Doobie Brothers Rock Melbourne, Australia.
January 12, 2006.

The Palais theatre St Kilda was a buzz with excitement, it has been close to eleven years since the boys were in Melbourne.  Melbourne has always been the home of rock and roll in Australia, and always will be.

The Palais an old picture theatre is now pretty much used for international and local bands coming through, next month Simple Minds and UB40.  The theatre holds about 2500 seats.

The evening opened with a supporting band Chain, who have been an institution in Australia for rock and roll for 30 years.  They warmed the crowd up.

The Doobies hit the stage blazing with '"Rocking down the Highway and blew everyone off their seats.  It was like they stepped straight into their encore.  We were ready and the band was ready to rock the Melbourne crowd.

Tom was determined to make this a night to remember one for all that came.  He, together with Pat and John, made their guitars sing to all the favourite songs that we remembered from the mid seventies.  Special mention has to go to Black Water, China Grove, Long Train Running, and Listen to the music.  The front of house sound was nothing short of brilliant.

Mike and Ed ( ET ) were incredible, they were driving the crowd crazy with their two drum kits pounding as one.

The boys wound the crowd up like a spring, and we were ready to go off when the encore came.  It will go down in Melbourne as one of the best concerts we have seen.

It was an especially special night for me as I played all the boys music in the seventies as a drummer, so to see the guys rocking in Melbourne will live with me forever.  My two boys James 15 and Mark 14 joined me for their first concert. They had a blast and we haven't stopped playing Doobie Brothers songs for the last 24 hours.

After the Concert my boys said Dad how do we meet them for an autograph?  Wow what do you say to that!  So while walking to the car I asked which hotel they guys were staying at. We found out that they were staying in the city.  So armed with a pen and a poster we drove in on the chance we could perhaps see one of the band.

We walked into the hotel reception at midnight hoping to catch a glimpse of the guys.  To our surprise ten minutes later Mike Hossack came by and signed the boys poster had a chat and was gracious to have a picture with my two boys.

It truly was a night of rock and Roll that will live forever with us and we would like to thank Mike for his kindness.

Cheers,

John Mitchell

Downunder

I was so thrilled that my Dad took me to my first concert, and I was amazed when he told me we are going to to see the Doobie Brothers.  The whole show blew my mind to see them rocking and it just knocked me over everytime I saw them play their guitar solos, especially Pat.

But when I heard that excellent riff of china grove, it just blew me away, the lights the sound and of course the guys just knocked my socks off.  I wish they played more shows in Melbourne, with out a doubt I would be there.  I will save my money so I can some day visit the states to see them live again.

It just went so quickly before you knew it, everyone was on their feet having so much fun, then it ended.  But not for long, as the lights went down and they went off stage, they crowd was still cheering, yelling and screaming for more, "doobies, doobies, doobies"  We all wanted more.

They came out for their encore and just knocked the whole show up another notch.  I was so thrilled that the Doobies were my very first concert, as we all left the theatre, all in absolute amazement, my brother asked, "can we get their autographs?" and before I knew it Dad was driving us to the hotel and we were waiting.  About 10 minutes later, my idol Michael Hossack walked out of the lift, I was speechless, he is such a good drummer and makes me want to play the drums even more.

He signed my poster and we got a photograph, now that poster is pinned on my wall right were it belongs.

Thank you so much, The Doobie Brothers gave me the time of my life, I'm a Doobie fan for life.

James Mitchell, 15 years.