Vance Joy

I may go as far as to say that last night was the most fun I’ve had in Perth. It got off to a very good start when I arrived home from work to a parcel from Topshop; I’m not usually one for getting overly excited about clothes, but I’d been waiting for this denim jacket and skirt to arrive for ages and a Vance Joy gig seemed the perfect opportunity to wear them. I’m not sure whether you guys in the UK are familiar with Vance Joy yet but he’s great; his song Riptide was number one on Triple J’s Hottest 100 songs of the year and is bound to be the song of the summer back home when England catches up. Listen to his feel-good sound here:

We cracked open a bottle of wine to sip while getting ready and put on some Vance to get us in the mood. Armed with the rest of our wine stash, we made our way into the city on a very busy commuter train and walked through the chilly evening air to Taka’s for a cheap Japanese dinner. The wine washed down our miso katsu very well indeed and before we knew it, it was time to make a move. From the city centre, we crossed the train line into Northbridge and down James Street to The Bakery. It started to rain just as were having our tickets checked and arms stamped in the outdoor queue. The building was made of huge, bright red industrial units stacked on top of each other, with some of the roof cut off to make an open-walled garden and the low-ceilinged inside decked with fairy lights. Upon further exploration in our mischievously tipsy state, we found a winding corridor lined with thick red curtains (good hiding places for scaring Candice) that lead to the funkiest toilets I’ve ever seen!

We got a round of ciders in and found a place in the crowd as the lights went down. His support act was Gosling, a band similar to The XX and London Grammar; the girl had a really unusual, high voice and their mixture of covers and original songs were a nice warm up to Vance. As for the main man himself, he was even better than we’d expected; he played all the songs we knew and a few we didn’t, all with his lovely tone and trademark ukelele. He is also an absolute dreamboat; I was very disappointed to hear other girls mention that they swore he was looking straight at them as he sang. Damn those dark eyes!

The man himself

We were three more ciders worse for wear as the lights came back on and the search for some late-night sweet treats suddenly overtook the wish to move onto another bar on our list of priorities. The Moon satisfied this purpose magnificently and is probably our best unexpected find yet: An all-night diner in Northbridge serving cocktails and, more importantly, puddings at all times. A chocolate pizza and a banana split between three, washed down with Moscow Mules, was absolute heaven and gave us the energy necessary to party on. On the way back to the station, we nipped into The Universal bar, where a great live band was churning out great tunes for dancing, which is precisely what we did. I love those two McKiernan girls so much! By this point, the night was far from young, so we made our way home and collapsed into bed.

Happy Candle munching on banana split

 It’s safe to say that none of us were feeling particularly fresh this morning, so a remedial breakfast was definitely the order of the day. I am always astounded at the sheer number of amazing eateries in the area and Bib ‘n’ Tucker in North Fremantle, which we’ve had earmarked for ages, was no exception. Attached to the life-saving centre, the restaurant has a terrace running around the outside and our outdoor table provided much-needed fresh air and the bonus of beautiful ocean views. Fresh orange juice, coffee and Eggs Benedict accompanied by hilarious snippets of the previous night (Candice fended off some unwanted male attention with “all four of us have men”. There were only three of us…) had me revived to the point of readiness for a short stint at work, which is now occurring with almost minimal discomfort. The girls are currently on their way home to treat Maggs for the Mother’s Day weekend and my agenda consists of an early night, before stocking the fridge with goodies and welcoming the lovely Timothy Lyne to Perth for his little holiday from placement in Adelaide, which is bound to involve lots more eating out. It’s almost as if work doesn’t exist!

Brekky at Bib 'n' Tucker