Tilley’s – 23 May 1998

Tilleys is a great venue… in spite of the chairs outside making it look like the coffee shop from Neighbours! We arrived just in time to catch the last few notes of the sound check… and have a quick word to Deb and Willie.
We grabbed a table, and awaited the arrival of the Canberra bitches. Sarah arrived first, with friends in tow, and promptly set off to ask Deborah if she was joining us for dinner. Unfortunately the demands of mum-hood came first, and Syd was determined to get back to the hotel. The food was nice, but pricey, the company great… Jonny arrived last, after an arduous day arresting villains.
Then came the show. Our table was dead centre, up against the stage. Deborah started off by saying she’d have to be a bit more spontaneous in her jokes… since there were some people who’d seen too many shows and knew the jokes too well. Sort of gave the whole thing a bit of a feeling like it was our own private show!
She did a fairly standard play list… there were a few great moments. Like the idiotic guy who made a rude remark about underarm shaving… DC’s come-back, “I think that’s enough audience participation.” Later, when she was talking about the Third Husband thing, there was a woman who kept yelling out “If you’ve been through 3 hubbies, you should try a woman!” Continuously… at every opportunity… do you think it was a pick up line?
But the highlight of the show was the requests. First there was a loud call for a Frank Sinatra tribute… so “I’ve got you under my skin” soared round the venue. Willie did a fabulous job of making up the chords… Deborah made up sections of the words… brilliant.
Then I yelled out my current favourite song… Consider This. Deborah looked a bit startled, then turned to Willie with a questioning look. He shrugged, then had a bit of a fiddle with his guitar. Deborah asked the audience if they wanted Consider This, then when the reply was yes, asked Sarah and I if we knew the words… would we prompt her because she hadn’t sung it for ages! It was hilarious!!! Every second line we’d have to yell out the start, after the first chorus she stopped and leaned down to find out how the second started… second chorus, and she was asking if there was a bridge in the song… by the second line of the third verse, she gave up and sang whatever words came to her head… the song ended to resounding applause and laughter…. and I was so thrilled that I can’t remember what was played next… oh, yes, “Feathers in my Mouth.”
Rachael Brick

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