6/04/12 - Bluesfest Day 2

Early start today as my volunteer shift began at 9am.
I met some more of my fellow volunteers including Kaye and Anna from Newcastle who were both nice girls.
As I was in the kitchens last night, for the first half of the shift today, me and three others were posted back stage at The Crossroads main stage in case there was any help needed by the stage manager. There wasn't much to be done so I was able to wander around backstage while Crosby Stills and Nash's road crew did their soundcheck. It was such a great experience to be backstage and see what goes on, as well as to look out from the stage and try to put yourself in the shoes of the performers - fantastic!
As volunteers, we aren't allowed to take any photos but I snapped a quick one off while nobody was looking - just to prove I was there.

Backstage at the Crossroads main stage...cool huh?

When they realised there wasn't any work for us to do and we were only really getting on the way, we were posted back in the kitchens for the duration of the shift.
In the afternoon I managed to see Steve Earle, G3 and a few others play.
Insert pic of Satriani
This poor little bloke was playing on one of the small stages and was being blown away sonically by Joe Satriani and co.

Joe Satriani

I couldn't tell you what this guy sounded like cos all I could hear was G3!

I then went back to Freda for some dinner and Scott and Renae thought it would be really funny to put a fake snake in the grass right behind my van.

AGGGGGH! Fake Snake!

When I got back to the Festival, there was a parade of these cool characters, moving through the festival site.

Weird night time Bluesfest puppet thing

I then saw an intimate performance of the Backsliders with Ian Collard on guest harmonica.

The Backsliders

But a minor highlight for me was taking a pic of the bass player in the next band who looked just like a mate of mine from Wagga, Shultzy!

Shultzy in the house ya'll!

It was then time to go to one of the big stages again to catch the arse end of Buddy Guy's set then move in to a good pozzie a few rows back for Keb Mo (the coolest dude who ever lived) and Crosby Stills & Nash (CSN).

Keb Mo - what I'd give for an ounce of his cool.

CSN were pretty good though being a massive Neil Young fan, I still say they are not as good as they could be without him.
I purposely wore my Neil Young shirt and a woman came up to me and said if Stills saw me wearing that shirt he'd punch me in the face - and we both laughed (haha!).
Nash took charge of most of the show, Stills looked a little worse for wear but his guitar skills are still (haha) great and Crosby is such a cool character and his voice is still very powerful - I think he's my favourite of the three. He said, in the group, each member has a job: Stills writes great rock n roll, Nash writes anthems that everyone wants to sing and he writes the weird shit. haha

Stills, Nash & Crosby

I've seen so much music already and can't believe there are three more days to go!