliant screenwriter, Tommy Murphy, shook things up to create magic. The book begins with sweet young love, the challenges of being accepted (or not) by family and society and many of the usual difficulties associated with maintaining a relationship. It was full of humour, honesty and emotion. But inevitably, we had to follow the boys through the period of their diagnosis and decline in health, particularly John's. While Tim managed to maintain his quirky humour throughout this part of the book, I fully expected to descend into depression as the movie progressed.

Very cleverly, Tommy reworked the story into a series of time-jumps, taking us backwards and forwards in their lives in a way that brought balance to the emotional journey despite the inevitable sadness of the conclusion. But even there, we were treated to a moment of lightness, not to mention a special little surprise right at the very end. Stay until the end of the credits, kids!

The flawless soundtrack has to rate a mention, featuring Aussie bands of the era, such as Dragon and Masters Apprentices, as well as Roxy Music, T-Rex, Bronski Beat and Pete Shelley. I've always found music to be a powerful medium for drawing you into a time period and for evoking memories of your own life. I was particularly impressed with the way it was used to link the jumps in time.

I can't go on without mentioning the cast who breathed life into the people and families from the pages of Tim's book. Anthony LaPaglia's powerful but heart-wrenching portrayal of Bob Caleo was beautifully handled and highlighted the fact that, despite his disapproval of John's relationship with Tim and the abysmal way he treated them, Bob still loved his son deeply. Guy Pearce and Kerry Fox as Tim's parents Dick and Mary Gert, and Camilla Ah Kin as John's mother, Lois, completed the exceptional supporting cast responsible for revealing the way the families dealt with Tim and John's journey.

However, Holding the Man wouldn't shine as brightly as it does without the stellar performances of leading men, Ryan Corr and Craig Stott. My only exposure to Ryan's acting prior to this film was the Aussie sci-fi kids series, Silversun - a favourite of my son's in the mid-90s. Needless to say I was blown away by his sensitive, pitch-perfect portrayal of Tim. From the first scene in Italy and Tim's frantic phone call to recover tiny details of his time with John that were escaping him as his illness progressed, to the awkward final gathering in the hospital room, Ryan was masterful. I recall messaging Tommy Murphy, hoping that he had written Tim as a likable, selfish prick. Having now seen the movie several times, I have to say he was successful in that endeavour, though I'd have to change the word 'likable' to 'lovable'.

Then there was Craig as John. The cheeky sense of humour was there, the charm, the magnetism of the character that draws you to love John as much as Tim obviously did. But Craig also brought John's calm and quiet dignity to life onscreen. I was pleased to see that Craig brought some balance to John in the form of jealousy and rage. Tim's voice in HTM was so very clear, but John was more of a mystery and was held on quite a pedestal by Tim. Craig managed to maintain the image that Tim painted but also injected some human imperfection into his performance.

I know I wasn't alone in being shocked by the physical transformation that Craig had to undergo as the film progressed and John's health declined. It was heart-breaking to see such a healthy and vital young man reduced to a painfully thin, frail invalid. The enactment of confronting medical scenes brought home the horror and harsh reality of AIDS related illness. During my second viewing of the movie, several people felt compelled to leave at this point of the film, obviously traumatised by the procedures that were depicted. I struggled through them, knowing that the reality was so much worse than anything I was seeing on screen. If those poor boys had to go through it repeatedly, the least I could do was honour their memory by watching.

When John finally slips away, and your heart has been totally pummeled, you are left reeling at the injustices that left Tim unable to hold the hand of his long-term partner and lover in the moments of his death...the man who should have been his husband. To add to the pain, their beautiful love is then completely disregarded at John's funeral. The tragedy of this scenario is that things still haven't changed. The love between two people of the same gender is still considered to be of inferior quality to heterosexual love in our country. I could go on, but I think I'll continue my rant in a future post.

It's a telling measure of a successful performance when you leave the cinema grieving the loss of a character. It's a measure of brilliance when you are still mourning that character three weeks later! So, Craig Stott as John Caleo - ideal. I walked out of that cinema trying to be subtle about mopping up tears but incredibly happy.

PS

I have now seen the movie four times with different friends and relatives. By viewing four, I could make it through with barely a tear (just), but was always delighted to find that my movie buddy had enjoyed the film tremendously and was now going to share the story of Tim and John's love.

Holding the Man - A Life Changer - Part 2

A short post, to take us up to the night of the Holding the Man premiere...

Melbourne

The Melbourne International Film Festival...never in a million years would I have thought I'd be telling people that I was going to a film festival, let alone one in Melbourne. Yet, here I was on, on a plane to Melbourne (finally, no thanks to bloody Jetstar...mumble, grumble). I had a movie to see. I had a new friend to meet for the first time in person who was kind enough to offer me her home and hospitality. I had sight-seeing to do and photographs to take. I had to meet a cheeky young man who had promised me a cuddle after watching his traumatic film performance. All this, thanks to a book.

My beautiful Caroline met me at the airport with a most excellent hug and the announcement that we were meeting her godson for dinner later. A car-park adventure and postponement later, we were heading to her place to meet her family instead. Caroline, her parents and fur-babies made me feel extremely welcome and we chatted until late in the evening before crashing in utter exhaustion, thanks to my messed up flights during the wee hours of the morning.

Friday was a very relaxed affair. After brunch Caroline drove us to the mountains to see Mount Macedon and the beautiful bushland. 

We had a shot of caffeine and bit of a hike through the mud to discover some awesome views...

 ...and fluffy wildlife. Can you spot it?

Just before sunset I caught a peek of the Mt Macedon War Memorial through the encroaching mist.

I got to have a bit of photographic fun, catching a rather dark and cloudy sunset for my Polaroid Blipfoto journal. 

We tried to visit Hanging Rock on the way home, but, unfortunately, missed opening times. That trip is on the agenda for my next visit. Still, we encountered a wombat on the road on the way, so the slight detour was totally worth it.

More deep and meaningful conversations happened that night (no surprises there) before we crashed, ready for our big MIFF Centrepiece Gala premiere of Holding the Man the next day.

A Slight Detour - A Personal Pilgrimage

The day of the premiere, Caroline was kind enough to take me to the cemetery where John had been laid to rest. She had already been there with Craig in an effort for them both to find some closure and to pay their respects to this remarkable young man. This is how hard the story hit them, and I understood completely. I took flowers, bright and cheerful tulips from Ms Holland. I stood at the grave and sent a message to the beautiful boy that I'd never known, but who had touched me so deeply. It felt terribly wrong, seeing that single headstone there with no Timothy Conigrave beside him. 

He should have been there.

:'(

Holding the Man - A Life Changer - Part 1

Prepare for a series of posts that are going to meander all over the place as I try to assemble my many thoughts and memories. Oddly enough, this all starts with Muse. Yeah, I know. Those boys have a lot to answer for when it comes to life-changing experiences. Thankfully, I'm not the only Muse obsessive in the universe and the online world brings together a lot of similarly addicted lunatics. One particular lunatic is a wonderful lady named Caroline. We have been cross-continental Facebook buddies for quite a while, enjoying meaningful chats about life, the universe and three dorks from Devon.

Early signs of wonderful

Around May, I began to notice Caroline sharing many, many posts about an upcoming Australian film called Holding the Man (HTM for when I get lazy). Being nosy, I looked into this further, only to discover that the film was, in fact, a gay love story. Knowing that my nephew would be really keen to see it, I started sharing the links to the film. Noticing my interest, Caroline shared some special news with me...her godson, Craig Stott, was actually starring in the movie! Her excitement and pride in the project was infectious, and I couldn't help but get caught up in the buzz as she shared her pictures from the world premiere at the Sydney International Film Festival in June.

That was about the time I realised that there was to be another premiere event, at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Melbourne. Sigh. I was itching to return to Melbourne after a ridiculously short visit in 2013 during which I spent two days standing in Muse queues. Yes. I really am that dedicated (and by dedicated, I mean mental). At this point, things went a little crazy...

First, I persuaded Caroline to join me in the Twitterverse (a move she may be regretting) where she continued to spread the excitement about HTM. I purchased the book on Kindle and spent a couple of days riding an emotional roller-coaster, trying to read words on my computer screen though eyes that seemed intent on misting over repeatedly. Conversations between Caroline and myself, and eventually Craig led to me asking him for an interview. For those of you have who read my 'interview' with Peter Bailey, you will probably realise that me asking for an interview basically means that I just want to chat about random stuff that may or may not be related to the person's job. Anyway, because Craig's a lovely bloke, and possibly because Caroline convinced him that I'm not a total lunatic, he agreed and I planned ways to make this happen via the interwebs.

However, I had not counted on the crazy workings of the universe and changing plans. I have no idea who suggested the Melbourne trip first, but once the seed was planted, it took root and grew quickly. I found myself checking flights (Oh, look! I have enough points to cover a trip to Melbourne) and trying to buy tickets to MIFF (Oh, they are all sold out. I can't go). When an act of incredible generosity on Caroline's behalf presented me with the opportunity to actually see the movie, I eventually decided that I shouldn't ignore the door that was opening. I booked my leave, booked my flights and made preparations to leave my kids in loving, capable hands. I was going to Melbourne!

Back it up a little

I need to share a little about the book for you to understand just how profound an effect it had on me. If you have not yet read it, and you simply must, consider this to be a spoiler warning. Bear in mind that I am no literature expert and I should read far more widely that I do, but I can tell you how a book makes me feel, and making you feel is one thing that Holding the Man does well.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'd never heard of the book prior to this year, and the fact that I'm not alone in this is a tragedy. Holding the Man is the 1995 memoir of Australian actor/writer/activist, Timothy Conigrave. Full of hilarity and familiar Australianisms, it follows Tim's life and his fifteen year relationship with high school sweetheart, John Caleo.

Let me kick off with a quick bio of the author taken from the front of the Kindle e-book:

Timothy Conigrave was born in Melbourne in 1959 and educated at Xavier College and Monash University. He trained as an actor at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1984. He appeared in such plays as Brighton Beach Memoirs and As Is and with The Fabulous Globos. He initiated the project Soft Targets, seen at Griffin Theatre in 1986. His other plays include Blitz Kids and Thieving Boy. Timothy Conigrave died in October 1994, ten days after completing Holding the Man.

Conigrave, Timothy (1996-07-02). Holding the Man (Kindle Locations 67-71). Penguin Group Australia. Kindle Edition.

Tim's gift for honest story-telling (sometimes to the point of mortification) dragged me into their lives so completely that I felt as though I was reading about good friends. I could easily picture them and could even see the 'Tim' and 'John' from my own school days; boys who would fit the same character profiles. Tim, the creative and flamboyant activist and John, the quiet but macho footie hero. I knew them by other names, but I knew them nonetheless. Having said that, I couldn't imagine this story ever playing out in my gold-mining hometown in the bush as it did within the more diverse cultures of Melbourne and Sydney. Despite this, I felt profoundly connected to the story in ways I hadn't anticipated.

The early parts of this story, when the boys first meet, took me straight back to my childhood in the 70s and 80s. The Australian slang and unique vocabulary, the teen-speak and the awkwardness of early conversations on the phone with your crush were disturbingly familiar. My family didn't have a home phone until 1979! I was eleven years old and in love with a boy named Ewan who was a year older than me . He gave me his phone number and I still recall making that first terrifying phone call. I'd been praying that he would answer the phone, but, of course, it was an adult and I could barely speak. She was impatient and snappy with me while I stuttered out who I was and with whom I wanted to speak. Such a scarring experience for the painfully shy child that I was. I have no idea what we spoke about. In all likelihood it was the chops, potatoes and peas of John and Tim's conversation.

Then there's the teen angst; parents who just don't understand the intensity of your emotions at that tender age, music that becomes a loyal friend who understands what you're going through, secret defiant meetups, note-passing. I know I'm not the only one who lived this. The familiarity with which Tim wrote these experiences totally eliminated any awareness of fact that I was reading about two boys falling in love. Open discussion of his sexuality had, quite rightly, no bearing on the sweetness of their developing relationship.

Moving forward into the university years, I found more personal connections. For me, this period of my life happened between 1986 and 1988, a good ten years after the experiences related in HTM. While the book hardly parallels my life, I still found so much to hook onto. I remember the uni activists clearly - the politically minded kids who were heavily involved in campus causes. I certainly wasn't one of them. I guess I can relate to John in that regard. I was the quiet kid, getting on with my studies, occasionally getting drunk and not particularly involved in the university lifestyle.  I had a series of boyfriends, one of them serious enough for me to actually marry at the young and dumb age of twenty one. When Tim talked about the urge to explore outside of his relationship, I definitely understood the sentiment, having been with my partner for many years at that time when my friends were all out and about, partying and having fun.

My marriage inevitably ended a couple of years later and I began to date. It was an exciting time, but it came with the spectre of the frightening AIDS warnings and TV ads, such as the one featuring the Grim Reaper bowling. Still, as I mentioned, young and dumb. I had been with one particular boyfriend for several months when I started to get sick. Tonsillitis struck first. Then, about 5 months later, I became constantly nauseous, faint and incredibly tired, to the point where I would fall asleep almost as soon as I sat down. I visited the doctor many, many times. They took blood repeatedly and sent it off for testing, but nothing came up to explain my illness. I developed a massive cold-sore on my chin, my glands were all swollen, my abdomen was tender, I lost my job and still the doctor had no idea what was wrong. I don't remember where we were or how the conversation came about, but one day my desperately worried dad looked at me and said, "I hope you don't have AIDS."

My world rocked on its axis. Had that thought crossed my mind? Of course. Had I been having safe sex? At first...yes. But the longer I stayed with this boy, the more relaxed we became, and I was on the pill after all. Pregnancy was our biggest concern, right? This became a time of nightmares. I was truly terrified, particularly with the ongoing lack of diagnosis. Finally, a doctor decided to send my blood sample to the city for analysis. When it finally came back, I don't think he had ever seen a patient so happy to be diagnosed with glandular fever in his career!

Somehow, I had managed to repress the memory of this entire ordeal, so when I hit the section of Holding the Man where the boys received their HIV positive diagnosis, I was totally swamped with traumatic emotion. For them - so young, so oblivious to the risk, so in love -and for me - who should have known better than to end up in a situation like that.

I spent the rest of the book in tears or near-tears, trying to read on-screen pages that insisted on blurring. I walked away many times, knowing exactly how things were going to end, and trying to delay the inevitable despite Tim's beautiful, heart-felt story-telling. I fell in love with them both and wanted nothing more than to just hold them as they dealt with the unfair consequences of their naivete. I have so much admiration for Tim's resolve to tell his story, warts and all. He could have held back, he could have painted himself in brighter colours, but he lets the reader in to see everything of himself.

Tim also gives us a picture of John Caleo in his book. In descriptions of his lover, Tim allowed himself to be generous. I was left with an image of John as a calm, quiet and sweet soul who was loved by all. In Tim's eyes, John was tolerant and forgiving, loyal and loving. On the surface they appeared to be a mismatch, but Tim took me on a journey that proved, without a doubt, that their love ran deep. 

Reaching the end of the book is devastating. This beautiful love story deserved a happy ending after the hardship and trauma endured by the boys. If there is any rightness to the universe, Tim and John are now together, still in love and happy.

So much to talk about...

I thought I'd bring my topic list with me, just to see how much I could squeeze into one post. It's been a very busy couple of weeks since I last wrote and if I don't clear my head, it will probably explode. Always a messy business. So, let's look at what's been happening...

Dylan Moran

For those of you unfamiliar with this brilliant comedian, Mr Moran is an Irish actor, comedian, film maker and writer. I first came across him in the TV series Black Books in which he played the constantly drunk, bad-tempered, chain-smoking bastard of a bookshop owner, Bernard Black. I must have caught him sometime later performing on a televised comedy festival and was impressed with his stand-up routine, which, while it also sounded as though he delivered in a alcohol affected state, was quick and very clever.

When the chance to see him live in Perth arose, I jumped at it. Finding a buddy to jump at it with me proved a little more difficult, until the last moment when suddenly I had three offers in the space of an hour. I made the trek up to Perth, meeting with two friends, one of whom was an online Muse buddy that I had never met in person before. That's one of the great things about Muse buddies. You meet them knowing you already have at least one thing in common, regardless of other differences. So, armed with my old buddy and my new buddy we headed to the show where I managed to locate my third buddy in the section next to ours. The show didn't disappoint. Dylan delivered his searingly witty show complete with plenty of local references to places and politics which instantly endeared him to the audience. Much of his humour was based on clever word play and juxtaposition. At one point he was mocking the bizarre courses available for study these days, such as 'nuclear dance' or 'marine accountancy'. He also targeted subjects such as middle age, weight management, men, women, parenting and children with much self-deprecation. For anyone who has never come across him before, here is a quick snippet from back in 2006: Dylan Moran in Australia - The English Voice. 

If you get the chance, get yourself to a live Dylan Moran show. You won't regret it.

Knee pain

The ongoing knee saga continues. I went to see the surgeon the day I flew out to Melbourne (which turned out to be the day before I flew out to Melbourne, but that's another story). Unsurprisingly, I have quite a bit of cartilage deterioration (cheers hockey, volleyball, aerobics and athletics - sport is so good for you). Now, cartilage cannot be grown back, so it's not fixable as such, but I'm going to have operations on both knees to clean up the jagged bits and to loosen tight tissues which are affecting both kneecaps. Doesn't that sound like fun? The first surgery is happening on the day I return from seeing Muse in Hong Kong, because, well, why not? As it turns out, my surgeon will be away for the second week of the school holidays. By having my surgery on that day, I get a week and a bit of recovery time before returning to school. I might have to go to the Robbie Williams gig on crutches, but I'm tough. I'll survive. The second op will be on the Christmas holidays, probably in January. Something to look forward to. Hopefully it will be worth the pain, money and inconvenience. No doubt there will be follow up entries to share my uplifting knee surgery experience. Wish me luck.

Minions

I don't get minions. I haven't seen the associated movies and have no desire to do so. The fact that the little, yellow bastards are now popping up EVERYWHERE is causing me great distress. Two weeks ago I had to suffer through an entire school assembly featuring bloody minions. I gritted my teeth and smiled for the benefit of the children, but secretly harboured thoughts of blenders. To exacerbate the problem, they often turn up on my Facebook feed complete with rather excellent quotes that I can relate to so well, but out of pure bloody-mindedness, I refuse to re-post the vermin in the hopes that the yellow plague will gradually disappear. So, just for the record, the pictured minions are the only minions that are even vaguely acceptable near me...

Magic Mike XXL

Let's get the classy stuff out of the way. With all of the hype surrounding Magic Mike XXL (and a passing interest in seeing semi-clad men dancing), I decided to go along to see the movie. Having not seen the first installment, I tracked it down to bring myself up to speed. I'm pleased to say that I went into both films with very low expectations of a riveting story line, so I was not at all disappointed. I got to enjoy 90 minutes of eye candy without having to endure the smelly club full of pissed-up screaming women to go with it. Better yet, I got to see it with one of my best mates from Kalgoorlie. Perfect. So, was it a good movie? Hell no. Did it deliver exactly what it promised. Yep.

Merry Gentry series

I've managed to get myself rather hooked on a series of books by Laurell K Hamilton. I'm yet to tackle her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, mostly because I was interested in researching the fairy erotica genre. As such, I have totally lost myself in the Meredith Gentry: Fairy Princess/Private Eye series. A description of the series from her website looks like this: The Meredith Gentry series published by Ballantine Books features Meredith Gentry as a part‐human, part‐fey private investigator. Under orders from her aunt Andais, Queen of the Unseelie Court, Meredith is in a race to become pregnant and ascend the throne before her cousin Cel does. The cost of failure will be her own life and that of those who follow her.

I've found the series to be compelling reading; fantastically detailed characters, gripping plot and a fascinatingly dark take on fairy culture. If a dangerous 'race to become pregnant' sounds like your kind of thing, check it out.

Photography


With interest increasing in my sunset photography, I decided to start a Facebook page specifically for my photos. Check it out here:

T Holland Photography

I also include my live music photography and travel photography, purely for entertainment at this point. Perhaps one day it could become a professional page. We'll see...

In the meantime, my hobby is allowing me to meet a whole range of interesting people who also visit the beach at that time. It's a brilliant way to wind down after work, whether I'm at the beach or just on the front lawn. Wholesome natural therapy.


Travel!!! (yeah, and Muse)

Ah yes. One of my favourite hobbies! I've recently been to Melbourne, but I'm going to save the details of that trip for my next post which will also feature these previously mentioned topics.

Gay marriage
Holding the Man - book and movie
MIFF
Online friends
Writing
Getting a life
Doors opening / doors closing
Comfort zones

I'm going to keep you hanging to see how they all connect up...

In other news, in just over a month, I'm heading off to Singapore with my niece and nephew to see my boys. Muse are performing throughout Asia in late September and I've been able to wangle two shows into a one week trip to Singapore and Hong Kong. This is my first time seeing them live since 2013 and I'm extremely excited to see them performing the new material from the Drones album, released in June this year. Head to the Muse Youtube channel to check out the official videos released so far. The album is heavy on bass and drums which equals BLOODY AMAZING in terms of live performance. It also features some incredibly busy lead guitar work and soaring falsetto vocals from Mr Bellamy. It's always a pleasure to watch him do what he does best.

I consider myself to be a completely undemanding fan when it comes to setlists. Just to see Muse live is a privilege, so I'm not going to whine about what they do or do not play. I'm just curious to see whether they go with a festival style setlist or a complete performance of Drones. Being a concept album, it's designed to be listened to in sequence. While this is fantastic in the car or on the treadmill, I just can't see it translating into an ideal live setlist in its current order. The song, Drones, a haunting acapella piece, features Matt's voice layered into four part harmony. I swear, I'll melt into a puddle on the floor if they manage to put something together with visuals to make this happen live. My own singing experience as a baritone singer in barbershop built my love for four part harmony, so when I heard this song, Muse soared to new levels of adoration in my eyes. Back to setlist order...Drones is the last song on the album and while it is simply beautiful, I can't see it being used to finish of a gig. It would make for one hell of a transition piece though. I guess I'll just have to be a patient little Muser and see what they come up with.

So, two gigs, new music, in exotic cities, with my niece and nephew! With any luck, I'll return with a fresh batch of travel photos and Muse pictures to add to my page.

That might have to do for this entry. I know there are other topics on my list (Dear Sherlock springs to mind) but they will just have to wait for the moment. Ciao people x