“My name is Courtney and I live around the corner,” says Courtney Barnett, but we know this already.
It’s Saturday afternoon and the global rockstar is performing with her partner, the singer-songwriter Jen Cloher, at Melbourne’s Northcote Social Club. She is back on her home turf and she’s here to help the blue-banded bee. Yes, an actual bee.
It might be the most charming gig I’ve ever attended. There’s no mosh pit. Instead, toddlers sit crosslegged at the front. The crowd are relaxed; the small gig feels like a house concert and Barnett is greeted like an old mate just returned from travelling.
2016 has been a big year for Barnett, but also for bees. While Barnett has appeared on Saturday Night Live and played high-profile music festivals around the world, the plight of bees has been highlighted in global environmental campaigns. Remember those poignant photos of polar bears on melting icecaps? Well, bees are the new polar bears.
The blue-banded bee is an Australian native and while it is not endangered – yet – many of the wildflowers and grasses that it helps to pollinate, like the matted flax-lily, are. And, owing to habitat destruction, the bee is struggling to get from one place to another.
The gig has been organised by Friends of Merri Creek, a low-key environmental group which care for the waterway that trickles through Melbourne’s northern suburbs. The much-loved green corridor has been painstakingly revegetated over the past 30 years and the group received a publicity boost when Barnett and Cloher joined and began attending planting days.
Bee pollination isn’t the sexiest of causes but a genius crowdfunding campaign spearheaded by Cloher led to the Blue-Banded Bee Band – comprised of Barnett, Cloher, the Orbweavers and Steph Hughes – committing to playing an intimate gig for the campaign’s top supporters. The combination of native bees and Melbourne musicians proved marketing dynamite and the campaign exceeded expectations to raise $25,073.
This will be matched by $15,000 from Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the funds will help establish pollination “stepping stones” between matted flax-lily populations along the creek.
At the Northcote Social Club, the beer and bee puns flow. The artists and organisers are given jars of local honey to thank them for volunteering their time and a toddler dressed as a bee periodically ambles on to the stage to rapturous applause.
“I hope you’re tipping the bar staff,” Barnett quips. She used to serve pints here before her music career took off. No wonder it feels like a house concert. Melbourne – and its bees – are lucky to have her back.
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