So I've decided that I need to document some of the shows I see, for future reference. And what better time to start, with loads of great artists out in Australia at the moment and heaps of exciting shows coming up in the next few months (did I hear you say Spoon? Why yes thank you!!!)
Last week, Paul and I saw the Cribs at Billboards. I have never understood why the Cribs are not more successful in Australia. They are massive in the UK, but even with the addition of Johnny Marr (ex The Smiths guitarist) on this, their 4th studio album, people in Oz still don't seem that interested in them... hmmm. Anyway, does not bother me in the slightest, as it means I get to see an amazing, talented band in a reasonably small venue. And I LOVE Billboards, it's my favorite venue in Melbourne (I am sure that is not a popular statement, but it is a great venue! Really!).
We had some yum Chinese at Post Deng Cafe (I love that place) and then caught the last few songs of Bridezilla's set. Very nice.
Finally the guys came out and opened with We Were Aborted from the new album, which I was very pleased with, as I love that song. They've not toured in Australia since their 2nd album, so they played played plenty of old stuff. And the difference having a second guitar (Marr) makes to their old stuff! It sounded amazing! Hey Scensters was like a different song. And Another Number did loose a bit of it's raw, scratchy sound (which arguably is what the band does really well), but it still had a great sound. Here is them playing Cheat On Me...
I wish I'd made a note of their set list, but they played for around an hour and a half and it was all very solid material. They missed a few key songs though including Martel and You Were Always The One, and they didn't play an encore! How strange, have not seen that for ages.
One of the most amazing songs they did was Be Safe, from their Men's Needs, Women's Needs album. Its the track that has Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth having a chat over the top of them. At the gig the projected his face onto the stage and the boys played in semi-darkness in the background. The visual image was incredible. I took a video of some of it, but it didn't really work... To be fair, it came off my phone.
Some photos too...
All in all, a fab gig. Was a very happy lass for several days afterwards :)
On Tuesday night we wandered off to the Corner Hotel for Paul Dempsey, Oh Mercy and the Wagons. I actually missed the Wagons who played last, as I am a nanna and went home to sleep. It's been a pretty busy few months and I am trying really hard not to burn out... But Oh Mercy were fab and very cute (and very young! Wow, I am really old). I am not a massive Paul Dempsey fan... but I will admit that he writes amazing songs and has and incredible voice and is generally a pleasure to listen to. He is very very good, and on the strength of a 25 minute acoustic performance I am now considering going to see his show next month. I just wish he would stop talking in between his songs! But a very fun (and cheap - $15) Tuesday night. Happy Birthday Simmo!
It's taken me a while to get this info up here, but I promise to update a review soon after Soundwave. I've been reading the Sydney reviews (which are all bad) and so I am hoping having the festival at the Showgrounds will result in happier reviews from the Melbourne crowd. We will see...
But what a line-up! Faith No More, Placebo, Jimmy Eat World, Eagles of Death Metal, Jane's Addiction, Get Up Kids, the Gallows... WOW! Flemington are going to have to really fuck up things to ruin it for me. Although BDO also had a stellar line-up and look at what happened there. Positive thoughts people! Positive thoughts...
