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The Cure: Reflections – Getting tickets

13 May 2011

I got tickets today for what should be a pretty historic show by The Cure.

Vivid is an annual Sydney festival of the arts and culture. I’m already going to see Spiritualized play their seminal space-rock album Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.

Then it was announced that original members of The Cure would be re-joining Robert Smith and the rest of the band to perform two special shows at the Opera House for Vivid: namely, playing the band’s first three albums, Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, and Faith. All together, each night, complete and in a row, with the members who recorded each record playing.

They say that this is a one-off event for the festival. I’ve never been the world’s biggest Cure fan, but I couldn’t miss this.

I managed to get tickets for me and a mate today, for the second night’s show. It was tricky: the Opera House’s web server was definitely not ready for the onslaught of fans. I’d given up after an hour and a half, but careful Twitter monitoring alerted me to a new link the Opera House put up later in the morning. It seems I was pretty lucky, as lots of people didn’t get tickets (and, judging by the times they believe the show sold out, didn’t spot the new links for ticket).

The shows are May 31 and June 1. Expect a monster review on June 2.

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Gig review: The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band

17 April 2011

Several weeks ago I was looking at upcoming acts for some of the smaller local music venues I know attract good musicians. Notes Live in Newtown listed a Saturday night gig for something called the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band. The writeup sounded like they were the legit deal from the US, so I bought a ticket, without knowing anything more.

I later found out that Rowan is a bit of a bluegrass hero. He was only a “bluegrass boy” for Bill bloody Monroe in the ’60s: it doesn’t get more genuine than that. He was in a group called Old And In The Way with Jerry Garcia. He’s done lots of other projects, some related to rock and folk and reggae. But now he’s joined up with some other bluegrass die-hards and returned to those roots. It’s this band that’s now touring, having released a bluegrass album.

It was the real deal last night. Rowan plays guitar; the others play mandolin, banjo, and bass. Just about every song last night was bluegrass, or close to it.

Rowan’s voice is high, clear and lonely, perfect for the sort of music they play. And the other guys provide excellent harmonies; almost every song saw them do three-part, sometimes four-part.

In the first half they played just about every song from their latest recording, Legacy. My faves were “Jailer Jailer”, “Catfish Blues”, “Turn the Other Cheek”, the Carter Family’s “Let me Walk Lord By Your Side”, and the Tibetan-tune-influenced “Across the Rolling Hills (Padmasambhava)”.

After the break they played songs from Rowan’s solo career, Old And In The Way, and other influential early bluegrass tunes: “Old Mountain Dew”, “In The Pines” was awesome, Monroe’s “Roll On Buddy, Roll On” was fantastic. Another Carter Family tune, “Don’t Bury Me On The Lone Prairie”, was moving; and their “Wildwood Flower” guitar riff found its way into “Panama Red”.

Oddly, it’s some of Rowan’s most famous early songs that rub me the wrong way. They come across as mawkish and lame: “So Good”, “Land of the Navajo”, “Moonlight Midnight”, and “Free Mexican Air Force”.

But those are small whinges. This was a genuine, zero-frills, honest-to-roots, feel-good night of musicianship and vocal harmonies. These guys care about this music deeply.

If you’re in Sydney and you like bluegrass, you can catch the band on Tuesday night. They’re back in town and playing at the Cat and Fiddle in Balmain.

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Stone Temple Pilots at the Metro Theatre

22 March 2011

Grunge hit when I was in my early 20s, so it was a pretty big thing for me. I was a Nirvana/Alice in Chains/Soundgarden fan. I was not a big Pearl Jam fan. Nor was I much of a Stone Temple Pilots fan; I never owned any of their albums, for instance.

However I always found myself tapping and singing when an STP song came on the radio. They knew how to write and play a good hook, something they learned from Led Zeppelin. And they made out like they were rock stars, too, not mopey grunge guys. This may have been why they never got as much critical acclaim as some other bands.

But I was never a huge fan, so when I heard that the reformed Stone Temple Pilots were playing the large Hordern Pavilion here in Sydney I didn’t bother getting a ticket.

But when I heard they were playing an encore show at the tiny Metro Theatre, I changed my mind. And that was a good decision. I just got home from that gig.

I managed just the last 40 seconds of opening band Redcoats. That much sounded okay.

STP rocked. Every song crunched, heavy and full and satisfying. Maybe a little too much volume on the instruments, at times, allowing the vocals to get lost in the fat rolls of guitar, bass and drums. There was energy and joy, and very little stopping; I don’t think I saw any of the preening or tuning between songs that seem to take some bands ages. There was just rock ‘n’ roll.

Scott Weiland still dances like a whisky drunk attempting tai chi, which is great. He’s got proper rock frontman moves, with a serious mug, lots of swaying and jerking, and lots of shouting through a megaphone. He started besuited, but quickly became a sweaty T-shirted strutter. Except for the mix volume issues he sang well, too. Being clean has been a good move, it seems.

We weren’t left wanting for hits: “Big Empty”, “Interstate Love Song”, and a “Plush” that everyone sang along to. I think that “Wicked Garden” and “Vaseline” were two of the best ones from early in the set. Even the couple of new songs from last year’s album weren’t bad. And they gave a nod to the group that most influenced them by playing “Dancing Days”, which they’d recorded on a Zeppelin tribute album back in ’95.

“Sex Type Thing”, fast and menacing, brought the main set to a close. You couldn’t beat an encore of “Dead and Bloated” and “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart”, though. It looked like the band thought so too: they finished the night with hugs and smiles and laughs.

I took a few blurry Blackberry pics: [1] [2] [3] [4].

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‘Weird Al’ Yankovic at the Enmore Theatre

19 March 2011

I was a ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic fan from the instant “Eat It” made him popular. I like to joke around, and goofing on music – sometimes in a clever way, sometimes in an oddball way – appealed to me for a long time. I owned seven of his albums, everything from In 3-D to Alapalooza. He had one before that, and has released five since. I enjoyed the 13 episodes of the Saturday morning Weird Al Show, and his Al TV/Al Music video channel specials. Unlike most musical comedy acts he’s managed some sort of longevity.

I stopped enjoying the albums enough to buy them, though. I’m not sure he’s still appealing to the kids given the average age assembled at the Enmore Theatre last night. But I pretty much had to go.

The opening act was a comedian, decent and light on smut.

The show that Al put on was a nearly 2.5-hr set that was introduced with the “Fun Zone” instrumental from UHF and continued with one of Al’s polka mashups of contemporary songs, including Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, and a bunch of US R&B that I’m (thankfully) unfamiliar with. The show continued – surprise, surprise – with funny song after funny song. There are, in the Weird Al canon, three types of songs apart from the polka mashups:

Parodies, where he plays a popular song’s music but uses lyrics about another topic. Last night he played “White & Nerdy”, “Smells Like Nirvana”, and a well-received “Amish Paradise”.
Style parodies, where he sings a song about something funny or topical that’s quite clearly in the style of a famous band, though not a direct mimic of one song. Some of these last night were “Dare To Be Stupid” (Devo-style) and “Craigslist” (The Doors).
His original nutty songs. I was chuffed to hear the 16-second “Let Me Be Your Hog” and “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” (with hilarious guitar pump-fake). I wondered why a lame duck like “Frank’s 2000″ TV” was rolled out, though.

Some of the big songs were delivered in a medley: “Eat It”, “Beverley Hillbillies”, “Gump”, “Bedrock Anthem”, “Ode to a Superhero”, and “Another One Rides The Bus”, and people loved ‘em. Ultimately we were all there for silly fun, and Al and the band delivered plenty of that. Al’s got plenty of energy and charisma onstage, and when the parodies are spot-on there was much cheering and laughing. The band were competent: never standing out above the comedy, but always playing well enough to make a believable parody, never distracting by sounding “off”.

Some of the more recent songs felt pretty flat to me because they’re just not funny: “eBay”, the snippet of “Trapped In The Drive-Thru”, and “Skipper Dan” for instance. “Canadian Idiot” was good, but I think it helps if you’re Canadian: a lot of the US-vs-Canada fun he pokes in that song could just as easily apply to Australia (or any country with public healthcare and manners). And Al’s homage to Charles Nelson Reilly (“CNR”) definitely didn’t work: how many Australians of any age would know who he was?

Three big screens showed videos or other funny imagery during songs. They also gave us non-stop clips of Al TV or other television and film references to Weird Al to allow the band costume changes between songs.

He finished the main set with “Fat”, including his full-on fat-suit and all the Michael Jackson moves. But the greatest crowd pleasers were the two Star Wars themed encore songs: “The Saga Begins” (done to the tune of “American Pie”) with a coterie of stormtroopers and Darth Vader himself onstage getting funky, and “Yoda” (done to the tune of “Lola”). The nerds in the Enmore couldn’t have been any happier.

Weird Al At Fun Fun Fun Fest With a Giant Lady Gaga Watching Him.

My Polka Face. Photo from watsonsinelgin via Creative Commons license

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Gig review: The Great Gig In The Sky

13 March 2011

I forst went to The Basement music club last year for a tribute to the music of Eric Clapton. Last night I was back for another nod to a classic and influential musical source: a Pink Floyd tribute called The Great Gig In The Sky.

Like the Clapton show there were a large number of musicians on stage, and they switched singers with just about every song. Unlike the Clapton show they did not play songs chronologically, nor was there any biographic info about the band. They presumed, I guess, that everyone knows the albums and the motivations and the history, and just played the songs.

They sounded pretty good. The dual guitarists were flashy enough to get in the same ballpark as David Gilmour, the bass was excellent, and the drums and keyboards were okay. The vocalists varied a bit in quality, but the ones who weren’t great were a bit of fun. I’m undoubtedly spoiled by having seen Roger Waters perform twice and David Gilmour once, though.

It was pretty much just the big hits. They played tracks almost exclusively from Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall; the exceptions were “Not Now, John” and “The Dogs of War”. Actually there might have been more, but I couldn’t stay for the encore as I had to catch a train home. But after I’ve heard “Comfortably Numb” I’m done anyway.

The band acquitted themselves as a decent tribute. You can tell they love these songs; if you go to a show like this, you probably do too. It’s win-win.

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Gig review: The Besnard Lakes

11 March 2011

I’d never been to the Manning Bar before tonight. It’s on the campus of the University of Sydney, and it’s a good venue. It’s small but not crowded, comfortable, with outdoor areas, lounge-y spots, and good views. Not bad.

I didn’t know who the supporting acts were until I got to the gig. The first act was Mosman Alder. They were just OK. A bit of Arcade Fire sound (there was a violin in there, but not enough joy) with Foals-like singing.

Second – to my great delight – were Melbourne rockers Stonefield. I’ve been fascinated with this band for a year now. They’re four sisters, all still kids – I don’t think the oldest is 17. But they play guitar, bass, drums and keyboards as though Led Zeppelin had been resurrected fifteen years ago. They even wear fringes and headbands and wear their hair long. They seriously lived up to my expectations live, stomping out some great rock. There’s a reason they won a triple j competition, and why they’ve been chosen to play at Glastonbury this year. “Foreign Lover” and “Through the Clover” are great tracks (I took some distorted video of the latter), and they even covered “Whole Lotta Love”. This seriously made my night.

Finally came The Besnard Lakes. They were following a tough act, for my tastes, but they met the challenge. Their indie post-rock songs are often guitar soundscapes a la some Broken Social Scene or Mogwai, but they break into melodies too (reminding me a bit of Black Mountain). They don’t dirge on too long, though, and achieve some strikingly beautiful moments when singer Jace Lasek goes falsetto (which happens a lot). The tunes are big and muscle-y but the lyrics stand up to the weight. And Lasek cannot be accused of holding back: he’s a wincing, grimacing, jerking, concentration of geeky rock honesty. Every face he makes is in the moment of the song.

Highlight songs for me were “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent, Part II: The Innocent”, “Devastation”, “And This Is What We Call Progress”, “Albatross” (big hit with the crowd), and main set closer “And You Lied To Me”. In the encore we got “Disaster” and “Thomasina”.

Their crowd chat was fun. They called Australia “Upside-Down Canada”, and praised the 52 beaches in the city limits. They smiled and had a good time, quite unlike the moody demeanor you might suppose from the music. If I had to nit-pick I’d say they take too much time tuning up between songs, but I guess that’s probably due to all the guitar-thrashing they do during songs.

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Gig review: Primus

1 March 2011

Last night at the Enmore Theatre I saw that most dementedly oddball of musical acts, Primus.

There’s really very little else like Les Claypool’s bass-driven funk/jazz/metal power trio. They don’t make many concessions to popularity: you either enjoy rhythmically schizophrenic slap-bass fuzz-jams about fish and tweeking and gents named Sathington or you don’t. It quickly became apparent to me that they make even fewer concessions live. Strap yourself in, because the weirdness is in full swing.

Most of that weirdness was still musical and lyrical, though, even on stage. The set wasn’t too bizarre: two large inflated astronauts with strange projections on their helmets. And there was a drum solo interrupted by a loping, monkey-masked Claypool banging out a bow solo on some sort of thin bass stick with a bendy drone bar on the back.

Okay, that does sound as odd as it was.

But most of the oddness was otherwise just in the songs: the “tunes”, Les’s strange high-pitched warblings. But underneath it all the funk. The deep abiding funky rock polyrhythms that made every song danceable.

Here’s how good Primus are: they didn’t play a single one of my favourite songs, and it was still an awesome show. They played a couple of new tracks too; my favourite was something I believe was called “The Eyes of the Squirrel”.

Here’s the original video version of “Too Many Puppies”, which made the crowd lose it near the end. Watch it, and don’t forget: Primus Sucks.

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Good Vibrations Festival

13 February 2011

Yesterday I went to a music festival for the first time in…well, quite a while.

It was the Good Vibrations Festival, a bunch of artists – mostly in the dance and R&B genres – touring Australian cities. Yesterday’s Sydney stop was a wet one, and it rained almost all day. Luckily some of the stages were in tents. It was a well-organised festival, with lots of room and ameneties and sound separation between stages in Centennial Park.

I wasn’t able to spend all day, but I did catch four different acts.

Erykah Badu was everything I expected: sultry, sexy, smooth and funky. She can jazz it up, put some swing in it, and still sing songs that are meaningful. Funk with a conscience.

Fat Freddy’s Drop were a new pleasure for me. They’re from New Zealand and are a 7-piece reggae/dub/jam band. They weren’t afraid to lapse into some long grooves. It was clear that such rhythms were a bit too early in the day for some people’s attention spans, but most of the crowd – me included – loved it. Fun.

Kelis was on the big stage. She was quite a disappointment. I guess I missed the news that she’s become a mundane dance act in the last few years, miles away from the fun other-genre-influenced R&B fun she used to be known for. Yes, we got “Milkshake”, but it was mashed up to the tune of Madonna’s “Holiday”: the sexiness was totally gone. No “Caught Out There”, no “Trick Me”. Whatever.

Faithless, one of the last big acts, were superb. Sure, their ’90s dance music might sound a little dated, but when you’re in a dark field with thousands of dripping wet exhausted and exuberant partiers, nothing sounds better. Maxi Jazz is one of the coolest individuals on the planet. “God is a DJ” made us all go off. It was pretty exciting.

A good festival overall, and a great way to spend a rainy Saturday.

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The Naked and Famous at the Oxford Art Factory

5 February 2011

Earlier this week I caught New Zealand band-of-the-moment The Naked And Famous at the Oxford Art Factory.

Their jangly ’80s pop sounds just as good live as on record. There’s little else on display on stage yet, but they’re still pretty new. Give them time and see what else they can bring. For most of us, just playing “Young Blood” (aka That Song In The Strongbow Ad) over and over again would be fine.

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Sydney Festival: Los Lobos in the Domain

16 January 2011

Every Saturday night during Sydney Festival there’s a free concert in the Domain. Last week was Emmylou Harris, whom I didn’t go see because I already had tickets to see her elsewhere.

Last night was Los Lobos. In fact it was a whole evening of Mexican music, and we got there to camp out at about 5:30pm. Several friends came to join us during the night; it’s a great weekend fun vibe at these shows. Los Lobos started gently, playing several acoustic folk songs. But they soon started rocking out, as those of us who know them for more than their “La Bamba” cover expected. By the end several thousand people were all dancing under the starry Sydney sky.

This is just what Sydney Festival is all about, for me. Sydney coming together, all at once, to enjoy the arts.

Los Lobos in The Domain. Photo from gematrium via Creative Commons license

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Sydney Festival: Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys

11 January 2011

Country legend Emmylou Harris , and her band the Red Dirt Boys, played a free concert for the Sydney Festival First Night on the weekend, but I caught her paying gig at the State Theatre last night.

Support was from Australian country-folk singer Vikki Thorn, normally one half of sister duo The Waifs, but on her own here. She was pleasant enough, but really came alive on one or two songs.

Harris is an iconic figure, with her long white hair. She’s a grandma in her sixties now, but she can still sing a sweet, sad tune. Most of those songs may have been written by other people, but she delivers them all like they were her own. She brought out the Gillian Welch-penned “Orphan Girl” early, and – good news for the Dylanophile – she played “Every Grain of Sand”.

A few gospel songs found their way in because “It’s still Sunday in Nashville” (not strictly accurate at the time, I think, but it got a laugh). And the McGarrigle sisters were definitely there in spirit, whether through the songs they penned with Harris, or her words about them, but especially through the unveiled-for-the-first-time song she wrote about Kate, who passed away last year.

Sweet, sad tunes.

Posted in gig, music | Tagged Emmylou Harris, Vikki Thorn | 1 Comment »

Interpol at the Enmore Theatre

5 January 2011

I will review tonight’s gig in three lines.

I didn’t like Bridezilla’s arty post-rock noise tonight any more than when I saw them open for The Decemberists last year.
Interpol are the intersection of goth (the good Joy Division sort), lots of indie guitar, super-groovy disco bass, nifty suits, and songs that mostly sound the same.
Interpol were good, but a part of me really wanted to see the other big gig on in Sydney tonight: Public Enemy performing Fear Of A Black Planet.

Posted in gig, music | Tagged Bridezilla, Interpol | 1 Comment »

Gorillaz at the SEC

17 December 2010

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band Gorillaz is becoming less virtual all the time. I saw them play last night at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on the Plastic Beach Tour, and there were plenty of live, warm bodies on stage.

It was an exceedingly fun show. “Fun” seems to be the main goal of mad pop genius Albarn, anyway. The band – with brass, strings, backup singers, and a rotating cast of rappers – all moved to his direction. Gorillaz have, over three albums now, always been a style stew. This translates really well live, as it keeps moving all over the place. Whatever happens this song, something very different will happen next. De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Little Dragon, and even the Syrian National Orchestra got in on the act.

What keeps it all together is the groove. And, of course, the non-stop video show going on behind the band, wherein the cartoon members play their important parts.

I could have done without “Superfast Jellyfish”, but the rest of the songs were great. “Stylo”, “D.A.R.E.”, and “Clint Eastwood” were really cool, but “Dirty Harry” ruled for its video of singalong kids.

Photo from evonndog via Creative Commons license

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Leonard Cohen live at the Acer Arena

9 November 2010

I saw Canadian music legend Leonard Cohen play again last night. It was every bit as magical as the last time. There’s very little else I can add to what I wrote last time. The man is one of a handful of 20th-century great singer-songwriters, and a highly emotional performer.

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Manly Jazz Festival

5 October 2010

I spent a few hours yesterday on the north side of the bridge for the last day of the Manly Jazz Festival.

Okay, I’m not the world’s biggest jazz fan. In fact, I find much of it to be boring, over-intellectual wankery. But it was free, it was outdoors, and I like supporting community-based arts events. It was certainly a good vibe, probably because it was the only day where it wasn’t streaming rain.

There were several tents set up along the beaches and the corso. I caught bits of the Sydney All Stars Big Band (with Doug Parkinson, who did a great rendition of “You Can Leave Your Hat On”), the Jane Irving Quartet, and the Jo Fabro Group. Fabro had a really impressive voice, though her songs weren’t the most engaging. There were also snippets of wandering jazz acts and school bands.

A previous, sunnier year at the Maly Jazz Festival

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Charlie Parr + The Maladies

1 October 2010

Last night I went to Notes Live, a little venue in Newtown, one of those dinner-and-a-show places.

I was there mainly for the opening act, The Maladies. I’ve blogged about them before, having heard their songs on FBI radio and really enjoying their eclectic roots-and-psych CD. They were good at Notes, although I could tell they were a little too freaky for most of the crowd. “This Wood and This Wire” was awesome, though they played it first. I was glad that they didn’t tame down the screaming in songs like “Feel So Fine”. A couple of songs, like e new one they admitted no one liked, were poor. But I like these guys a lot, and I’m sure they’ll continue to polish their live chops.

The main act was American Charlie Parr. I’ll admit I’d not previously heard of Parr, but damn he was good. It was just him and his acoustic strings, either steel guitar or banjo. He played some really authentic Delta blues and Kentucky folk. He was, honestly, and aficionado of the guitar. His picking style blew me away, and his vocals were honest and clear. For fans of country blues and folk he was the real deal. I mean, anyone who covers Dock Boggs (“Prodigal Son”) is not just a poser. Parr played some great, great acoustic roots music.

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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the Metro Theatre

2 August 2010

The bountiful harvest of festival sideshows continues. Last night was my sixth (I think, I’m losing count) time seeing Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

I didn’t get to the Metro early enough to see the opening act. In fact I missed half of the opening song by BRMC, who must have started their set five minutes earlier than the scheduled time! As Siany has pointed out to me, that’s not very rock ‘n’ roll.

What is rock ‘n’ roll are the bass-heavy, fuzzed-out jams that BRMC excel at. They’ve made four very good – but essentially identical – rock albums and one acoustic roots album. The latter album, Howl, serves them well live as they can now slow things down mid-set. But the rest of the time they create a wall of guitar sound and just get stompy or psychedelic (or, sometimes, a bit of both). And underpinning it all is Robert Levon Been’s super-distorted bad-ass bass. That’s the sound that makes this band.

This is the first time I’ve seen BRMC since ex-Raveonettes drummer Leah Shapiro joined them, replacing Nick Jago. She did what was required, but I didn’t see too much flair. The band still make an awesome power trio, though, and create an unholy amount of noise.

There were three highlight songs for me. One – no surprise – was “Spread Your Love” from their first album. The other two were both from the Baby 81 album: a thrashing “Berlin” and a slow, sultry “666 Conducer”. The last really surprised me; they gave it far more sexy swing than it has on record.

Still, overall, seeing BRMC is an exercise in downbeat rock familiarity. You know just what you’re going to get. And I like what I get.

BRMC photo from ggpurk via Creative Commons license

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LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip at the Hordern Pavilion

27 July 2010

I saw LCD Soundsystem last night, and they were really cool. James Murphy claims this is the end of his project as a touring entity; if that’s true I’m glad I got to see them.

I caught the last half of openers Hot Chip. I saw them open for Goldfrapp once upon a time. They’ve become a little more robust since then, and their nerd-dance sound was good hype music.

But it was LCD Soundsystem that I was excited about, and they didn’t disappoint me. Song after song of what I can only describe as euphoria-punk hit the room in our collective funny-bone, producing non-stop dance spasms. The raucous songs like “Drunk Girls” and “Movement” got us jumping. The extended tripfests of opener “Us v Them” and mainset closer “Yeah” performed effective mass hypnosis (or hip-nosis) on us. The real surprise for me was how funked-up “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” turned out to be live: it was a scorcher.

Murphy’s voice sounded much better than I expected, too. Choosing “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down” as a closer was a bit of a surprise to me, but it did showcase that his pipes – while not diva-level – are better than past YouTube vids had led me to believe.

I honestly think that LCD is one of the best examples of a truly fun, influence-integrating, forward-looking, organic/synthetic-balanced, original music act today. I’m actually relieved that they were so good live. They have, in the words of another performer that’s perhaps slightly more famous, justified my love.

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