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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

2011 - Live Shows Review I’ve just finished putting together my photobook from shows I went to this year, so as per tradition, here we go… Top 6 shows of the year? Sufjan Stevens Joanna Newsom Bat For Lashes Frente Owen Pallett Olof Arnalds That was a tough list to whittle down. Outside of one show (see later on), everything I saw this year was top notch. Total number of shows? 23 (wow, half as many as last year) First show of the year?Kate Miller-Heidke Last show of the year?Neil Gaiman & Fourplay String Quartet Most surprising show? Sufjan Stevens. My word. I was not expecting dancing, I was not expecting black lights, and I was definitely not expecting balloons to fall from the Opera House ceiling. Most disappointing?Amanda Palmer’s Australia Day debacle. It was terrible to the point where I would seriously consider spending money to go and see her perform again. Farthest traveled? States attended shows in? Brisbane, to go see Frente perform. Venue most visited? Sydney Opera House (5 shows) Worst injury? I did something weird to my ankle at the Gang Gang Dance show. Not so as you’d know at the time, but the next day I was hobbling around. Most expensive ticket? I can’t even remember. Probably Sufjan or Martha Wainwright. Band seen the most? Owen Pallet - two solo shows, and opening for Sufjan. Best new discovery? Olof Arnalds, playing at Sydney Festival. Man, what a show. And it was just one woman and a guitar (or charango). Bands seen this year that also broke up this year? None that I’m aware of! Friends made at shows? Did have fun conversations with people sitting around us at the Neil Gaiman show, but otherwise no. Band members met? Apart from the usual suspects, just Olof Arnalds, which turned into this big embarrassing thing with people taking photos which I then forced them to delete. I just wanted to say hi and get an autograph on my record.. Best souvenir from a show? Only memories and photographs this year. I couldn’t even manage to grab the Frente setlist, breaking my run of regularly getting an Angie Hart-related setlist. Longest time in line? 15-20 minutes for any shows at the Spiegeltents. Nothing bananas. Shows seen from the barricade [front row]: None this year, not so as you’d say technically front row or barricade. Most shows in one month?7 for January Most shows in one week? 4 Biggest crowd? Anything in the Concert Hall at the Opera House Top 5 best 2011 show moments: 1- Balloons from the Opera House ceiling. Oh man. That was just the icing on the cake that took the show from ‘amazing’ to ‘this could be the best show I have ever been to’. 2- Washington’s live performance of ‘I Believe You Liar’. Oh my god. It went from this (string-laden piano piece not out of place on Kate Bush’s first record) to this (giant live rock vamping). 3- Olof Arnalds singing a song without words twice, each time in a different mood, by changing her inflection on the “la la la”s. Also closing her performance with my favourite song of hers, and getting the audience to join in. 4- Martha Wainwright breaking up her set of Edith Piaf covers by performing songs her mother had written. Absolutely beautiful. 5- Bat For Lashes performing ‘Solsbury Hill’ with a string quartet, as well as a new song (not with quartet) that was amazingly hot. Honourable mentions: Finally getting to hear Kate Miller-Heidke perform ‘Psycho Killer’, Josh Pyke playing with his new looping pedal, John Malkovich joining Philip Glass on stage. Top 5 worst 2011 show moments:1- Amanda Palmer not having a clue how to rein in her ramshackle show. Outside of a couple of worthwhile moments, it was just hubris on stage. 2- Imogen Heap only playing one track from ‘I Megaphone’. I have to let go of the fact that she’s never going to play ‘Rake It In’. (I’m never going to let go of the fact that she has to play ‘Rake It In’). That’s it this year. Even #2 isn’t an issue with the show itself (which was great) so much as my own ridiculous expectations that she play songs from an album over 12 years old.
2011 - Live Shows Review

I’ve just finished putting together my photobook from shows I went to this year, so as per tradition, here we go…

Top 6 shows of the year?

  1. Sufjan Stevens
  2. Joanna Newsom
  3. Bat For Lashes
  4. Frente
  5. Owen Pallett
  6. Olof Arnalds

That was a tough list to whittle down. Outside of one show (see later on), everything I saw this year was top notch.

Total number of shows?
23 (wow, half as many as last year)

First show of the year?
Kate Miller-Heidke

Last show of the year?
Neil Gaiman & Fourplay String Quartet

Most surprising show?

Sufjan Stevens. My word. I was not expecting dancing, I was not expecting black lights, and I was definitely not expecting balloons to fall from the Opera House ceiling.

Most disappointing?
Amanda Palmer’s Australia Day debacle. It was terrible to the point where I would seriously consider spending money to go and see her perform again.

Farthest traveled? States attended shows in?

Brisbane, to go see Frente perform.

Venue most visited?

Sydney Opera House (5 shows)

Worst injury?

I did something weird to my ankle at the Gang Gang Dance show. Not so as you’d know at the time, but the next day I was hobbling around.

Most expensive ticket?

I can’t even remember. Probably Sufjan or Martha Wainwright.

Band seen the most?

Owen Pallet - two solo shows, and opening for Sufjan.

Best new discovery?

Olof Arnalds, playing at Sydney Festival. Man, what a show. And it was just one woman and a guitar (or charango).

Bands seen this year that also broke up this year?

None that I’m aware of!

Friends made at shows?

Did have fun conversations with people sitting around us at the Neil Gaiman show, but otherwise no.

Band members met?

Apart from the usual suspects, just Olof Arnalds, which turned into this big embarrassing thing with people taking photos which I then forced them to delete. I just wanted to say hi and get an autograph on my record..

Best souvenir from a show?
Only memories and photographs this year. I couldn’t even manage to grab the Frente setlist, breaking my run of regularly getting an Angie Hart-related setlist.

Longest time in line?

15-20 minutes for any shows at the Spiegeltents. Nothing bananas.

Shows seen from the barricade [front row]:

None this year, not so as you’d say technically front row or barricade.

Most shows in one month?
7 for January

Most shows in one week?

4

Biggest crowd?

Anything in the Concert Hall at the Opera House

Top 5 best 2011 show moments:

1- Balloons from the Opera House ceiling. Oh man. That was just the icing on the cake that took the show from ‘amazing’ to ‘this could be the best show I have ever been to’.

2- Washington’s live performance of ‘I Believe You Liar’. Oh my god. It went from this (string-laden piano piece not out of place on Kate Bush’s first record) to this (giant live rock vamping).

3- Olof Arnalds singing a song without words twice, each time in a different mood, by changing her inflection on the “la la la”s. Also closing her performance with my favourite song of hers, and getting the audience to join in.

4- Martha Wainwright breaking up her set of Edith Piaf covers by performing songs her mother had written. Absolutely beautiful.

5- Bat For Lashes performing ‘Solsbury Hill’ with a string quartet, as well as a new song (not with quartet) that was amazingly hot.

Honourable mentions: Finally getting to hear Kate Miller-Heidke perform ‘Psycho Killer’, Josh Pyke playing with his new looping pedal, John Malkovich joining Philip Glass on stage.

Top 5 worst 2011 show moments:
1- Amanda Palmer not having a clue how to rein in her ramshackle show. Outside of a couple of worthwhile moments, it was just hubris on stage.

2- Imogen Heap only playing one track from ‘I Megaphone’. I have to let go of the fact that she’s never going to play ‘Rake It In’. (I’m never going to let go of the fact that she has to play ‘Rake It In’).

That’s it this year. Even #2 isn’t an issue with the show itself (which was great) so much as my own ridiculous expectations that she play songs from an album over 12 years old.
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Day 6: A song by your favourite band

Throwing Muses - The Visit

I have no idea why Throwing Muses are my favourite band. I’ve never really thought about it. They always just felt so natural in that position that I never felt a need to analyse why. Would you ever really need to? Surely knowing that something “is” can be enough to know that it’s true? Obviously that wouldn’t fly in the science world, but this is art and I think truth there is much more objective and much more easier to identify.

This song is probably my favourite song by them. It’s currently my most played track from them in iTunes. It’s odd that it is, because I wouldn’t call it at all representative of their work overall. But your favourite track by a band isn’t supposed to be representative of their work, it’s supposed to be representative of why you like them, and if you listen to this, I think it’s fairly clear why it is my favourite. Today, at any rate.

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Day 5: A song from your childhood

The Beatles - She’s Leaving Home

Yes, I’m well aware that this track was from ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, but growing up, ‘The Beatles’ Ballads’ compilation was one of those records that your parents had that you kind of grew up with. This track was always one of my favourites. I would picture the story, video-clip style, in my head as I listened, and it would always be set in my grandparents’ house, the house in which I now live. When mum and dad got rid of their old record player, they got rid of all their old records. When I later got hold of my own turntable, I was very excited to find a mint condition copy of this in a second hand store in the city for only $20. Of course I’ve since obtained every LP from The Beatles, but if it wasn’t for this collection, and this song appearing on it, who knows what road my musical taste may have taken?

For the record, other favourites from the collection were “Norwegian Wood”, “Across The Universe”, “Hey Jude”, “The Fool On The Hill” and “Here, There & Everywhere”.

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Day 4: A song by the first band you saw live

Blondie - Atomic

Thanks to Kate’s original concert buddy not being able to go to their Sydney show in 1999, I scored a free ticket, experienced my first post-show meet and greet, and was saved from my entry into the world of concert going being Jewel. Just some of the many reasons I’ve kept her around. Friends like that are important.

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Day 3: Your favourite album track

Matt Nathanson - Then I’ll Be Smiling

Firstly…what the hell makes an “album track”? On most 12-track LPs, there are probably on average 9 tracks that are called “album tracks”. I had to narrow it down, because, well, most of what we listen to are “album tracks”. But how? Is an album track something that was clearly completely unsuitable for radio play? Is an album track something that would only work as part of an album? Something epic and sprawling? Something that needed the context of the surrounding tracks to make it work? In the end I went with “track that completely represented the album for me”. Represented thematically, represented musically, represented as the track that just grips you and says “this is what I’m about, do you get it?”. For it to be my favourite “album track”, the answer to that question is “YES, I GET IT”. So, here it is.

It’s from his LP ‘Still Waiting For Spring’. I’m not going to comment further on the song; you can glean everything I’d say here from the above.

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Day 2 - Your favourite single

Coldplay - Life In Technicolor II

From the ‘Prospekt’s March’ EP, following the ‘Viva La Vida’ LP. The biggest disappointment (and excitement) on the album version was that it was just a tiny, perfect instrumental. But it didn’t feel quite enough. Then they had a full version too suddenly, opening this selection of other tracks that didn’t make the final album. I was captivated. A lot of it is fairly, well, standard Coldplay, but as a fan that of course doesn’t bother me. Something about this track lifted it above their normal single material, which is either over the top power pop/rock or over the top pop/rock ballad. Here I think they’ve succeeded because the vibrancy and excited dynamic of the arrangement manages to justify the over the top execution of their work from X&Y onwards.

It’s the second most played track in my iTunes.

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Day 1: A song from the first album you bought

Tori Amos - Space Dog

Since I was casting around for something to post today, I thought I’d do this 30 day song challenge that’s doing the rounds. Tori Amos’ “Under The Pink” was, indeed, the first LP I spent my own money on. This track is my favourite off it, and it is my favourite Tori Amos song ever.

I remember asking my dad to go to Grace Bros department store in his lunch break to get this for me. Being frugal, I told him “just buy the normal version, I don’t want to spend the extra on the bonus disc version”. Being an awesome dad, he came home with the bonus disc version. Before the advent of eBay and MP3 trading, I could have sold that bonus disc edition for well over the $30 I paid for it. Now, nobody really cares, but still, thinking that I was considering turning down the bonus disc of b-sides still makes me smile.

This album has always been one of my most treasured records ever. I can’t imagine not having it around in some form. That’s my excuse as to why I own I think 8 copies of it:

  1. Original bonus disc version
  2. Japanese version I purchased when the original one got scratched (incidentally, it was scratched in the middle of ‘Space Dog’
  3. White label promo version I got as a spare for if the Japanese one got scratched
  4. Pink LP version
  5. Another Pink LP version that I bought because it was only $20
  6. Tape version I got at a second hand store in Merrylands for $6, to play in my car
  7. Deleted cover tape version
  8. Plain old ordinary CD release, only purchased in 2009

I did have 9 - three copies of the pink LP - but I sold one to a friend because he was looking, and really, I didn’t need three.

I suppose I still do own 9 if you count the score book. Even if civilisation crumbles, we have no electricity, no turntables, and corrosive winds burn all the metal strings on pianos and guitars and everything meaning no musical instruments, if I’ve got the score book handy, and a bunch of willing vocalists, we can still listen to these songs. Well, I can at any rate. If you’d like to join me, you’ll be welcome to.

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Kate Miller-Heidke - I Like You Better When You’re Not Around

Some of Kate’s songs have a tendency to be considered for “comedy singles” rather than serious songwriting. This is probably one of them, but the fact that it’s a bit silly doesn’t make it any less true. Who doesn’t know someone that they remember fondly but can’t stand to be around?

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Max Sharam - Jezu’s Jewellery

I’m putting together a compilation of quality/favourite “ladysingers” for a twitter acquaintance, so naturally there’ll be a solid set of Australian performers on there. This is one song that’s a must-include as far as I’m concerned. She was a bit of a one-hit-wonder in the mid 90s (like so many quality ladysingers), but the album stands up really well. This song in particular. It makes me want to create a Kate Bush style short film around it.

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Emma Bunton - Crickets Sing For AnaMaria

I’m currently concerned that I have a cricket infestation. It’s nowhere near as fun and breezy as this song. There definitely aren’t funky vibraphone solos. If anyone has any tips on chemical free ways of removing crickets from a house / yard then please do let me know.