Song of the Day #784: Dirty Three

Photo: Daniel Boud

I learnt long ago in my working life, that the secret to happiness was to either be on holiday or planning your next holiday. It doesn’t matter where to or for how long or how long away it is, you need that light at the end of the tunnel to get you through. There’s nothing worse than the end of a holiday*. There’s nothing worse than ending one day in Japan and then ending the next day back in Australia. This time we at least avoided the nadir that is the culture shock of flying out of Tokyo and into Gold Coast airport. Anyone that has done this will understand. This time we landed in Sydney, paid $39 for a 4.7km taxi ride from the airport to the hotel we needed to overnight in before flying back to Brisbane, and quickly followed it up with another $35 for a terrible pizza to be delivered through the wasteland that is the suburb of Mascot to the hotel.  Good to be back? Happy to be back? Hardly.

But waiting for me at home was a small ray of sunshine to break through the post-holiday gloom, in the form of the just released, just delivered, new Dirty Three album, Love Changes Everything. Bought on the first day the album was announced, to go with the tickets to their Brisbane show that were also bought on the morning that they went on sale. I’m more than happy to give all my money to the Dirty Three, I just wish I could do it more often.

And even better than receiving the album itself was the little bit of paper sandwiched between the cellophane wrapping and the album cover.

Who needs a holiday when you’ve got a signed new Dirty Three album?

There’s only a couple more chances to see Australia’s best band on their current tour, so if you’re in Brisbane or Byron in the next couple of days, you’d best get to it, and pretty smartish. It’s been a dozen years since their last national tour, you don’t want to to have to wait until next time.

Brisbane Tivoli 
FRI 28 JUNE
+ Eleanor Jawurlngali

BUY TICKETS

Byron Bay The Greenroom
SAT 29 JUNE
+ Eleanor Jawurlngali

BUY TICKETS

Here’s a small taster of what to expect.

* there are obviously many things far worse than the end of a holiday.

by ed

Justin Edwards is a regular contributor to Brisbane's weekly street press magazine, Rave and his photographs have also been published in Rolling Stone, Plan B magazine, Mess+Noise, the Herald-Sun and Blunt, as well as on numerous music and band websites.

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