Canberra hosted a double-header from the aural and visual feast that is Newcastle’s Gypsy band Mojo Juju & the Snake Oil Merchants. Playing on Wednesday night with folk band The Ellis Collective at the Phoenix they followed this up with a Thursday night gig at the Transit Bar with Mr. Fibby and the Andi & George Band. Those who braved the chilling Canberra autumn nights received a special two shows of melancholy, spoken word, and joyful dance. Each night was conducive to dreams and banished everything but feeling as elements of Newcastle’s music collective met with members of Canberra’s to play lots of music.
The Wednesday night crowd at the Phoenix was small but intense for visitors Mojo Juju & the Snake Oil Merchants, playing with Canberra’s The Ellis Collective. Opening the night Matty Ellis, Grahame Thompson, Sam King, Emma Kelly, Alison Procter and Dan Kempers combined vocals and instruments into a melancholy that offered glimpse of beautiful despair – Don’t Go obviously loved by the crowd.
Mojo Juju & the Snake Oil Merchants followed, their visual and aural ensemble easing the crowd from the heartbreaking intensity of the Ellis Collective into their world of Gypsy dance and inspired storytelling. Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants had a small host up and moving, including the most reticent of Canberra’s dancers, all absorbed to the point of painful joy within their dancing sides.
This was the first trip to Canberra for the Newcastle Band and as they played through their very first set in Canberra including obvious crowd favourite Public Announcement as well as The Warning the band looked to be enjoying their set and left the crowd begging for more.
Where Wednesday night was intimate, Thursday night at the Transit Bar packed the audience in for another dose of Mojo Juju, some serious dancing to the Andi & George Band, and the macabre and comic story-telling of Mr. Fibby.
Mr. Fibby led with the heart rending tale of competition between a brother and sister that combined the full motion body and voice of Hadley with the violin of Emma Kelly, supported by Grahame Thompson on Cello and Sam King on Guitar they closed with a story of warning about entering the Gypsy quarter of any city.
The Andi & George Band followed playing to a packed dance floor. The ensemble had the crowd dancing enthusiastically as they combined their array of amazing instrumentalists with the powerful vocals of Andrea Kirwin, George Bishop, Tabitha Omaji and Alice Cottee. Playing crowd favourites such as Ladies Auxiliary Club the night could have ended on this high point, but the Transit Bar still had Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants to play. And play they did to the still packed Transit Bar, ending their two-day tour of Canberra Mojo Juju & the Snake Oil Merchants enthralled an enthusiastic crowd that danced and obviously look forward to this bands return to Canberra.
So, check out Mojo Juju & the Snake Oil Merchants on the final leg of their tour – finishing at the Vanguard in Sydney – and keep an eye out for an impending tour from the Andi & George Band. Make sure you do not miss the next Ellis Collective gig and Mr.Fibby will be playing more gigs around Canberra before traveling to Melbourne.
