Rosa Duet Revisited 2023

Barb Waters' Fabulous Record Live @ The Brunswick Ballroom

The Brunswick Ballroom was a fitting room for this gathering of some of Melbourne’s finest musicians. Over 3 hours of beauty and love came flying off the stage for some true afternoon delight.

Now get that song out of your head, “Afternoon Delight”.

As I have only been a resident of this city for 3.5 years, I knew little of the history of this musical room. Looking at it now, it has the feel that it could have been serving up tunes for some time. It only has a history stretching back to the 60s when it was a nightclub, a wedding reception hall, a French Restaurant, and then it transformed into The Spotted Mallard in 2012.

Once that bird had flown and the room had been filled with music and tales, it was rejigged as this funky little ballroom.

The ballroom was filled with a cavalcade of some fine pickers and singers to help Barb Waters re-launch her Rosa Duets Album on Cheersquad Records and Tapes on vinyl. Originally released in 2003, I recall having that CD spinning around my home in Stanmore. I was very fond of Waters's guitar playing and was lucky enough to catch her a couple of times with Chris Wilson and The Crown of Thorns and with her band The Mothers Of Pearl.

Today, there were friends and family gathered to spread the love in the room. Ghosts wandered around through the sunlight that streamed through the windows in the ceiling. The place was packed and that is quite a thrill to experience on a Sunday afternoon.

Love was in the room. I know if you were there you felt it.

The original record released in 2003 had the following artists and songwriters joining Barb:

Cyndi Boste (RIP), Kim Salmon, Dan Warner, GIT, Anna Burley, Matt Walker, Ash Davies, Nick Barker, Lisa Miller, Rebecca Barnard, and Rob Snarski. Most of these folks were in attendance and with a stellar band that filled the walls and floors with joy, tears, and knowing smiles this was an amazing afternoon.

If you missed it, you missed it.