History of Oz Blues - according to Matt Taylor

Ha! Here before show started, maybe even early enough for a serve of chips. The race is on. Tryna ignore the fact that I'm supposed to be writng notes up from last night, never mind deal with the coming week. Chips won!

Ok, looks like we're getting a history lesson. The history of the blues according to Matty. Going through the MT journey from seeing the Beatles, to being converted to the Stones - imagine if it had been Led Zep, or Floyd - and then a near start with Genesis, mutually discovering Michael Gudinski, and joining Chain.

We got a blues medley, girl songs sung by guys, a tour through his catalog from the early days.

Following an intermission break he came back with an acoustic guitar. The second half was more of the history of Matt's blues through his commune days over east, and then in Nannup, including the Nannup Tiger song. The second last number was the eternal 'I remember when I was young' (which, when I was young, I was sure was old Chuck Berry).

There was a bit of a crowd participation number along the way "Ugh - we're groanin'" and he was more than happy to chat with the punters and get photos taken and sign merch. The man knows how to perform - which is not surprising, he's been doing it for a while. 76 years old and didn't miss a beat. The music: the finger picking is extraordinary. Combining it with slide is just amazeballs.

So glad I saw the ad for this show. Will see again. Feb 14, 2026 (hopefully at Clancy's) will be his 60th(!) anniversary as a rocker. Thank you, sir.