On Tour With Ben Caplan: Part One

I landed on this gigantic continental island of yours on Christmas Day. I had been travelling for 43 hours. Before flying to Australia, I was touring in The Netherlands and I flew here the long way, via North America. After 32 hours in the air, I have never been more pleased to get off a plane!

Once I had all my gear I took the bus into Melbourne and caught a tram to St. Kilda to head to my accommodations. The culture shock set in pretty quick! It was my first christmas seeing ladies in bikinis playing cricket on the beach while drinking beer and wearing Santa hats! I met up with my Canadian violinist extraordinaire, Jaron Freeman-Fox, on the beach:

On Boxing day, it was time to get started with rehearsals. I really wanted to do this Australian tour with a band instead of solo, but the cost of flights was a little prohibitive. I managed to bring over Jaron Freeman-Fox to play the violin, and I scouted some Aussie Musos to make up my rhythm section.

I was able to find an amazing two players. Danny McKenna on the kangaroo skinned drum kit, and Tamara Murphy on bass. We spent December 26 and 27 rehearsing at Bakehouse Studios in Melbourne and then we headed out to the Woodford Folk Festival. Here's a shot of us on stage:

That Woodford Folk Fest is a phenomenon to behold! I highly recommend taking it in, as long as you can handle the Queensland heat. Besides the wealth of amazing bands to see, my highlights included the monsters, the rock'n'roll children, and, of course, the nudity!

And best of all, was playing a super slam packed show at The Grande Stage on New Years Eve. Check out the size of that crowd:

As soon as Woodford was done, we headed to Brisbane and played a cracking sweaty show at the Black Bear Lodge. Then it was the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne. Tonight we are at the Caravan Club in Oakleigh, Melbourne. Check back to the next blog to hear more about the club shows!