IF you aren't yet familiar with Mick Hart, you should be.
Hart was the brilliant performer on stage at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on March 24, while many people were talking excitedly about how they were about to see Bob Dylan perform.
Supporting such an icon, Hart had the guts to get a little self-indulgent by playing a song for a great friend whose wedding he missed due to the concert.
The song was Butterfly and on any other night it would have been a showstopper.
It was justified as well, Hart said he was to be in the wedding party.
'I was so humbled to get such a gig, it was one of the biggest things that could have happened to us at this stage in our career,' Hart said.
'Straight after the show though I raced back to Sydney to the wedding reception and played a song for them.'
'It was pretty late so everyone was stumbling a bit, but I think they appreciated it. The happy couple did the bridal waltz while I played.'
A few days later he played a breathtaking three-hour gig at Hamilton's Northern Star Hotel. Just when the crowd thought he had played his final tune, he just kept on going.
Not even the sweet PVC odour which filled the room when one of the speakers blew up detered the audience.
'I am told that speaker was on its way out anyway so I don't feel too bad,' Hart said of his destruction.
'That was an awesome gig, really intimate, I really like the venue.
'I like my shows to be like a journey, take the crowd through a full spectrum of emotions, as long as it takes.'
Recently he also released his long-awaited debut album, Still The Flowers Bloom, an epic of turbulent emotions delivered by a man with raw uncompromising talent.
Only a few weeks ago he played with his band - Naomi Radom (violin), Jerry Burcham (percussion) and Guy Mansfield (bass) - at the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival at Byron Bay.
'That was one of the best sets we've ever played,' he said.
'We love intimate shows, and while there were thousands of people in Byron, it was still really intimate.'
In the past year he has supported Coldplay in London and Gomez in Australia.
Mick Hart will return to the Northern Star Hotel on Saturday night.
www.mickhart.com.au
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