We went down to the Powerhouse right after the first of the heavy storms to hit the South East Queensland area that night. We arrived with enough time to get a great carpark and enjoy some more of the rain on the back deck with a couple of drinks. Inside the main Powerhouse Theatre, you wouldn't have had any clue about what was happening outside, owing to the great acoustics of the place. It was nice to go to a sit-down event for a change, especially given that we were on the tail end of a pretty big weekend.
Supporting the night was Sydney quartet, Charge Group. I couldn't help thinking of The Dirty Three when I was listening to them, most probably because of how the violin influenced the sound. Whilst I didn't feel that the vocals really fit in with the music, and I thought the stage presence was lacking a bit between songs, it didn't stop me from taking a liking to the music.
After intermission and a slightly extended period of waiting, Emiliana Torrini made her way to the stage with her "Mötley Crüe" of a backing band. The delay was explained by the fact that she was pre-empting a possible wardrobe malfunction and needed to find another dress to replace the one that turned out to be partially transparent under the stage lights!
The set was mainly drawn from her most recent two albums and she sounded genuinely surprised to hear requests from the first album. The exaggerated dynamic tempo of Heartstopper was executed very well, and it was great to hear a live version of Sunny Road - the song that drew me to her music to begin with. I had only gotten around to buying her latest album on the night, but I loved what I heard from it, especially Gun, Ha-Ha and Fireheads. The rest of the songs, including Lifesaver, Fisherman's Woman, Big Jumps, Me And Armini, Heard It All Before, Jungle Drum, and many more that I've since forgotten, were just as enjoyable.
In contrast to Charge Group, Torrini was very chatty between songs, often regaling the audience with personal and humourous stories about her life, her music writing, the band and whatever happened to find its way into her head at the time.
The earlier reference to the band was made literally by her when commenting about the guitar swapping that was going on between some of the songs, but the band really were the most unlikely looking group I have seen in a while. They certainly proved that looks can be deceiving though by providing a great musical platform of electric/acoustic/slide guitars, electric piano, keyboards, melodica, glockenspiel, drums and other percussion, upon which Torrini delivered her vocals. Bass guitar was absent from most songs, but it didn't feel like it wasn't missed.
I think the exhaustion from the flight on the way over to Australia really caught up with Torrini by the end of the night, as she struggled to recall lyrics and keep a straight face through the encore, but it wasn't to the detriment of the entertainment value of the performance. In all, another wonderful night of music!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Gigs update 2008/11/30
New gigs listed, including The Zillions, Darren Hanlon, Camille, José González, and a brilliant double-header of The Black Keys and Gomez!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Dandy Warhols @ The Tivoli November 5th
Time for a bit of catching up! It was a rainy Wednesday night that we found ourselves on when The Dandy Warhols came to town. Due to a late meal on our behalf and an early starting time on the Tivoli's, we missed all but the last song of the support act, Downhills Home.
Before long, The Dandy Warhols made their way to the stage with very little fanfare and took up their instruments. Some may recognise the date of this gig as the day the US presidential election result was known, and consequently, the band dedicated the entire gig to Obama's victory. With that out of the way, they began their epic set, which consisted of a mix of songs from their latest album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols, interspersed with "hit after hit after hit" from their back-catalog. The hits certainly seemed to be among the crowd highlights for the evening, and included the likes of Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, You Were The Last High, We Used To Be Friends, Get Off, All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey, Boys Better, and Bohemian Like You. The only notable absense I could think of was Every Day Should Be A Holiday.
Even though the lighting didn't highlight much of the band, it seemed to suit the set and music quite well. The sound was great from where were standing and I was very impressed with how Zia McCabe's synths more than made up for the bass-less lineup. Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström made great use of a variety of guitars and effects, adding but not deviating too far from the recorded sound of the songs. It was also interesting to see the straight-line formation of the band, with Brent DeBoer on drums sharing the front of the stage with the others, often chiming in on backing vocals to Taylor-Taylor's dual microphone lead vocal setup.
The highlight of the two-hour plus set for me, among the guitar drone trademark sounds of their slower songs, was hearing I Love You from their Come Down album. I have to say it was also a relief to leave the venue at the end of the evening, as the sold-out crowd combined with the downpour outside had pushed the Tivoli's air conditioning to its limits.
Before long, The Dandy Warhols made their way to the stage with very little fanfare and took up their instruments. Some may recognise the date of this gig as the day the US presidential election result was known, and consequently, the band dedicated the entire gig to Obama's victory. With that out of the way, they began their epic set, which consisted of a mix of songs from their latest album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols, interspersed with "hit after hit after hit" from their back-catalog. The hits certainly seemed to be among the crowd highlights for the evening, and included the likes of Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, You Were The Last High, We Used To Be Friends, Get Off, All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey, Boys Better, and Bohemian Like You. The only notable absense I could think of was Every Day Should Be A Holiday.
Even though the lighting didn't highlight much of the band, it seemed to suit the set and music quite well. The sound was great from where were standing and I was very impressed with how Zia McCabe's synths more than made up for the bass-less lineup. Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström made great use of a variety of guitars and effects, adding but not deviating too far from the recorded sound of the songs. It was also interesting to see the straight-line formation of the band, with Brent DeBoer on drums sharing the front of the stage with the others, often chiming in on backing vocals to Taylor-Taylor's dual microphone lead vocal setup.
The highlight of the two-hour plus set for me, among the guitar drone trademark sounds of their slower songs, was hearing I Love You from their Come Down album. I have to say it was also a relief to leave the venue at the end of the evening, as the sold-out crowd combined with the downpour outside had pushed the Tivoli's air conditioning to its limits.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Gigs update 2008/10/13
Adding to yesterday's list, today I found out that Emiliana Torrini is playing at The Powerhouse in November and Fleet Foxes will be at The Tivoli in January. Details here.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Gigs update 2008/10/12
The gig page has been updated with dates for The Panics, The John Steel Singers, Bob Evans and The Mountain Goats.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Supergrass @ The Tivoli October 2nd
Despite arriving after the initial crowd rush at the Tivoli, we managed to find an empty spot upstairs on the balcony to take in tonight's performances. I don't usually find myself upstairs because the good spots are usually filled by the time we get in, but tonight was a pleasant change and surprise.
Cloud Control were an interesting choice as a support act. To me, they lacked some of the confidence I would have expected of a band that were supporting the likes of Supergrass. At times, the performing wasn't as tight as it could have been for their sound, and they were a bit awkward when it came to addressing the crowd (neglecting to mention their name until one of the last songs). Having said all that, the music was generally interesting with hints of pop among the low-fi indie sound, and I really enjoyed some of the hypnotic parts of their set.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from Supergrass, as I hadn't seen them play live before and don't have a lot of their back catalogue. So it was brilliant to see and hear them come out with the infectious energy that they had. From the first song all the way through to the end of the encore, it was difficult not to want to move along with the sounds of their music.
Most of the set was played in their current formation as a five piece, but for a few selected songs, they stripped back to the three and four piece incarnations. Surprisingly, this didn't seem to affect the completeness of the sound at all. There were a number of songs where I thought the absence of the rhythm guitar or keyboards would have been noticeable, but I had clearly underestimated Gaz Coombes' impressive guitar work.
Speaking of impressive, the light show tonight was the best I'd seen for a while. I assume they brought their own lighting personel with them on the tour, because the design and execution were spot on (no pun intended!).
Highlights of the set for me were definitely Mary and Moving. I don't recall them playing anything off their Life On Other Planets album (the only other album I have), and don't know enough to fill in much of the rest of set list with the exceptions of Pumping On Your Stereo, Caught By The Fuzz and Strange Ones (I think!). However, that didn't affect my enjoyment of the set one bit.
Cloud Control were an interesting choice as a support act. To me, they lacked some of the confidence I would have expected of a band that were supporting the likes of Supergrass. At times, the performing wasn't as tight as it could have been for their sound, and they were a bit awkward when it came to addressing the crowd (neglecting to mention their name until one of the last songs). Having said all that, the music was generally interesting with hints of pop among the low-fi indie sound, and I really enjoyed some of the hypnotic parts of their set.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from Supergrass, as I hadn't seen them play live before and don't have a lot of their back catalogue. So it was brilliant to see and hear them come out with the infectious energy that they had. From the first song all the way through to the end of the encore, it was difficult not to want to move along with the sounds of their music.
Most of the set was played in their current formation as a five piece, but for a few selected songs, they stripped back to the three and four piece incarnations. Surprisingly, this didn't seem to affect the completeness of the sound at all. There were a number of songs where I thought the absence of the rhythm guitar or keyboards would have been noticeable, but I had clearly underestimated Gaz Coombes' impressive guitar work.
Speaking of impressive, the light show tonight was the best I'd seen for a while. I assume they brought their own lighting personel with them on the tour, because the design and execution were spot on (no pun intended!).
Highlights of the set for me were definitely Mary and Moving. I don't recall them playing anything off their Life On Other Planets album (the only other album I have), and don't know enough to fill in much of the rest of set list with the exceptions of Pumping On Your Stereo, Caught By The Fuzz and Strange Ones (I think!). However, that didn't affect my enjoyment of the set one bit.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Gigs update 2008/09/07
A few gigs have appeared on the radar, including Martha Wainwright, David McCormack, Misinterprotato and Pinky Beecroft. The program for The Valley Fiesta has also been put out, and Friday night and Sunday looks like a go-er for us.
I'm just listening to some of Martha's new album from her website, which combined with my memories of seeing her last time she was out, should make for a good night. Pinky's up-coming show is the first gig I think I've ever seen with BYO alcohol advertised - that'll be an interesting night! And I'm really looking forward to seeing David back at Ric's again - I always have fond memories of that combination.
I'm just listening to some of Martha's new album from her website, which combined with my memories of seeing her last time she was out, should make for a good night. Pinky's up-coming show is the first gig I think I've ever seen with BYO alcohol advertised - that'll be an interesting night! And I'm really looking forward to seeing David back at Ric's again - I always have fond memories of that combination.
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