June 18, 2019, I hit the road for Asheville, NC, to see my new favorite band play live for the first time. I heard their song Peace Blossom Boogy a year earlier and fell in love with them instantly. Many of my musical interests have changed with age, but if you listen to my show, The Far Out Hour, you know that Babe Rainbow remains my favorite band to this day. Babe Rainbow is an Australian group out of Byron Bay, and at the time did not have nearly the following they have today. When I saw them post on Instagram that they scheduled an American tour, I bought tickets to one of their last stops immediately: Asheville, NC, at The Grey Eagle.
I can best describe The Grey Eagle in terms of a comparable local venue. For anyone familiar with the old New Brookland Tavern location, The Grey Eagle is old NBT on steroids. Everything is about twice the size, from the stage to the music pit, to the bar area, to the bathrooms. It has the feel of an old school rock club, general admission only. My favorite. I understand that the goal of any artist is to grow their audience and upgrade their venues, but I am of the thought that as soon as a show has assigned seats, the concert-going experience gets significantly worse.
I caught an Uber to the show and walked up to a beautiful venue on the outskirts of the River Arts District. As I was approaching the door, I saw a van roll right up and out walked all the members of my favorite band: Angus Dowling (vocals, tambourine), Jack Crowther (guitar), Elliot O’Reilly (bass), and Miles Myjavec (drums). I dapped up Angus and hit them all with a “have a good show, boys,” in my best Australian accent. Angus responded, “Oh yeah, cheers mate,” and I walked inside as they started unloading the van.
A half hour later, a Canadian artist named MUNYA goes on to open the show. She was a one-woman show with an electric guitar and a beautiful voice. Her music was incredible and set the tone perfectly for the headliner. She played very surreal tunes I’d never heard with a reverb-soaked guitar tone and a delicate voice that was soft but still commanded attention. The song that stands out the most in my memory was her 2018 song If I’m Gone Tomorrow (It’s Because of Aliens).
After MUNYA exited the stage, it was time for the main event: Babe Rainbow. The crowd formed and filled about three-quarters of the room. Just three years later, when I saw them again at the same venue, the crowd overflowed out of the main room into the bar area and hallways. While I’m stoked about their audience growing, there was something absolutely magical about that show being in such an intimate setting with a small crowd. I set up about three rows back and got ready for what was, unbeknownst to me at the time, going to be my favorite show I’ve ever seen.
The rainbow rockers hit the stage ready to play music that made you feel like you passed out and woke up at Woodstock ‘69. They opened with old but gold songs off their debut full-length self-titled album. Angus Dowling was experimenting with two mics, going for an echo effect that they utilized often in the studio. He perfected this move when I saw them again in 2022, but at this show, it was still a work in progress. I loved it. It gave a really raw, unpolished feel to the show, but I noticed guitarist Jack Crowther rolled his eyes after one of Angus’ many attempts.
To massive applause, the band brought MUNYA back on stage to sing the French verses of their song Monky Disco. It was an awesome moment that I terribly recorded on my phone. I’ll rewatch it from time to time and instantly get transported back to this show. After Monky Disco, the band played the lead single, Morning Song, off their soon-to-be-released 2019 album titled Today. In the best moment of the whole show, the band expanded an instrumental
portion of the song into a full-blown jam session as drummer Miles Myjavec grabbed a cowbell, a drum stick, and jumped off the stage to run through the crowd while maintaining perfect timing to keep everyone on stage in the groove.
The show began to wind down, and the last song of the set was the one we were all waiting for, Peace Blossom Boogy. The whole crowd sang in unison with Dowling as time, worldly issues, and future plans no longer existed. To those who have experienced this at a show, you know that no drink or drug can come close to touching this feeling. Following this came five minutes of non-stop applause as we all waited to see what song they chose for the encore. The guys re-emerged through the curtains and brought the house down with the song Planet Junior off their debut self-titled EP. They finished with an extended instrumental jam that we all wished would never end.
I walked out of The Grey Eagle that night confident that this was the show that all future shows would be compared to, and that stands true to this day. I’ve seen Babe Rainbow since and will see them again in the future, but this 2019 show will always stand out as magical. From the unpolished feel to the small crowd to the venue, it was the perfect show.
What's up! My name's Hunter, aka Big Kahuna. I'm in the Counseling and Rehabilitation graduate program here at USC studying to become a mental health counselor. I love neo-psychedelic rock/pop and my top 3 bands are Babe Rainbow, Triptides, and Husbands. I host The Far Out Hour every Sunday at 6PM. Tune in for some groovy tunes, funky monologues, and good vibes!