This is the second part of my account of Sappyfest day 2. Click here for the first part and here for my coverage of day 1.

There was still much to see after the main tent cleared out. For myself the race was on to George’s Fabulous Roadhouse where John Tielli & The Metal Kites and BA Johnston were set to perform.  The former was a must-see for me, as Tielli was the mastermind behind Clark The Band, whose album, The Woods, is fantastic.

As for BA Johnston, I knew I was in for something when we arrived at the venue and he was outside selling massive BBQ sandwhiches to hungry passers-by (I’m proud to say I ate his meat).  In suitably unorthodox fashion, his performance was a raucous and crass affair that you had to see to believe. At times puncturing the ceiling tiles with a baton while wearing a pirate constume at others, he repeatedly dove in to the crowd and screamed at his poorly queued CD player (a prop that he got great comedic mileage out of stubbornly referring to as his iPod).  Some were there for the spectacle, others were clearly longtime fans, but I’m sure everyone could agree there was nothing else quite like this on offer at Sappyfest.

Leaving George’s Roadhouse we hitched a ride with Jenny Omnichord and eased-out of the high-energy evening by enjoying a low-key performance by Rick White.  Leisurely chatting with the audience of The Vogue Theatre while pulling song choices from a large binder, White’s set was the perfect night-cap.

Of course, while the performances were done the evening was far from over. On route to our tent it was obvious that, while close to 3am, the night was still young. The mansion/student dorm was still rife with activity as we joined members of The Burning Hell in a back-porch sing along with Laura Barrett. The latter provided a social highlight to the festival as she lead the crowd through Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” on Kalimba. Unfortunately no one knew any of the verses, but the choruses were a cacophony of intoxicated and enthusiastic voices.

Jill Staveley took over with acoustic renditions of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and I even chimed in to descecrate “Watching the Detectives” (thankfully most people were likely too drunk to remember…).  Needless to say it was a late night. Laura and I crawled into our tent around 5am, looking forward to one more day of musical insanity.

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Here’s John Tielli and The Metal Kites performing “The Metal Boys”:

MP3: Clark - The Metal Boys (buy the album here)

MP3: Rick White Album - Grim Unintention (buy the album here)

One more day of coverage left! As usual, go to Zunior.tv for more Sappyfest footage and check back next week for day 3.