Sunday Night with Shannon Noll Shining On

Life is certainly funny sometimes and leaves me scratching my head quite often, and while I certainly don't believe Shannon's song above, in that we only live once (great song though) I do know that life is a lot stranger than we all think.
Try the Vimeo link below to see the We Only Live Once video, if You Tube has blocked it in your country. 
Shannon Noll - We Only Live Once

Shannon giving me(?) the thumbs up

When I was forced out of my house, because my wife wanted a divorce and to sell the house we had been living in and paying off for the last five years, I had to find a unit to rent while the house was on the market and the divorce went through the courts, and as "luck" would have it a unit that ticked all the boxes just happened to come up for me in an area that wasn't too far away from everything that I loved.
I used to brag to my work mates that I could virtually walk to the Springwood Hotel, or the Brisbane Lions club, drink as much as I wanted to and then, hopefully, walk back home again, without having to call a taxi, or rely on a designated driver ... not that I'm a real bad drinker, but I would certainly not be within the legal limit to drive home after having a night out at the pub.
The thing is that there was never anything on at either venue that I would actually walk down the road to pay to see and have a few drinks ... until a flyer was placed in my mailbox telling me that Shannon Noll would be playing the Springwood Hotel on October 25th, 2015.

Shannon Noll playing
the Springwood Hotel
 on October 25th, 2015

 The only problem was I didn't want to go out to a Sunday night show if I had to get up and work the next day ... but as "luck" would have it the week I got the flyer in the mail was also the week I got called into the office at work as they pulled out the violins and told me I was being made redundant, as there was not enough work to keep me on, which was true, so I knew that I would be able to go see Shannon Noll play the Springwood Hotel on Sunday October 25th, because there was not going to be a job for me to get up and go to on Monday morning, so I bought a ticket for a Sunday night out at the Springwood Hotel.

 

The thing is that I have never been a real big Shannon Noll fan, because he came to fame in Australia from being a runner-up on a TV show that I can't stand, Australian Idol.

In fact, I didn't really warm to his music until one night when I lived in the first house I ever owned and I heard what I thought was very loud music coming from my next door neighbour's house. 

The view from my old Underwood house where I first heard Shannon sing live ... from a mile away.

Shannon Noll - Loud (Vimeo link)
I thought that they were playing their Shannon Noll CD extremely loud ... for them, but it turned out to be that when Shannon was riding the waves of fame and was playing the Springwood Hotel ... and it was about a mile from my house ... he was in the hotel car-park playing in a circus tent and the wind was blowing in the direction of my house, so my son and I sat out on the porch and listened to the whole concert for free. 
My wife missing out because she was out with her mother at a ballet concert ... and she loved Australian Idol:-)
After listening to Shannon sing all night from the Springwood Hotel, I thought that if he ever came back to do a gig up at the Springwood Hotel, I certainly would buy a ticket and go see him play ... but to my knowledge he never came back until this year.

So, to keep to a theme of an earlier post I wrote, I walked from my place to the Hotel for what was to turn out to be a pretty good night out -

Walk On!

Now I Run (Vevo Link)
The only hick-up was a young fan who had a medical problem, pictured below must have got a little too excited right up front of the dance floor and had an epileptic type fit and couldn't be revived, so the show had to stop until the ambulance officers could attend to the girl who was passed out on the floor. 
I think it was only the second song into the show when the young fan passed out and the show stopped for about 20 minutes when Shannon was singing the song that he dedicated to his deceased father Now I Run.

 After being convinced by the girl's sister and friends that this wasn't a serious condition and had happened before to the young lady on the floor with hotel staff attending to her while waiting for the paramedics to arrive, Shannon mingled with the fans and let them get some selfies with him (including the unconscious girl's sister and friends ... won't she be pissed when she comes to and sees those selfies:-) until the dance floor was cleared.

Would you like a selfie Daz?
No thanks Shannon,
this will be fine thanks.

I took advantage of the forced break for a trip to the loo, where a couple of young larikins told me I could easily pass for Shannon Noll's Dad, which was either a complement, or a backhander, or both, so I just laughed that one off and went and grabbed another beer from the bar before the show got back into swing.

 And a great show it was too, with Shannon and the band singing a lot of his old hits and some great cover songs of Cold Chisel, Crowded House and other bands.

I thought this gig deserved a much bigger audience, but being a Sunday night probably had a bit of a bearing on the numbers I think, as I probably wouldn't have gone either if I had to work the next day.

I was so impressed by all the songs Shannon had sung on the night that I decided that I had to grab a CD after the show at the merch table, but to my surprise he only had a book that he was selling and no CDs ... so I bought that instead, got him to sign it and threw it in my "To-Read" pile of books sitting on-top of my chest of drawers.

Just one of my "To Read" piles of
books laying around my unit

I have since read Shannon's book from cover to cover and have to admit that he is no AI puppet but has the talent to stay afloat in this industry for quite a while to come, unlike most of the other contestants that have come through that show, that I still can't stand (the show I can't stand that is, not the contestants).

Shannon's not just another AI puppet
 in my book, he is the real deal.

Shannon is good enough to get his name on any Byron Bay Bluesfest poster in my opinion and I expect that he will be around for quite sometime.

I have to give a shout out to another great talent to play before Shannon hit the stage, who had the audience spellbound with her performance.
I didn't quite catch her name, but that is her pictured above on the night.

Shannon having a kick at Aussie Rules

I also thought with Shannon being a big Aussie Rules fan that it was funny he was playing right across the road from the best club in the world's clubhouse ... the Brisbane Lions club;-)
It was also great to catch up with a fellow Sharks fan and have a chat about how yet another premiership alluded our club when the Cowboys finally won a game against us last season and then went on to win the premiership.
Oh well, like we always say down Cronulla way, there is always next year:-( 

Steveie and Michelle Payne after the
Melbourne Cup win in November, 2015

 And here's a Michelle Payne synch, after I wrote my post about Michelle winning the Melbourne Cup -

What a Payne!?
I see this picture and news story below after this year's Cup, talk about Six Degrees of Separation.

Michelle Payne & Shannon Knoll 

Lady of Racing awards

Steveie and Michelle Payne after the 
Melbourne Cup win in November, 2015

A small and strange world indeed, I think.

Shannon Noll - Drive (Vimeo Link)
Keep Walking ... or run, if you prefer;-)
Now I Run (Vevo Link)