In amongst the shitstorm that was stirred up early last year when beloved Collingwood venue The Tote Hotel announced that it was closing its doors for good due to skyrocketing costs of keeping the place open because of having to comply with ridiculous liquor licensing laws (alcohol-fuelled violence, oh we laughed!), it also came to light soon after that popular inner-city (well, on the northern fringes at least) watering hole The Arthouse would also be closing its doors within a year. Well, the combination of a helluva lot of protestors taking to the streets and a white knight by the name of Jon Perring managed to save the Tote and it reopened in June that year, but it soon became clear that nothing would save our beloved Arty. What a shame really. In the three years I've been in Melbourne, I've always enjoyed my trips to this hallowed haven of punk, metal, and other assorted subgenres that are a bit to the left of centre! On Sunday the 1st of May, I and many other Melbournians headed to this great venue one last time. Here's a little memoriam to the venue that's served us so well over the years.
If memory serves me correctly - and "memory" and "the Arthouse" are two terms that often don't quite go together! - the first time I ever set foot in this place was on Saturday the 14th of June in 2008 (thanks to Last.fm for the exact date!). A bit late to the (p)arty perhaps, but this can be explained by the fact that I didn't live in Melbourne until that year, and once I did move I was very keen to check out this place I'd heard so much about. That night, the bands playing were Psycroptic, Terrorust, Picture the End and Aphotic Dawn. Again, there's always something about going to the Arthouse that leaves you with fuzzy (but positive!) memories, and almost three years on from this gig, I can't remember a lot of what transpired. I do remember enjoying Aphotic Dawn, hating Picture the End so much I spent the entirety of their set in the beer garden, thinking at the time that Terrorust were alright (hey, I was relatively young), and of course really enjoying Psycroptic. They ripped their way through a selection of material from what was then a three-album discography, and even threw in the first ever performance of Immortal Army of One, which would later appear on their fourth album (Ob)Servant. As the set drew to its end, vocalist Jason Peppiatt announced that Alpha Breed was to be their last song, and that was all the encouragement to go through a rite of passage that I think every Melbournian metal/punk/hardcore kid of my era has gone through - stage diving off the Arthouse stage! It was the first time I'd ever stage dived anywhere actually, and upon picking myself up off the Arthouse floor (it was a pretty awful stage-dive really!), I realised I'd lost my watch! After the show, I ended up meeting some pretty cool individuals by the names of Adam, Nat and Jules. Three top people that I've seen at quite a few gigs over the years. So there you have it. On my first night at the Arthouse, I saw some awesome bands (and one awful one), made new friends, had my first stage-dive, lost my watch, and drank a lot of beer! A successful night, I would think!
Over the years there's been many a return trip made to the place formerly known as the Royal Artillery Hotel. Many a great night has begun with an upright, coordinated walk through the Arthouse door and finished with a clumsy drunken stumble at the end. I've lost count of all the great (and some not so great bands) I've seen deliver sets from the hallowed Arty stage - grind, noise, doom, punk, industrial black metal, death metal - you name the genre, if it can be considered even vaguely alternative, it's been played on the Arthouse stage. It's impossible for me to identify my favourite Arthouse memory, but there's definitely a few in there. One that particularly stands out is an evening when America's Pig Destroyer delivered a ripping set of vicious deathgrind. Being the small venue that it is, after the show the members of the band didn't really have any choice but to hang out with the crowd, and a bunch of mates and I got to meet vocalist JR Hayes and guitarist Scott Hull out the front. Then JR decided he was pretty drained after that gig (fairly understandable) and wanted to know where he could get a Red Bull, so Nat, Adam and I decided to walk him to the nearest 7-Eleven so he could get one!
Grindcore certainly seems to be something the Arthouse did well, and over the years ear and brain cells were damaged by ridiculously fast and br00tal acts, such as Fuck...I'm Dead, Captain Cleanoff, The Kill, Roskopp, Super Fun Happy Slide, etc, etc. There was one final grind night on Sunday the 24th, but I stupidly opted to attend a My Disco gig that night. In hindsight I think it would have been far better to see the final night of a genre that's called the Arthouse home in Melbourne over the years of its existence. Of all the genres I think I've seen at the Arty, there's been something about that particular breed of metal that seems to drag me back again and again for repeated beer drinking and headbanging!
This year I am ashamed to say I didn't actually patronise the Arty that much. It did start off pretty early on though, when Heathen Skulls (who else?!) brought US psychedelic jam-a-riffic trio Earthless on to the stage on the 9th of January, supported by Clagg and Agonhymn. As it turns out, I was recovering from a monstrous hangover; attending gigs on a Sunday always poses quite a challenge! But I was glad that I went in the end, because the three bands I saw were amazing, and the hangover soon disappeared! The Arty's given me enough hangovers over the years, so it was nice to see it finally cure one! I did make sure I got along to quite a few of the "last month" gigs however. First of all it was Sydney-based industrial weirdos The Amenta, with Ruins in the main support slot; naturally, that was a pretty fucking good one, despite the shortness of The Amenta's set. On a Wednesday a few weeks ago, it was once again grind time, and who better to do that than Agents of Abhorrence, Useless Children, Doubled Over and Kromosom (well, they're a little bit more on the hardcore side of things, but anyway)? What a night! But my last gig I ever went to at the Arty was actually a highly successful night - the "sold out" sign was not going to stop me and my friend Joe from seeing Frenzal Rhomb, so with the help of a friendly convenience store bloke, and some paper, a red texta and some sticky tape, we managed to make passable imitations of the wristband on the night, and got our way into the venue! What a show it was.
So on Sunday May 1st, we all battled off the hangover from whatever we went to the night before and headed off to number 616 Elizabeth St for the VERY last time ever. Surprisingly, there wasn't a line to get in, and once inside, the place was quite comfortable to move around in - plenty of people, but not too many! So for one last time, we gathered to drink the final stocks of the Arthouse's fridge (the tap beer had ran out by the time I got there!), share our Arthouse memories and dance to some surprisingly un-Arthouse music - there's a first time for everything, and I suppose the last night of business is a good opportunity to play such "classics" as Livin' on a Prayer, My Sharona and even Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. For this special occasion, invading the Arthouse stage took on a new meaning; as there was of course no band and no musical instruments on the stage, punters delighted in pulling off some truly awful drunken moves to this music they'd never heard at the Arthouse before, and never will again. Of course, many familiar Arthouse faces were hanging around and drinking themselves silly - one could quite easily spot the likes Rob Macmanus (ex-Grey Daturas and now Heathen Skulls head honcho), Jay Jones (Fuck...I'm Dead and The Kill) and of course, POODLE. It wouldn't be an Arthouse farewell without the man himself! I didn't have a lot of money so I had to leave a bit earlier than I'm sure most did, but not before I witnessed the auctioning off of the last ever bottle of beer at the Arthouse! It was a Tasman Bitter, incidentally a beer that the Arty has never sold in its entire history, but had confiscated this evening from someone trying to sneak it in, and it went for $125!
So, in summation, it's been a great few years. I'm sure in a few months they'll be turning the Arty into something highly inappropriate (my money's on apartments, grrr), but even if the building I know and love disappears, what's left of the memories will never be forgotten. So long Arthouse!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
"And all I ever find, is a way things could be" - Dead Letter Circus, Corner Hotel, 02/04/2011
Earlier this year, due to my increasingly dire financial situation, I told myself I would try not to attend too many gigs of bands I had already seen multiple times, in other words, those regular local bands. Now I think about it, these bands are the ones that need support the most and the reason they gig so often is to try and gain themselves much-needed fans, but hell, there are certain bands that I have seen multiple times in the last twelve months with very little obvious change to their set, sometimes nothing changes, and I think to myself, "Why am I still spending money on this?" HOWEVER! There's a certain band from Queensland that I have seen numerous times, and every time they come to town, I find myself going back, due to their consistent ability to entertain their increasingly-large crowds. And so it was that Dead Letter Circus rolled into Melbourne town once again, after a very successful 2010 and a well-received lap around the country at the beginning of 2011 with the Big Day Out festival. Opting for some slightly smaller venues than their last tour, possibly due to the "I've seen them before!" factor, the "sold out" signs nonetheless went up again! Along for the ride were exciting new supergroup Floating Me, and in Melbourne, theatrical progressive rockers [Me]. Now, I couldn't really say no to this!
The night got off to a grandiose start around 9pm, with local up-and-coming four-piece [Me]. Despite the unfamiliarity of the material, the crowd that had arrived quickly warmed to their bombastic brand of rock. Very heavy on the keyboards, and led by the impressive pipes of Luke Ferris, the band lived up to the expectation that many had gained from hearing past reviews saying that the band were taking their musical cues from acts like Muse and Queen. Personally, I found the Muse comparison a little lazy, and I thought Ferris's vocals (and the backing vocals of his bandmates) were a lot more Freddie Mercury than Matt Bellamy. Despite the obvious comparisons to their musical influences, [Me] put on a great show and injected plenty of their own style and originality into the tunes that filled their short set. Those that turned up at this early stage of the night seemed suitably impressed, and at the end of the night, I and the group of friends I was with were all leaving the venue with copies of all of their CDs they had on sale!
Up next was a highly anticipated performance for many in the crowd, despite Floating Me being relative "newcomers" to the scene, having formed just last year. However, although the name may be a new one, the individual musicians in the band are certainly familiar to those who have been following their Australian rock over the past 20 or so years - Andrew Gillespie (vocals), Antony Brown (guitar) and Tobias Messiter (keys) are all former members of 90s group Scary Mother, while the rhythm section of the new band is guaranteed to wow the younger crowd, considering it consists of Jon Stockman from Karnivool and Lucius Borich, formerly of Cog! The expectations were high, and Floating Me did very well to justify the amount of hype that is building around the new act. Gillespie perhaps could've interacted with the crowd a bit more, saying very little other than the obligatory "thank you" between songs, but there was certainly no faulting his vocal performance; his Jeff Martin-meets-Chris Cornell baritone is one of the strongest assets this band has. He was also helped out by the ever-versatile Lucius Borich, who surprisingly is still using his overhead swivel microphone that was such a trademark feature of Cog's live performances. Like [Me], the band had to work to win over a crowd who were unfamiliar with most of the material played (their album, although on sale on the night, hasn't been "officially" released yet), but they did have the advantage of well-known personnel, and they did get a very rousing response for Sugar, which was released as a single last year. The band finished off with a stellar Bezhumous, featuring an intense extended drum solo from Borich, and another song which I'm told was actually an old Scary Mother track. Can't wait to see more from these gents in the future, which is looking quite bright for them!
I had hopes that Dead Letter Circus would do something a little different for this tour, particularly an attempt to mix the setlist up a bit with some oldies that we hadn't heard in a while, or even a debut of Walk (which is the only song they haven't played yet from their all-round awesome album This is the Warning, despite now having toured it three times (four if you count the BDO)). However, with the familiar opening of The Mile, it was clear from the outset that the band were going to deliver a performance that would seem just a little bit "samey" to those who had caught the band four times since their album launch in May last year! The flipside of this is Dead Letter Circus are a pretty impressive live unit, and don't disappoint on a stage even if they are bashing out their old tried-and-true routine. I wouldn't have come back to see them again if they didn't blow me away on previous tours, and even though this particular gig wasn't one of their best, there was still plenty of spark to keep the crowd satisfied. On the second song of the night, Reaction, some extra cameras appeared in the photo pit and onstage, with vocalist Kim Benzie explaining that a film clip was being shot for an upcoming release, the news of which certainly excited the already responsive crowd! As the band worked their way through a collection of favourites from This is the Warning and their self-titled EP, the entire venue looked to be having a great night as usual, with enthusiastic pogoing and very loud singalongs becoming commonplace - Benzie didn't even need to ask! The encore of the set was a rousing rendition of the album's first single Here We Divide, before those extra toms appeared onstage and we all knew what was coming. As the introductory speech to album closer and title track This is the Warning played out over the PA, Benzie welcomed to the stage Sean Bailey of Sydonia, and of course, Lucius Borich from Floating Me. I was hoping that, well, because it's Lucius freakin' Borich, they were going to give him something extra to play in the way of drums, but disappointingly he was merely playing the floor toms, in exactly the same manner as Bailey, and toward the end of the song Benzie and live guitarist/keyboardist Tom Skerlj joined in. Sure, five people playing drums at the same time sounds pretty awesome, and looks damn cool as well, but when they're all doing exactly the same beat, and it's being done in exactly the same way that it was done on previous tours, one can't help feeling that it's losing some of its impact. As I said, Lucius should have been given something a little bit more interesting to do, as what he was doing was no more impressive than the performance of anyone else that's joined in this song over the past year. Nevertheless, as the band left the stage and the curtain onstage was pulled closed, the punters slowly leaving the venue were all wearing that post-gig "I'm exhausted but I've had a fucking awesome night!" expression on their faces. Because when Dead Letter Circus play a gig, there's really no other way to be.
SETLIST:
The Mile
Reaction
This Long Hour
Disconnect and Apply
The Drum
One Step
Cage
Alien
The Space on the Wall
Next in Line
----Encore----
Here We Divide
This is the Warning (with Lucius Borich of Floating Me and Sean Bailey of Sydonia)
(setlist actually taken from Sydney show. Looks good to me though.)
The night got off to a grandiose start around 9pm, with local up-and-coming four-piece [Me]. Despite the unfamiliarity of the material, the crowd that had arrived quickly warmed to their bombastic brand of rock. Very heavy on the keyboards, and led by the impressive pipes of Luke Ferris, the band lived up to the expectation that many had gained from hearing past reviews saying that the band were taking their musical cues from acts like Muse and Queen. Personally, I found the Muse comparison a little lazy, and I thought Ferris's vocals (and the backing vocals of his bandmates) were a lot more Freddie Mercury than Matt Bellamy. Despite the obvious comparisons to their musical influences, [Me] put on a great show and injected plenty of their own style and originality into the tunes that filled their short set. Those that turned up at this early stage of the night seemed suitably impressed, and at the end of the night, I and the group of friends I was with were all leaving the venue with copies of all of their CDs they had on sale!
Up next was a highly anticipated performance for many in the crowd, despite Floating Me being relative "newcomers" to the scene, having formed just last year. However, although the name may be a new one, the individual musicians in the band are certainly familiar to those who have been following their Australian rock over the past 20 or so years - Andrew Gillespie (vocals), Antony Brown (guitar) and Tobias Messiter (keys) are all former members of 90s group Scary Mother, while the rhythm section of the new band is guaranteed to wow the younger crowd, considering it consists of Jon Stockman from Karnivool and Lucius Borich, formerly of Cog! The expectations were high, and Floating Me did very well to justify the amount of hype that is building around the new act. Gillespie perhaps could've interacted with the crowd a bit more, saying very little other than the obligatory "thank you" between songs, but there was certainly no faulting his vocal performance; his Jeff Martin-meets-Chris Cornell baritone is one of the strongest assets this band has. He was also helped out by the ever-versatile Lucius Borich, who surprisingly is still using his overhead swivel microphone that was such a trademark feature of Cog's live performances. Like [Me], the band had to work to win over a crowd who were unfamiliar with most of the material played (their album, although on sale on the night, hasn't been "officially" released yet), but they did have the advantage of well-known personnel, and they did get a very rousing response for Sugar, which was released as a single last year. The band finished off with a stellar Bezhumous, featuring an intense extended drum solo from Borich, and another song which I'm told was actually an old Scary Mother track. Can't wait to see more from these gents in the future, which is looking quite bright for them!
I had hopes that Dead Letter Circus would do something a little different for this tour, particularly an attempt to mix the setlist up a bit with some oldies that we hadn't heard in a while, or even a debut of Walk (which is the only song they haven't played yet from their all-round awesome album This is the Warning, despite now having toured it three times (four if you count the BDO)). However, with the familiar opening of The Mile, it was clear from the outset that the band were going to deliver a performance that would seem just a little bit "samey" to those who had caught the band four times since their album launch in May last year! The flipside of this is Dead Letter Circus are a pretty impressive live unit, and don't disappoint on a stage even if they are bashing out their old tried-and-true routine. I wouldn't have come back to see them again if they didn't blow me away on previous tours, and even though this particular gig wasn't one of their best, there was still plenty of spark to keep the crowd satisfied. On the second song of the night, Reaction, some extra cameras appeared in the photo pit and onstage, with vocalist Kim Benzie explaining that a film clip was being shot for an upcoming release, the news of which certainly excited the already responsive crowd! As the band worked their way through a collection of favourites from This is the Warning and their self-titled EP, the entire venue looked to be having a great night as usual, with enthusiastic pogoing and very loud singalongs becoming commonplace - Benzie didn't even need to ask! The encore of the set was a rousing rendition of the album's first single Here We Divide, before those extra toms appeared onstage and we all knew what was coming. As the introductory speech to album closer and title track This is the Warning played out over the PA, Benzie welcomed to the stage Sean Bailey of Sydonia, and of course, Lucius Borich from Floating Me. I was hoping that, well, because it's Lucius freakin' Borich, they were going to give him something extra to play in the way of drums, but disappointingly he was merely playing the floor toms, in exactly the same manner as Bailey, and toward the end of the song Benzie and live guitarist/keyboardist Tom Skerlj joined in. Sure, five people playing drums at the same time sounds pretty awesome, and looks damn cool as well, but when they're all doing exactly the same beat, and it's being done in exactly the same way that it was done on previous tours, one can't help feeling that it's losing some of its impact. As I said, Lucius should have been given something a little bit more interesting to do, as what he was doing was no more impressive than the performance of anyone else that's joined in this song over the past year. Nevertheless, as the band left the stage and the curtain onstage was pulled closed, the punters slowly leaving the venue were all wearing that post-gig "I'm exhausted but I've had a fucking awesome night!" expression on their faces. Because when Dead Letter Circus play a gig, there's really no other way to be.
SETLIST:
The Mile
Reaction
This Long Hour
Disconnect and Apply
The Drum
One Step
Cage
Alien
The Space on the Wall
Next in Line
----Encore----
Here We Divide
This is the Warning (with Lucius Borich of Floating Me and Sean Bailey of Sydonia)
(setlist actually taken from Sydney show. Looks good to me though.)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
"Don't hold back... the time has come to..." - The Chemical Brothers, Rod Laver Arena, 09/03/2011
Before I dive into a review that's going to be undoubtedly filled with many positive adjectives and much praise for the abilities of Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, I should first say that I have ALWAYS been a fan of this band - OK, maybe two guys playing synthesizers and drum machines (if you want to oversimplify it) isn't really a "band", so how about a duo? But nevertheless, my point remains, I've always had a genuine appreciation of The Chemical Brothers. And that appreciation dates back to since I was SEVEN YEARS OLD. And even though most people, when they get to the age of 22, don't listen to a lot of the same music they did when they were 7, I have been simply unable to detach myself from the same positive feelings my younger self had toward such tracks as Setting Sun and Hey Boy, Hey Girl. Simons and Rowlands last toured Australia in 2008, on the back of their sixth album We Are the Night, as part of the Future Music Festival. Despite that particular album being... well, let's not deny it, a lowlight in the Chems' career, the accompanying live show was still a sight to behold, and I thoroughly enjoyed going to their sideshow performance that year. Anyway, this year Mark James and his team at Future have managed to get the British big-beat pioneers to do another lap around this country as part of the Future juggernaut, and of course, fitting in a few of their own arena shows in between festival dates. With cracking latest album Further (their seventh) released last year and considered by most to be a stellar return to form, a live show was something Australian Chemical Heads were craving, and we didn't have to wait long to get it! On a very un-dance-music Wednesday night, it was Melbourne's turn to be wowed by the Chems, with DJ support from fellow Brits James Holroyd (who's been on quite a few of their tours in the past) and Zane Lowe, and a live set from current Aussie hype trio Art vs Science to kick off the evening.
The group I was with got to Rod Laver Arena a little bit late for Art vs Science's opening slot, but when that opening slot starts at 7:15, who can blame us? We quickly made our way into the venue at 7:30, luckily just in time to see them rip through a performance of arguably their most popular single (and recent Hottest 100 #9) Magic Fountain. They're the kind of band that really polarises an audience, but the half-crowd that had turned up to watch them seemed to really be getting into it. The band seemed to be putting a genuine effort into their performance too, with the two synth/vocalists on either side of the stage, Jim Finn and Dan McNamee, jumping around enthusiastically and belting out the lyrics from their upbeat dancy tunes. They followed it up with the delightfully wacky Bumblebee, featuring a pretty cool light display from a laser mounted on drummer Dan Williams' kit. The band delivered a big triple finish in the form of Parlez vous Francais?, Flippers and Hollywood from their self-titled debut EP, and although many might not particularly like Art vs Science's particular brand of electro, those that had turned up looked like they'd enjoyed the show.
Up next, regular Chemicals warmup man James Holroyd and BBC Radio's Zane Lowe took the reins for an hour of DJing, however we escaped the main arena and headed out for a few more quick bevvies, making our way back in just after 9, with the main event due to start around 9:10. And start it did! The lights flickered off gradually, and a column of lights began to descend from the ceiling to hover just above the massive wall of synthesizers that was the middle of the stage. And then that light began spinning around and a familiar "DON'T HOLD BACK!" kicked in over the PA. Yes, it was the track that's opened just about every single one of their live shows since it's been released, Galvanize, and with a banging rendition of that sure-fire crowd favourite, Rowlands and Simons were off! As they're well known for doing, once they started they didn't stop or even really slow down momentum at all - as one track ended, beats and samples for the next tune came in to keep the flow going. Visually, a Chems live show is quite the spectacle and tonight they were not letting anybody down, with the new light column, the odd laser and a seemingly endless wall of blinding strobes adding a nice new dimension to the familiar visuals such as the psychotic clowns mouthing the chorus to Get Yourself High, brilliant paintball bursts of colour accompanying Saturate, and of course, the dot-men having a bit of a boogie to Escape Velocity. For almost two hours, Rowlands and Simons moved around the stage, barely visible at the best of times due to their extravagant setup (do they just bring their entire studio with them?!), mixing up the beats and keeping the crowd moving effortlessly, never getting bored as Do it Again gave way to Horse Power, Saturate moved seamlessly into a rave-tastic Believe, and even some relatively rare tracks got an airing, such as Don't Think (an iTunes bonus track on Further) and an unheard new song which seems to be titled Super Flash! The crowd lapped it up non-stop for almost two hours, but with the double-win of Leave Home and Block Rockin' Beats, it was almost time for the night to draw to a close. After a quick disappearing act, the brothers headed back onstage for the obligatory encore, which was a quick burst of Snow, followed by Surface to Air, a surprise inclusion of Electronic Battle Weapon 6 (the "Hoops" remix), and finally, the song that should always close a Chemical Brothers live show, The Private Psychedelic Reel! Finishing it all off with dizzying blasts of synthesizer feedback, Ed and Tom eventually headed offstage for good, with the light column in the centre of the stage displaying the usual Chemical Brothers message in rotating light form - "LOVE IS ALL". And at the end of the night, there certainly was a lot of love in the room, because we all knew we'd just witnessed something amazing. The Chemical Brothers came to town again, and they delivered the goods as we knew they would. Who knows what they'll do next time? We can only hope we don't have long to wait to find out!
SETLIST:
(Tomorrow Never Knows intro)
Galvanize
Do it Again / Get Yourself High
Horse Power
Chemical Beats
Swoon
Star Guitar
(Three Little Birdies Down Beats segue)
Hey Boy Hey Girl
Don't Think
Out of Control
Setting Sun
It Doesn't Matter
Saturate
Believe
Escape Velocity (with The Golden Path snippet)
Super Flash / Acid Children
Leave Home
Block Rockin' Beats
----Encore----
Snow / Surface to Air
Electronic Battle Weapon 6
(Dissolve segue)
The Private Psychedelic Reel
The group I was with got to Rod Laver Arena a little bit late for Art vs Science's opening slot, but when that opening slot starts at 7:15, who can blame us? We quickly made our way into the venue at 7:30, luckily just in time to see them rip through a performance of arguably their most popular single (and recent Hottest 100 #9) Magic Fountain. They're the kind of band that really polarises an audience, but the half-crowd that had turned up to watch them seemed to really be getting into it. The band seemed to be putting a genuine effort into their performance too, with the two synth/vocalists on either side of the stage, Jim Finn and Dan McNamee, jumping around enthusiastically and belting out the lyrics from their upbeat dancy tunes. They followed it up with the delightfully wacky Bumblebee, featuring a pretty cool light display from a laser mounted on drummer Dan Williams' kit. The band delivered a big triple finish in the form of Parlez vous Francais?, Flippers and Hollywood from their self-titled debut EP, and although many might not particularly like Art vs Science's particular brand of electro, those that had turned up looked like they'd enjoyed the show.
Up next, regular Chemicals warmup man James Holroyd and BBC Radio's Zane Lowe took the reins for an hour of DJing, however we escaped the main arena and headed out for a few more quick bevvies, making our way back in just after 9, with the main event due to start around 9:10. And start it did! The lights flickered off gradually, and a column of lights began to descend from the ceiling to hover just above the massive wall of synthesizers that was the middle of the stage. And then that light began spinning around and a familiar "DON'T HOLD BACK!" kicked in over the PA. Yes, it was the track that's opened just about every single one of their live shows since it's been released, Galvanize, and with a banging rendition of that sure-fire crowd favourite, Rowlands and Simons were off! As they're well known for doing, once they started they didn't stop or even really slow down momentum at all - as one track ended, beats and samples for the next tune came in to keep the flow going. Visually, a Chems live show is quite the spectacle and tonight they were not letting anybody down, with the new light column, the odd laser and a seemingly endless wall of blinding strobes adding a nice new dimension to the familiar visuals such as the psychotic clowns mouthing the chorus to Get Yourself High, brilliant paintball bursts of colour accompanying Saturate, and of course, the dot-men having a bit of a boogie to Escape Velocity. For almost two hours, Rowlands and Simons moved around the stage, barely visible at the best of times due to their extravagant setup (do they just bring their entire studio with them?!), mixing up the beats and keeping the crowd moving effortlessly, never getting bored as Do it Again gave way to Horse Power, Saturate moved seamlessly into a rave-tastic Believe, and even some relatively rare tracks got an airing, such as Don't Think (an iTunes bonus track on Further) and an unheard new song which seems to be titled Super Flash! The crowd lapped it up non-stop for almost two hours, but with the double-win of Leave Home and Block Rockin' Beats, it was almost time for the night to draw to a close. After a quick disappearing act, the brothers headed back onstage for the obligatory encore, which was a quick burst of Snow, followed by Surface to Air, a surprise inclusion of Electronic Battle Weapon 6 (the "Hoops" remix), and finally, the song that should always close a Chemical Brothers live show, The Private Psychedelic Reel! Finishing it all off with dizzying blasts of synthesizer feedback, Ed and Tom eventually headed offstage for good, with the light column in the centre of the stage displaying the usual Chemical Brothers message in rotating light form - "LOVE IS ALL". And at the end of the night, there certainly was a lot of love in the room, because we all knew we'd just witnessed something amazing. The Chemical Brothers came to town again, and they delivered the goods as we knew they would. Who knows what they'll do next time? We can only hope we don't have long to wait to find out!
SETLIST:
(Tomorrow Never Knows intro)
Galvanize
Do it Again / Get Yourself High
Horse Power
Chemical Beats
Swoon
Star Guitar
(Three Little Birdies Down Beats segue)
Hey Boy Hey Girl
Don't Think
Out of Control
Setting Sun
It Doesn't Matter
Saturate
Believe
Escape Velocity (with The Golden Path snippet)
Super Flash / Acid Children
Leave Home
Block Rockin' Beats
----Encore----
Snow / Surface to Air
Electronic Battle Weapon 6
(Dissolve segue)
The Private Psychedelic Reel
Sunday, March 6, 2011
"I wanna be original, I wanna be surrounded by art" - Soundwave Festival 2011, Melbourne Showgrounds, 04/03/11
Well, after a cracking year in 2010 at my first Soundwave Festival, I was definitely looking forward to seeing what AJ Maddah and his team would deliver this year - and when the lineup was released last year, I instantly knew I'd be attending. Soundwave began as a slightly more punk/hardcore/emo oriented festival a few years ago, something I really had no interest in, but in the past few years they've certainly branched out with some great rock and metal acts taking to the festival's many stages (there's now EIGHT of them!). Having Iron Maiden on the bill was a sure-fire way to get me to buy a ticket, even though I didn't actually end up seeing them on the day! Nevertheless, it was still a highly enjoyable day out with several incredible performances.
I wasn't really interested in any of the first couple of acts on any of the stages so I decided not to hurry myself in getting there. When I did, I headed in the direction of the two stage 4s to see Texan stoner metal (a genre that was certainly not in short supply at Soundwave this year) act The Sword. While waiting it out in front of the Stage 4 "annex", Las Vegas's Taking Dawn were doing their thing on the adjacent stage. It comes as no surprise to me while reading up on this band to learn that they've supported Airbourne before, as their music definitely has that old-school revival approach to heavy metal and hard rock. Frontman Chris Babbitt certainly had his 80s frontman showmanship shtick downpat too, as he soloed down on the ground in front of the barrier, climbed up speaker stacks, and even ran over to the annex stage, much to the bemusement of the crowd waiting for The Sword. I never know whether to take bands like this seriously or not, but at least they provided us with some good laughs and good riffs early in the day.
It was perhaps a little early in the day, but there was still a very decent turnout for The Sword, and most of the crowd seemed to be genuine fans; right away, from the opening riffs of Acheron/Unearthing the Orb, long-haired heads began banging and horns were pointed skyward. I'd only listened to one of their albums prior to this set, but Gods of the Earth luckily got a bit of a look-in with the track How Heavy This Axe. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the ol' doom-stoner-sludge metal in general, so those low-end heavy riffs coming out of Orange amps (of course) sounded pretty damn awesome - and apparently I wasn't the only one that thought so.
SETLIST:
Acheron/Unearthing the Orb
Barael's Blade
Freya
Tres Brujas
How Heavy This Axe
Night City
Winter's Wolves
(The Sword score 8/10.)
I then made my way over to a stage I didn't even go near last year, Stage 5, aka the big shed, for a performance from mathy Oxford quartet This Town Needs Guns. They were certainly a bit out of place on the overall lineup of the day, something vocalist Stuart Smith referred to several times throughout the band's set. "We're not anywhere near as punk as that (referring to whatever band had just come off the stage at the other end of the shed) but hopefully you'll still enjoy us", he noted early on. However, it soon became clear that the crowd weren't simply waiting for the next band on that stage, but were actually genuine fans of TTNG. They did have a pretty short set, but it was jam-packed with plenty of goodies off the Animals album, a pair of old favourites from the self-titled EP, and even a new song! They were one of the bands on the lineup I decided to check out only a few weeks ago, and I'm really glad I did, as I enjoyed their set immensely. Hopefully they'll be back in Australia soon, as I'd love to see them at a headline show.
SETLIST
Chinchilla
Baboon
Lemur
Gibbon
Want to Come Back to My Room and Listen to Some Belle and Sebastian?
Adventure, Stamina and Anger
26 is Dancier Than 4
(This Town Needs Guns score 8.5/10.)
I then bolted over to Stage 3 (AKA "the other shed") just in time to catch a stellar performance from seminal UK post-punkers Gang of Four. Certainly another band that was a bit out of place amongst all that noisy metal and hardcore, but it didn't seem to faze them one bit. Frontman Jon King may be 55 years old, but for all the energy he displayed on the day, you could more accurately say 55 years young! Running around onstage like a madman, even doing a somersault at one point, all the while spitting his lyrics out with typical venom, it was really inspiring to watch. Unfortunately for the band, the slightly younger generation of the Soundwave crowd obviously had other interests in bands at that timeslot, and the Stage 3 shed was looking a little sparsely populated. That said, the small crowd was genuinely getting into the sounds of such classics as At Home He's A Tourist and Anthrax, performed with genuine effort and energy despite the age of the musicians in question. Before I went in to check them out I was reminded of a performance by a band from a similar era and style of music, The Fall, who had put on a really bizarre set at Meredith Music Festival at the end of last year. Frontman Mark E Smith evidently decided that he wasn't going to put in much of an effort, and simply stumbled around onstage, yelled his lyrics in an indecipherable manner, and sporadically turned his bandmates' amplifiers down, up, or even completely off. In complete contrast, Gang of Four were still electric on stage, but at least they had the sense to actually perform their music properly - and the crowd loved it.
SETLIST
(pending recording)
(Gang of Four score 9/10.)
I then made my way back to Stage 4 for a performance by Norwegian melodic black metal stalwarts, Dimmu Borgir. As All That Remains vacated the annex, the crowd grew extremely restless, and one inebriated punter yelled to the sky joyously, "DIMMU BORGIR ARE FINALLY IN AUSTRALIA!" It was certainly a fair statement to make - in their career of almost 20 years, the band have never once set foot on our soil until today, and were a highly anticipated act for many. However, as blasts from smoke machines tried in vain to set some sort of atmosphere for the upcoming performance (at 3:25 in the afternoon, the clouds of dry ice simply blew away and dispersed as soon as they appeared), it became clear that the band weren't appearing any time soon. Roadies continued to do their thing onstage for quite a while, at which point I looked at my phone and realised I'd been standing in front of an empty stage for ten minutes. That was enough for me, and I wandered back over to the Main Arena, for one of Soundwave's major drawcards this year, a little Californian band by the name of Primus.
The funky sounds of Here Come the Bastards were extremely pleasing to hear, particularly as I and the rest of the crowd at the band's sideshow the night before had not witnessed the trio playing this particular song live. Following it up with Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers was even more enjoyable! I've only recently started listening to this band properly (I must admit, I bought that sideshow ticket mainly to see Melvins), but they've definitely found a place in my musical heart quite quickly, and how could they not? It's always a bit of a risky decision to see a band play twice in a row, especially if one of those performances is a festival. Will they play different songs? Will the stage antics be the same? Will the crowd like them? Well, there was no need to worry about that first point, as the band's 9-song set only reprised three numbers from the night prior. The delightfully odd frontman/bass GOD Les Claypool was in fine form too, as he spotted a few fans in the front row holding a banner in appreciation of Slash. "I hate to tell you, but Slash is performing on that stage over there!" he said, pointing in the direction of the adjacent stage 1, before suggesting that maybe the security guards would be nice enough to escort them to the other side. However, whether Claypool was joking or whether he was genuinely incorrect, it became apparent to those checking their timetables that he had got it wrong, and Slash was due to play on Stage 2, after Thirty Seconds to Mars on Stage 1. "I'm sorry, I have been misinformed!" Claypool apologised a few songs later, to general laughter. "It just goes to show, never trust the fuckin' bass player!" His antics, and indeed, the eccentric funk stylings of the music, may have gone over the heads of some of the younger members in the crowd, but by the end of the set, most of the audience was smiling and left feeling very satisfied. The set concluded with a very-crowd pleasing double of My Name is Mud, which Claypool introduced as "a Van Halen song, pre-Jump", and the immortal classic Tommy the Cat, introduced as "another Van Halen song, this one from the Sammy Hagar era". My only complaint with this set was it wasn't dark enough, therefore the visuals on the giant inflatable spacemen's helmets were not used like at the sideshow. But a great performance all round!
SETLIST
Seas of Cheese
Here Come the Bastards
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers
Pudding Time
The Eyes of the Squirrel (new song!)
Over the Falls
John the Fisherman
My Name is Mud
Tommy the Cat
(Primus score 10/10!)
After the necessary food-and-R 'n' R break, it was back to Stage 4 for a performance from thrash metal royalty. It's almost become something of a festival tradition to have a really terrible band play right before Slayer; all one need to do is look at YouTube to see loads of hilarious footage of such "bands" as My Chemical Romance having stuff thrown at them. And today the unfortunate band was Ill Nino. It was quite amusing to watch the end of their set, by which point the Slayer fans were no longing patiently waiting, and were throwing bottles, cans, middle fingers and a continuous chant involving a less-polite way of saying "Please leave the stage now, thank you." Poor old Ill Nino vocalist (I'm not even going to do him the honour of looking his name up on Wikipedia, they really were quite terrible) tried his best to be brave in the face of adversity, directly addressing the opposing crowd with "We won today Melbourne, and you lost", before leaving the stage quickly. And then the chaos began. A wall of no less than 36 Marshall cabs filled the stage - it could be no other band than Slayer. With an offstage intro booming out of the PA, the four thrash metal titans soon made their way onstage to blast their way through the title track to their 2009 release World Painted Blood. "Thank you for showing up today!" vocalist/bassist Tom Araya exclaimed early in the set. His choice of words were certainly deliberate, as some of the crowd shouted similar sentiments back to him. "I guess you're all glad that I showed up today," he continued, referring to his hospitalisation in Sydney that resulted in the last-minute cancellation of the Slayer set. The band ripped their way through a slew of new material and old favourites alike; unsurprisingly it was the latter that evoked the biggest crowd response. However, I'm not sure whether it was because I was pretty far back in the crowd or for some other reason, but this performance just didn't seem to live up to my expectations. The sound seemed a little off at times, which is something that, even though it's not usually the band's fault, can really detract from a performance. Also, I was a little miffed that the band didn't even finish Raining Blood, cutting the song off just before the thrashing madness of the guitar solo and finale. Speaking of guitars though, the other big news of this tour was the absence of Jeff Hanneman, who has contracted a very metal-sounding flesh-eating disease that has rendered him unable to play guitar. His replacement for the time being is Exodus axeman Gary Holt, who certainly put in a very capable performance on the day. However, in the end Slayer just weren't delivering as much as I thought they would; nonetheless it was still good to see an enormously influential heavy metal band playing in Australia yet again. Maybe a "Big 4" tour could happen soon? I live in hope...
SETLIST:
World Painted Blood
Hate Worldwide
War Ensemble
Postmortem
Hallowed Point
Americon
Payback
Mandatory Suicide
Temptation
South of Heaven
Raining Blood
Black Magic
Angel of Death
(Slayer score 8/10.)
"Guess what I came here to do today!" proclaimed Josh Homme, frontman of the inimitable Queens of the Stone Age, as he took a healthy swig from a bottle of what appeared to be vodka, and his bandmates kicked into the familiar opening of Feel Good Hit of the Summer. With this particular choice of opening song, the crowd was instantly in Homme's pocket, as they enthusiastically helped him out on those very simple yet very fun lyrics! Straight away, Homme and bandmates followed it up with other Rated R fave The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, and the pace was set early for what would turn out to be a really good set from the riff-driven five piece. In celebration of the recent reissue of their self-titled debut album, the band have stated that they will play it in its entirety at many of their shows throughout this year, and indeed did at their Soundwave sideshows. However, today not even one song made it into the set, as the band opted instead for a "greatest hits" package of sorts, featuring a wide variety of material from across their career, except for that first album. Queens have always been one of those bands I've sort of "casually loved" - never got "extremely" into them, but certainly haven't hated them either - and I was quite glad to see them perform on this occasion. I didn't really have any complaints with the setlist either - it was especially pleasing to hear I Think I Lost My Headache live, something I didn't expect them to play at all. I thought I'd better leave a bit early to make sure I was back at Stage 4 in time for Melvins; apparently I missed a guy in a wheelchair crowdsurfing during No One Knows! Ah well. Great set!
SETLIST:
Feel Good Hit of the Summer
The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
3's & 7's
Sick, Sick, Sick
Misfit Love
Monsters in the Parasol
Burn the Witch
Little Sister
I Think I Lost My Headache
Go With the Flow
No One Knows
----Encore----
A Song for the Dead
(QOTSA score 10/10!)
At which point it was time to endure another average band running their set overtime at the expense of a much better band to come - this time it was Rob Zombie and his band that were torturing the poor fans of the next band, who in this case was Melvins. Could someone please buy this guy a watch? Despite the apparent fact to everyone in the crowd that their set should have been wrapping up, Zombie and his band dragged it out as long as possible, including throwing in the biggest metal-cliche cover that any band can ever do - Metallica's Master of Puppets. Ugh. They finally finished with Dragula (of course) before getting the crowd to chant "ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!" one last time - naturally, the other crowd gave it their best "MELVINS! MELVINS!" to try and point out to this dickhead that he'd clearly overstayed his welcome.
Melvins, to their credit, didn't resort to tearing Zombie a new one, either literally or through their microphones, but simply stood onstage with their instruments - clearly frustrated and well ready to play - and waited until Zombie finished, before blasting into The Water Glass, with bass player Jared Warren chanting "WOO! WOO!" sarcastically at the crowd. The setlist was pretty similar to the previous night's sideshow, of course with a few omissions due to the reduced set time, but still highly enjoyed by the crowd, naturally considerably smaller now that a certain British classic metal band were doing their thing on the main stage. The band themselves didn't really mess around with any live schtick, although they were wearing some interesting costumes, but just delivered a solid no-frills set of mostly tracks from their most recent three albums - unfortunately, not albums I'm very familiar with. Nevertheless, it's always a good night when these gents are on the stage!
SETLIST
The Water Glass
Evil New War God
AMAZON
The Talking Horse
The Bloated Pope
The Kicking Machine
Billy Fish
Anaconda
Electric Flower
Civilized Worm
(Melvins score 9/10)
The crowd was slowly dwindling, but the couple of hundred people that were left were extremely keen to see another smashing live performance from "motherfuckin' Los Angeles" punk heavyweights The Bronx. One can't accuse them of not being kind to their Australian fans (of which there are plenty!), with this visit technically being the band's fourth in just over two years (if you include their brief visit last year under their Mariachi El Bronx incarnation). However, the crowd still lapped up the incredible energy coming from the stage, ensuring that vocalist Matt Caughthran's usual commands for moshing, circle pits and "chaos" were obeyed with great enthusiasm. Playing in front a giant gorilla backdrop with flashing red eyes and the slogan "THE BEAT THAT KILLS", The Bronx tore their way through a great set of songs from their eponymous three albums, and even threw in one brand new song! Eventually Caughthran did what we knew he would do, and leapt into the pit during everyone's favourite, Heart Attack American, more than happy to share his microphone with the adoring crowd. As the band drew their set to a close with History's Stranglers, the crowd were all a bit worse for wear, but at Caughthran's insistence, thought they'd better drift over to the annex to catch the next band!
SETLIST
Knifeman
Rape Zombie
Shitty Future
White Tar
Inveigh
Under the Rabbit (new song)
Six Days a Week
Strobe Life
Around the Horn
Heart Attack American
History's Stranglers
(The Bronx score 10/10!)
Like The Bronx, Fucked Up delivered a stellar set of vicious hardcore punk with all the fury and intensity they could muster, which as it turns out was quite a lot! Vocalist Damian Abraham was also up for some in-the-crowd fun, in fact, he walked onstage, ripped his shirt off, smashed a beer can on his head, and then off he went, into the crowd where he spent the entirety of the set. The band onstage (talented as they are!) were mostly ignored as the crowd attempted to get their piece of Abraham, whether it be singing furiously into his microphone, giving him a high-five or a backslap, or even jumping on his shoulders and riding him around, as one punter managed! After a long day, everyone was a little bit wearied but a band like Fucked Up ensured that everyone tapped into their reserves to summon one last burst of energy. It all ended way too soon, as both Abraham and his new friends looked optimistically toward the stage in the hope of getting one last song. But it was not to be, and as the band walked offstage, Abraham stayed in the pit to thank each and every member of the crowd personally. A truly inspiring thing to watch.
SETLIST
Son the Father
David Comes to Life
Black Albino Bones
I Hate Summer
The Other Shoe
Baiting the Public
(Unknown)
Crusades
(Fucked Up score 10/10!)
Well, it seems that once again, Soundwave Festival brought a truly diverse lineup to celebrate the hard rock/punk/metal counter-culture that's usually pretty much ignored by the mainstream festivals out there. For a festival that only became truly national in 2008, Maddah's Soundwave brand has certainly been embraced with great enthusiasm, and with the acts he's bringing out, it's easy to see why. Fingers crossed that this "Soundwave Revolution" will be something quite exciting!
I wasn't really interested in any of the first couple of acts on any of the stages so I decided not to hurry myself in getting there. When I did, I headed in the direction of the two stage 4s to see Texan stoner metal (a genre that was certainly not in short supply at Soundwave this year) act The Sword. While waiting it out in front of the Stage 4 "annex", Las Vegas's Taking Dawn were doing their thing on the adjacent stage. It comes as no surprise to me while reading up on this band to learn that they've supported Airbourne before, as their music definitely has that old-school revival approach to heavy metal and hard rock. Frontman Chris Babbitt certainly had his 80s frontman showmanship shtick downpat too, as he soloed down on the ground in front of the barrier, climbed up speaker stacks, and even ran over to the annex stage, much to the bemusement of the crowd waiting for The Sword. I never know whether to take bands like this seriously or not, but at least they provided us with some good laughs and good riffs early in the day.
It was perhaps a little early in the day, but there was still a very decent turnout for The Sword, and most of the crowd seemed to be genuine fans; right away, from the opening riffs of Acheron/Unearthing the Orb, long-haired heads began banging and horns were pointed skyward. I'd only listened to one of their albums prior to this set, but Gods of the Earth luckily got a bit of a look-in with the track How Heavy This Axe. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the ol' doom-stoner-sludge metal in general, so those low-end heavy riffs coming out of Orange amps (of course) sounded pretty damn awesome - and apparently I wasn't the only one that thought so.
SETLIST:
Acheron/Unearthing the Orb
Barael's Blade
Freya
Tres Brujas
How Heavy This Axe
Night City
Winter's Wolves
(The Sword score 8/10.)
I then made my way over to a stage I didn't even go near last year, Stage 5, aka the big shed, for a performance from mathy Oxford quartet This Town Needs Guns. They were certainly a bit out of place on the overall lineup of the day, something vocalist Stuart Smith referred to several times throughout the band's set. "We're not anywhere near as punk as that (referring to whatever band had just come off the stage at the other end of the shed) but hopefully you'll still enjoy us", he noted early on. However, it soon became clear that the crowd weren't simply waiting for the next band on that stage, but were actually genuine fans of TTNG. They did have a pretty short set, but it was jam-packed with plenty of goodies off the Animals album, a pair of old favourites from the self-titled EP, and even a new song! They were one of the bands on the lineup I decided to check out only a few weeks ago, and I'm really glad I did, as I enjoyed their set immensely. Hopefully they'll be back in Australia soon, as I'd love to see them at a headline show.
SETLIST
Chinchilla
Baboon
Lemur
Gibbon
Want to Come Back to My Room and Listen to Some Belle and Sebastian?
Adventure, Stamina and Anger
26 is Dancier Than 4
(This Town Needs Guns score 8.5/10.)
I then bolted over to Stage 3 (AKA "the other shed") just in time to catch a stellar performance from seminal UK post-punkers Gang of Four. Certainly another band that was a bit out of place amongst all that noisy metal and hardcore, but it didn't seem to faze them one bit. Frontman Jon King may be 55 years old, but for all the energy he displayed on the day, you could more accurately say 55 years young! Running around onstage like a madman, even doing a somersault at one point, all the while spitting his lyrics out with typical venom, it was really inspiring to watch. Unfortunately for the band, the slightly younger generation of the Soundwave crowd obviously had other interests in bands at that timeslot, and the Stage 3 shed was looking a little sparsely populated. That said, the small crowd was genuinely getting into the sounds of such classics as At Home He's A Tourist and Anthrax, performed with genuine effort and energy despite the age of the musicians in question. Before I went in to check them out I was reminded of a performance by a band from a similar era and style of music, The Fall, who had put on a really bizarre set at Meredith Music Festival at the end of last year. Frontman Mark E Smith evidently decided that he wasn't going to put in much of an effort, and simply stumbled around onstage, yelled his lyrics in an indecipherable manner, and sporadically turned his bandmates' amplifiers down, up, or even completely off. In complete contrast, Gang of Four were still electric on stage, but at least they had the sense to actually perform their music properly - and the crowd loved it.
SETLIST
(pending recording)
(Gang of Four score 9/10.)
I then made my way back to Stage 4 for a performance by Norwegian melodic black metal stalwarts, Dimmu Borgir. As All That Remains vacated the annex, the crowd grew extremely restless, and one inebriated punter yelled to the sky joyously, "DIMMU BORGIR ARE FINALLY IN AUSTRALIA!" It was certainly a fair statement to make - in their career of almost 20 years, the band have never once set foot on our soil until today, and were a highly anticipated act for many. However, as blasts from smoke machines tried in vain to set some sort of atmosphere for the upcoming performance (at 3:25 in the afternoon, the clouds of dry ice simply blew away and dispersed as soon as they appeared), it became clear that the band weren't appearing any time soon. Roadies continued to do their thing onstage for quite a while, at which point I looked at my phone and realised I'd been standing in front of an empty stage for ten minutes. That was enough for me, and I wandered back over to the Main Arena, for one of Soundwave's major drawcards this year, a little Californian band by the name of Primus.
The funky sounds of Here Come the Bastards were extremely pleasing to hear, particularly as I and the rest of the crowd at the band's sideshow the night before had not witnessed the trio playing this particular song live. Following it up with Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers was even more enjoyable! I've only recently started listening to this band properly (I must admit, I bought that sideshow ticket mainly to see Melvins), but they've definitely found a place in my musical heart quite quickly, and how could they not? It's always a bit of a risky decision to see a band play twice in a row, especially if one of those performances is a festival. Will they play different songs? Will the stage antics be the same? Will the crowd like them? Well, there was no need to worry about that first point, as the band's 9-song set only reprised three numbers from the night prior. The delightfully odd frontman/bass GOD Les Claypool was in fine form too, as he spotted a few fans in the front row holding a banner in appreciation of Slash. "I hate to tell you, but Slash is performing on that stage over there!" he said, pointing in the direction of the adjacent stage 1, before suggesting that maybe the security guards would be nice enough to escort them to the other side. However, whether Claypool was joking or whether he was genuinely incorrect, it became apparent to those checking their timetables that he had got it wrong, and Slash was due to play on Stage 2, after Thirty Seconds to Mars on Stage 1. "I'm sorry, I have been misinformed!" Claypool apologised a few songs later, to general laughter. "It just goes to show, never trust the fuckin' bass player!" His antics, and indeed, the eccentric funk stylings of the music, may have gone over the heads of some of the younger members in the crowd, but by the end of the set, most of the audience was smiling and left feeling very satisfied. The set concluded with a very-crowd pleasing double of My Name is Mud, which Claypool introduced as "a Van Halen song, pre-Jump", and the immortal classic Tommy the Cat, introduced as "another Van Halen song, this one from the Sammy Hagar era". My only complaint with this set was it wasn't dark enough, therefore the visuals on the giant inflatable spacemen's helmets were not used like at the sideshow. But a great performance all round!
SETLIST
Seas of Cheese
Here Come the Bastards
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers
Pudding Time
The Eyes of the Squirrel (new song!)
Over the Falls
John the Fisherman
My Name is Mud
Tommy the Cat
(Primus score 10/10!)
After the necessary food-and-R 'n' R break, it was back to Stage 4 for a performance from thrash metal royalty. It's almost become something of a festival tradition to have a really terrible band play right before Slayer; all one need to do is look at YouTube to see loads of hilarious footage of such "bands" as My Chemical Romance having stuff thrown at them. And today the unfortunate band was Ill Nino. It was quite amusing to watch the end of their set, by which point the Slayer fans were no longing patiently waiting, and were throwing bottles, cans, middle fingers and a continuous chant involving a less-polite way of saying "Please leave the stage now, thank you." Poor old Ill Nino vocalist (I'm not even going to do him the honour of looking his name up on Wikipedia, they really were quite terrible) tried his best to be brave in the face of adversity, directly addressing the opposing crowd with "We won today Melbourne, and you lost", before leaving the stage quickly. And then the chaos began. A wall of no less than 36 Marshall cabs filled the stage - it could be no other band than Slayer. With an offstage intro booming out of the PA, the four thrash metal titans soon made their way onstage to blast their way through the title track to their 2009 release World Painted Blood. "Thank you for showing up today!" vocalist/bassist Tom Araya exclaimed early in the set. His choice of words were certainly deliberate, as some of the crowd shouted similar sentiments back to him. "I guess you're all glad that I showed up today," he continued, referring to his hospitalisation in Sydney that resulted in the last-minute cancellation of the Slayer set. The band ripped their way through a slew of new material and old favourites alike; unsurprisingly it was the latter that evoked the biggest crowd response. However, I'm not sure whether it was because I was pretty far back in the crowd or for some other reason, but this performance just didn't seem to live up to my expectations. The sound seemed a little off at times, which is something that, even though it's not usually the band's fault, can really detract from a performance. Also, I was a little miffed that the band didn't even finish Raining Blood, cutting the song off just before the thrashing madness of the guitar solo and finale. Speaking of guitars though, the other big news of this tour was the absence of Jeff Hanneman, who has contracted a very metal-sounding flesh-eating disease that has rendered him unable to play guitar. His replacement for the time being is Exodus axeman Gary Holt, who certainly put in a very capable performance on the day. However, in the end Slayer just weren't delivering as much as I thought they would; nonetheless it was still good to see an enormously influential heavy metal band playing in Australia yet again. Maybe a "Big 4" tour could happen soon? I live in hope...
SETLIST:
World Painted Blood
Hate Worldwide
War Ensemble
Postmortem
Hallowed Point
Americon
Payback
Mandatory Suicide
Temptation
South of Heaven
Raining Blood
Black Magic
Angel of Death
(Slayer score 8/10.)
"Guess what I came here to do today!" proclaimed Josh Homme, frontman of the inimitable Queens of the Stone Age, as he took a healthy swig from a bottle of what appeared to be vodka, and his bandmates kicked into the familiar opening of Feel Good Hit of the Summer. With this particular choice of opening song, the crowd was instantly in Homme's pocket, as they enthusiastically helped him out on those very simple yet very fun lyrics! Straight away, Homme and bandmates followed it up with other Rated R fave The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret, and the pace was set early for what would turn out to be a really good set from the riff-driven five piece. In celebration of the recent reissue of their self-titled debut album, the band have stated that they will play it in its entirety at many of their shows throughout this year, and indeed did at their Soundwave sideshows. However, today not even one song made it into the set, as the band opted instead for a "greatest hits" package of sorts, featuring a wide variety of material from across their career, except for that first album. Queens have always been one of those bands I've sort of "casually loved" - never got "extremely" into them, but certainly haven't hated them either - and I was quite glad to see them perform on this occasion. I didn't really have any complaints with the setlist either - it was especially pleasing to hear I Think I Lost My Headache live, something I didn't expect them to play at all. I thought I'd better leave a bit early to make sure I was back at Stage 4 in time for Melvins; apparently I missed a guy in a wheelchair crowdsurfing during No One Knows! Ah well. Great set!
SETLIST:
Feel Good Hit of the Summer
The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
3's & 7's
Sick, Sick, Sick
Misfit Love
Monsters in the Parasol
Burn the Witch
Little Sister
I Think I Lost My Headache
Go With the Flow
No One Knows
----Encore----
A Song for the Dead
(QOTSA score 10/10!)
At which point it was time to endure another average band running their set overtime at the expense of a much better band to come - this time it was Rob Zombie and his band that were torturing the poor fans of the next band, who in this case was Melvins. Could someone please buy this guy a watch? Despite the apparent fact to everyone in the crowd that their set should have been wrapping up, Zombie and his band dragged it out as long as possible, including throwing in the biggest metal-cliche cover that any band can ever do - Metallica's Master of Puppets. Ugh. They finally finished with Dragula (of course) before getting the crowd to chant "ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!" one last time - naturally, the other crowd gave it their best "MELVINS! MELVINS!" to try and point out to this dickhead that he'd clearly overstayed his welcome.
Melvins, to their credit, didn't resort to tearing Zombie a new one, either literally or through their microphones, but simply stood onstage with their instruments - clearly frustrated and well ready to play - and waited until Zombie finished, before blasting into The Water Glass, with bass player Jared Warren chanting "WOO! WOO!" sarcastically at the crowd. The setlist was pretty similar to the previous night's sideshow, of course with a few omissions due to the reduced set time, but still highly enjoyed by the crowd, naturally considerably smaller now that a certain British classic metal band were doing their thing on the main stage. The band themselves didn't really mess around with any live schtick, although they were wearing some interesting costumes, but just delivered a solid no-frills set of mostly tracks from their most recent three albums - unfortunately, not albums I'm very familiar with. Nevertheless, it's always a good night when these gents are on the stage!
SETLIST
The Water Glass
Evil New War God
AMAZON
The Talking Horse
The Bloated Pope
The Kicking Machine
Billy Fish
Anaconda
Electric Flower
Civilized Worm
(Melvins score 9/10)
The crowd was slowly dwindling, but the couple of hundred people that were left were extremely keen to see another smashing live performance from "motherfuckin' Los Angeles" punk heavyweights The Bronx. One can't accuse them of not being kind to their Australian fans (of which there are plenty!), with this visit technically being the band's fourth in just over two years (if you include their brief visit last year under their Mariachi El Bronx incarnation). However, the crowd still lapped up the incredible energy coming from the stage, ensuring that vocalist Matt Caughthran's usual commands for moshing, circle pits and "chaos" were obeyed with great enthusiasm. Playing in front a giant gorilla backdrop with flashing red eyes and the slogan "THE BEAT THAT KILLS", The Bronx tore their way through a great set of songs from their eponymous three albums, and even threw in one brand new song! Eventually Caughthran did what we knew he would do, and leapt into the pit during everyone's favourite, Heart Attack American, more than happy to share his microphone with the adoring crowd. As the band drew their set to a close with History's Stranglers, the crowd were all a bit worse for wear, but at Caughthran's insistence, thought they'd better drift over to the annex to catch the next band!
SETLIST
Knifeman
Rape Zombie
Shitty Future
White Tar
Inveigh
Under the Rabbit (new song)
Six Days a Week
Strobe Life
Around the Horn
Heart Attack American
History's Stranglers
(The Bronx score 10/10!)
Like The Bronx, Fucked Up delivered a stellar set of vicious hardcore punk with all the fury and intensity they could muster, which as it turns out was quite a lot! Vocalist Damian Abraham was also up for some in-the-crowd fun, in fact, he walked onstage, ripped his shirt off, smashed a beer can on his head, and then off he went, into the crowd where he spent the entirety of the set. The band onstage (talented as they are!) were mostly ignored as the crowd attempted to get their piece of Abraham, whether it be singing furiously into his microphone, giving him a high-five or a backslap, or even jumping on his shoulders and riding him around, as one punter managed! After a long day, everyone was a little bit wearied but a band like Fucked Up ensured that everyone tapped into their reserves to summon one last burst of energy. It all ended way too soon, as both Abraham and his new friends looked optimistically toward the stage in the hope of getting one last song. But it was not to be, and as the band walked offstage, Abraham stayed in the pit to thank each and every member of the crowd personally. A truly inspiring thing to watch.
SETLIST
Son the Father
David Comes to Life
Black Albino Bones
I Hate Summer
The Other Shoe
Baiting the Public
(Unknown)
Crusades
(Fucked Up score 10/10!)
Well, it seems that once again, Soundwave Festival brought a truly diverse lineup to celebrate the hard rock/punk/metal counter-culture that's usually pretty much ignored by the mainstream festivals out there. For a festival that only became truly national in 2008, Maddah's Soundwave brand has certainly been embraced with great enthusiasm, and with the acts he's bringing out, it's easy to see why. Fingers crossed that this "Soundwave Revolution" will be something quite exciting!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Further developments...
So, the recording gear went out for its second outing last night. To, of all things, the mighty Iron Maiden. I didn't have high expectations for how it would turn out. Here's why:
1) I was in located in the back section of the floor - splitting the floor up into front and back is still in my opinion one of the stupidest and most pointless excuses for "crowd control" I have ever seen.
2) I still have these old microphones of which only one works most of the time.
3) And, it was an Iron Maiden concert. I was drunk, I was having a good time jumping around, singing, acting like a general idiot, and so were the majority of the people around me.
The result? A pretty terrible sounding recording. It sounds like the band are playing miles away, which given the view that we had most of the night, they might as well have been. Stadium gigs suck in general, but when you're in the back GA, they're even worse. Also, lo and behold, for the majority of the gig only one channel did work, surprise surprise. And even when things do seem to be going good, you can hear the sounds of people talking and singing badly. I should also point out that the mix on the night sounded pretty average, way below par for an Iron Maiden gig. In short, this probably isn't worth uploading. I might send it to Chris to see what he can do to get it cleaned up, as I know he's got a bit more experience with fiddling around with audio editors and such. But I think he can only do so much. It's a shame that it didn't work out, because, well, it's Maiden. I really should post a review of this, but I don't think I can honestly do it justice. Besides, every man and his dog has already a say on the interwebs, so it's kind of a moot point. Maybe I'll include them in my Soundwave review, well, I'll obviously be writing a Soundwave review, so if I see Maiden, they'll obviously get a mention. But, as we all know I love my setlists, so here's what they played (and from all accounts, will be playing until further notice):
Satellite 15 ... The Final Frontier (S-15 played over tape, band came on during TFF)
El Dorado
2 Minutes to Midnight
The Talisman
Coming Home
Dance of Death
The Trooper
The Wicker Man
Blood Brothers
When the Wild Wind Blows
The Evil That Men Do
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
----Encore----
The Number of the Beast
Hallowed be Thy Name
Running Free
Up the Irons. What a fantastical show.
1) I was in located in the back section of the floor - splitting the floor up into front and back is still in my opinion one of the stupidest and most pointless excuses for "crowd control" I have ever seen.
2) I still have these old microphones of which only one works most of the time.
3) And, it was an Iron Maiden concert. I was drunk, I was having a good time jumping around, singing, acting like a general idiot, and so were the majority of the people around me.
The result? A pretty terrible sounding recording. It sounds like the band are playing miles away, which given the view that we had most of the night, they might as well have been. Stadium gigs suck in general, but when you're in the back GA, they're even worse. Also, lo and behold, for the majority of the gig only one channel did work, surprise surprise. And even when things do seem to be going good, you can hear the sounds of people talking and singing badly. I should also point out that the mix on the night sounded pretty average, way below par for an Iron Maiden gig. In short, this probably isn't worth uploading. I might send it to Chris to see what he can do to get it cleaned up, as I know he's got a bit more experience with fiddling around with audio editors and such. But I think he can only do so much. It's a shame that it didn't work out, because, well, it's Maiden. I really should post a review of this, but I don't think I can honestly do it justice. Besides, every man and his dog has already a say on the interwebs, so it's kind of a moot point. Maybe I'll include them in my Soundwave review, well, I'll obviously be writing a Soundwave review, so if I see Maiden, they'll obviously get a mention. But, as we all know I love my setlists, so here's what they played (and from all accounts, will be playing until further notice):
Satellite 15 ... The Final Frontier (S-15 played over tape, band came on during TFF)
El Dorado
2 Minutes to Midnight
The Talisman
Coming Home
Dance of Death
The Trooper
The Wicker Man
Blood Brothers
When the Wild Wind Blows
The Evil That Men Do
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
----Encore----
The Number of the Beast
Hallowed be Thy Name
Running Free
Up the Irons. What a fantastical show.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
"You're nothing to me... except everything" - Sydonia w/Jericco, East Brunswick Club, 19/02/11
It's official, this is the third gig review I've given Sydonia in this little blog, which means they are now my most reviewed band! And one might think that I might be getting a little sick of them, and would be perhaps reaching the point where I'd slow down on attending their gigs, but, hey, have you BEEN to a Sydonia gig lately? They're definitely one of this city's best live bands going around, never disappointing the punters when they step on to a stage! That combined with the fact that they were co-headlining with Jericco, and had Sydney's sleepmakeswaves in the support slot, meant that I was more than keen to head along to the East Brunswick Club on a Saturday night and get my local live music fix!
I was slightly worried about whether I'd enjoy this gig in the proper way, due to the fact that I'd attended a party the night before (in Bellfield of all places, yeah, I didn't know where it was either) and had absolutely minimal sleep as a result. I was feeling pretty drained and was hoping the bands would put on great sets to keep me awake. However, before I even got in the door, the night got off to a good start. As I stepped off the tram and walked across the road, some guy said to me, "Have you got your ticket yet?" When I replied in the negative, he said that his girlfriend had been unable to make it and I could have her ticket. So, in for free! Definitely something that pleased me, given my current financial situation! In the unlikely event you're reading this, THANK YOU to Bradley Dixon! If we run into each other again sometime, I owe you a beer! Anyway, through the door I went and right down the front for a highly anticipated set from the immensely talented post-rockers sleepmakeswaves, who were making the trek down all the way from Sydney for this night. With the room still half empty, they started their set a little early anyway, but the few that were in attendance were genuinely enjoying the sounds coming from the stage. I'd been looking forward to seeing them for quite a while; unfortunately they didn't play anything I recognised (only possessing the In Today Already Walks Tomorrow album) and I think the general consensus is that the entirety of the set was new material. I'm generally against the idea of a band playing too many "new" songs at a gig, for the obvious reason that it's much more enjoyable if you're hearing familiar melodies and riffs, and in the case of bands with vocals, you can sing along! However, if the songs are awesome enough, the rule can be broken and tonight sleepmakeswaves were that exception. Combining beautiful textures and soundscapes (including great use of e-bow, electronic programming and other handy guitar effects) with moments of genuine "heavy" intensity, sleepmakeswaves provided a nice "relaxed" start to the evening, something I definitely needed! The early start to their set was advantageous as their songs tend to be a little longer than usual, and they still played to their allocated finishing time. It was mentioned that the group hope to have a new album released mid-year, and I certainly can't wait for it!
Up next was a set from proggy Melbourne five-piece Branch Arterial, who play in the same vein as your typical Butterfly Effect/Karnivool type of sound. I caught the tail-end of their set last year supporting Jericco's Evelyn Hotel show, and I remember them being enjoyable, so I was looking to the full set this time around. The set opened with the tried-and-true method of the instrumentalists taking to the stage first and delivering a cool intro song, before vocalist Nigel Jackson joined them onstage to play the set proper. Like sleepmakeswaves' set, the material they were playing was all stuff I hadn't heard before - although that's probably because I've NEVER listened to Branch Arterial unlike sleepmakeswaves. However, unlike sleepmakeswaves, their sound didn't immediately appeal to me, and I found it hard to enjoy their set compared to the other bands on offer. Their musicianship was certainly tight and creative, with some cool riffs and progressive ideas, but I didn't particularly like the vocals. Jackson certainly has a good voice, it just seemed a little... I don't know! "Artificial" is perhaps the word I'm looking for? The band were a good fit to the lineup in general, but on the flipside, there are WAY WAY too many of these Australian heavy-prog-ish-rock bands going around at the moment, especially in Melbourne, and Branch Arterial really don't have that extra "zing" or anything that sets them apart from some of the better acts in the scene at the moment. But they're a pretty new band and their sound is off to a good start so far, so give them a few years and they might be doing some pretty good things. After all, I can't write off a band after one set!
One of those aforementioned better acts is Jericco, who have rapidly become one of my favourite bands ever since I saw them on a rather drunken evening at the Espy front bar about two years ago now. This set was always going to be a big one, especially seeing as it's been a while between shows, and when they came onstage and opened with a brand new song, the tone was set for an absolute belter. It was a fantastic song too! Following that, the immensely talented five-piece dived headfirst into a crowd-pleasing set of favourites from their two EPs, with nearly every song they've recorded getting an airing. The typical Jericco energy was in full display, with man-mountain bassist Roy Amar and keyboard wizard Fetah Sabawi hopping around onstage enthusiastically as usual; now that I think about it I wasn't even really looking at guitarist Jordan Nagle much on the night, but I'm sure he was getting into it too! And at the front of it all was the ever awesome Brent McCormick, staring down punters and singing directly to them (while they sang right back), and of course utilizing a megaphone to deliver some of his lyrics. In between all that, the band managed to fit in another new song; the crowd was so fired up that it made little difference that nobody had heard the song before, the response was just the same! The set concluded with an awesome trio of Sun, B-Song (where McCormick led the crowd in a singalong of "sloooooowww, doowwwn") and traditional closer Rujm (Pile of Stones), with the eager crowd left wanting more! They did finish a little bit early, but looked absolutely drained and decided that they were done.
SETLIST:
(New song)
Always
Nice to See You
No Solution No Problem
Promises Made of Glass
Safe to Say (new)
Cause and Effect
Sun
B-Song
Rujm (Pile of Stones)
(I've had to stretch the old memory here, I planned to take a setlist from the stage seeing I was in the front row, but Brent picked them up too quickly. I think the order's pretty close to being correct.)
"They're opening with Life in a Cup!" exclaimed some excited punters in the front row, as the members of Sydonia made their way onstage and began set-up, which included some setlists being placed on the stage (written on the back of beer slab cardboard, of course). It was indeed an event worthy of creating such excitement, as it's been quite a while since this particular song has been featured at a Sydonia show. The rest of the setlist was looking particularly interesting too. However, as we were all enjoying watching the band drag out Sean Bailey's massive drum kit, and of course the extra custom percussion on the stage, someone decided to close the friggin curtain! Eventually the curtain opened again, and yes, it was the very mellow Life in a Cup that opened the set - before it finished and the band stepped up the pace a hundredfold with the thrashing madness of 3 Tongues getting everyone suitably revved up! As I've said, I've seen Sydonia quite a lot lately, I think this was the fourth time in the past 12 months (and 3rd in only 4 months), but really, their live shows are always something exciting and tonight was no exception. They're pretty good at mixing up the setlist too, and tonight was a good example, with Shame and Elbow making a return for the first time in ages, and the almost-debut of yet another song, Nobodies. Vocalist-guitarist Dana Roskvist explained that they'd only played it once, in Perth. If you've been to a Sydonia show before, you know that the interaction between the band (especially guitarist Sam Haycroft) and the crowd is always particularly hilarious, and tonight was no exception. "Go work in a Mercedes dealership!" someone yelled out to bassist Adam Murray. "Please don't bring work here!" he replied. As always, there were a few friends on hand to help out with the percussion jam Bateria; tonight it was Murray's brother Zack (who's been at the last few shows), along with Darren Hurford from Branch Arterial, and someone else I didn't quite catch. Zack Murray also helped out with the brilliant newie Here. As the set drew to a close, it became clear that they had a bit of extra time. The crowd favourite Incoming was on the setlist as an encore, yet the band didn't even bother to leave the stage, as Haycroft asked the crowd to help out on that evergreen opening shout of "INCOMING!" Certain excited punters had already been doing so pretty much since the beginning of the set! The mosh pit reached absolute fever pitch during what's undoubtedly one of the heaviest numbers in Sydonia's bag of tunes. With the extra time they had, the band took a quick breather on the side of the stage before being coaxed back on to play one more, which delightedly was Rubber Bullet, featuring more percussive madness from Haycroft and Murray. As the band wrapped up yet another brilliant set, punters in the front row leaned forward to grab the setlists and various drum sticks that scattered the stage (as you might imagine, there were quite a few!) It was another great evening for one of Melbourne's hidden talents; hopefully that new album is coming soon, it's well overdue!
SETLIST (what was played!):
Life in a Cup
3 Tongues
No Woman's Land
Shame
Here (with Zack Murray)
Bateria (with Zack Murray, Darren Hurford and ?)
Nobodies
Ocean of Storms
Elbow
Sinner
Incoming
----Encore----
Rubber Bullet
ACTUAL SETLIST (written by Sam, who else?)
By the way, if you read this blog regularly you might recall in December that I said I was going to start recording shows around Melbourne, thanks to a very generous gift from a friend of mine. And yet, it doesn't seem to have happened yet. Well, to cut a long story short, there's been some technical difficulties. First of all, I took the gear on the understanding that the mics were a little screwed up and one of them probably wouldn't work. Which, when I took them out for the first time to My Disco's gig, I learnt firsthand. Second, while trying to recover the recordings the next day, the iRiver froze and then ran out of battery, and I had nothing to charge it with. Well, I gave it back to Chris recently and he managed to get it fixed, now I have it back. I REALLY wanted to take it for a spin for this particular gig, but during the afternoon I thought I'd test it out, and again the microphones were playing up, so I thought I wouldn't bother. Considering the intensity of that moshpit, and me being up the front, it was probably for the best! Chris has ordered some new microphones and it was cheaper for him to order two pairs, so I get one. Hopefully, after the false start to my "career" as a bootlegger, I can get this show on the road soon. There's some killer shows coming up!
I was slightly worried about whether I'd enjoy this gig in the proper way, due to the fact that I'd attended a party the night before (in Bellfield of all places, yeah, I didn't know where it was either) and had absolutely minimal sleep as a result. I was feeling pretty drained and was hoping the bands would put on great sets to keep me awake. However, before I even got in the door, the night got off to a good start. As I stepped off the tram and walked across the road, some guy said to me, "Have you got your ticket yet?" When I replied in the negative, he said that his girlfriend had been unable to make it and I could have her ticket. So, in for free! Definitely something that pleased me, given my current financial situation! In the unlikely event you're reading this, THANK YOU to Bradley Dixon! If we run into each other again sometime, I owe you a beer! Anyway, through the door I went and right down the front for a highly anticipated set from the immensely talented post-rockers sleepmakeswaves, who were making the trek down all the way from Sydney for this night. With the room still half empty, they started their set a little early anyway, but the few that were in attendance were genuinely enjoying the sounds coming from the stage. I'd been looking forward to seeing them for quite a while; unfortunately they didn't play anything I recognised (only possessing the In Today Already Walks Tomorrow album) and I think the general consensus is that the entirety of the set was new material. I'm generally against the idea of a band playing too many "new" songs at a gig, for the obvious reason that it's much more enjoyable if you're hearing familiar melodies and riffs, and in the case of bands with vocals, you can sing along! However, if the songs are awesome enough, the rule can be broken and tonight sleepmakeswaves were that exception. Combining beautiful textures and soundscapes (including great use of e-bow, electronic programming and other handy guitar effects) with moments of genuine "heavy" intensity, sleepmakeswaves provided a nice "relaxed" start to the evening, something I definitely needed! The early start to their set was advantageous as their songs tend to be a little longer than usual, and they still played to their allocated finishing time. It was mentioned that the group hope to have a new album released mid-year, and I certainly can't wait for it!
Up next was a set from proggy Melbourne five-piece Branch Arterial, who play in the same vein as your typical Butterfly Effect/Karnivool type of sound. I caught the tail-end of their set last year supporting Jericco's Evelyn Hotel show, and I remember them being enjoyable, so I was looking to the full set this time around. The set opened with the tried-and-true method of the instrumentalists taking to the stage first and delivering a cool intro song, before vocalist Nigel Jackson joined them onstage to play the set proper. Like sleepmakeswaves' set, the material they were playing was all stuff I hadn't heard before - although that's probably because I've NEVER listened to Branch Arterial unlike sleepmakeswaves. However, unlike sleepmakeswaves, their sound didn't immediately appeal to me, and I found it hard to enjoy their set compared to the other bands on offer. Their musicianship was certainly tight and creative, with some cool riffs and progressive ideas, but I didn't particularly like the vocals. Jackson certainly has a good voice, it just seemed a little... I don't know! "Artificial" is perhaps the word I'm looking for? The band were a good fit to the lineup in general, but on the flipside, there are WAY WAY too many of these Australian heavy-prog-ish-rock bands going around at the moment, especially in Melbourne, and Branch Arterial really don't have that extra "zing" or anything that sets them apart from some of the better acts in the scene at the moment. But they're a pretty new band and their sound is off to a good start so far, so give them a few years and they might be doing some pretty good things. After all, I can't write off a band after one set!
One of those aforementioned better acts is Jericco, who have rapidly become one of my favourite bands ever since I saw them on a rather drunken evening at the Espy front bar about two years ago now. This set was always going to be a big one, especially seeing as it's been a while between shows, and when they came onstage and opened with a brand new song, the tone was set for an absolute belter. It was a fantastic song too! Following that, the immensely talented five-piece dived headfirst into a crowd-pleasing set of favourites from their two EPs, with nearly every song they've recorded getting an airing. The typical Jericco energy was in full display, with man-mountain bassist Roy Amar and keyboard wizard Fetah Sabawi hopping around onstage enthusiastically as usual; now that I think about it I wasn't even really looking at guitarist Jordan Nagle much on the night, but I'm sure he was getting into it too! And at the front of it all was the ever awesome Brent McCormick, staring down punters and singing directly to them (while they sang right back), and of course utilizing a megaphone to deliver some of his lyrics. In between all that, the band managed to fit in another new song; the crowd was so fired up that it made little difference that nobody had heard the song before, the response was just the same! The set concluded with an awesome trio of Sun, B-Song (where McCormick led the crowd in a singalong of "sloooooowww, doowwwn") and traditional closer Rujm (Pile of Stones), with the eager crowd left wanting more! They did finish a little bit early, but looked absolutely drained and decided that they were done.
SETLIST:
(New song)
Always
Nice to See You
No Solution No Problem
Promises Made of Glass
Safe to Say (new)
Cause and Effect
Sun
B-Song
Rujm (Pile of Stones)
(I've had to stretch the old memory here, I planned to take a setlist from the stage seeing I was in the front row, but Brent picked them up too quickly. I think the order's pretty close to being correct.)
"They're opening with Life in a Cup!" exclaimed some excited punters in the front row, as the members of Sydonia made their way onstage and began set-up, which included some setlists being placed on the stage (written on the back of beer slab cardboard, of course). It was indeed an event worthy of creating such excitement, as it's been quite a while since this particular song has been featured at a Sydonia show. The rest of the setlist was looking particularly interesting too. However, as we were all enjoying watching the band drag out Sean Bailey's massive drum kit, and of course the extra custom percussion on the stage, someone decided to close the friggin curtain! Eventually the curtain opened again, and yes, it was the very mellow Life in a Cup that opened the set - before it finished and the band stepped up the pace a hundredfold with the thrashing madness of 3 Tongues getting everyone suitably revved up! As I've said, I've seen Sydonia quite a lot lately, I think this was the fourth time in the past 12 months (and 3rd in only 4 months), but really, their live shows are always something exciting and tonight was no exception. They're pretty good at mixing up the setlist too, and tonight was a good example, with Shame and Elbow making a return for the first time in ages, and the almost-debut of yet another song, Nobodies. Vocalist-guitarist Dana Roskvist explained that they'd only played it once, in Perth. If you've been to a Sydonia show before, you know that the interaction between the band (especially guitarist Sam Haycroft) and the crowd is always particularly hilarious, and tonight was no exception. "Go work in a Mercedes dealership!" someone yelled out to bassist Adam Murray. "Please don't bring work here!" he replied. As always, there were a few friends on hand to help out with the percussion jam Bateria; tonight it was Murray's brother Zack (who's been at the last few shows), along with Darren Hurford from Branch Arterial, and someone else I didn't quite catch. Zack Murray also helped out with the brilliant newie Here. As the set drew to a close, it became clear that they had a bit of extra time. The crowd favourite Incoming was on the setlist as an encore, yet the band didn't even bother to leave the stage, as Haycroft asked the crowd to help out on that evergreen opening shout of "INCOMING!" Certain excited punters had already been doing so pretty much since the beginning of the set! The mosh pit reached absolute fever pitch during what's undoubtedly one of the heaviest numbers in Sydonia's bag of tunes. With the extra time they had, the band took a quick breather on the side of the stage before being coaxed back on to play one more, which delightedly was Rubber Bullet, featuring more percussive madness from Haycroft and Murray. As the band wrapped up yet another brilliant set, punters in the front row leaned forward to grab the setlists and various drum sticks that scattered the stage (as you might imagine, there were quite a few!) It was another great evening for one of Melbourne's hidden talents; hopefully that new album is coming soon, it's well overdue!
SETLIST (what was played!):
Life in a Cup
3 Tongues
No Woman's Land
Shame
Here (with Zack Murray)
Bateria (with Zack Murray, Darren Hurford and ?)
Nobodies
Ocean of Storms
Elbow
Sinner
Incoming
----Encore----
Rubber Bullet
ACTUAL SETLIST (written by Sam, who else?)
By the way, if you read this blog regularly you might recall in December that I said I was going to start recording shows around Melbourne, thanks to a very generous gift from a friend of mine. And yet, it doesn't seem to have happened yet. Well, to cut a long story short, there's been some technical difficulties. First of all, I took the gear on the understanding that the mics were a little screwed up and one of them probably wouldn't work. Which, when I took them out for the first time to My Disco's gig, I learnt firsthand. Second, while trying to recover the recordings the next day, the iRiver froze and then ran out of battery, and I had nothing to charge it with. Well, I gave it back to Chris recently and he managed to get it fixed, now I have it back. I REALLY wanted to take it for a spin for this particular gig, but during the afternoon I thought I'd test it out, and again the microphones were playing up, so I thought I wouldn't bother. Considering the intensity of that moshpit, and me being up the front, it was probably for the best! Chris has ordered some new microphones and it was cheaper for him to order two pairs, so I get one. Hopefully, after the false start to my "career" as a bootlegger, I can get this show on the road soon. There's some killer shows coming up!
Friday, February 11, 2011
"I know a place, where I can go, when I'm low down" - Foals, Palace Theatre, 10/02/11
There certainly seems to be this pattern of current indie flavours-of-the-month-type bands touring the country, leaving, and then... coming back in a relatively short space of time, doesn't there? Last in the country around July last year for the massive Splendour in the Grass festival, English math-y dance-punk quintet Foals made an appearance on this year's Laneway Festival bill, and naturally were given the opportunity to play sideshows, given the very quick sell-out of their last tour. I'd missed those particular shows due to how quick they sold out - well, I didn't miss them entirely, thanks to a certain social networking site's "Secret Show" series, I got along to Carlton's Trades Hall early one evening to catch a short, but FREE show from the band. However, that venue had quite a low stage, resulting in terrible visibility of the band, and the sound was also pretty average to say the least. I had expectations that I would enjoy this show a lot more, and I had those expectations met!
Brisvegas four-piece Last Dinosaurs had the honours of warming the stage in front of a rapidly-filling Palace Theatre crowd (although as far as I'm aware, the show failed to reach "sold out" status). Frontman Sean Caskey noted on a few separate occasions how genuinely excited his band were to be playing such a huge gig, opening for such an established act as Foals, unfortunately, they didn't quite make much of an impact on the crowd, save for when he announced the song Saturn, which is apparently one of their more well-known tunes. It wasn't as if they didn't have a sound suited to the gig; their bouncy uptempo indie numbers were definitely a close match for the headliners. And it wasn't as if the songs themselves didn't have their merits. It was just that they didn't really seem to have enough variety to set them apart from this current indie sound, and the songs just didn't have that extra energy needed to sway the largely indifferent crowd. The band themselves didn't help matters either, pretty much standing still at their respective positions on the stage, occasionally nodding their heads but seeminly not getting "into it" very much at all. In fact, oddly enough Caskey was the one doing most of the moment, strutting around the stage at every opportunity he had when he wasn't required to be in front of his microphone. I'd like to give these guys another chance, as they certainly weren't the worst opening act I've seen, but they just seemed to be a little too "samey" and one-dimensional to be playing at this particular event. A commendable effort nonetheless.
Note to whoever was responsible for running times for this particular event: it is NOT good practice to keep a crowd waiting FORTY-FIVE minutes between bands for the headlining act to take to the stage. Nevertheless, when Foals finally did appear, a little earlier than they were supposed, the crowd was suitably revved up and as Blue Blood predictably got the set going, everyone came alive. Even with just a 75 minute set, the Oxford group packed plenty of songs from their two albums into the set, with last year's Total Life Forever getting the most airings, but complemented nicely by a selection of Antidotes favourites. I've said to a lot of people that I still think Antidotes is a much better album; it just has a much more energetic and "fun" vibe to it. In comparison, a lot of the slower and more reflective pieces on TLF sound almost "serious" in comparison. The response in the crowd tonight reflected this - one only needed to compare the relentless dancing and singing during an early rendition of Cassius, to the quiet reverential appreciation of newer material such as What Remains. The band themselves looked to be having a great time, bouncing around onstage enthusiastically; singer Yannis Philippakis was also genuinely thankful of the crowd on numerous occasions. As the set progressed, Philippakis gradually got more enthusiastic, especially during main set closer Electric Bloom, which saw him belting a floor tom relentlessly, before finally launching himself off the stage and into the adoring crowd! The band returned for the obligatory encore, which kicked off in great style with The French Open, the crowd energy reaching fever pitch as they pogoed and even crowd-surfed to one of the more high-energy numbers in Foals' discography. There was a brief pause after the song, where the band had a quick conversation, before Philippakis announced they were going to play something they hadn't played in a while due to them being so satisfied with the crowd response, and so it was that we got pre-Antidotes rarity Hummer, which apparently wasn't on the planned setlist! Two Steps, Twice was a fitting end to the night, with the band extending the pre-chorus section to allow Philippakis to sprint up to the second floor balcony, before climbing down near the left PA speaker and dropping to the stage! The band looked exhausted at the end of it, but seemed quite happy with the response they got, and the crowd agreed! A great set from a very talented band.
SETLIST:
Blue Blood
Olympic Airways
Total Life Forever
Cassius
Balloons
Miami
What Remains
After Glow
2 Trees
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom
----Encore----
The French Open
Hummer
Two Steps, Twice
Brisvegas four-piece Last Dinosaurs had the honours of warming the stage in front of a rapidly-filling Palace Theatre crowd (although as far as I'm aware, the show failed to reach "sold out" status). Frontman Sean Caskey noted on a few separate occasions how genuinely excited his band were to be playing such a huge gig, opening for such an established act as Foals, unfortunately, they didn't quite make much of an impact on the crowd, save for when he announced the song Saturn, which is apparently one of their more well-known tunes. It wasn't as if they didn't have a sound suited to the gig; their bouncy uptempo indie numbers were definitely a close match for the headliners. And it wasn't as if the songs themselves didn't have their merits. It was just that they didn't really seem to have enough variety to set them apart from this current indie sound, and the songs just didn't have that extra energy needed to sway the largely indifferent crowd. The band themselves didn't help matters either, pretty much standing still at their respective positions on the stage, occasionally nodding their heads but seeminly not getting "into it" very much at all. In fact, oddly enough Caskey was the one doing most of the moment, strutting around the stage at every opportunity he had when he wasn't required to be in front of his microphone. I'd like to give these guys another chance, as they certainly weren't the worst opening act I've seen, but they just seemed to be a little too "samey" and one-dimensional to be playing at this particular event. A commendable effort nonetheless.
Note to whoever was responsible for running times for this particular event: it is NOT good practice to keep a crowd waiting FORTY-FIVE minutes between bands for the headlining act to take to the stage. Nevertheless, when Foals finally did appear, a little earlier than they were supposed, the crowd was suitably revved up and as Blue Blood predictably got the set going, everyone came alive. Even with just a 75 minute set, the Oxford group packed plenty of songs from their two albums into the set, with last year's Total Life Forever getting the most airings, but complemented nicely by a selection of Antidotes favourites. I've said to a lot of people that I still think Antidotes is a much better album; it just has a much more energetic and "fun" vibe to it. In comparison, a lot of the slower and more reflective pieces on TLF sound almost "serious" in comparison. The response in the crowd tonight reflected this - one only needed to compare the relentless dancing and singing during an early rendition of Cassius, to the quiet reverential appreciation of newer material such as What Remains. The band themselves looked to be having a great time, bouncing around onstage enthusiastically; singer Yannis Philippakis was also genuinely thankful of the crowd on numerous occasions. As the set progressed, Philippakis gradually got more enthusiastic, especially during main set closer Electric Bloom, which saw him belting a floor tom relentlessly, before finally launching himself off the stage and into the adoring crowd! The band returned for the obligatory encore, which kicked off in great style with The French Open, the crowd energy reaching fever pitch as they pogoed and even crowd-surfed to one of the more high-energy numbers in Foals' discography. There was a brief pause after the song, where the band had a quick conversation, before Philippakis announced they were going to play something they hadn't played in a while due to them being so satisfied with the crowd response, and so it was that we got pre-Antidotes rarity Hummer, which apparently wasn't on the planned setlist! Two Steps, Twice was a fitting end to the night, with the band extending the pre-chorus section to allow Philippakis to sprint up to the second floor balcony, before climbing down near the left PA speaker and dropping to the stage! The band looked exhausted at the end of it, but seemed quite happy with the response they got, and the crowd agreed! A great set from a very talented band.
SETLIST:
Blue Blood
Olympic Airways
Total Life Forever
Cassius
Balloons
Miami
What Remains
After Glow
2 Trees
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Electric Bloom
----Encore----
The French Open
Hummer
Two Steps, Twice
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