What in the Hell is Going On?

Perhaps I'm too easily annoyed at things that are really not that important. Yesterday, it was my sloppy guitar playing at band rehearsal. Today, it’s the fact that the city is putting on a concert to celebrate the opening of a confusingly named "Go Between Bridge" on the 25th of June.

One could claim that I'm evolving into a some kind of elitist grouch, nonetheless I’m still rankled. It could be my underlying resentment of the infrastructure plan that Can-Do Campbell has inflicted on the city (it’s not all bad, Campbell, I’m a big fan of the busway). The expansion of unneeded car-based transport options, particularly into an area of Brisbane which is increasingly becoming overly gentrified, makes me more inclined to rail against a concert to support of an expensive and inevitably underutilised toll bridge (prove me wrong, Brisbane)*.

Town planning concerns aside, you will note that this concert will cost the punter approximately $50 to see a mix of interstate and local bands (including Robert Forster). The line-up doesn’t exactly show any diversity now does it? Are not Bob Evans and Josh Pyke like the very same person? I mean, they look different but they peddle the same singer-songwriter stuff that often seems tiresome. Bob, go back to Jebediah, they miss you.

It seems the same types of acts always get trundled out at these community events. I guess with a target audience of bridge aficionados, the government and organisers have assumed that there is little or no chance that sludge rock covers of songs from 16 Lovers Lane by more esoteric local acts, such as No Anchor, will not generate the necessary coverage from a city seemingly obsessed with Powderfinger.

I guess why I am annoyed revolves around the fact that the organisers are flying in bands from other states to open a misguided piece of infrastructure that happens to be named in honour of a Brisbane musical institution. Sure the John Steel Singers, Yves Klien Blue and Robert are all from here, but is the musical landscape so sparse that all the artists couldn't be local? Furthermore, is it me or does the ticket price seem slightly expensive? Perhaps a bill with local talent would have reduced overhead costs. While I don't begrudge the artists or the charities involved from making a living, but surely this event could have been subsidised by the government. I guess with the relative non-use of the Clem7, the government has to make its money back somehow.

Well, if you're interested, go along, and see some people from Sydney play your favourite 'Go Between' song. I think I might sit this one out.

* Andrew Stafford might just agree with me.