Almost famous

Quoted from: http://www.smh.com.au

Opening act or understudy are well-worn paths to greater success. Charles Purcell asks rising stars how it feels to play second fiddle.

Christa Hughes, singer, Machine Gun Fellatio

"Machine Gun Fellatio supported Robbie Williams and Duran Duran last year. In Melbourne, the bulk of the audience were Robbie Williams fans. I was pretty sure a lot of those kids hadn't heard of Duran Duran or Machine Gun Fellatio. Our sound was bouncing and slapping across the stadium and people were just standing there in shock: 'Who the hell are these people? What the hell is going on?' Our shows went better in Sydney.
"Robbie Williams avoided us like the plague because he's AA [Alcohol-ics Anonymous] and NA [Narcot-ics Anonymous] now and our tent is always full of booze and people falling down. He was nice, though. I did a TV show where I had a big, fake, revolting ring and I said: 'Yes, Robbie's proposed.' I told him about it and he got down on one knee and proposed. We haven't gotten married, though.
"The Duran Duran boys were pretty OK but Simon Le Bon was pretty up himself. Nick Rhodes was a good old trashbag. I had an inflatable doll called Mr Stud and he loved it. I ended up giving it to him. I liked their show. Robbie's show was good but I didn't really know any of his songs. It was great fun to do. It was definitely the biggest audience MGF have ever played to.
"[In reality], you've got Buckley's of upstaging the main act because you're not allowed to touch their lighting rig and you're only given a small amount of the sound desk.
"Touring with Kiss last year was quite extraordinary. I was appalled by how many bad songs they'd written. The first night we did Kiss was in Perth. We were excited to do it. It was the ultimate Spinal Tap gig to do - they are the living, breathing Spinal Tap. Their first show was appalling. It was a really long set and all their gags went really wrong. At one point, Gene Simmons is supposed to miraculously fly, but after the strobe light hit him he was still standing there with a big hook swinging behind him and it was like, 'Wah, wah, wah wah'.
"Then we got to Adelaide, which is the home of the Kiss meathead bogan. That night it was meatheads in flannies and make-up. Mum and Dad would dress as Paul [Stanley] and Gene and make their kids be the other members of the band. In Adelaide, the crowd hated us. The audience just wanted Kiss. By the time we did the east coast, the audience was getting more into our shows, but I just couldn't stand Gene Simmons.
"For someone who was doing an act like that, I thought he had his tongue firmly in his cheek because it's so ludicrous. He's not. He's so serious about what he does. They even got members of the Melbourne Symphony wearing the Kiss make-up."
Christa Hughes performs at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival from June 21.