Novatones at The Royal

Fri, 12 May 2023
What a pleasure it was to visit historic Dungog and perform at the grand old Royal Hotel.
This event was always going to be a bit different from our usual gig; it was away from home, it was an unusual interesting venue, the locals had never heard of us and on this occasion we offered a wider range of entertainment.

The management of the Royal were extremely welcoming and provided a hearty meal before our concert and gave us free range of their varied rooms for rehearsing, waiting, relaxing and entertaining ourselves.  We felt immediately at home!

Flyers for the event had been put around town and in neighbouring villages.  There was a vibe in the air from the moment we went on stage and we were embraced by the wonderful audience who remained involved throughout and seemed never to want it to end.

Novatones quartets Beryllium and Fortune Hunters captured attention with some snappy and unusual dressing, entertaining songs and great singing.  Mandolinist Bruce Whitehead, commendably made his Novatones-performance debut.  He and guitarist Peter Nikolic played and sang a couple of entertaining songs, then were joined by violinist Peter Donald in a frenetic, accelerating 3-piece instrumental leaving a couple of players wringing their hands in pain afterwards!

Master violinist Peter Donald gave an individual performance on his electric violin, particularly demonstrating its additional 5th string which provides a deeper viola quality to the sound.

We had some wonderful accolades after the show with the crowd, the owners of the Royal and the event promoter all adamant we had to return, and maybe perform to a bigger audience in the James Theatre Community Hall.  And we’d love to !!