BROOKS & DUNN CONCERT REVIEW

BROOKS & DUNN CONCERT REVIEW
Wednesday May 6th, 2009 - made possible with thanks to Ogden's Coaches Dubbo and their driver, Adam Hamilton
by Joe Hupp
All times in this review are approximate

6/5/09:
Depature time: 0730:

Boarded our flash six star Mercedes O500RF-3 luxury touring coach (pictured above is the exact vehicle) at Ogden's depot at 86 Mountbatten Drive, East Dubbo. Headed off right on time! Had to stop to pick up a couple from Geurie who didn't want to drive to Dubbo and leave their car at the depot! Onwards through Wellington (a brief detour through town due to roadworks), Molong and Orange (a quick detour up the Northern Distributor Road and out through William Street back onto the Mitchell Highway), Lucknow and through fog 20 km west of and into Bathurst where we stopped for a 40 minute smoko break at 1000.

Depature time, Bathurst, 1040:
Departed from Bathurst on time - through Kelso and Raglan. Yetholme and Mt. Lambie passed with a blur! Into Lithgow, out down River Lett Hill and up Victoria Pass. Through the Mountains and onto the M4 motorway into Sydney. Arrived at the Citigate Central Hotel at 1345 and checked in. Went to our rooms and off to wander Market City, Central Station, etc.

Departure time, Citigate Central Hotel, 1730:
Left our hotel on time - problem was we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic! Heading up through Five Dock, traffic was crawling along slowly.... stupid semi-trailer driver hogging Lane 2 where we had to go! Arrived at Acer Arena at 1845 with time to spare - checked through the turnstiles and got to our seats. All support acts had finished by 2105 and Kix and Ronnie came out! Played about a dozen songs - one of my favourite songs is Neon Moon and they played it third song into the set!

Departure time, Acer Arena, 2245:
Left Acer Arena and headed back to the hotel. Arrived back at the hotel at about 2330 and most of us went to bed!

7/5/09 - my birthday, 0615:
Woke up and opened the curtains - holy struth, didn't expect to see the two 747's after taking off from Mascot! Watched some news and packed while I was doing so!

0640:
Went down to the lobby and waited for everyone else to come down for breakfast! No-one came by 0655 so I checked in, grabbed something to eat and sat down! No longer than 4 minutes after I sat down, most of the gang arrived! We sat and ate breakfast till about 0825 then back up to our rooms!

0830:
Checked out and waited for the coach to come around! Adam, our driver, arrived at 0840 and loaded our gear into the coach's underfloor bins.... about to head off and realised we were missing three people! They arrived on time.... just!

0900:
Departed the hotel - ever tried to turn a 13.5m long coach around in a 4m wide street???? Three goes and Adam got applause from all passengers for getting her around! Off across the Harbour Bridge, into the Lane Cove Tunnel (LCT), onto the Hills M2, Westlink M7 and SWR M4 Motorways onto Westfield Penrith - arrived at 1000! Shopping till 1300!

Departure time, Westfield Penrith, 1300:
Departed Westfield Penrith - back out onto Mulgoa Road, onto the Gt. Western Highway up through Emu Plains and back onto the end of the M4 Motorway and up Lapstone Hill! Saw a mate of mine with his "pretend" semi with a Isuzu GVD prime mover on it! Up to Mt. Victoria and turn off the highway and up over the Darling Causeway. Onwards to Bell, left onto the Bells Line of Road! Down Scenic Hill into Lithgow! Back onto the Gt. Western Highway at Macca's in Lithgow! Onwards to Bathirst (as per 6/5/09 at 1000 - but dinner this time!) - arriving at 1555 and departing 1635!

Departure time, Bathurst, 1635:
Departed Bathurst - back onto the highway and off through Lucknow, Orange (a quick detour up the Northern Distributor Road and out through William Street back onto the Mitchell Highway), Molong and through Wellington (a brief detour through town due to roadworks)! Stopped at Geurie at about 1815 to allow two passengers we picked up on the way down off to go home! Anyway, 10 mins away from home, Adam got onto the microphone to tell us what was gonna happen and, shock horror, told people that it was my birthday! Did I get a shock - everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and gave Adam three cheers then it was onwards into the depot in East Dubbo!

Scores:
Presentation of the driver: 5/5
Trip conduction: 5/5
Vehicle presentation*: 5/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Driver knowledge#: 5/5
Concert: 10000/10000

*includes inside, outside and in driver's and passenger's quarters
#includes what to do in and around the given area where you will be at any given time

(C) Joe Hupp 2009