15 Mar 2011, Posted by Cat in News, 9 Comments Tagged music
Despite the drama of Rob fracturing his toe yesterday morning, we managed to get up to Sydney last night to catch a gig at the Opera House that I’d been looking forward to for ages. Afro Celt Sound System, one of my absolute most favourite bands, played one night only and somehow I managed to score seats 2 rows from the stage, dead centre. Theirs is a fusion of Celtic and West African styles featuring 3 drummers, one of whom, despite being Indian, is a dead ringer for Nick Stathopoulos! One of the singers looks like a younger version of Lance Hendrickson, and between them all they managed to play a bunch of instruments I’ve never caught sight of before. The show was pure magic, probably because we were so darn close that it felt like we were actually part of the musical and spectacle rather than just watching it.
I could not possibly have enjoyed the performance more. Check them out if ever you get the chance.
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Last night we went up to Sydney to see Spandau Ballet, supported by Tears for Fears at the Entertainment centre, courtesy of our friend Angie who had managed to score a bunch of freebies from a relative in the music industry. We went because we like Angie and the tickets were free and it was Friday night, goddamn it and we spend way too many of those parked on the couch infront of our bigarse plasma TV.
I expected to be amused. The amusement actually started that morning when I went to get my nails done. When I told my beautician our plans for the evening she said ‘ooh! that sounds good — I’ve never been to the ballet’. She’s 30, meaning New Romanticism, with all its coiffed hair and frilly shirts was way before her time.
I liked both these bands when I was younger, but I’d never have called myself an actual fan. The Ent Cent was packed. Everyone was my age or thereabouts. Plenty of cougars in tight pants and sparkly tops. All the men were gay. It transpired that not only had Angie scored us free tickets, they were really fucking good seats — certainly the best I’ve even had in a venue that size. Dead centre, three rows back from the mixing desk.
Tears For Fears were pretty good, although the mix was a bit muddy — I think the bass was too loud. I’d forgotten how many of their songs I like and am tempted to go out and score myself a greatest hits CD. But Spandau Ballet… they were something else. They were freaking awesome, and not in a hits and memories kind of way at all. Back in the day, new romantics were mostly pretty boys with foppish hair and stylish trousers. What we saw last night was a group of tight, professional, energetic musicians backed up by a well considered mixed media slideshow including footage of them on tour in their early 20s. Not too much of it. Just enough to present a complete picture of what was then and how it led to now.
Lead singer Tony Hadley looks like a banker, yet his powerful voice filled the whole auditorium, resonating with a vitality that’s still ringing in my ears this morning. The band were clearly stoked to be back in Sydney 25 years past their heyday, yet able to pack out a venue that size.
They came across like a really nice bunch of guys rather than yesterday’s heroes trying to squeeze a few bucks out of the ageing fan circuit. I was so impressed.
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18 Mar 2010, Posted by Cat in News, 7 Comments Tagged music
Another dead rock star, this time Alex Chilton at age 59. Big Star’s Radio City remains a favourite album of mine. Check out the classic ‘September Gurls’.
Another Chilton favourite is his classic for entirely different reasons album ‘Like Flies on Sherbert’, reputed to have been recorded while he was drunk. Sure sounded like it.
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Last October, just as I was racing out the door for my World Fantasy Convention adventure, my friend Ian sent me an advance copy of his new CD, Magic Hour. I loaded it onto my ipod in the car en route to the airport. Listened to it on the way to California (ironicly, as my favourite song on the CD turned out to be the one all about going to California!)
I fell totally and utterly in love with this CD. It’s moody, mellow, sad, emotive… fuck knows what words are actually suitable for these songs. Perhaps this quote from another reviewer: “Its a dreamy, pop fest, spiked through with surreal moments of indy rock joy. Julee Cruise meets Feist or as one fan put it, “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls meets Portishead,”
Click here and have a sample listen for yourselves. Magic Hour became my personal soundtrack for 2009.
For interested Sydney folks, the launch is at the Clovelly bowling club down by the sea on the 14th of Feb at 7pm for an 8pm show
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