'Fun-Time': Gig 3 and Gig 4....and 5.

So, 'more of the same?' I hear you all whinge.... yes, yes, an emphatic YES!.

I will continue to bore you about personal details, as there is only so much of my crap that Facebook Chat can take (I think this may be the reason the new one is so remarkably bollox...too much shite)...

This week, a tale of three Festivals, three venues and three very different type's of music fan... (all photos on my Facebook)

All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

A Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Curated One day festival, with Spiritualized and a bunch of people I'd only ever heard whispered about on Pitchfork??? Count me in, I said...throwing down some hefty dollars for tickets...indeed, the steep cost and the rubbish food nearly scuppered the ATP (only 3k people turned up to the two-day version in Melbourne...but that WAS up the side of a mountain in the middle of fucking no-where).

Where to start...I've already placed a lot of pictures on Facebook here, with descriptions, so I won't repeat...but the setting was some sort of ex-prison complex for Irish 'bad-people', mixed with the Industrial Zone from the 'Crystal Maze'...all scary warehouses and stone/cement outhouses...A lot of the bands were equally scary.. Beaches, The Stabs and the amazing Afrirampo all brought the noise (and certainly the headliners were full of 'Drunken Uncle at a Wedding' libido and sleaze...) Pop sensibilities were equally catered to: Ex-Go Between Robert Foster was very 'gentle and sway', and Spiritualized and Dead Meadows brought chilled out vibes and Southern Rock Boogie in buckets...and the headliners themselves, who seemed quite inebriated and all the more glorious for it, tore through a great mix of old and new..(and a glorious version of Love-Letter)

Best one day fest since Radiohead in Galway in (gulp!) 1996? Yes.

Big Day Out, Olympic Park, Sydney.
You see all the moaning we do about idiot 14 year olds setting fire to tents and giving us dirty sideway looks at Oxegen every year, while we cower behind our bottles of Shiraz at Electric Picnic? See all the crying about the beer queues and the shit food and the shite sound and the men pissing everywhere they can, just because they can? Just come to a 'Big Day Out' and see the nadir of 'ripping kids off is easy/Lets hit someone' in it's most pure evil form.

Yes, there were good things...Neil Young with a perfectly pitched greatest hits set in front of a small but appreciative crowd (he played 'Old Man' and 'Needle and the Damage Done' :) ), the lines for beer were not as bad as I whimpered about earlier and the Drones, My Morning Jacket and TV on the Radio were a great middle of the day threesome.....

...but the sound in the main/any area was atrocious unless you were standing right in front of either of the stages, the crowds were impossible to hack through and the atmosphere was of a piss poor nature (and when did the Arctic Monkeys get so good that they could care so little and SLEEPWALK through a set?).And they closed off the Prodigy in a warehouse and wouldn't let more than 10 people in. And Bogan Glory was well in effect. Scary...

and this was a 'quiet one'?

A Day on the Green presents Leonard Cohen; Bimgarden Wine Estate, Hunter Valley, NSW.

My first ever 'Sit-Down, Outside' gig. Impeccably ran, great food, the best outdoor sound I have ever heard,and painless to get in and out of.It was held in a Winery, so bottles of the stuff was everywhere. Stunning view, nice friendly people...all-in all conclusive proof that I am now 53 (the average age of attendees) and need to hand in my 'Concert Pass' for a zimmerframe.

and Leonard Cohen... How MutherF***ing cool is Leonard Cohen. He's 74 but he skips on and off the stage all night.... He plays for 3 hours (not including a 20 min break) and does 5 encores. He managed to make all the misguided disco-themed stuff from his '80's record sound decent....and he is the most gracious performer I have ever seen (with some of the most lovely backing singers I have ever seen). Bowie gig in 2003 only beats this because I'm more familiar with the White Dukes career.
Which I will amend quite quickly.
Legend.

Janurary Fun Time: Gig 1 and 2

Well Folks..

As we wander through the valley, and I get off my ass and try to get a job, we get to January and finally, with our new Visa's all sorted...we hit all those gigs we bought tickets for what seems like 6 months ago.

So here are some personal lovely reviews etc of out musical odyssey that begins 2009...

Jamie Lidell: - The Forum, Fri 9th of Jan. (images below from fasterlouder.com.au)







Mr Liddell and his crazy crew of near pension age session players jammed out the Forum in Fox Studios on this Friday night; and after practically sitting beside the man himself, as we ate in the same establishment beforehand, there was no way of knowing just how great the gig would be later on.

There need have been no worry, as the band and Mr Lidell sprung into summer as a very flower themed set glowed around them. Hitting songs from both albums, and also taking us on an extended solo vocal performance through his effects table, Mr Lidell was in fine form throughout as the crowd danced and boogied their way through into the night. Finishing at close to 12 midnight with debut album stomp 'Multiply', the evening should prove an excellent start to musical fun!


Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Sydney Festival First Night, Sat 10th of Jan:-

Similarly the following night, in amongst such stellar co-acts as Grace Jones and Santogold (all for free, i'll remind), the 'Godmother of Soul' was in fine form... At 52 years old, and dancing for every second, Sharon Jones and the god-awfully tight Dap Kings gave all they have rightfully earned over their last 10 years. Dragging people on stage, some more successful at participating than others, Miss Jones runs her gig as old as school can get; the songs, most coming from their latest album, sound so familiar they fit the 'revue' show style they are presented in, and as she blisters the stage in bare feet, there is not one onlooker left not swaying or nodding their heads once the plus 1.5hr set finishes with '100 Days, 100 Nights'. Free entertainment has a lot to live up to after this.

(link here for their headline gig at the Becks Festival Bar, again from fasterlouder, the night after to give some idea of their funkiness..)




Next week - Dark Tales from an Island of Birds : Full review of All Tomorrow's Parties at Cockatoo Island: Curated and featuring Nick Cave and the Bad seeds......