Pier Street Party, Frankston 24/02/2018

LET’S PARTY!

Pier Street Party, Frankston VIC Australia 24/02/2018

Come party down where the city meets the sea, right near the magic fountain, here in Frankston for this year’s Pier Street Party! With a line-up featuring Aussie hip-hop heavy-weights Thundamentals, party favourites Art Vs Science, garage indie-rock legends Gyroscope, alt-rock escape artists The Getaway Plan, attention demanding indie-rockers Rackett and fresh hip-hop artist Jesswar, I’m sure today will make us all feel alive! .....the bar near by may contribute to that as well.

Ready or not, here we go!

To my surprise, Rackett are up first instead of originally intended opener Jeswar, so upon entry to the party, I’m a little anxious as we’re slightly late for when Rackett are scheduled to start. Luckily however, the bands haven’t started yet for some reason, then I realise that this is likely due to the absence of people in the party as yet, which is unfortunate for Rackett as they’re a band not to be missed! Just as I stroll to the front barrier and get set up, the band now start to wow the small crowd that turned up early! Lead singer Bec starts the set by saying hi to us, which normally at a show deflates the hype, but in such a casual intimate setting as this however, it goes down well to connect with us from the get go. As the music is launched in the first song, the musical energy is powerful and with Bec groovin’ around the stage straight away, it awakens our attention nice and early. Unfortunately however, the sound mixer has done a poor job mixing the vocals, so hearing Bec’s dynamic voice is a challenge sadly!  Moving further along, attention is demanded even more, with the sound changing from pop-rock with catchy vocal hooks, to a more pop/punk vibe with slightly clearer vocals likely thanks to Bec putting more force into them, plus killer guitar riffs, and as the vibe reaches it’s peak nearing the sets’ end, Bec jumping off the stage, sitting on the barrier next to a certain super-attractive blind guy, which Bec must agree with, seeing as she sings to me, I mean him, while caressing his face with her free hand, then leans down and kisses me, stimulating my full attention in all sorts of ways. Bec goes on to share the love around with the rest of her audience, running a random girls hand down her front, singing with people and just busting a move in front of the barrier, demanding everyone’s attention, and drawing people closer to the front.

Now all my blood has returned to it’s regular parts of my body, I’m going to go take a wander and scope out this place. The area is small, and basic which is good as far as me navigating it, with a few typical festival food options (burgers, pizza, hot dogs etc) a bar and a merchandise stand surrounding the standing area with park benches at the back to chill out and eat at, and if this isn’t good enough for you, we are right outside Pelly Bar, with more beverage and seating options. This may surprise you, but I am only human, so now would be a good time to sample some of the food and alcohol on offer here and chillax while Jesswar take to the stage, before the big guns come out and I park myself at the front barrier like a true groupy.

Jesswar’s gangster rap is getting peoples’ attention as they continue to enter the event, but for me, it’s getting a little repetitive and isn’t living up to the hype that Rackett left. 

After refuelling, I’ve returned to the front barrier ready for The Getaway Plan, which is lucky as the crowds are really starting to roll in and near full capacity. The Getaway Plan too start the show with a greeting to their fans, but while an eery bass carries Matt’s voice, keeping the excitement high. The Getaway Plan put on a brilliant high-energy performance filled with awesome guitar riffs and hooks and the band all rocking out on stage enthusiastically, but unfortunately, the sound mixer has again stuffed up, making Matt’s incredible voice which differs in range and dynamics very hard to hear hidden below the rest of the bands’ sound.... I honestly think people can probably hear my singing more clearly then Matt’s... those poor sods. The Getaway Plan’s set features a brilliant blend of old and new hits, flowed well to vary the energy levels at strategic intervals, plus the addition of the song ‘Lovesick’ which the band haven’t played live since their 2013 ‘Lovesick Tour’ to my knowledge, and got the crowd rocking out and energised, but the poor sound mixing with the vocals let the otherwise epic set down dramatically to my deep disappointment!

Now for Gyroscope to ride the hype The Getaway Plan left for them. The crowd is starting to get quite rowdy with the occasional random drunken statement being shouted at the band and peoples’ balance getting a little unstable, this’ll be interesting! The band start the set with a bang, with the bands’ energy at a blazing hot high, but the sound mixer has done an even worse job mixing the vocals for Gyroscope sadly! This hasn’t let down the excitement in the crowd around me though, it’s still extremely positive and lively, made even more-so when the bassist jumps off the stage, stands on the front barrier step, leans back against the audience and continues to play, bringing the excitement up to climactic levels! .....to be honest, I really don’t know which band member it is leaning against the crowd holding a guitar of some sort, for all I know with my limited sight, it could just be a security guard that’s nicked a guitar from the band and felt like putting on their own show? Whoever that party animal is, it raised the hype well in the first song that’s carried throughout the bands’ set! As the set goes on, we are hit with some easy to dance to beats with enticing guitar hooks and seriously muffled vocals, which I can’t properly comment on sadly, as I can’t freakin’ hear them! Oh there they are! I can now JUST hear the vocals in a couple of songs, luckily being my two favourite, but even still, it’s far from level with the other sounds and beyond being able to comment analytically on. Even with the lack of vocal clarity, the audience still manage to sing along... somehow, and the easy to dance/jump to vibe is exploded with the band flowing one of their songs into Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds Are Burning’ in the songs’ bridge before returning to it’s original song, being a definite crowd pleaser!  The lead singer now throws an energy grenade into the audience, as he jumps off the stage in the bands’ last song, and proceeds to stand on top of the front barrier in an instrumental section, grabbing peoples hands in the audience riling everyone right up for a big finish! I can’t help but notice seeing as the lead singer is standing on the barrier right next to me, that his pants are down a little with his nickers showing slightly, and I’m so tempted to slip a business card in the top of his undies just above his ass for him to discover later. 

Now that everyone’s here and got their party hat on and are filled with obscene amounts of grog, Art Vs Science with their party-anthem hits should go down nicely! For the first few songs, the bands’ energy is a little withdrawn to my surprise, as I was expecting the energy to start wild and get all sorts of crazy as the set progresses. Oh wait, here we go, it’s taken a few songs, but  the band are really starting to bust out some moves now, with the lead singer shakin’ his tail feather around across the front of the stage, and instigating clap alongs to get the crowd involved and right in the palm of the bands’ hands! Thankfully, the sound mixer has done a much better job with the vocals this time, and are only slightly not loud enough, which makes the music so much more enjoyable! The band keeps things interesting throughout the set, from playing an awesome cover of Muse’s ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ which gets the crowd jumping and resembling a full-on mosh, closing any space I once had here at the front, to flowing a classic Art Vs Science favourite into The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’, which gets the whole crowd singing the iconic bass hook and really rocking out hard! When the band finishes their set filled with exciting retro grooves, rock hooks, and anthemic party tracks, it’s left us all wanting more, and wishing the band had another few songs to give us!

Now that the sun has set, and the only act left for the party is headliners Thundamentals, the crowd is really getting rowdy and a little too enthusiastic in anticipation for these growing hip-hop masters, that a lot of people came to this event especially for! The band start the show with the energy elevated straight away to then be sustained for the rest of the set. The sound mixer has done well for Thundamentals’ sound, and their skills as a sound mixer are obviously intended for hip-hop rather than rock, because both rappers, the DJ and the drummer’s sound are all set evenly and at a nice level! The band connect with their fans brilliantly, instigating clap alongs and sing alongs in songs, and talking to us between each, giving us insight into the songs’ story/meaning and revving us all up with “are you f***in’ with us?!” And “give it up for our DJ/Drummer!” Etc. The songs in the set flow nicely from gangster rollers to cruisin’ smooth-criminals, to up-beat party-poppers that keep the audience singing along all the way from the start to finish. Randomly after one song, I’m greeted with someone standing right in front of me on the other side of the barrier saying hi to me, and asking if I’d like him to sign that (I’m assuming referring to my note pad). Again for all I know it could be that cheeky security guard that wants to take advantage of my lack of sight and pretend to be a part of the band? I’m a little stunned, and really didn’t see this coming.... in any way shape or form, so I turn to a new page in my note pad and let the guy autograph it, hoping I don’t read some random security guards signature later. The band continue to deliver high-intensity hip-hop anthems that get everyone bouncing and throwing their raised arms from side to side at the bands command, and gets the girls all sitting on random peoples’ shoulders for a better view, filling the area with incredible amounts of positive energy! Even as Thundamental's sound isn’t my preferred style, when the band finish up, I’m glad they give us just one more to close the night on a high and leave me feeling satisfied!

All in all, the sound mixers shoddy mixing in the most parts was quite a let down, but even still, today was a bloody good time, and even with everyone getting a little loose and intoxicated, there were no issues/incidences to ruin a good time! Art Vs Science were a definite highlight for me, and if the sound mixer did a better job for Rackett, The Getaway Plan and Gyroscope, it would’ve been an absolute ace of a day.

Eskimo Joe w/ Sydney Symphony Orchestra @ Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Sydney NSW Australia 07/03/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

Straight from the sea

Can you hear those voices, that echo. It’s the ghosts of the past calling to us from the sea, a foreign land beneath the pressure of 21 years of timeless classics. Tonight, those ghosts, Eskimo Joe, come to life and bring with them their ship of hits from their tidal-wave of a career. To help bring these hits to the surface, is the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, who will carry this monumental ship like a harmonious wave.

Now hold your breath, and let’s take a dive into the sea…

As we start our decent down into the musical waters, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra let us test the waters with a soft symphonic intro, that slowly builds up, moving closer to the deep end, then the symphony reaches it’s depths and Eskimo Joe walk out onto the stage, we take a deep breath in, and get ready to dive into the first song. SPLASH! Just like your smart-ass mate splashing you in the face just when you take a deep breath in and are about to submerge into the water, the band break the expected flow into the music with a “Hey everyone, welcome!” setting a rather unexpected casual flow to the tide.

The first musical wave this evening is beloved Eskimo Joe classic ‘New York’. This rendition however, features only Kav’s iconic voice and the orchestra (as far as I can tell at least or perhaps the rest of the bands’ sound is lost in the orchestra’s current), which as perfect as the symphony is with the bands’ music, it really draws focus to the orchestra and leaves Eskimo Joe behind in the shallows. That aside, this rendition sends shivers through me at how beautiful it is, and how perfectly the orchestral sounds are in the song. This being a song I’ve grown up with, my ears detect that Kav seems to be not be sustaining some of the notes in the chorus as it is in the recording, but that is easily forgiven with the perfectly clear sound, ringing throughout the hall in waves of beauty, with complimenting yet subtle lighting reflected off it, yet this song isn’t the big dramatic plunge into the set I’d normally expect, but with the casual humble entrance from the band, it may be a good indication of the rest of the set to come.

The band keep the casual flow going with, “hello, we are Eskimo Joe… just in case you were wondering and for those who just arrived late” …“we have a very special guest here tonight, it’s the first time we’ve ever had a guide dog in the audience”, which the super-spunky blind guy with said dog calls out “his name’s Rusty!” which Kav says hello to Rusty before diving into the next monsoon of songs ‘Older Than You’, ‘Planet Earth’, ‘Liar’ and fan favourite ‘Sarah’.

For all these songs the band move around the stage calmly yet positively, like swimming in a sea of music around them, drawing the audiences attention like cats watching fish swim around in the fish-tank. Hearing these classics by Eskimo Joe, some which the band don’t normally perform live, renditioned with a full orchestra is rather indulgent for Eskimo Joe fans, and not something likely to be repeated at other Eskimo Joe performances. 

After the symphonic-dominated rendition of ‘Older Than You’ which features dual vocals from Kav and bassist Stu, swirling around each other in perfect symmetry like synchronised swimmers, the band have a bit of fun and splash the audience with humour and casual paddles of early songwriting days. “Kav: When you’re writing music, it usually starts with your favourite three chords C, G and F, then wait until something slips through the cracks. Stu: “C-sharp” bring forth a down-pour of laughter throughout the hall. The vibe now changes to a nostalgic feeling in ‘Planet Earth’, with Kav’s wide-range vocals really shining through the symphonic waters and catch my attention as they glisten. The tide now changes to a stripped-back softer feeling with raw passionate vocals, with the band merely floating in the strong current of orchestral sounds. As beautiful and special as it is hearing songs like this renditioned with an orchestra, the main focus is locked on the orchestra, leaving the band caught up in it’s riptide, which for me personally, I think the orchestra should simply be complimenting the bands music and help carry it to greater unique depths, rather than the band simply complimenting and assisting the orchestra. Like seriously, the fish doesn’t chase the shark. Finally, the orchestra starts ‘Sarah’ in exquisite complimenting beauty, leading into the full-band sound in perfect authenticity to the song. This song with the symphony perfectly complimenting the band like the fin helping the fish glide through the water more swiftly, yet not exceeding the band, and Kav’s powerful crying-out vocals sends nostalgic tingles through me! Ah good, now the shark’s chasing the fish once again!

For the rest of this deep-sea voyage, we re-discover long-lost musical treasures like ‘From The Sea’, ‘Black Fingernails Red Wine’, ‘Breaking Up’ and finally we reach the bottom of the sea with ‘When We Were Kids’. On the way down to Marianas Trench (the actual trench at the seas’ deepest point, not the Canadian pop/rock band) we also encounter some rare musical creatures that’ve come out of hiding specially for this show like ‘Life Is Better With You’, ‘Running Out Of Needs’ and ‘Sky’s On Fire’. The band share more humour and casual anecdotes of the songwriting and song meanings, and how the band really focus on the first and last song on each album, and how they think they’re important to open and close an album on, plus Kav’s story of writing ‘Foreign Land’ while he was in New York on the red carpet at some event, and just found out that Heath Ledger had died, and how Kav wrote ‘London Bombs’ after the band heard about a bombing in London while they were in Brisbane so they all rushed over to the cities aid. For all the songs the flow is changed from captivating up-beat complimenting orchestral renditions with the band bobbing on the surface of, to stripped-back slow ballads with just Kav’s passionate voice and the orchestra (as far as I’m aware of), which are yes, beautiful especially with how the strings and Kav’s vocal melodies shine brilliantly in pure same-note synchronisation, giving different textures and flows to this special intimate-feeling show. Although, in some of the more stripped back orchestral songs, one would be forgiven for drifting off in the current as the focus is very much on the orchestra and leaves Stu and Joel off the radar a little too much I think. Before reeling in the last big musical fish ‘When We Were Kids’ and after the band thank us and the orchestra once more ( for the hundredth time), the band confess there won’t be an encore, as these songs took a while to put together… or something like that, it’s hard to hear/remember under water.

After plundering the musical sea tonight, I’ve now returned to the surface and….. This deep-sea adventure was a truly special unique glimpse of Australian classics from the past twenty-one years, renditioned beautifully with an orchestra. The bands’ on stage charisma and casualness/ openness to their audience made everyone I’m sure, feel connected on an intimate level to the band and their music, which is special in itself. Although as extraordinary as the music was, the orchestra was a little too focus-drawing and prominent at times for my liking, but all in all still a treat!

The Coronas @ The Basement Circular Quay, NSW Australia 14/03/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

I THINK I’M DREAMING AGAIN

Wow, it feels like I’m dreaming…. again, for all I know, I could very well be! I mean, my god, seeing such an addictive dreamy Irish rock band play at such an intimate venue so soon after selling out their previous run of shows only three months ago, surely I must either have all the luck in the world, or be in reality, far from here, not in the real world. These guys with their live shows really do leave you in a dream-state filled with real feels that just won’t leave you alone, with a different ending each time! So….

Let’s make it happen!

This dream is started off on a high, with opening up-beat rockin’ song ‘How This Goes’, followed by dance-provoking Irish-wonder ‘Get Loose’. Lead singer Danny brings the visual energy up to a worthy level of the sound, as much as one can on a tiny stage like this, jiggling and wiggling about like a jolly-wee leprechaun, and keeps the hyped energy sustained like a pro as he says hello and welcomes us in the bridge section of ‘How This Goes’ and again in the intro of ‘Get Loose’. Although I am getting caught up a little with rockin’ out and bustin’ a move to these two favourites of mine, which I somehow manage to still take notes while simultaneously singing and dancing without singing my notes or writing the lyrics, I further multitask by taking notice of the sound mixers well-done job. The lengthy and thorough sound check that I witnessed earlier definitely paid off, as my keen ears don’t detect any faulting sound, and I can clearly hear all the sounds I’m used to hearing on the recorded songs, which makes it easy and pleasant to sing to and get loose to/bust out what I can only imagine is the girliest bum-wiggle!

After Danny discards his tambourine that was used in ‘Get Loose’, and the crowd all wiggle and sing along (mainly me), Danny demonstrates what us Irish do best… talk (hence my job), and gears the crowd up for a few more songs before this show goes live on Facebook for the second half. The first time I saw these guys live in 2015, the bar was set so incredibly high with the accuracy of the performed sound, musical and on-stage energy, musical flow and giant balloons, dazzling light displays and Danny diving into the crowd etc, which isn’t possibly doable in such a small venue. Tonight, the band embraces the intimacy of the venue and use it to bring the casualness even closer to you, with the show being scattered with chatter about song stories and humour between each song, which would normally be detrimental to the flow of energy at a typical larger-scale show.

For the rest of the dream, the band dish out fan favourites like rockin’ power-house ‘Listen Dear’ which gives bassist Knoxy a chance to shine with an attention-grabbing bass line, new feel-good jolly-roger ‘Real Feels’, ‘Closer To You’, ‘Dreaming again’ with a traditional Celtic intro, blues-rock addiction ‘Addicted To Progress’ and breakthrough classic ‘San Diego Song’. For some parts, bassist Knoxy’s energy isn’t matching the rest of the bands dreamy-grooves, but that can be forgiven with how technical his bass-lines are at times like in ‘Listen Dear’ and ‘Addicted To Progress’. Danny keeps on top of the energy however, as he moves from his guitar to the keyboard in songs like ‘The Long Way’ and ‘All The Others’. The casual feel is tightened even more with Danny informing us that it’s Dave’s (lead guitarist) birthday today, and instigates a happy birthday sing-a-long which the crowd fail to stay in-sync to, leading into ‘San Diego Song’, which Danny lets Dave take over as lead vocals as a birthday present in the first verse, giving Dave his chance to shine. This dream takes a more deeper emotive turn with songs like ‘Give Me A Minute’, ‘Someone Else’s Hands’ and the heart-achingly powerful ‘Closer To You’, to the pleading sway of ‘The Long Way’ then lifts straight back up like a dream that you just can’t figure out, with ‘Addicted To Progress’ and ‘Dreaming Again’ which fills the venue with a booming chorus of sing-a-longs to melodic and vocal hooks and cheers. As deep in this dream as the audience clearly is with the energy and positivity blazing around me, the casual setting from the band has seemed to make the audience think it’s perfectly ok to constantly talk which I personally find extremely rude and annoying, like a dog barking next door while you’re trying to sleep.

Now, after a pot-of- gold full of thanks to their audience, and Danny’s energetic excited grooves starting to look like he’s busting to take a massive pee, the band start the final song ‘Mark My Words’ which, hang on, this isn’t the usual pick of grand finale songs, where’s the big last hurrah? After the band leave the stage and the lights come on, I start to awake from this dream a little confused “what about the song the band dropped only this morning ‘Is There Still Time?’, and what about always-played fan favourite ‘Heroes Or Ghosts’?”

Just as I let my guard down and take out my ear-plugs, SURPRISE! Danny gives in to the encore demands and says “ok Sydney we’ll do this one together”. The energy and excitement is exploded as Danny takes turns with the crowd at singing parts of ‘Heroes Or Ghosts’, which he has done at the previous two shows I’ve witnessed, but this time, seems to be involving the audience and feeding off us a little more, taking advantage of the venues intimacy. The rest of the band join Danny on stage for the climax of ‘Heroes Or Ghosts’ and for the next song, the last big hurrah I was expecting, anthemic rock blast ‘Just Like That’. Wow! the energy on stage and off, is peaked dramatically in ‘Just Like That’ even before Danny steps off the stage and sings/plays the guitar in the centre of the audience, lapping up all the positive energy and throwing it right back at the crowd while the band keep the musical energy level elevated, making this a perfect grand finale for any rock show!

As I awaken from this whirlwind of a dream, I’m a little stunned! Getting to witness these Irish legends on the constant rise in such a small casual venue, which let the band really connect with their fans so intimately, was truly a dream come true! I very much look forward to seeing how the band will step up their game when they come back to Australia in November, and play the biggest venues yet for them in the country!

First Aid Kit @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW Australia 03/04/2018 written by Brendan Lewis

FIREWORKS OF FLAVOUR

Thirsty? Good, because Swedish indie-folk sisters First Aid Kit, are quenching our thirst for full-bodied matured flavoursome musical wine, as they pour their hearts out into the glasses filled with samples from their freshly brewed new album, ‘Ruins’. This new album is filled with an explosion of musical flavours and attributes from sweet, smokey, crisp and heavy on the palate, so without a doubt, no matter what flavour your musical palate yearns for, tonight will serve up the perfect blend to hit that spot I’m sure.

*As you enter, please hand in your keys, drivers license, inhibitions and self respect…. For safety reasons of course*

An entrancing steady drum pulse with synced lights at the back of the stage start, with eery strings/violin soon accompanying it, to draw the sisters out onto the stage for the first song, appropriately the opening song off ‘Ruins’, ‘Rebel Heart’. This song quickly sets a warm delicate maturity in it’s tone, with vocal hooks swirling around the mid-tempo beat and string harmonies. I do feel however that this live blend is a little too hard on the palate as if it was filled with too much alcohol, as the drums draw the main focus, leaving the vocals, audible, yet overpowered. If the mix of sound was spot-on, this would’ve made a potent opening song, to get everyone hooked from the start, especially as both sisters sway with the swirling rhythm while playing their instruments at the forefront of the stage, as if intoxicated by the music.

The musical wine keeps flowing without a flicker of inconsistency, as the band flow straight into the next two songs ‘It’s A Shame’ and ‘King Of The World’. The first of these songs brings the taste to an uplifting sweet nectar, filled with major-key chords, uplifting powerful vocals blasts, organs giving complimenting harmonies/undertones, and all of which riding a skipping drum beat like a quick beating heart…. With a few extra beats. This uplifting taste prompts both girls to move around the stage in high-spirits, bringing an aesthetic energy to the show, that I didn’t see coming, with the calm, complex maturity of the music on a whole. Sadly though, the drums still draw the main focus and leave the sweet vocals struggling.

After the bassist (one of the two sisters) moves up close to us at the front and instigates a clap along to the next songs’ intro, ‘King Of The World’ keeps the happy vibe flowing with more colourful major-key chords that get the sisters energised and moving around the stage, jumping up and down excitedly (Or possibly drunkenly?) in surprising energetic charisma. The drums progress to a steady dance 1-3 beat and makes my musical sobriety tipsy, and if the rest of the audience weren’t so calm, relaxed and fixated, I’d totally bust a subtle move, with how universally easy to love this blend is, like a soft, sweet sauvignon. The vibrant vocals, which sit more comfortably in the blend, add so much sweet flavour to the mix, and yes, are still struggling to stay above the drums, but get their turn to shine brightly in the songs’ bridge, when the sound is more stripped back.

The girls now share their bubbly musical-intoxication with us, with a positive atmosphere-warming chat to their audience, further raising the positivity and engaging energy of the show after the previous songs’ hype. The sequential four songs that follow include ‘Postcard’, ‘Stay Gold’, ‘Lion’s Roar’ and ‘You Are The Problem Here’.

When trying copious amounts of wine as one does in Australia, you’re no doubt going to come across one you don’t like, but can appreciate for it’s raw qualities. ‘Postcard’ is that wine for me, like a fruity yet strong acidic white, this song has a very strong country (genre) flavour to it, which doesn’t sit as comfortably on my palate, yet I can definitely appreciate it’s quality, it is uplifting, and would be very easy to slow wiggle/dance to if this is your preferred blend. My appreciation is made easy, as the girls’ cool, refreshing vocals are sitting far more comfortably over the other sounds.

'Stay Gold’ now is far more appealing for my taste, and leaves me falling deeper into the depths of aural intoxication, with it’s powerful vocal melodies in the chorus, to a perfectly justifying gentle steady dance-beat, in an emotional yet vibrant and pleasant aroma, which the sisters enhance with positive on-stage energy. The bassist once again, gets the audience involved, as she moves up close and instigates another clap-along for the songs’ final chorus, which raises the essence around me superbly.

‘Lion’s Roar’ fills me with a flavour quite reflective of Galway Pipe Port. This song is dark, stripped back, full of crying emotion, yet warm, calming and evenly mixed. Just like a Galway Pipe, it’s accompanied by a rich fruit flavour, as the sisters bring a level of energy to the song, which it musically lacks, like one of the girls flicking her hair around like at a rock show, and is a little foreign for this song, but makes it sit more evenly in the mix of the entire set.

This may be a rock show after all, seeing as ‘You Are The Problem Here’ gives off an angsty aggressive rock scent, with it’s grungy guitar riff, and slightly too strong drums, that border-line on over-powering to the vocals. This adds a surprising spicy bite to the show, that gives more diverse flavours.

For the rest of this set which goes by in a hazy blur, the sound seems more even and pleasant to the palate more so than other songs previous, this may be that my ears have gotten used to the mix, like when you’ve had quite a few to drink and all alcohol goes down so much easier to tolerate, no matter how strong it is, or perhaps the sound mixer has adjusted the musical recipe? ….wow, I’m portraying myself as a MASSIVE drunk aye? This more pleasant blend is quite refreshing especially now as the top shelf stuff starts coming out, like the matured woody-smoke of popular track ‘Wolf’, fiery yet creamy new track ‘Fireworks’, bubbly sparkling sing-along ‘Waitress Song’ and finally, appropriate finishing song, closing track off ‘Ruin’ ‘Nothing Has To Be True’. All the songs’ demonstrate all the diverse flavours and aromas poured out in the set previously, engaging chats from the girls between songs, which in one case is a little too drawn out and feels like when the tour guide starts rambling on about how the wine’s made, and I’m thinking “I really just want to get back to the drinking part”, and leaves me drunk with musical sophistication and diversity.

Final call! After the audience around me drunkenly stamp their feet and yell out nonsense as one does when drunk (possibly literally in this case), the band re-emerge onto the stage for a four-song encore which features an unamplified, raw rendition of bright and sing/slur-along provoking ‘Hem Of Her Dress’ and finishes with the one we’ve all been waiting for, the full-bodied smokey favourite ‘My Silver Lining’, which fills me to the brim and caps off the session adequately.

If you read all the review, you should be filled with the same feelings as I was of this show. Full of flavour, a little too harsh in the mix at times, diverse, mature, and sophisticated. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring this show being a relatively new frontier for my musical tastes, and would definitely do this again in the future!

Simple Plan @ NEX, Newcastle NSW Australia 26/04/2018 written by Brendan Lewis

NO PADS, NO HELMETS … JUST BALLS!

Gather round team, let’s go over our strategy one more time! Tonight we’re up against the mighty pop/punk pioneers Simple Plan, and they’re taking on Newcastle as part of their ‘No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls’ 15th anniversary tour! The band will no doubt be on the offence, hitting us with everything they’ve got with hits from the album like ‘Addicted’, ‘Worst Day Ever’ and ‘Perfect’ and other hard-hitting smashes from their artillery of hits, so keep your guard and fists up! It’s a full-house tonight of eager fans, and anyone that missed out on this momentous occasion is absolutely crazy!

GAME ON!...

As the lights go down and the crowd erupt into cheers, the show is kicked off with emergency sirens blaring with red lights circling with them. The band now charge onto the stage, running head-first into the set with opening song off ‘No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls’ ‘I’d Do Anything’. As the intro starts, lead singer Pierre give us a “Newcastle, how you doing?!” before his cue to sing. The band all move around the stage in high-energy, passing the ball of energy to one another stunning the crowd from the starting line, then Pierre tackling the crowds’ attention by instigating a clap along to the songs’ beat in the bridge section, followed by a crash-course in melodic vocal-hook sing alongs to eg-on the crowd. For the first half of this song, Pierre’s vocals seem to be struggling to break-free from the other sounds surrounding them in the otherwise well constructed teamwork of sounds, but just when it seems like the vocals weren’t going to make it to the goal posts, Pierres voice picks up it’s game and slide tackles it across the line in the second half.

After a massive touchdown finale to the first song, the band run straight into the next three songs (yes, the next three consecutive songs off ‘No Pads.. etc’), ‘Worst Day Ever’, ‘You Don’t Mean Anything’ and ‘I’m Just A Kid’. The band slow their sprint around the field/stage ever so slightly in ‘Worst Day Ever’ and really focus on the sound, which sees Pierre’s vocals huddle in the mix of sound more evenly for this song. One of Pierre’s fellow band mates now helps carry the vocal density with some complimenting harmonies to Pierre’s lead vocals charging towards the goal posts, and raising the buzzing hype in the room with the songs’ anthemic choruses and uplifting pop/punk charge. Pierre now throws more engaging energy at us in the crowd by pausing the song in the bridge section, then commanding us “on the count of three, scream!” and as the drums start their rapid build up for the final chorus, Pierre reaches three and the entire band drop-kick the energy high out of this room as they all rock out hard for the final stretch.

The onslaught of energy from the band rages on both musically and charismatically, with ‘You Don’t Mean Anything’s with a fast stamping drum intro progressing into a mid-tempo major-key aggression and Pierre diving head-first into the other team (us, the crowd) as he jumps off the stage and leans into the crowd before returning to his band mates on stage, and finishes off the songs’ stride of energy as he stands tall on a fold-back speaker.

Pierre now revs up the crowd with an engaging pep talk to fire us all up for ‘I’m Just A Kid’. The crowd start singing along straight away in the stripped-back intro, which Pierre pauses to let the crowd take the ball for a line, as if toying with the other team letting them think they’re in the lead, before the song charges full force in the first verse. The sound is now perfect and quite pleasant on my musical palate, it seems the sound mixer just needed to warm up… he might’ve skipped the pre-game training. The songs’ tempo is slightly slower, but the pace of energy keeps speeding up, and I’m quite surprised that apart from jumping to the beat-drop in the songs’ final chorus after Pierre egs us on in the bridge, the crowd are not getting their mosh-on like at a typical Simple Plan show, instead, are simply content in musical fixation.

Charging through the rest of this album, ‘When I’m With You’ keeps the high-energy pop/punk vibe running, with beat-synced strobe-lights. ‘Meet You There’ slows the energys’ assent to a mid-tempo stride, yet dual layer vocals help drive the song to greater complimenting heights. ‘Addicted’ now boots the positive energy sky-high with it’s uplifting dumb-love vibe anthemic choruses of sing-alongs, perfectly justifying execution of the song by the band and Pierre letting the crowd sing “I’m a dick” for him, like that smart-ass player doing a dummy pass to make the other side trip over themselves.

The rest of the set is littered with intimate cheeky humour from Pierre mixed in with fun-fact anecdotes like how the band wrote this album in 2002 before Instagram, before Twitter, before Myspace even, before YouPorn and before free porn in general (now we know how Pierre spends his down-time these days) and quirky funny chats here and there, like how Pierre “always dreamed of one day travelling the world and having people play with my balls” after the band keeps the audience occupied with a flurry of beach balls launched into the crowd...which I did not see coming, in ‘One Day’. Along with the quirky humour, the set throws at us more differing pop/punk vibes of differing intensities, in-song engaging rev-ups from Pierre, plus guitar solos and drum solos to knock us all over with.

Like a final blaze of glory to charge the team into victory (before the encore of course), ‘Perfect’ is just that. The song starts with just Pierre on acoustic guitar and his candid emotional vocals crying out to his father and the audience lighting up with otherwise darkened room with phone lights, twinkling all around me before the rest of the band charge forth after the first chorus. This song really is a brilliant way to finish an album and thus a set, with it’s powerful vocals carried by dramatic guitar riffs and a steady beat which is performed perfectly!

As momentous and special as an anniversary show is with it’s respective album being played in it’s entirety which is a rare treat, I have been getting a little tired of the album and repetitive pop/punk vibe as engaging as it is, so luckily there’s an encore which will hit us with hard-hitters from the rest of the bands’ catalogues of hits to reacquaint my interest!

The band storm back out on stage after their half-time break and start the final charge/encore with power-surging pop/punk bite of monstrous proportion, ‘Shut Up’. This song charges the energy right back up, getting the whole crowd (including me) singing along and rocking out in defence of the bands’ on-stage energy and musical might, making this a strong re-opening song!

‘Jump’ raises the energy dramatically getting the whole crowd jumping to the beat and singing along to this rebellious pop/punk anthem, and for the rest of the long encore/short second set, the final charge to the finish line picks up in furosity and climactic energy full of sing alongs to ‘Boom’ and it’s clichè pop romance, as if fraternizing with the other team, ‘Jet Lag’, Summer Paradise’, ‘Crazy’ and grand finale, ‘Welcome To My Life’. Pierre invites the lead singer of supporting band Stateside, out onto the stage to sing the female vocals of ‘Jet Lags’ call and response, but I feel the Stateside singer isn’t doing the song justice and is a bit of a let down, made worse by her vocals not being loud enough to start with, but the crowd around me aren’t phased, and still in high spirits at this loved Simple Plan hit. Pierre now asks if anyone would like to join him on stage for an Instagram photo, then proceeds to invite fans (including me as he recognizes my apparently memorable curly hair) for a big group photo before the feel-good summer cruiser, ‘Summer Paradise’ then pleading declaration of surging power ‘Crazy’ with a dramatic build up/pause in the bridge and rev up from Pierre leading into the final chorus, and finally, the classic emo yet anthemic uplifting hit ‘Welcome To My Life’ which takes me back to when I was a wee-lad of 10 years old and is filled with a burst of sing along energy, smashing a final triumphant win at the games’ end!

Well done team, your energy was high and sustained throughout the set with differing dynamics to keep your opponent stunned, your musical techniques were sharp and precise and all worked well with one another, and your charisma and on-stage charm won over the audience from start to finish! ….Now hit the showers ladies!

Ocean Alley @ The Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW Australia 18/04/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

LETS GET OUR ART ON

Tonight, we go on a tour of the Ocean Alley musical art gallery! On display are pieces from the bands’ new captivating album of light and dark elements ‘Chiaroscuro’, which portrays the characteristics of the renaissance art technique itself. We will also be introduced pieces from the bands’ back-catalogue featuring fancy art terms I’m only still looking up on Google and am probably way too blind to guide you through….. Yet somehow you’re still taking this tour lead by me.

*Please gather around the ravishingly handsome blind guy and turn off all phones and bank account security, the tour will commence shortly*...

Ocean Alley start their exhibit off with ‘Corduroy’. This piece brings a spacey mystical essence at the start, creeping up to a bold and dramatic vibe, full of expressive emotion like a classic Van Gogh painting, with Bayden’s sharp brush-stroke vocal melodies. The mix of sound is comfortably even and well mixed, however the strong reverberation effect on Bayden’s vocals mixed with the audience around me’s inability to SHUT UP, makes it a strain to enjoy the vocals as intended.

Moving along, the next two pieces from Ocean Alley are ‘The Comedown’ followed by ‘Hold On’ separated by a quick chat from the band, to keep the audience focused and engaged. ‘The Comedown’ display’s an easy on the palate appeal, with a laid back texture with pure, rich clear vocals sitting perfectly in the mix like a pastel painting. This gets the audience around me singing along to every word as if this song were a classic, and despite the surprising lack of on-stage energy from the band as yet, especially after the colourful energetic hype left from the supporting artists before them plus the laid-back musical-vibe, the crowd are becoming quite rowdy and irritating. ‘Hold On’ accentuates the energy dramatically, with a nice blend of jazz piano splashes, with reggae bass lines and abstract drum beats differing throughout the song keeping things colourful all throughout the song. The addition of dual-layer vocals mixed beautifully together to form a unique colour, adds a nice tone to lift the choruses to the forefront of attention.

Moving along to the next section of musical paintings, we gaze upon the next four pieces from the band ‘Muddy Water’, ‘Knees’, ‘Stripes In My Mind’ and ‘Feel’. First up on the left with ‘Muddy Water’ the tone portrays a dark angsty grunge feeling, accompanied by sharp biting powerful vocals that snap up attention. The way the the well-mixed blend of sounds stand out and give off a bold dramatic aura, is classic of a Van Gogh masterpiece, and thus raises the excitement and positivity in the gallery tonight.

This next piece will likely bring you to your Knees, with it’s exquisite vocal hooks and smooth delicate, nostalgic musical touch in an uplifting major-key tone. The energy in the gallery/crowd for this song is lifted dramatically, with the crowd all pushing and getting quite rowdy, to the point of crowd surfers emerging over-head in the songs’ build up and thickening of layers near its’ end. The blend of blues swirling together to create a new element like the key elements of a water-painting, and makes me assume that this piece is in a way-too commonly used and stereotypically used C-major key. If so, this piece is far from stereotypical and common however, as it’s subtle yet distinct colours mixed together, powerful vocal hooks and all building up in dynamics, gives off a tactile element that you can feel within yourself like a Mosaic piece.

'Stripes In My Mind’ displays key characteristics of a classic Da Vinci piece, using layers of funk and Reggae with it’s alluring funky bass line and rhythm, plus rock with climactic edgy vocals and guitar riffs, to emulate a sense of unity between each element. The band raise their on-stage aesthetic energy (because we all know I’m all about the aesthetics), as they all move around the stage like brush strokes binding the elements together, and moving up close to the front of the stage, bringing the energy closer to the audience.

‘Stripes In My Mind’ finishes with a big bold build up to explode in a vast spectrum of rocking out colours from the band, which cleverly flows into ‘Feel’. This song with it’s anthemic essence with vocal hooks, mid-tempo intricate beats and lead singer Bayden moving around the stage in high-spirits gets the crowd highly charged and raising their arms in accordance to the new precedence of energy. This piece depicts the characteristics of Impressionism from the band throughout the set I feel, as it emphasises the accurate depiction of light in it’s ever-changing qualities and especially in pieces like this, brings the vocal qualities to the forefront of attention.

Oh would you look at the time and word count, we’re running out of time on this tour, so, for the rest of this set we are enticed and treated to pieces like the abstract ‘Yellow Mellow’, breaking away from traditional representations of reggae, rock, funk and blues and brings them all to a modern light. The Van Gogh qualities of ‘Overgrown’ with its’ bold and dynamic changing tempo’s from verses to choruses to portray emotion and thought. The normally bright pastel vibrancy of ‘Holiday’ which is renditioned as a guitar solo from lead singer Bayden, which makes it abstract as it breaks-away from the traditional representation of the piece. The ever-popular Da Vinci piece ‘Confidence’, displaying key layers of reggae, soul and rock to create a sense of unity and strength, especially with it’s strong dynamics building up in the bridge section. And finally, the vibrant and uplifting pastel funk/jazz-rock colours of ‘Flowers And Booz’, ending the tour on a high. All these songs though being classic of one style of painting to another, all share unique qualities of styles of varying sorts, and the energy from the band may have taken a bit of time to emerge, but we’ve definitely got there now!

…...Oh, you’re still here? The tour’s over, yep, no more…. Go home…. You want more? Oh, ok, I suppose there’s two more pieces that we could visit.

The band re-emerge onto the stage to a booming chorus of cheering fans, thank us once again, then give us two more palate cleansers, ‘Rage’ and ‘Happy/Sad’. ‘Rage’ gives a vintage rock essence, yet in a contemporary today-relevant light, with distinct impressionism, as it emphasises the light of the songs in its’ changing qualities. Finally, ‘Happy/Sad’ is a quintessential Chiaroscuro piece, in how it blends both light and dark elements together with both major and minor tone chords, both mellow and angsty feelings and both soft and sharp vocals. The diversity and extraordinary essence of the song is brought forth even more, with an explosion of confetti at the start of the first chorus, showering me and everyone around me in vibrant musical and literal colours… I did not see that coming in any way shape or form. The song may be quintessentially Chiaroscuro, but the energy and buzzing atmosphere around me is very much reflective of Van Gogh elements (bold and dynamic) which makes this a brilliant finish to this tour of musical art!

“What are your thoughts on this tour sir?” I rather enjoyed it, it started off a bit slow in it’s atmosphere, but when it built up it didn’t slow down or disappoint. I really enjoyed all the different art elements of the show, giving contrast and diversity to the set, and all flowing nicely and presented beautifully by the artists and their sound mixer! “Would you take this tour again and/or recommend it to others?” Most definitely! These guys are growing in popularity rapidly and rightly so, tickets are already hot property for these shows so I would definitely advise snapping up your own when you can, I know I will!

Groovin’ The Moo @ Maitland Showground, Maitland NSW Australia 28/04/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

WALK THE MOOSICAL PLANK

All aboard! All hands on deck for this ship of the damned, venturing through the open sea of people for Groovin’ The Moo, which has now arrived in Maitland to plunder it’s showgrounds of musical treasures! This ship be damned with a crew of scallywags like UK rock legends Royal Blood, Aussie rock guru’s Paul Kelly and Grinspoon, metalcore heavy-weights The Amity Affliction, new indie-pop/rock favourite Dean Lewis, indie-electronic/pop bombshell Vera Blue and a ship-load more!

Argh, full-speed ahead! BAHAHAHAHA!!!...

As I prepare myself for this voyage, no doubt there’ll be clashes between scallywag crewmen (artists) with how over-flowed this line-up is, and previous experiences with colossal line-ups such as this, so I suspect my time on-board may be profusely conflicted. To my disbelief however, there is absolutely NO clashes in ALL the artists set times that I hoped to witness today. It seems the crew haven’t been assigned their positions on-board the days’ timetable according to their hierarchy of commanding popularity like expected (most popular at the end of the day), instead the commanding officers are spaced out throughout the day to keep the scum on-board in-line.

My voyage is delayed a little, thanks to shipyard crew (security) all not having a clue as to where the most accessible place to be dropped off is and all struggling with the masses of rowdy pirates docking this ship (festival). Never-the-less, I have arrived on-board in time to catch the tail end of Baker Boy’s storm of hip-hop energy on the left-hand main stage. For what Baker Boy’s sound and performance is, it’s quite high-calibre and well presented, whether it’s your preferred cup of rum or not. After Baker Boy’s engaging attention drawing performance which leaves the already substantially full crowd wanting an encore, it’s time to head down Ocean Alley on the right-hand main stage.

It’s only 12:40pm and already the area is filled to the brim with party-pumped pirates, stretching as far as the eye can see….. Ok I’ll level with you, that’s not very far in my case, but you get the picture. Even at this stage in the day, securing a semi-decent viewing spot was a challenge, but who doesn’t like a challenge right? Be that as it may, Ocean Alley bring the energy level up dramatically with their unique and enticing blend of pop, rock, reggae and blues. The sound is without fault from both the band who dish out a perfect flow of hits that get the whole crowd singing along, and from the sound mixer, which comes across like a smooth fresh breeze to start the journey off splendidly.

After taking notes and trying to analyze Ocean Alley’s set while the left side of my body is grinded like pepper, from a suspiciously happy young lady, who I just pray to the gods of the sea is over 18, I swim through the sea of people to the undercover Moo-lin Rouge stage in time (thanks to the well-crafted timetable), for the sassy Lady Powers of Vera Blue, and her Regular Touch of anthemic dance grooves. Sadly, the sound mixer at this stage hasn’t done as well as over on the main stages for Ocean Alley, which is rather disappointing like realising the rum’s all gone… “Why is the rum, always gone?”. Vera’s anthemic sound is dominated heavily by bass, drums and her vocals, and leaves the rest of the melodic layers caught in a rip-tide of uneven sound. Still, Vera entertains the ocean of body heat under this tin roof like a pro regardless.

Now that we’re all hot and sweaty from Vera’s hot performance under the heat-trapping tin roof, and Vera’s alluring outfit which my friend describes to me, I have a bit of time to splash around, which is lucky because all this sweat and hustle and bustle in crowds including an obviously over-intoxicated guy walking straight into me head on, means I think I should visit the first aid tent to get a medical device re-secured on my arm. Heading over to the first aid tent, the crowd seems quite rowdy and I suspect are already thoroughly intoxicated despite the early hour, which makes navigating the area quite stressful, and is starting to make this cheeky pirate a bit grumpy. What isn’t now helping the case, is the first aid tent being over-packed with people feeling a bit seasick, likely thanks to that intoxication I suspected, which paints a pretty good picture of the attitude of people here. This unfortunately means that staff are run off their feet and take a while to even simply wrap a bandage around my device quickly, and now I need to rush over to the main stages for Dean Lewis and Portugal The Man.

Seeing as the vast ocean of intoxicated sea-creatures has intensified for Dean Lewis and the proceeding artists after at the main stages, I feel the challenge to venture to a safe and suitable standing spot at the stage to make use of my limited sight, will likely be a stressful one that would result in my defeat, so instead, I’m going to take post on dry land here in the VIP area near-by, and sip on a rather unintentionally suited for this theme, Captain Morgan’s spiced rum like the pirate I am.

The musical tide here at the main stages is getting quite choppy, and is giving my ears whiplash, as the sound changes from one genre/vibe to the next, making my ears feel like a rickety ship being thrown from side to side in a storm. Dean’s sound and flow is beautiful, heartfelt, and pure in an indie-pop/rock blend, which is so nice hearing Dean’s music being brought to life with a band, rather than an acoustic solo show the last time I saw him, which was exquisite, but would’ve left a gaping hole in the day’s energy I think. The musical current is steadily intensified, with Portugal The Man’s high-energy, dramatic alternative rock punches, then BAM! We get thrown around musically by Tkay Maidza, Winston Surfshirt then The Amity Affliction, Grinspoon, Lady Leshurr, Paul Kelly and Royal Blood.

Before my ears brave the immanent musical storm brewing on the main stages, my friend needs to find an ATM (which he could not), so let’s get the oars out and row through the depths of the festival. The night sky has fallen and as if the crowd weren’t enough of a pain in the ass as it was earlier, now is a whole new walk of the plank and I reckon some of these rowdy sailors should be thrown overboard by security….. I’m getting too old for this ship. What’s worse is unless my friend can’t follow a map, everything (stages, food, bars, merchandise etc) seems scattered all over the place without any reasonable method to the madness. But wait, there’s more! Returning to the VIP area near the main stages, I realise that I can hear bass from the other stages, indicating that the three stages aren’t spaced out enough in the open field of the showgrounds, which is a little frustrating when you’re, you know, trying to enjoy one particular performance or another.

That musical storm that was brewing has now arrived, so luckily I’ve got my Captain Morgan’s and a seat to brave this storm. Tkay Maidza brings Nicki Minaj-like electronic hip-hop rollers, which make my musical palate cringe, but my analytical side can appreciate her talent and charisma which is going down nicely with the crowd. Winston Surfshirt brings a flood of coffee shop vibed jazz/hip-hop/soul, featuring a little too prominent, horns sound, smooth dual male/female vocals, warm organ riffs and Winston jumping around the stage like a deranged lunatic. Hold on tight, because if that change from one extreme to the next was one thing, The Amity Affliction is up now with their thunderous metal-core bites! The sound mixer today for these two stages has done well so far, but for the extreme change in genre/style, I think is starting to float off course a bit. The set starts off with the focus very much on drums and clean vocals, where as the growling vocals and guitar/bass don’t seem to be on the same level sound wise. Luckily for whatever reason it may be, this is improved a bit heading deeper into the raging musical storm the band are brewing, but still not perfect. Nevertheless, the crowd is going wild and moshing violently, so good thing I didn’t follow my friend into the sea of scallywags! The storm eazes slightly with Grinspoon and their iconic Aussie rock hits spanning decades which the sound mixer has pulled rank for this set, then CRASH! The musical ship gets thrown viciously by Lady Leshurr. Even my fair and reasonable analytic mind is struggling for this one, the electronic/dance sound would be decent and passable if it wasn’t stopping and starting all the time, going off in all sorts of sporadic directions like Jack Sparrow’s compass, plus polluted with WAY too many party-horn sound-effects between sporadic changes every thirty seconds or so. As a result the crowds’ hype has died a little.

Now, at last, our destination of musical treasures is in sight….figuratively, with the quartermaster Paul Kelly, and the tyranny musical-pirate himself, Black Beard… I mean, Royal Blood. Paul Kelly is a risky play at this young-patron dominated festival but he pulls it off! The sound is perfect, great blend of instruments, but the flow of his set is a bit off as far as energy flow is concerned. Finally, bestowed upon us now is Royal Blood, the saviours of rock! My friend informs me that the masses of scallywag pirates are starting to exit the festival or go to the other stages half way through the bands’ set, which is a massive shock to me, as the band belt out high energy rock n’ roll power-surges from start to finish! It really is amazing how just two lads from the UK can emulate a full band sound, with just effect pedals on the bass guitar to create electric guitar sound simultaneously, sharp vocals like a pirates’ sword, and drums. It’s little wonder why these guys are so highly raved about, and apart from a little too drawn out grand finale, was an ace of a show full of killer hooks, thunderous riffs, solo’s and all!

Although there are a few more artists/bands on after Royal Blood for people who just can’t get enough, I feel like I’ve plundered enough musical treasure, and is time to abandon ship.

Are my spoils of musical treasures worth it I wonder? The musical gems were amazing and highly valuable and worthy, but the general vibe of a few too many rowdy trouble maker party-pirates and the stressful layout was far from enjoyable…. Hmmmm, I shall leave the verdict up to you...

Evanescence w/ Sydney Symphony Orchestra @ Sydney Opera House, Sydney NSW Australia 13/02/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.es

BRING ME TO LIFE

Do you believe in angels, ghosts, the heavens above, and the fiery pits below? Well tonight, Amy Lee from Evanescence will bring to life the imaginary, take us high above the clouds leaving us lost in paradise. Once our senses are truly unraveling at the end of the dream she’s tantalised us in, she will show us the secret door to the tempestuous fiery depths, in which if we enter, we can never go back…

Now, the illustrious new symphonic-rock masterpiece ‘Synthesis’ is brought to life in it’s entirety, hold on tight, for we are going under…

As the lights go down, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra open the door to the heavenly essence, as they start ‘Overture’ while Evanescence walk onto the stage in temporary absence of Amy, and with a godly roar from us in the audience, Amy glides onto the stage, in time to bring in the next song, ‘Never Go Back’. 

The lights flicker in sync to the dark heavy drum beats at the opening of ‘Never Go Back’, with Amy’s voice being pure and angelic, sending shivers down my spine. Amy let’s an orchestra member take over the piano she previously was playing in the song, so she can truly express the strength of her voice, singing with her incredible voice and body in perfect symmetry. In the second verse, the orchestra really step into the fold, bringing forth dramatic, dark cello and double bass, being the balanced darkness to Amy’s angelic light, with her spine tingling voice reaching climactic elevation nearing the songs’ close.

Leaving us all deeply spellbound, Amy now thanks us so much for being a part of this special occasion. As I sit completely God-smacked, I realise this venue, world-class orchestra and their sound mixer are weirdly perfect for this album and Amy’s symphonic vocals, with how the music is perfectly balanced to the point of me not requiring the use of my ear-plugs and with the way the walls around us hold and share the sound with one another. It's as if somehow, Amy wrote this album for this encounter.

A light electronic drum pattern and eery strings, bring us deeper into this dream for ‘Lacrymosa’, as we spiral deeper down the rabbit hole, to a mystical land unknown. The song gives off a haunting feeling as Amy’s voice is soft, wicked and hypnotic. Now the dark, haunting aura plunges into the intense cinematic deity wrath of electronic drum beats, with a calling of dramatic bass-dominated cello’s and double bass, and as the lights and music march us beneath, Amy throws her head from side to side, like a possessed voodoo doll, before she awakens from the curse, and her all-mighty classically trained voice breaks free, and elevates to incredible heights, calling to her fellow angels above.

Without a pause, the band now bring us straight into the ‘End Of The Dream’, which is then followed up with the hauntingly beautiful heart-throbbing symphony, ’My Heart Is Broken’ and emotion resurrecting track ‘Lithium’.  

A deep bass reigns throughout the hall, before Amy’s soft heaven sent voice joins the bass, and now, strings as Amy’s operatic voice raises in dynamics, echoing around me. As the rest of the song around Amy’s vocals build up to climactic shockwaves, Amy’s presence with the sinister music changes her from a sweet angel of God, to a vengeful poltergeist, haunting the world around her. The drummer too puts a demonic power into his performance, as if egging on the poltergeist in centre stage, and with the rest of the band along with the orchestra, it’s terrifying, yet exquisitely beautiful!

Now it seems our hearts can steady and our under-garments can dry, because it seems this poltergeist has been purified, and left now, is a sorrowful fallen angel reaching to the stars above in ‘My Heart Is Broken’. The purity of this angel is shone brightly, as Amy truly puts all her heart and soul into nailing every powerful note perfectly, bringing a new light through the taunting darkness that once was. With Amy’s strong expressive actions and the force of her voice, it sounds like she could be trapped within the story of this song, and fighting back tears which is as pure and authentic as a singer can get! Amy now demonstrates her ability to multi-task and takes her angelic ways to the piano for the songs’ bridge, before the explosion of celestial beauty in the final chorus.

Missy Higgins @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney NSW Australia 08/05/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

ONCE IN A RED MOON

May 2018: The land of Missy Higgins’ past loves is left as nothing but a barren apocalyptic wasteland, full of broken dreams and despair. This treacherous ever-changing wasteland leaves Missy Higgins with a sense of solastalgia, a feeling of distress and depression, caused by the changing physical and emotional environments surrounding her life, which she shares with us tonight and sends her on the path to writing her new album ‘Solastalgia’. A glimpse of light shines up ahead, calling to Missy, will she answer it’s call and make it out of this darkness, or will the ‘Solastalgia’ swallow her whole…

As we enter the musical lands, we are greeted with the first frontier of the journey, a stripped away piano solo by Missy Higgins. The air around her is still, silent and heavy with emotion, as she pours her heart out into every vocal cry, while her piano melodies carry us down a stream of raw emotion. For this song, the sound is crystal clear and perfectly suited for Missy’s piano solo, but how will the sound develop down the stream when the rest of the band emerge.

Missy Higgins now gets up from her piano with an almighty grunt then explains “even with having my water bottle I still grunt like a f****ng old man getting up”, then welcomes us ashore. The landscape at the end of the previous emotional river is lit with 49 Candles (yep, I counted EVERY single one), which gives off a haunting sway vibe with ghostly vocal harmonies floating around Missy’s sorrowful voice, carrying her down the path of the set.

As we walk down this path, Missy’s voice and her bands’ accompanying music guides us with a soft gentle sway in ‘Don’t Ever’, with a delicate breeze of nostagia in its’ major-tone essence. The path spirals and thickens in layers as the drums enter after the songs’ first chorus, followed by Missy’s sweet vocals creeping up like leaves caught in the musical wind before the layers increase dramatically for ‘All In My Head’. The sound mixers prove themselves to the crowd as in this song, the layers grow even thicker like vines surrounding the pathway, yet the sound is spot on, crystal clear and holds all the sounds evenly and comfortably, to compliment one another in perfect symmetry.  The ghostly vocal harmonies carry Missy’s exquisite voice as the songs’ nostalgic vibe reminds me of an old village, that you used to visit when you were a kid, but this tale is far from over.

Before reaching our next destination, Missy shares a story of how she had a break from music for a while to try and find herself, she tried meds, they didn’t work, she even tried going to uni, it didn’t work, and in the end it lead her back to music.

The next landscape on the journey is ‘Ten Days’, with it’s more blues-like flicks of the piano and musical scent, nifty show-off vocal improvisations and more harmonious vocal layers (yep, those bloody ghosts are still hanging around). This is followed up by the “revenge follow-up to Ten Days”, ‘Peachy’, a brutal apocalyptic storm of up-beat proportion, and beautiful yet biting vocal gusts.

After opening track off Missy’s latest album ‘Starting Again’ with it heavy-hearted sombre feel and uplifting power-surge nearing its’ end followed by the even darker ‘Red Moon’, Missy shares more stories about making her new album ‘Solastalgia’ and the meaning behind it. She now goes on to tell us how her current partner told her, “there’s not one song on here about me, I want a f****ng love song!” which Missy replies, “have you heard my love songs? They don’t end well, do you really want one?”, and how that lead to her endeavour to write a positive love song. The end result is the next song ‘Futon Couch’, a song about how they met. A gooey girly love song full of bright and bubbly layers and heart fluttering effects with Missy crying out in declaration. This song is a nice cool-breeze of light to the dark wastelands of the show so far.

The lush bright scenery around us is sustained with ‘Song For Sammy’, a quick little song that Missy plays on the acoustic guitar showing off more musical diversity in her skills (ie playing piano and guitar). Missy brings another burst of humour as she over accentuates a high and low vocal note in the songs’ second verse, to really take the piss out of herself. She now invites Gordi onto the stage, who warmed the stage for Missy tonight and the rest of the tour, for an acoustic duet of ‘Sound Of White’, followed by ‘Everyone’s Waiting’, with Missy and Gordi taking turns at leading vocals in a call and response-like manner.

For the rest of this journey which is starting to seem a little less apocalyptic (thanks for messing up the theme for me Missy), we encounter loved classics like ‘The Special Two’, new sure to be hit ‘Cemetery’, further displaying more electronic/pop elements to her sounds, my personal childhood favourite ‘Scar’ and finally uplifting bright finish ‘Steer’. All the songs in the homestretch feature differing layers of blues, pop, soul, acoustic, and even one song that was an up-beat rock song that Missy performs on the electric guitar which seems a bit odd in the set, but it works. We also discover more story-telling from Missy, her dazzling charisma throughout songs as she’s an arm talker and obviously likes to express the music physically (get your minds out of the gutter) and all performed beautifully by Missy with vocal improvisations here and there, more prominently in ‘Scar’ (which btw Missy, it makes it a little hard to sing along to, as you requested, when you’re not singing the normal notes). And finally, Missy tells us that she doesn’t do encores anymore, they tend to piss her off and goes on to re-enact a punters reaction at a concert when expecting more songs. So the journey closes with ‘Steer’, a bright uplifting happy ending to the chaotic apocalyptic love song documentary.

Looking back on this journey, it was really like a documovie of Missy Higgins’ post apocalyptic loves as she calls them. Missy spoke a lot between songs, but she did so in an engaging charismatic way that didn’t drag on spoiling the flow. The musical performance from Missy and her band was spot on and perfectly complemented one another. All in all, I had a great experience and better yet, would definitely go to another Missy Higgins show in the hopefully near future!

Imagine Dragons @ Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney NSW Australia 19/05/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

THIS IS RADIOACTIVE!

Legend is, there are four elemental pieces, that when joined, form a mystical being, differing in proportional form and energy. Legend is, that every few years, these elemental forces will unite, evolve, rise up and bring with them a new musical offering of radioactive thunder, more precious than gold.

It’s time, for the reign of Imagine Dragons ‘Evolve World Tour’ has begun…

As the enigmatic being awakens, documentary-sounding graphics on the screen atop the stage and some eerie bass, light drums and worldly synth build the suspense, as fans await the first song. The first three evolutionary forms of this being are opening track off ‘Evolve’, ‘I Don’t Know Why’, ‘Believer’ and ‘It’s Time’. All three songs start off reserved, calm withdrawn, until the songs’ energy can’t be contained any longer, like a Pokemon in it’s base form slowly reaching up to the right level, to finally break free and evolve to a new form…..I’m a 90’s kid. This is amplified dramatically, with a blast of confetti after an extended pause in ‘I Don’t Know Why’, separating the stripped back intro/first verse, and the full-force chorus. In ‘Believer’, the start is even more eerie, with the songs’ minor-key tone and now being stripped of all sounds except vocals and acoustic guitar, until the end of the first chorus, which then the song starts over in original form. The first explosive chorus is brought forth with a fiery blast of smoke shooting up from the stage in towers. For both the first two songs, once the energy hits, lead singer Dan races around the stage, energized from the flurry of energy around him, as he makes use of the stage and catwalk runway protruding from the middle. ‘It’s Time’ also starts withdrawn before raising the energy suddenly, with this song though, Dan plays on the crowds’ desire to sing along to every word, so the arena is filled with a chorus of uncontradicted choir-like vocals building up to the iconic piano riff in the songs’ intro, which in this case, is launched after the first chorus sing along.

The mix of sound tonight is quite confronting for me, yet effective to Imagine Dragons’s set, although it was unfortunately quite detrimental to The Temper Trap’s set beforehand. The sound level isn’t as loud as I were to expect, this does help emphasize the energy build up intended by the band, as each song naturally rises in energy level. However, for ‘It’s Time’, the songs’ energy did seem a little shy of sufficient until the last chorus when the band perform more dramatically.

The musical form transitions back to an embryonic state, as lead singer dedicates the next song to a school in the USA and proceeds with a heartwarming introductory talk before flowing perfectly into an acoustic cover of ‘Forever Young’, transforming this huge arena into an intimate room.

That embryo now bursts free of containment, as an eerie synth melody brings forth an energetic and dramatic display of drum and guitar collaborations from the band, with a flurry of psychedelic lighting reigning down around them, before ‘Gold’ takes shape. The energy both musically and energetically is thrust up high, emphasised dramatically by the calming absence of intensity in ‘Forever Young’ previously. This musical being seems to have reached it’s final form of greatness, or has it?

The rest of this show is like Goku from Dragon Ball Z in its’ energy, reaching “super-saiyan” heights in parts like in the uplifting feel-good track ‘On Top Of The World’ which features an array of giant balloons for the crowd to paddle around like purring kitties, ‘Make It Up To You’ with it’s dance-provoking sound and infectious melodic hooks, withdrawing back to “saiyan” status for songs like ‘Demons’, which lead singer Dan tells us about his experiences with depression and therapy, and how important it is to seek help at times, bringing the vibe to inspirational sobering heights, and exceeding those power-levels even more, reaching “super-saiyan 2,3 and 4”, in songs along the way littered with incredible drum solos, edgy show-off guitar riffs, climactic vocals and amplified by SO much confetti and smoke shooting up from the stage, as all the band run around the stage wildly as if set alight by the burning energy!

The sound tonight has been differing in quality I feel, it has perfectly justified the climactic sound of some songs, but in others, hasn’t been loud enough in some sound attributes (example, an iconic synthesizer hook, or bass line that needs to stand out), and as a result, lets the hype deflate at times, regardless of the perfectly executed performance from the band. To be fair, Imagine Dragons’ constantly evolving music features so many challenging and diverse sounds and layers, I can imagine it would be rather challenging for any sound mixer to harness a perfect all-round mix to complement every song adequately.

However, the confusing sound mix is brought to its’ full potential in ‘Radioactive’, which the energy in the arena is! The song started with an anticipation-building intro, that leads to the songs’ signature psychedelic layers and booming drums with roaring vocals. In the songs’ bridge, the energy explodes or rather, transforms like Optimus Prime after being equipped with upgrades and new weapons, as all the band members on stage take to a drum for a massive attention demanding all-out drum solo! And of course, this song brings with it MORE BLOODY CONFETTI! Seriously, guys I’m starting to look like a freakin’ paper mache! Still, after the band blast out everything they’ve got like Goku’s ‘Solar Bomb’, the show begs nor needs no encore, as THIS, is the mystical beings final form of greatness!

The sound tonight was yes, confusing, and at times confronting. However, the bands’ incredible display of comradery, energy and high musical calibre from start to finish of this perfectly-flowing set full of life, well and truly makes up for the occasionally lacking sound mix, and truly left the entire crowd feeling on top of the world and radioactive with excitement!

Lawrence @ Metro Theatre, Sydney 22/01/25

TIME FOR SOME FAMILY BUSINESS

Welcome to the family business right here with the soulful pop sensation that is, LAWRENCE.

Let me break it down for y’all, lead by siblings Clyde and Gracie Lawrence, this eight-piece pop/soul bands use of smokey, seductive and even moving use of brass and Clyde’s voice combined with dazzling ,energetic keyboard-lead pop elements with the funkiest of beats from drummer Sam, topped-off by Gracies incredible voice is testament to why despite this being the first time the band’s performed in Australia, both Sydney shows completely sold out well before these shows

The venue fills very quickly once doors open, and judging by the shrill excitement buzzing around me on the dancefloor, I’d normally expect this to be an indication of lots of pushing and getting all-up and personal with those around me, which I mean, if dinner and a drink is offered I normally don’t mind, but we’ll see. Luckily however, everyone around me is really polite, in good spirits and respectful of one another, it's a very good starting canvas for tonight!

So let’s start adding some colour and ‘zaz’ to that canvas shall we?

I honestly was dragging my feet a bit to bring me to the show tonight, I guess I just had a bit of start-of-year exhaustion, but straight away in opening song, touring album title track, ‘Family Business’ brings all those elements afore mentioned in my opening paragraph, and honestly, I can’t not smile and shake my booty, most likely to the horror of those behind me, but seriously you can’t not move to this funky music!

Clyde and Gracie interact with their audience from within their second song, and sustain the connection throughout the set, which is quite a lengthy one, filled with a beautifully curated blend of all the bands elements, highs, lows, sass, bite and everything in between.

I honestly am new to the bands’ music so I’m not too familiar with a lot of their tracks, but it really doesn’t matter, my interest, fascination and bum-wiggle stays throughout!

The sound you ask? Honestly, I can’t fault it, both from the sound mixer and the band! Both Clyde and Gracies vocals are nicely highlighted at the forefront of the sound, and I’m in awe in particular of Gracies voice! Going from happy, uplifting, attention-holding, to sassy, seductive, smokey, to larger than life brow-raising highs and deep serious melancholy.

The only somewhat negative thing I could say about the show, was I didn’t see a lot of movement of the band members. My friend did say after the show that Gracie did move around a lot, but still within her section of the stage. To be honest though, being an eight-piece band who need as much of their breath/energy for their instruments/vocals doesn’t leave a lot of space for moving around I wouldn’t imagine.

At the end of the day, the best most accurate thing I can say about one of Lawrence’s shows, is you can’t help but smile, get lost in the infectious blend of stunning sounds and dance shamelessly, ‘cause everyone else are too!

Definitely keen for the band to return to Australia, and I just hope wherever they perform, the venue has enough space for me to bring some of the friends to really well and truly break-out the dance moves!

Kane Brown 'In The Air Tour' @ Qudos Bank Arena Sydney 19/11/2024

GAME ON!

U.S country-pop superstar, gamer and all-round winning-guy, Kane Brown, has landed back down-under for his biggest Aussie tour yet, for his upcoming album ‘High Road’.

This champion was last here in 2022 for his headlining spot at Brisbane’s CMC Rocks Award Ceremony, plus a few extra stops around the country which launched Kane’s Aussie following straight up the high road to incredible heights, resulting in fans demanding his return!

I’m not usually into country music admittedly, but when my best mate saw him in 2022 and played his music for me, it intrigued me and caught my attention, so I guess I’m kinda like the villain in this game.

Let’s see if I can be turned from the dark side of the musical force…

So let me lay out the battlefield for y’all, I’m at the front barrier along the catwalk coming out from the middle of the main stage, well and truly impressed and warmed up by supporting artists Katie Bell and Cemeron Marlo, particularly Katie, as are the rest of the audience by the level of enthusiasm around me, and then it’s Kane’s turn.

Ima break this down into aspects, I guess kinda like Lego blocks.

First, the sound. At the front barrier of a concert, I opt for wearing my custom earplugs with their live music filters to both take the distorting edges of the sound to balance things out and make things generally more enjoyable, and of course, to protect my ears from damage. Tonight, yes, I do have my ear plugs in, but loosely, I ALMOST don’t need them. The sound is uhm, a bullseye, K.O, killshot, basically just insert whatever gamer adjective suits you. All sounds, Kane’s warm seductive vocals, the drums, piano, guitar and violin are all even and really well balanced for optimum enjoyment which, at the end of the day, is the most crucial aspect of a concert, the music.

But wait, THERE’S MORE! More? Yes Oliver Twist, more. Judging by the heat off to my right at parts, and that influx of light, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that’s pyros coming up from the main stage. This, added with confetti blasting a couple of times and screens and pretty lights, it adds a nice layer to complement the music just like the graphics of a game, so that’s pretty awesome.

Thirdly, throughout the show which is nicely flowing from song to song for its energy and feeling to rise and fall strategically in parts, without losing the crowd's attention even in the lower parts, which I was honestly thinking that would happen for me as I’m not exactly a “country” fan, but no, it’s keeping even my attention… wait, where was I going with that, my attention span isn’t good sorry. 

Oh that’s right, even throughout the strategic song choices, it’s not just Kane strutting up and down the catwalk in front of me, apparently the guitarist and violinist are too, and not just once. I really like this, as a lot of the time it’s just the lead singer making use of the catwalk at shows and the rest of the band are back on the main stage left in the background, relatively unappreciated.

And finally, Kane’s nicely connected with the audience pretty constantly during and between songs, not personally connected with individuals that make some rare concerts truly special, but it’s far from fake with the way he connects with us.

All in all, the sound was pretty damn on-par, the stage setup and effect/niceties added a nice frosting to the cake, the length of the set was satisfying without dragging it out past the audience's expiration date, and the stage presence from Kane and his band were pretty damn ace too!

AND no cliche planned encore, just playing all the songs and telling us/getting us all pumped for the actual last song.

So, in summary, for someone who’s not really into country music, I’m actually going out of my way to play Kane Brown on my speakers now and finding it quite enjoyable, he balances country with pop and rock nicely! 

So I guess you could say this is that scene in Return Of The Jedi, where Darth Vader sacrifices himself to save Luke from Palpatine, ending his dark tyranny for Luke.

Amaranthe ‘The Catalyst World Tour’ @ Metro Theatre Sydney 30/8/2024

The Catalyst Is Here!

The Catalyst is nigh, bringing forth the Drop Dead Cynical essence of Swedish heavy-metal mastery in its primal form that is Amaranthe! Amaranthe have been unleashing their glorious multi-genre-infused metal in all its ferocity, upon the Digital World since 2008, building up a strong, everlasting army of fans far and wide, but have yet to bring the Viral force down under… until now.

The feverish excitement is palpable throughout the venue as the band emerges shrouded in a mist of cinematic sounds and light, as they charge full-headed into opening songs, ‘Fearless’, my personal favourite ‘Viral’ and fan favourite ‘Digital World’. These songs ignite a fierce intensity of energy both on stage musically and in the wild blur of movement, and in the crowd's response. 

Despite the rowdiness of the fans and the “undesirable nature” of a couple of them that I perceived from their carrying on before the show started, and the way everyone rushed into the venue yelping and squealing like wolves (which made me opt for off to the side of the front row rather than smack-bang in the middle, since I do value my bones not being shattered), the crowd are all really, well… unexpected.

I’m reminded of how despite what most may think about the heavier genre’s, fans are generally respectful of one another and all just want to have fun, enjoy some expressive, powerful music and release some stress and quell some inner demons and the general shit of life, because in one way or another, we all have them, and metal music is the perfect way of coming together with loved-ones and complete strangers to connect and share the burden on day to day life, picking up everyone if they fall, and giving a jolly-big grin and your middle finger up at life.

From start to finish, the way the band all feed off each other's energy, amplified by us in the crowd and vice versa is nothing short of mesmerizing! Especially the synchronicity of all three vocalists, Elize, Olaf and Mikael, all shining in their own glory, with Elize like a hauntingly beautiful yet no less fierce primal goddess, soaring around the intense wrath of Mikael’s draconic roar, searing our senses. Finally, charging and prowling between these two enchanting powers comes Olaf with his surging, power-hungry commanding vocals, like a wicked bloodhound wolf… I promise you, I am not on drugs! Although, there were “sprinkles” on the doghnut earlier and it is Friday night in the middle of Sydney so who knows.

One thing that is often hard to harness, is a clear even sound at a metal show, especially from a band with so many musical elements as Amaranthe. Luckily, I can’t fault the sound mixer, they’ve nicely highlighted all three vocalists, without over-bearing one or another (usually the harsh vocals can drown out the clean vocals) but tonight, nor have the drums, bass or guitar been set out of proportion, it’s like the perfectly blended cocktail, shakin’ not stirred.

As the show finishes with fan favourite ‘Drop Dead Cynical’ and the crowd goes crazy, I notice that the show only went for 75 minutes or so instead of the typical 90 minute headlining set. I don’t feel unsatisfied or left needing more though, the high energy performance with the first ten songs being the more energetic powerful hits, then the last nine being a mix of more emotive slower songs, with the band being connected with the audience no matter what the feeling in the music, was anything but unsatisfying!

I very much look forward to when the fates allow Amaranthe’s glorious return to Australia, likely in larger venues after this memorable visit!

San Cisco @ Florida Beach Bar, Terrigal NSW Australia 24/03/2018 written by Brendan Lewis

LET’S GO THE DISTANCE

Throw your dancing shoes on, whip out those awkward bumblebee sunnies, rock that retro perm and let’s disco with San Cisco! No more waiting for the weekend, for the weekend is now here.  Tonight, these wild things are bustin’ an old-school magic groove, proving that these kids are cool still, as they do their thang in super slow slo-mo, and go the distance.

Let’s par-tay! ….which glittery dress do I wear?

After settling on a dress with the perfect balance on classy and slutty, I’ve shimmied my way to the front on this dancefloor to join the charged up high-spirited crowd, ready to boogie as a synth-based auramatic intro, filled with anticipation starts as the band walk out on stage here at “The Beery” …...side note... seriously people,  how the hell did you get ‘The Beery’ from Florida Beach Bar???

The band start this party off with ‘Did You Get What You Came For?’ off their latest album, followed by ‘SloMo’. The first of these two grooves is very strong in the 90’s synth-pop force, and as clear as Jordi’s lead male vocals are which is always a relief, the over-all sound isn’t as loud as I would’ve expected, and is very focused on vocals, synthesisers/keyboards and drums. On top of this, there’s not a lot of movement on stage to catch my limited sight, which may be due to the may-be faulty sound mix making the band struggle with their sound, or the fact that the audience hasn’t started shakin’ a tail feather yet, or perhaps, the fact that the band aren’t overly energetic is what’s causing the lack of energy in the audience? We now reach the songs’ bridge section, which features a crowd-pleasing guitar solo to help get the crowd moving, but still, this isn’t the big bold kick-off song I normally expect at a show… wait for it…

Next, ‘SloMo’ is far from it, with it’s up-beat tempo, that the catchy-as-funk vocal melodies in the chorus and the attention-grabbing guitar riff dances on. It’s great that the guitarist gets its’ turn in the the spotlight and shine brightly as they rightly should, and this songs’ classic disco-anthem vibe is extremely colourful like a mirror ball reflecting all the psychedelic lights, and easy to get down to and get my slut on, I mean, dance on. This does prompt the crowd to start drearily bopping and singing along, but the energy is still quite withdrawn.

The band now say a quick hello and thank you to the audience before the next swagger of songs ‘About You’, ‘Beach’, ‘Magic’ and touring track ‘The Distance’. ‘About You’ features a far more chilled-out vibe with calm honest female-lead vocals, with hook melodies in the chorus that get stuck in your head….. Or at least it sounds like female vocals…. If that is still you Jordi, my bad, and well, take it as a compliment, you’re pulling off a chick’s voice too! The fact that people are singing along more attentively now indicates that this is a fan favourite and is further drawing peoples’ attention which is good, but the absence of musical and on-stage energy doesn’t raise the nights’ vibe sufficiently at this point…. Wait for it….

The energy on stage starts creeping up at last in ‘Beach’, with Jennifer now on keys grooving away judging by the blurry shape of wild curly hair moving around, and the/a guitarist (Jordi?) starting to bust a noticeable move, closer to the front. The atmosphere in the venue is changed to a high-school prom/formal dance feel with a chorus of girly sing alongs, like in that movie, you know, that movie with the daggy high-school prom. (you mean every soppy teenage romances ever made?) exactly! As cheesy as this vibe is, Jordi is showing off some sparkly vocals full of diversity, with both crisp highs and smooth lows.

After the musical and audience’s energy is dropped in ‘Magic’ despite more on-stage energy from the band, with seductive retro-funk female lead vocals. (I’m quite certain this time they’re female). These vocals build up to an even more seductive vocal hook at the songs’ end, Jordi now says hi and asks how we’re all doing, and spruces up the positivity with a quick engaging chat to raise the energy for ‘The Distance’. ‘The Distance’ raises the energy nicely after that half-time rev up from Jordi, dual male/female vocals and smooth walking bass lines, now people are starting to get their groove on and I can finally unleash my super-dorky moves in this hyped up crowd!

For the rest of this night of getting my slut on, I mean, dance on the band serve up more tasty retro treats like ‘Awkward’ (how I’m feeling as I try and sing along to the incredibly infectious vocal hook, and sadly fail) but ‘Hey Did I Do You Wrong?’ really? Well, if so let’s ‘Wash It All Away’ with loads more energy which is climaxing to sweaty levels, as ‘That Boy’ on stage continues to fire us all up as he totally shows me up with his disco dance moves! All these songs are filled with unique disco-synth vibes that are highly uplifting and get the crowd moving and jumping to the point where it’s starting to resemble an actual mosh-pit which, side note, thank god I have the barrier to hold on to, because the floor is EXTREMELY slippery due to sweat and spilt drinks and would be rather tricky for even patrons with full range of vision. But, all good things must come to an end, after the band engage us more and share quick stories between songs, they now announce that this is the last song. The lucky last song tonight is ‘Fred Astaire’ with its up-beat shakin’ verses, and slow nostalgic choruses and the guitarist to my left (again, quite possibly Jordi) party-rockin’ out up close on stage, and regardless of the band having to pause the song to check if someone in the audience who obviously was injured was alright (slipped on the dangerously wet floor maybe?) this song ends the night on a high!

You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here….. Just kidding, there’s an encore. The band give in to the intoxicated roars from the crowd demanding an encore and give us two more songs ‘Run’ and fan favourite ‘Too Much Time Together’ thus capping the energy off with a band and making the crowd go wild and jump/get their slut on more fiercely than previously!

Now for the hardest part of the night, coming down from the hype of energy, coming home and slipping off those heels exposing blistered feet, scrubbing off mascara and getting out of that sparkly classy/slutty dress and looking back on the night I just had, and my god, I can imagine that would be a right pain in the ass if I weren’t pulling your leg and were actually wearing that sparkly dress. (which I could totally pull off btw)

It took a little while for the show to creep up and get everyone energised and draw their attention, and the mix of sound seemed a little unsure, but when it picked up it really picked up and was a truly fun retro disco vibed night in the end, filled with anthemic hooks and infectious vocals and synthesiser melodies!

Meg Mac "Matter Of Time" album tour Sydney 15/04/2023

It was only a matter of time

Meg Mac @ Enmore Theatre Sydney 15/04/2023

We all know that great music from truly talented arts will Never Be snuffed out of this world by harsh times, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and if you thought the hiatus of music from artists like this, and my quirky reviews of their gigs, was a sign of the end on both fronts, well, you Should’ve Known better….you ain’t ever gonna shut me up! 

It was only a Matter Of Time until truly talented artists such as Meg Mac graced our stages again, we just had to Ride It out. Tonight, our anticipation has been met with Meg Mac bringing her ‘Matter Of Time’ tour to Sydney’s Enmore Theatre.

Tick, tock, tick…

The ticking of the clock on the speakers detonates into Meg Mac emerging on stage to open the set with album title track, ‘Matter Of Time’. This song brings forth a dark, warning minor-toned power surge, with Meg’s vocals sitting perfectly in the mix of crystal clear sounds, even when a massive bass-drop rumbles the theatre, Meg’s power-house vocals soar above the fray perfectly!

‘Matter Of Time’ is nicely flowed into the next song ‘Turning’ which brings with it a contrasting soulful, heart-aching essence full of emotion and confidence. This song is followed by ‘Every Lie’ and ‘Maybe It’s My First Time’. These songs lift the atmosphere with their rise in positive energy, as Meg really spreads her wings and sends her powerful voice soaring all around the theatre with precision, grace and control. While Meg’s voice flies around the venue, twirling, dazzling and gently lifting our spirits, supporting harmonies  help put more force behind Meg’s vocal flight, as if a flock of birds are trailing behind Meg. At this stage as my friend next to me reads this, she’s probably looking dubiously at the bar wondering what the f*** they put in my cider! 

Meg thanks the crowd and briefly speaks to us, quite shyly and void of the confidence she so elegantly displays in her music. I do remember Meg telling me in our interview in 2017 that she can be quite shy and withdrawn, and it’s through music that she’s really free, or along those lines at least, c’mon, it was six years ago you can’t really expect me to remember word for word!

Sitting here, enjoying the cocktail of delicious sounds so perfectly mixed together (shaken, not stirred) not clashing or overpowering one another, even when we get bone-shaking bass, I’m truly impressed with how Meg so beautifully transitions the flavour of her vocals from serious, dark warning, to soulful heart-aching, to sweet, bouncing joyful, to sassy, and everything in between. she could probably even pull off heavy-metal screams if she wanted to! 

These attributes are scattered across genres such as Pop, Indie, Alternative, Motown, R&B and Gospel, all held together in the one body like the vivid colours on a bird… yes we’re back to the birds thing.

Just to mess you around with the whole bird analogies, as the show goes on, Meg’s confidence and stage presence starts a freshly hatched bird, but then grows and takes off, chasing her musical confidence and power, quickly catching up to then merge into one being, let’s say a stunning, burning Phoenix, exuding both fearsome power and exquisite grace! 

Meg tells us stories with more and more confidence, such as how she scrapped a whole album because it just wasn't right for her to the point of keeping her up at night , so she scrapped it and started all over again to eventually become the album that has become “Matter Of Time'' with the opening track “Is it Worth Being Sad?” representing her feelings about starting fresh. 

Meg then goes on to tell us how she played the song ‘Don’t You Cry’ in Africa, I think she said? Before playing the sweet acoustic track, then onto talking about writing and performing before playing songs like the intense drum pulses and vocal hook of ‘Grace Gold’ then the heart-filled emotion of ‘Letter’, with Meg demonstrating her talent on the Piano, with the songs nice blend of block-chords, broken-chords and melody.

As the show nears its final flight, the energy in the venue is palpable and electric with the crowd seeming to feed off Meg’s energy and giving it back to her to further aid Meg’s Flight Of The Phoenix that she’s become! The 'final' song for the evening is fan favourite ‘Never Be’ which has a more defined powerful drum beat lifting Meg’s voice even higher, like hard flaps of wings to push the main body to new heights!

Well that’s all folks, yep, go home… Oh wait, there’s an encore that totally doesn’t happen at ALL shows, that we NEVER  see coming and totally isn’t written out already on the band/artists setlists!

The actual final song is breakthrough massive hit, ‘Should’ve Known’ which as Meg tells us how this year marks ten years since she flew onto the music scene with an audible smile on her face, makes the crowd go nuts and is a perfect way to land the show back down to earth but not before the house is brought down with the crowd singing along to every word in full captivation!

This show tonight was a real treat, with its musical diversity, emerging stage presence and perfectly balanced sounds!

Just like a Phoenix rising from its ashes time and time again, I have no doubt Meg Mac will rise and take flight again, soon!

Hilltop Hoods 'Show Business' Tour - Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney 03/09/2022

LET’S CHASE THAT FEELING!

Tonight, I’ma Chase That Feeling down here at the front barrier of Qudos Bank Arena in The Nosebleed Section, because Aussie hip-hop icons Hilltop Hoods are Still Standing after the involuntary hiatus on the music scene caused by the pandemic, and Hilltop Hoods are ready to party and remind us why we need to hold on tight to live music and why they’re at the top of the Aussie hip-hop scene, on the bands’ ‘Show Business’ Tour! 

Now, if you’re familiar with my reviews you’d know I normally take my readers through an in-depth, song-by-song analysis. Tonight though, I don’t feel that’s necessary and I’d just be repeating myself… a-lot! No no, it doesn’t mean this show is repetitive and anything short of special, quite the opposite.

The energy, excitement and sheer fun-happy vibes skyrocketed straight away with opening song ‘Leave Me Lonely’, with a notable suspense-building sudden stop in the bridge section to raise the impact for the final chorus, then straight into one of my all-time favourites, ‘Chase That Feeling’. Which I should note, that for the live experience this song features an extra ‘synth’ sound added into the songs intro.

Now, picture this, you’re in the crowd at Qudos Bank arena, if you’re not wearing protective ear-plug down here at the front of the standing crowd (I am THANK JEEBUS!) you’re bombarded by bones-rattling bass, but luckily, astonishingly, it doesn’t even come close to drowning out the vocals and other musical layers, I mean, there could be a smidgen more mid-range in the mix, but that’s me looking for any gaps, but by the sheer excitement emanating from fans around me from the band racing around the stage, feeding off our energy and each others on stage perfectly surrounded by a dazzling light show, you’d think this is as good as it gets and that it’ll be more of the same throughout the performance right? You know, fans sing along at the top of their lungs… in my ears, the band revs us up between songs, we clap along to beats, jump when the band tells us to, maybe a bit of confetti for us to bat-away from our faces like cats etc etc.

Well yes, that does all happen as I described but with a few key differences that make this show truly special and memorable. First off, after the band play ‘Chase That Feeling’, they ask “has anyone here not seen us before?” which the young girl to my right calls out that she hasn’t, it’s her first time. (you never forget your first) Then, the band member who asked the question pointed the girl out and ask what her name is, “Mia!” then the band say hi to Mia, thank her and the rest of us for being here, mention Mia a few more times as the band rev us up leading into ‘The Nosebleed Section’, which was perfect for the songs’ lyrics in the chorus “I fell in love with the people in the front row”... but apparently my blind eyes missed one little, iddy-bitty detail. After Mia called out her name and one of the band members confirmed it, he unfastened his watch and gave it to Mia! No, I doubt it was a $10,000 Rolex or anything, more likely one of the custom Hilltop Hoods G-Shock watches, which if anything I think is better!

But the special moments don’t end there! After the band play ‘I Love It’, one of the band members “where’s the blind guy with the sign?” (yes, me) and wants me to hold it up for him to read out. Apparently he has it shown on the big screens for everyone to see while he reads it out, calls me a bloody legend and asks “who reckons I should give him a drum stick” which he does. And he calls ME a bloody legend?! Then a couple of songs later, after nearly burning my eyebrows off with pyro-technics and covering us all in confetti (definitely not the last time for either!), the bloody-legend who gave me the drum stick and gave Mia his watch came off the stage to connect with us in the front row more personally, including giving me a hug during one of their song.

Now I could go on and on about the insane energy from start to finish, the perfect flow of musical energy from one song to the next, being absolutely covered in several rounds of confetti, not to mention losing my eyebrows and beautiful Irish-red beard to at least three separate occasions of flames shooting up from the stage about five metres in front of us here at the front, and how the band performed each song perfectly, but the most important thing to point out is this.

It’s one thing to talk to the crowd at an arena concert with roughly 22,000 fans, rev us up and what not, but Hilltop Hoods have shown, no scratch that, proven to us that their fans do really mean so much to them and they will go out of their way to connect with us even in a massive venue with rules, regulations, precise time restriction, complex stage set ups etc. They perfectly blended the intimacy of a small venue like they played at in their early days where they could be closer to their fans, and a full-scale arena show with all the fancy trimmings and effects.

This night, finished with the grand finale of ‘Cosby Sweater’ which Hilltop Hoods brought Elsy Wamaro and A.B Originals on stage to do some extra parts and join in on the fun, was truly a special, fun happy celebration of the music we all love, being back to witness it live on stages again, and sharing it with fans, friends and loved-ones alike, venue sizes and limitations be-damned!

I Love It!

Amy Shark 'See U Somewhere Tour' @ The Art House, Wyong June 29 2022

THE LOVE MONSTER IS BACK!

Tonight, we’re here to talk about love and intimacy, as after-all, this is the most intimate show yet on the tour. I’m sure this sensational Love Monster needs no introduction, but I’m sure she’d love one anyway, and if not, well, tell her I Said Hi. So C’Mon, Everybody Rise like the excitement and anticipation here tonight for…

Amy Shark! …or at least that’s the name on the neon sign as the stage’s backdrop my friend tells me, just in case we had any doubt of who we were here to see. This reminds me of the beginning of an adult film warning that the following film may contain sexually explicit content… uhm, may?! Moving right along, even before the lights go out and Amy and her band take over the stage, the energy in this intimate theatre is electric and full of keen anticipation, made even greater I suspect, from the concert dry-spell thanks to COVID.

Will tonight meet our expectations and alleviate our musical-frustrations?

When the lights finally go out and the action begins, we’re assaulted with a colossal burst of full-band energy that sends the energy up to 11 straight off the starting line! I’m left, however, with a fear, “oh no, I can’t hear Amy’s vocals, have they messed up the sound mix?”... Then Amy apparently walks out onto the stage to start the first song… by the way, did I mention I’m blind?

Amy opens with a fan favourite with the perfect opening attention-commanding essence, ‘Everybody Rise’. The sound mix? No, they most certainly did NOT mess it up! I’m blown away with how not just good, but incredible, clear and balanced the sounds are with Amy’s potent voice penetrating the audience and resonating throughout! Starting off softly and slowly clearly isn’t Amy’s vibe, not with the way she prowls the stage with ease and confidence like a lioness, leaving the audience her obedient purring kitties, ready to do her bidding, like when she riles us up in the bridge section, to build up for a climactic finish!

After the second song, Amy greets us and talks us through what she’ll do to us tonight and that this isn’t your typical concert! (I do love a girl who’s straight up with what she’ll do). She tells us how there’ll be highs, lows, happiness, sorrow and then she’ll pounce when we’re not expecting it… or at least along those lines.

The next few songs do pretty much that, we’re dropped into nostalgic bittersweet depths with ‘Miss You’, then charged full-force out of the depths with ‘Blood Brothers’. ‘Blood Brothers’ is bright, playful and sweet like cherry blossoms… if you think that’s a weird thing to say then you really are new to my writing! Then Amy tops off the elevated vibe perfectly with some vocal cheekiness to get a reaction from us.

Then Amy tells us how every day when she wakes up, she just knows what kind of day she’ll have, and this next song was about one of those days when she woke up and “I just knew that today was going to be a shit day”. ‘Worst Day Of My Life’ keeps the musical energy ramped up pleasantly, whilst giving a somber lyrical paradox, which transitions nicely into the next song before introducing an enticing dark swagger feel, then stripping everything down for ‘Never Meet Anyone Like Me Again’ with Amy on an acoustic guitar which, wow! Her voice is so incredibly potent and beautiful and is perfectly demonstrated in this song!

I find that if an artist/band talks after every song it often tends to mess up the rhythm and flow of the gig. Amy however, talks to us in a perfect mix of rehearsed stories, and natural chatting, like how the next song, ‘Psycho’, (I didn’t know Amy wrote a song about me?) features Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 who is like, her all time favourite band! This is followed up by another song featuring a member of Blink 182, this time, one of the greatest drummers of all time, Travis Barker in ‘C’Mon’. Amy informs us that sadly Travis isn’t here, he’s with the Kardashians, then, just to soften the blow to her drummer uses this opportunity to introduce her band, including one of the best drummers in Australia. This is a little like a woman saying to her partner “baby you did great, really, you did”. I’m no drumming expert but I am very fond of the song ‘C’Mon’ and I honestly think the drummer tonight out performed Travis and put that extra heart-wrenching force behind the lyrics that drove the emotion home that much harder! As for ‘Psycho’ Amy played Mark’s part perfectly which didn’t leave any empty spaces in the song for not having Mark, and having these two songs back-to-back, as different as they are, go down perfectly with the audience!

You know how we’re talking about intimacy tonight? Well it’s not JUST me being a cheeky dork, the show tonight really is intimate, from the venue to Amy sharing hilarious, personal and serious stories about herself between her lyrically and musically emotive songs, you really do get a feeling of getting to know Amy in-depth, which really does make tonight feel special. Even to the point where Amy confesses that she doesn’t like encores, she find them a little bit cheeky, so she tells us that she’ll tell us this is the last song, then they’ll walk off stage, have a sip of beer, catch their breath, then we’ll all chant her name because it’s good for her self esteem, then they’ll come back out and play three of the biggest songs she’s ever released. Again, I love a woman that’s straight-up with what she’ll do!

The “encore” plays out just like that and is hilarious at how accurate to other concerts it is! What’s also hilarious is Amy’s story of not-so casually dropping how she recorded with Ed Sheeran “no big deal, Eddie, as I’ve got him saved in my phone”, into the story of winning over an Aunty-in-law who previously despised her, that she recorded a song with the Aunties Kyryptonite Keith Urban, and suddenly the Aunty was next to her at the table leaning in, “about to make-out”. And yes, Amy finishes with her massive hit ‘I Said Hi’ which after the incredible energy build up leading to this moment, has us all singing along at the top of our lungs and on our feet!

For me personally, this show was just what I needed after a stressful few days to take my mind off everything and leave a smile on my face! I honestly can’t fault the show tonight. The sound was incredible from both the venue and the performers, the setlist including placement of songs for the flow of energy and Amy’s charisma!

If anyone disagrees and has anything negative to say about the show or this review, well… 

Just tell them I Said Hi.

The Rubens 'Live Loud & Local' - Coogee Bay Hotel Sydney 03/02/2021

AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE!

The Rubens ‘Coopers Live Loud & Local’ @ Coogee Bay Hotel 03/02/21

Much loved Sydney soul-pop/rock connoisseurs, The Rubens just released the Masterpiece of a fourth album that is ‘0202’... on 12/02. To bring their live music back to fans after the forced hiatus from COVID-19 lockdowns and to get fans excited for the album with a taste of new music, The Rubens, brought to you by Live Nation Australia and Coopers Beer (the latter supplying a generous amount of their products to the band, who in turn gave me full access to when I interviewed them before the show, Hallelujah!).

Free beer, catching up with an awesome bunch of musicians for an awesome interview and live music after so long, understandably I’m feeling like a Million Man!

Free beer aside though, Masterpiece indeed…

Like all masterpieces from the likes of Van Gough, Da Vinci and those Ninja Turtles ones, each piece has its own complexity and layers, this show is no different.

Let’s start with the background, a simple uncrowded, modestly spaced canvas in which each stand-out focal point, in this case, the band members both individually and as a whole, are highlighted by simple, but highly effective lighting of differing colours and pattern which literally highlight each member, being more-so effective as each member has their own designated space, diffusing their own personal touches of complementive splashes of movement to the musical colour.

You know when you look at a piece of art, and something nags at you, a finite, subtle detail that may or may not have been intentional? Well, when the lights go down, and the chosen song for the band to walk out to blasts out of the speakers, building up the excitement to a fever pitch, the next few seconds that follow (the crucial elevated point in which to grab and carry) are filled with silence? This could be intended, as the opening song ‘Muddy Evil Pain’ paints the mid-ground of the shows canvas in a cooling, exciting, bright (and for those of us with Synesthesia) blue synth pallet for Sam’s warm, and I say this in a completely manly analytical way, seductive vocals

I find that the effectiveness of the use of colour and how they contrast, largely defines a painting. In the concert scene, likewise does the effectiveness of how all the sounds in a performance are balanced. My first reaction to the balance of sound is “wow! Sam’s voice sits perfectly in the mix, but wow that bass is a bit overwhelming” but when I really think about it, yes, the bass is very prominent, but thankfully all of the other musical elements still shine through adequately and so as the show progresses, my focus is drawn to the bass at times like the raspy guitar and bass hooks in ‘Best We Got’, but in a pleasant way. Although the guitar and bass riff do risk drawing my focus away from Sam and his passionate voice.

This masterpiece is not a conceptual piece, it has true authenticity throughout it! Each song is bang-on to the way it was recorded, new and old songs alike. Not just the sound has true authenticity though, the way Sam talks to us between songs expressing how he was nearly brought to tears of joy as he walked out on stage at the start of the show, to the funky wiggles and dance moves he whips out during some of the more seductive songs, like ‘Go On’, ‘My Gun’ which Sam adds slight personal expressive adjustments to the rhythm of his vocals in the verses, which gives the song a more unique to the night feel, and of course, ‘Hoops’ which isn’t actually at the end of the set. That brings me to another important aspect of this work of art.

A lot of concerts and paintings alike, will display a bold exciting element at the start to draw the viewers attention and raise excitement, then save the best finishing touch to last, but in some cases, if you look at all the details in between, it dips and curves, which don’t get me wrong, in some instances is effective yes, but I’m in awe of how the show tonight is like a painting of a speeding train, it just keeps building up momentum as it travels which is largely done through the placement of the songs in the set, being so placed for the flow of the songs energy regardless of popularity, which even though smash hit ‘Hoops’ does of course raise the energy in the crowd, the energy just keeps rising in the proceeding songs!

Ah now for the actual song ‘Masterpiece’! Sam very excitedly prompts the crowd to stand up at our COVID-friendly seating positions, getting caught up in the moment, which is a brilliant burst of colour in the middle of the set and as intended, raises the energy level in the room immensely! A lot of that energy is from security racing around ordering people to sit back down, not just in ‘Masterpiece’ but here and there for the rest of the show especially in ‘Million Man’… whoopsy! To be fair, Sam does apologise profusely to security after ‘Masterpiece’.

This show from the dazzling colours and textures of electronic-pop mixed with indie-rock, soul, funk and pinches of gospel flavour truly does leave me with that feeling like when you lay eyes on a true masterpiece that will stand the test of time, and leaves you entranced and mesmorized in it’s beauty! 

A message to The Rubens… Better get your musical and performance brushes ready guys, ‘cause after that masterpiece, you’ve left a large anticipatory canvas to fill on your album tour in April!

Dip Road Dogs, Shakshuka EP review

READY FOR SOMETHING NEW?

The EP is blasted off the starting mark with electrifying and exciting distorted guitar strikes in ‘Chaos In Kherson’. To follow the excitement building guitar riff, the fast-paced taps of the drums leaps forth in a burst of energetic patterns which perfectly raises the anticipation for the sequential ray of warm, hypnotic vocals, laced with spacey reverb, reminiscent of The Cure and David Bowie. These attributes are carried all the way throughout the song, filling me with a bright nostalgic feel like that of when looking back on a pleasant time in the past.

‘Labour Day’ up next, offers a similar musical flavour, with warm reverb-laden vocals and a fast-paced drum beat, yet offers a static wave of violin-like sound in its intro, a pulsing psychedelic guitar riff plus what seems to be possibly a harmonica nearing the songs end, giving a dash of diversity whilst keeping to a soul sound.

Third song in, I personally like to hear something a little bit different whilst still in the general realm of sound, ‘Lazy’ fits that criterion! Although yes, it does still feature the previously heard warm, hypnotic retro vocals in the previous two songs, plus a bright and similarly warm major-key tonal colour, the even more calming rhythmic sway of the violin plus the addition of dual-layered vocals in the chorus, give this sweet little track a suitable potency to the record.

My personal favourite on this record is the next track ‘Serenity Now’. This song lifts you out of the calm trance ‘Lazy’ left you in, with it’s blues/roots edge in the form of the swaggering drum beat, with the sharp guitar riffs riding the storm cloud-vibe, as it gets ready to unleash the clap of thunder that is the chorus, with elevated guitars and soaring vocals not heard on this record prior!

‘McClurkin Ave Blues’ brings a more country/blues feel to it, with it’s wailing guitar outcalls, walking bass lines and cruisy vocals, which isn’t my personal cup of tea, but I can appreciate it, and who knows, when I feel like leaning back and chilling out on a lazy Sunday arvo, this song might appeal to my tastes more?

What does appeal to my tastes however, is the final track on this record ‘Something New’ which, forgive my pun, offers something new in the form of crisp piano, and progressing drum beats from the start to the finish. What really appeals to me however, apart from the addition of piano, is the mix of a nice chord progression plus soothing yet urging dual-layer serene/mellow vocals, squirting guitars and rushing drums in the chorus. 

All good things must come to an end, but in my opinion that’s a pretty bloody-good way to cap off an easy to like musical journey with elements of indie, rock, retro 80’s, blues and pop such as this!

Check out the Q&A interview with lead singer Dave Chirnside here

Atreyu 'In Our Wake' Album Tour, Sydney, February 27 2020

THE TIME IS NOW!

“Everyone leaves a legacy no matter how big or small”, so when our time’s up, what will we leave in our wake? With the earth being plagued with recent pestilence (the deadly strand of Coronavirus), war, famine and ultimately, death, not to mention the recent catastrophic bushfires then flooding in Australia, you’d think the four horseman have risen and it really is armageddon!

So it’s a good thing U.S Metalcore godfathers Atreyu have raised the question of what will we leave in our wake with their latest album ‘In Our Wake’.

You may not think now is the time for such questions, but yes, the time is now... 

In all the chaos in the wake of this concert, I’ve had time to reflect and put this show into perspective. When I recently spoke to drummer and vocalist Brandon (listen to the full interview here) and asked, “when you come out onto the stage, what do you give fans that other metal bands don’t?” Brandon told me “for us music is a place where we can go and let our guard down, and kind of, be vulnerable, kind of, show our insides a bit, we want people to be able to do the same thing at our shows. I think a lot of metal shows or heavy music is very serious and whatever, we’re very lighthearted on stage it’s a very fun atmosphere I think that, we want to give that open door for people to just come and lose their s***”. So, was shit lost?... figuratively, not literally.

For starters, before doors open, I notice that the queue of fans waiting to enter isn’t exactly extensive, and those of here seem quite calm and unsurprisingly, I hear talk of VOCID19, so has this scared fans away and put a damp blanket on the night?

Secondly, this venue plays host to many heavy genre performances, and I’ve got to know the typical sound here, it’s like a natural ruby, red-hot, dense, has many layers but can often bare too many imperfections (in this case commonly too much bass) and generally is clear, but still gritty.

Thirdly, typically the opening song will be the first song off the bands’ touring album, and the grand finale will be their greatest hit, so in this case, ‘In Our Wake’ and ‘Becoming The Bull’ respectively?

So, is this a clear but gritty little gem that makes us lose our s***?

In a nutshell, yes, much s*** was lost! The band did not however, fulfill my prediction of the opening and closing songs however, instead, they chose the placement of the songs throughout the show according to the rise and fall of energy it would seem, which is in my opinion, a far more effective move, as if you’ve paid to see a band who has more than one “hit”, chances are no matter what, everyone’s gonna stick around until the very end anyway, whether you leave your best to last or not. So when they open the show with ‘The Time Is Now’... any guesses as to what was lost?

Despite my observation earlier of a laxed queue, the venue is absolutely packed now thankfully, also thankfully, people are politely and respectfully losing their s***, they’re dancing, jumping and singing along, which the latter does render the sound mix hard to hear the bands’ vocals at times, but all in all is a pretty top-quality sound mix. Even when a band member steps off the stage and onto the step of the barricade to engage fans, people are still letting everyone around them, you know, breathe and stay alive.

Currently as I write this two weeks later, thinking back over the concert going over my notes, it brings a smile to my face and gives me a warm refreshing respite from the stress and gloom of the COVID19 outbreak, which has been making me lose my s*** in a whole other way.

So whether it is the anthemic sing alongs, the intense energy the entire band dished out from start to finish, the flow of energy from song to song or the addition of a brilliant cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’, which brings the singing along to a whole new height, or all the above, Brandon was true to his word and gave us all the open door for us to let our guard down, and lose our s***. 

Now that's what sets Atreyu apart from other heavy metal bands!