Diesel at The Vanguard

A Friday night in Sydney took me and 3 mates to The Vanguard in Newtown to see the always fabulous Diesel play as part of his 7 Axes to Grind national tour. I should admit upfront that I have seen him play many times before, but I have to say, that every time I see him perform, he is so engaging and gives you something new to take away each time.  

We were lucky enough to book dinner and show tickets. When we got there, we were escorted up to the mezzanine level where our table waited for us, front and centre – so no complaints from us!

We ate dinner, but were a little bit peckish afterwards. Disappointed with the Vanguard’s lacklustre menu, we snuck off further down King St to Guzman Y Gomez for some nachos and cheap margaritas. While there, the claim was made by a friend that it is the ‘best fast food in the world’. Big call I know, but we’ll save that discussion for another time.

The Falls

We headed back to The Vanguard and caught the support act, The Falls.  Now, I enjoy my folk music and was pleasantly surprised by how good these guys were. So note to self, will be purchasing some of their music. Nice, chilled, laid back tunes. Definitely worth listening to if you like your folk.

Man of the hour (more two hours really)

Just after 10pm, the lights dimmed and on came the man himself, Diesel. He brought with him seven different guitars (hence the tour name), played them all and did not disappoint. It was just him and his guitars including a Mandolin and Banjo. He played a mix of songs, some of his own and pieces by musicians who have influenced his music over the years – as a result, there was a great mix of blues and rock music.

Early in the evening he played Neil Young’s Old Man and this got the crowd going. He pulled out his Mandolin and played Coming Home. He then played Wall in the Blues which he said was kind of inspired by Led Zeppelin.

Later in the evening he played Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix style and then teased us with a little bit of For What It's Worth which promptly led into Come To Me so I kind of forgave him for not finishing it off.

The evening continued and he played all his classics such as 15 Feet Of Snow and Tip Of My Tongue.

I tried to get a good photo of the Mohawk

After the show finished, we were so full of energy we decided to head to the Marly (Marlborough Hotel) where we were lucky enough to see Ignition playing...actually not sure if lucky is the right word to use, perhaps, interesting would be better. A grown man, with a Mohawk playing Lady Gaga songs – need I say more? Anyway, the place was packed, had a good vibe and despite not being able to purchase shots after midnight, the vodka in the plastic cups still hit the spot.

All in all a good night and my response to the question, would I see Diesel again? Definitely!