The Vasco Era’s LAST GIG OF ALL TIME! (for 2012)

Vasco-Era


This is the story about a mistake that 522 people made on Friday, June 22. The situation was this: My brother had 2 tickets to the Vasco era. I already had one as well. Three tickets between two people do not add up properly. After finally working out that unfortunately it is 100% not possible for me to have the spare ticket and be able to see the Vasco Era twice at the same show, I told my brother to put the tickets up for grabs on the ever faithful Facebook. Out of his 522 friends, there were no takers.

We arrived at the corner, looking forward to the 1 hour, ‘Last gig ever (Well, for 2012 anyway)’ from Vasco. Sid did his usual thing, mixing his loud, screaming, howling grunge rock voice with bluesy guitar solos and old favourites from ‘Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside’. The place was buzzing.

I can never work out quite where I want to be when I go to Vasco Era shows though, is it in the mosh, rocking out to the energy that Ted (bass) and Fitzy (drums) dish out? Or is it standing back a few rows, uninterrupted, watching Sid belt out lyrics with all his passion?

Anyway, I did both (My mosh experience was cut short though, due to a loose right shoe that just didn’t want to stay on my foot).

So as the hour passed by, we heard all the favourites, with a few highlights being the upbeat, loud renditions of ‘Rock n Roll Is the Only Thing That Makes Me Feel Good’ and ‘Honey Bee’. Along with the slower songs like ‘Not Everyone is from New York and ‘When We Tried to Get You to Settle Down’. However the trio did not look like they were even close to winding up this set at all. They had plenty left in the tank.

Another half an hour went by, and Sid decided to announce that this would be his second last song of the night, and true to previous form, the guys were keen for the whole crowd to be on stage with them, rather than the designated area that security guards would much rather them be. At this point, it was time for Bob Dylans ‘Like a Rolling Stone’. A minor technical difficulty soon saw the rest of the crowd kicked off the stage, and the band finish the song by themselves. It was at this point where Sid asked the crowd what song they would like them to finish on. The whole crowd answered as one, however this seemed a little bit confronting for Sid, and he asked for everyone to speak once at a time. An Elvis cover was finally voted.

As this is probably the most popular of covers the band does, the whole crowd joined as one chorus. Just beautiful.

As an added bonus, Sid, Ted and Fitzy decided they still weren’t done with yet, they were finishing their last show of 2012 with a bang, and worked the Elvis song into ‘Where Is My Mind’, which then went into ‘Sitting on the Dock of The Bay’, into ‘Voodoo Child’ and then finishing with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins song ‘I Put a Spell On You’. 50 minutes over their elected time on stage and the crowd were still frothing for more.

As I left the Corner Hotel I realised how lucky I was to see the Vasco era once again, in full flight, for one last time in 2012. I also realized what a mistake those 522 Facebook friends had made by not snatching that spare ticket.