X-Train Back On Top

The Down-Under Tour is over for Arizona’s X-Train and the group’s Mark Miracle, who’s been Guest-Blogging for us on the road and from the bush, now gives us the final wrap!  Thanks to Mark and happy holidays to all of our new Aussie and New Zealander readers!

X TRAIN HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!!! 

  The 2011 X Train Australia / New Zealand Tour is now over. We spent our final days at the Melaney Banjo Camp - hosted by Ross Nickerson and other local banjo heroes. A great time was had by all and now there are about 60+ banjo students all the wiser regarding banjo…um, stuff.

X Train played a 2-set show and a few impromptu sessions throughout the weekend and made a ton of new friends to boot. On one of our days off, we went for a drive through the small town of Melaney and sampled the local bakeries, coffee shops and art galleries.

X-Train Wrapping It Up Down Under–Mark Miracle’s Guest Blog

Final days of the tour and it's beginning to get bittersweet. We are anxious to get home but really enjoy this part of the world. We spent the last 3 days or so in Caloundra, AUS at a 5th floor condo overlooking the ocean.

It was donated to us by a friend of Mark and Peters. She (Kay) is a participant at the banjo camp that we are playing at over the weekend. Although located on the Sunshine Coast, it was cloudy and warm the entire time. Not quite what we had in mind, but we made the best of it by walking the beach, playing in a warm ocean and checking out the local sites.

A fellow named Greg called us up out of the blue and came over for a picking session, which was a lot of fun and we took the opportunity to pick his brain regarding the area. On the rainy days, we practiced tunes, watched movies and broke everything we could get our hands on. Kay insisted that we use anything and everything we could find in the condo as our own…mistake.

Mark Miracle’s 2nd Update on the X-Train Down Under Tour

Arizona’s X-Train, now on their first International Tour in Australia and New Zealand have WOW’d their first audience.   The band’s Mark Miracle has also been busy at the laptop keyboard and sends his second “Guest Blogger” Report = this time from New Zealand.     Mark writes;

Played in Auckland last night for the Auckland Bluegrass Club. The venue was an old Cold War bunker atop a hill overlooking the Auckland Harbor…very cool, especially at night!

The lights of the town reflecting off the harbor water was real nice, the weather was cool and clear and during the break we all went out and had coffee, tea and wine out on the side yard overlooking the view. Played to a packed house of appreciative music lovers. We even had a round of 3-4 sing-a-long tunes where you could barely hear the banjo during the choruses…oh rapture! The concert was recorded so maybe we can get a copy and share snippets of the show.

Spent the day in downtown Auckland site-seeing, food-tasting and jay-walking…what an awesome town! Took a ton of pics and videos and hope to share them as soon and I can go through and pick out some interesting shots that don't include a bunch of blokes from the US...he.

Now we are in Hamilton, NZ for a concert at the Hamilton Gardens - an amazing place where you can walk amongst several varieties of flora and fauna and other types of salad fixin's that inspired me to sit and blog about it. Should be a great show tonight with 2 bands playing and the food is catered! Now, I'm off to find some ranch dressing...MM.

If you missed Mark’s first post, you can read it here:  http://www.prescriptionbluegrassblog.com/2011/11/harrietville-its-australian-for.html

Aussies Love X-Train’s Brand of Bluegrass!

Harrietville - it's Australian for Bluegrass!

Arizona’s X-Train, now on their first International Tour in Australia and New Zealand have WOW’d their first audience.   The band’s Mark Miracle has also been busy at the laptop keyboard and sends his first “Guest Blogger” Report from Harrietville.

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"X-Train" is now touring Australia and New Zealand from Nov 15 - Dec 15. This is the band's first tour since becoming a unit and what a great way to kick things off. "X Train" is Ross Nickerson (banjo/vocals), Peter McLaughlin (guitar/vocals), Bob Dennoncourt (bass/vocals) and Mark Miracle (mandolin/vocals) - with guests appearing frequently. Ross and Bob have been here prior to this tour but this is Peter and Marks first visit to both regions.