Who? Kid Confucius
What? Live on Stage, for the last time!
Where? Annandale Hotel, Sydney
When? April 24, 2010

A big black cloud loomed over the dreaded Saturday night that marked the end of an era. The dampened spirits of Kid Confucius fans had come to say goodbye to an almost a decade long career. Even the coverage coming from The AU Review was vast - from the photographer who knew them from his uni days pointing out that it was “almost ten years ago” to this reviewer who had only had the pleasure of discovering them from the unfortunate pun of their last album.

The line up starting a tad late, their good friends Lions at Your Door tried to lighten our spirits with an energetic performance. A lot of thank you messages were sent from them to the band throughout their set. That was what the format of the night was going to be it seemed. But the one thing I always forget: there's never a format at a Kid C show. So I was quite confused when a businessman stepped onto the stage… oh, wait - is that Andy Bull!?

Indeed, it seemed that Andy Bull had gone incognito in the crowd, sporting a new haircut. By with only 20 minutes until the farewell set was to begin, he only played three songs- not even long enough to make an EP! Later on, he would explain he was only invited for such a short set, but his finale hinted that he could not go on, singing a stripped down and emotional cover of “Come and Go”. The crowd did not sing along; a telling sign it was all starting to sink in…

After a short break Andy came back to introduce the band. By then the venue was full and a huge roar erupted.

Consisting of story telling (or at least story requests from the crowd to which Rob obliged), light jokes and a mixture of old and new songs, their set was was a great history lesson for me - one of the most recent of fans. I was introduced to supporting family; Julia Kosky
(manager), Tony Buchen (producer and musical godfather), James Loughnan
(tenor saxophone) affectionately known as Jimbo and of course their
long time friend (and labelled by Rob as “probably Australia’s best
singer songwriter”) Andy Bull. Meanwhile, the previous reigning members were brought on and off the stage as needed- Michael Lion on alto sax, James Branson on keys and Dan Cilia on percussion. But when Ray Mann hit the stage, I was surprised to see the trend of cut hair continue! It seemed he was incognito tonight as well, as the stage was now packed with four guitarists. All members shared the stage in good spirits, whilst the crowd enjoyed the lasting minutes of it.

With all these talented musicians in the group, I’m sure you will get to hear them play individually once again. Before I get too reminiscent on all the good times and start rambling I must end this note. To paraphrase what Rob told the crowd, “our meetings may have been brief, but it has meant a lot”.

The last Kid Confucius line up were:
Rob Hezkial (lead vocals)
Andrew Guirguis (guitar and vocals)
James Manson (lead guitar)
Nathan Murray (bass and vocals)
Bart Denaro (drums and vocals)
Benn Chapman (trombone)
James Blaxland (tenor sax)

“If the sun don’t shine and a glass don’t break, I know, I know, that my best mistake is a I need ya. Oh darling, I need ya”. Thanks for the memories.