From Lynda:

The Australia Day Live show wound up being a very interesting evening. Some parts of it truly sucked, like that huge empty-till-right-before-showtime "VIP" area up front, behind which were all the kids who had gotten there at 7 am in hopes of a good spot, and who would be joined later by around 34,000 other non-VIPs. Some parts were truly cool - those same kids, who gave me a spot on their "non-VIP" front row even though I didn't get there until after 2 pm. As I was walking up Parliament Hill, I heard them doing Testify in sound check, and hearing them echoing across Canberra was also very cool. So too was spending hours talking to those early-arriving kids about so many facets of Australian life, from favourite bands to Cronulla to slang to Aussies vs. Kiwis to cricket to abortion rights to religion to comparative political systems. We talked quite a bit about Russell too. I'm still wondering if there is anyone in Australia who does not have a strong opinion about Russell.

I very nearly didn't come to Canberra. I debated it back and forth so long that I almost missed my train when I finally decided to make the trip. Even once I made that decision and got on the train, it was still with qualms; I was feeling tired and hurt and discouraged and like I was catching a cold. It felt like a lot of effort to undertake just to see how a big crowd would react to this music. It's funny how things work out sometimes. I didn't know that a big reason for coming to Canberra would be those hours of conversation with that group of 14-to-22-year-olds. I learned a lot in those hours, and I liked those kids a lot too.

One great moment was the spontaneous crowd chorus of Waltzing Matilda that broke out after the national anthem. I've heard that song sung so many times, have been singing it myself since I was a child, but that is the first time I have ever heard a large group sing it with such a sense of pride and possession...and love. I felt very fortunate to be able to share Australia Day with these people.

I wish I could say I liked more of the music I heard tonight, but that would be a stretch. Though the crowd had its favourites - Rogue Traders seemed very popular - and all evening long, Russell was getting big cheers every time the band name was mentioned. They were officially the headliners, closing the show (except for a final group-chorale rendition of the national anthem); they started out with Land Of The Second Chance, which was a perfect choice for Australia Day, and then did Testify. It was a good crowd; Russell even got them to waggle their hands in the air on the "Take me down to the river" lines. Overall, the responses I heard were more along the lines of "That didn't suck the way I thought it was going to," which seems to be a very popular response here. Maybe a modest beginning for something new, but it is certainly a hell of a lot better than "That sucked more than I thought it was going to."

Whenever I'm in a crowd like this, especially when I'm back a ways from the stage, I always try hard to look at it all as objectively as I can and ask myself how I might be reacting if I were hearing this music and seeing this performance for the first time. I know I'd be impressed by how tight the band plays, and that I'd enjoy the horn and keyboard arrangements. If I'd never heard Russell sing before (and for all the "didn't suck the way I thought it would" folks, when you ask, you find out many saying this have never even heard him do any music), I know I would think he was better than I'd expected him to be. I know beyond a doubt I'd have an appreciative eye on that fellow playing guitar with such energy and flair, and with all that flying hair. Most of all, if I'd been hearing them the first time, I'd be intrigued by what is going on in the lyrics of each song, the emotional honesty in the storytelling in Land, and the sly cleverness in the storytelling in Testify.

I'd be interested enough to want to hear more, and I hope others wind up feeling the same way. That was a huge crowd hearing it all live. I don't know how it played on television, or even how it played way back in the crowd, but from where I was, there was what felt a lot like a somewhat surprised appreciation. Still a modest beginning, and still way better than the alternative. I can't believe that performing those songs in front of that large of a live crowd, plus a national audience, wasn't cause for a good measure of stress. In the midst of a challenging situation, I think they did very well.

Nothing quite like trying to learn how to use your camera's manual settings for the very first time while trying to shoot from a long distance away over the heads of tall photographers while standing in what was rapidly becoming a mosh pit. Still, I think I did get a few decent shots, and I'll post those in a day or so, or maybe after I get back home. Right now, all I want to do is take that cold I am indeed catching to bed and try to sleep my way out of its grasp. Once I make that escape, I'll think about getting the rest of the shows written about.

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Forgot two things: After they finished their two songs and left the stage, the host of the show made comments about how Russell was a great Australian, even if he was a New Zealander, and he asked the crowd to say if they thought Russell should officially become an Australian. The shouts of "Yes!" were thunderous. And the consensus among all of those kids I was standing with was summed up by Zack in a way only a 15-year-old boy can sum things up: "Cool he took time to come here to sing to us. He's not a wanker at all."