Not a spare chair to be found at the Playhouse Café and Theatre in Mapua last night for The Eastern’s gig,

Except – being Mapua which is “country” (as in “Well, don’t forget, you’re in the country…” which is trotted out as an excuse for a multitude of sins) – folks are up on their feet in a flash dancing.

The Eastern are a string band that roars like a punk band, that swings like a gospel band, that drinks like a country band, that works like a bar band, that hopes like folk singers, and sings love songs like union songs, and writes union songs like love songs, and wants to slow dance and stand on tables, all at the same time.

4 piece band – guitar, double bass, banjo, fiddle – from Lyttleton, Christchurch’s port city that was just as devastated in the 2011 earthquake and something in between Springsteen, Steve Earle and Woody Guthrie.

Ended up with the band unplugged on the dance floor.

Worth $15 of anybody’s money

01 Mar This entry was published on 1 March, 2013 at 00:41 and is filed under (Not) the Nelson Daily Photo, Culture, Monthly Theme Day. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.