These days turned out nothing like I’d planned. Powderfinger just made sure of it

October 9, 2026 — 7:00pm

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The perfect summer’s afternoon in Brisbane, to my mind, is made up of four things: a cold can of XXXX Gold in one hand, the polished wooden deck of a Queenslander, a summer storm rumbling through then politely leaving before sunset, and the gentle strumming of Powderfinger’s guitarists in the opening bars of My Happiness.

Of course, I don’t believe I have ever actually had all four elements come together in such divine Brown Snake alchemy. But my point is, they all feel unique to someone who grew up in Brisbane in the 1980s and ’90s.

In 2001, I bought a copy of........

© The Age