One might have been forgiven for thinking the Cruel Sea chose Byron Bay’s notoriously receptive and forgiving punters for their first gig back in more than a decade.
Instead, the Green Room’s near two thousand fans were floored by a well-oiled machine at the peak of its power.
The unexpectedly tight (and very loose) Cruel Sea returned to its spiritual heartland last Saturday night to support the Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital, who went into a financial tailspin after funding promised by the NSW Nationals prior to the March election was rejected by the incoming Labor government.
The feel-good vibes were flowing from the start.
Byron’s barely-birthed Loose Content might have possibly been the best new band I’ve never not seen before, while Magic Dirt’s enigmatic Adalita wooed, warmed and won us over with just an electric guitar and a bucketful of lush open chords.
By the time the boys took to the stage, the collective crowd of dubious demographics were dancing, grinning and singing word-for-word as one.
Gesticulating Tex
Tex crooned and gesticulated through the cream of the back catalogue at his rockstar best, filling the spaces in between with a whole-lot-of-love and self-deprecating anecdotes.
Jim Elliot steadied the ship as usual in his rock solid Charlie Watts kinda way, backed by Kenny Gormly absolutely flogging his bass like a lead guitarist, while Dan Rumour injected sparks of new life into a dozen riffs and tunes long burned into our collective memory.
And a special mention to new guy Matt Walker who admirably and respectfully filled the unfillable place of the very beautiful, late James Cruickshank. Suffice to say we bussed out spent; left it all out on the dance floor.
A Byron Bay Wildlife Hospital spokesperson told The Echo, ‘Our estimate is that we raised close to $100,000’.
‘This is incredibly heartening and important, and a real shot in the arm for our veterinary team to know how much community support they have. It helps sustain our efforts to stay operating at current capacity; however, we still need the certainty of funding from the NSW government, which we continue to make our case for’.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
