Just returned from The National, and I will just say that it was completely excellent and we loved it.

And it was a truly bizarre experience, because the usual threadless-shirted, bearded hipster crowd combined with the suited, older (wealthier) Sydney Festival crowd in very, very civilised environs. They even gave us glass to drink from at the bar! And people actually stayed seated, rather than constantly swarming in and out (which is totally one of my old-lady pet peeves and why I will never take the seated option at a show if there is an alternative available).

(I’m hoping to score tix for next to nix tickets for Tuesday night’s show)

The support, on the other hand, was rather challenging and more fitted to the recital hall environs. Kind of avant garde-y¹ – the type of stuff you listen to very loudly on your headphones late at night when you are very drunk and think is way cool, but in the cold hard light of day you go, “huh?” or, “what the fuck was I thinking?” Like that time Don was listening to (and all into) Rhys Chatham and I was all like, “are you drunk?”…

Anyway, if you’re a fan and were vacillating about going, get along!

¹edited to remove superfluous “u” – I really can spell