Nick and I ventured to the Transit Bar last night (Akuna Street, under the backpackers joint) to see Ben Drysdale’s regular “Live at the Underground” fixture. A bit like the bootleg sessions at the Phoenix but with pool tables (only slightly vomit stained) and more amps.
As I’ve said before, if you’re going to go to a hole in the ground you want it to have good music.
On the night we had Matt Dent, Heidi Gill, the Lavans (who seem to be changing their name to the Attic Horrors IIRC) and The Dead Scene. Four acts and absolutely no cover charge, although Ben does pass a hat around and glare at anyone who doesn’t chip in to pay the bands, Ben’s glares can strip paint so best to budget the price of a pint for that. We also got a very lame stand up comic act for which we received no refund on our donations.
The beer was pretty cheap, $5 for a pint of Cooper’s Pale. And the sound was loud but clear and crisp which made a pleasant change to some previous experiences in that space over the years.
Of course with all the booze and rock and roll people are going to have little accidents…
But to be fair, management got it cleaned up pretty quick.
There was a brief invasion of goths in some pretty amazing outfits, one of which was kind enough to let me photograph her astonishing platform combat boots:
But then they flitted back off into the darkness from which they came, before Nick could organise me to play wingman for his advances on the girl in the tartan mini-skirt.
The night was rounded out by my first glimpse of The Dead Scene, one man and his 12″ powerbook making beautiful music for those of us who like Placebo.
This night gets a big thumbs up from us and is highly recommended to those looking for something to do on a Thursday night, or just anyone who wants to see live music in Civic and has had enough of The Phoenix. It kicks off at 8 and finishes around midnight.
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