Concerts
Thousands of old people, watching a group of old men dance around in front of the Hogwarts Express. This is rock and roll.
Almost 50,000 sets of wrinkled fingers twist into pathetic hand-grimaces – weak parodies of the famous devil horns.
The Hogwarts Express is now being ridden by a gigantic inflatable caricature of Barbara Windsor - with breasts that are literally bigger than my Dad’s car. Bigger than the 4WDs owned by half of the audience.
Continue reading "Highway To Hell, first stop Redfern, then Lidcombe" »
Forget Hank Williams singing Move It On Over in 1947. And that ground- breaking 1939 boogie tune, Rockin’ Rollin’ Mama by Buddy Jones doesn’t get a look in. We can also forget Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed who is credited with first talking about rock and roll music in 1951.
A controversial take on just when rock music was born is the basis of an equally controversial BBC program being shown on ABC television, The Seven Ages of Rock.
The series producer William Naylor reckons the program has finally nailed the previously unspoken truth that rock was born when Jimi Hendrix first performed in London on September 24, 1966.
Continue reading "Seven ages of rock will have you arguing for ages" »
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Damo says:
Muse is the NOW and in the future will be compared to the likes mentioned above - More than albums, Matt Bellamy will write an opus - More than a concert, a Muse show is an event that transcends ! Read more »
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acker says:
I also loved the Bob Geldof comment to Freddie Mercury in last nights episode “stadium rock” when Freddie was a bit half and half prior to going on stage during the Live Aid concert for Ethiopia…something along the lines of ...Fred there 750 million people watching this, bring it home… Read more »
Rogue’s Gallery lived up to its name.
It was meant to be the high point of the 2010 Sydney Festival but appeared on the horizon as a rolling, shambolic ship of celebrity vagabonds in sloppy seas. Perhaps that was the point. You can’t help thinking the early days of the rum colony that became NSW ran along similar lines. Actually, it still does.
Nonetheless, after watching Marianne Faithful struggle to read the lyrics for two songs she’s either beyond remembering or couldn’t be bothered to learn, many left feeling pillaged by the $145 ticket price. They stood outdoors for 150 minutes at the Opera House forecourt in thunderstorms and intermittent rain.
Continue reading "Was this the worst concert Australia has ever seen?" »
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Simon Thomsen says:
UPDATE: Festival Director Lindy Hume responds to the criticisms from the patrons: http://blog.sydneyfestival.org.au/statement-on-rogues-gallery-from-lindy-hume Read more »
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Al says:
Did anyone else have a ticket with start time of 8.30pm? I arrived at 8.25pm to find the show in full swing. Apparently started at 8pm. Not that I ever had a chance of getting value out of that ticket. Read more »
According to the letter of the law, the hottest act on this year’s Big Day Out roadshow is a criminal.
The remix demigod Girl Talk, whose output comprises nothing but densely layered cuts of other people’s music, is in flagrant breach of current copyright law every time he puts out an album.
The Jackson 5, Queen, Nine Inch Nails, Public Enemy and Kelly Clarkson are just five of the hundreds of artists sampled and blended with one another on his latest record, 2008’s Feed the Animals.
Continue reading "Hottest act at the Big Day Out is an innocent criminal" »
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Rach says:
Two words ... Z-Trip Read more »
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Tezza says:
Since I’ve been listening to remixed music essentially my whole life, the thing that really excites me now is original, creative vocal or instrumental output. DJing and remixing is an artform and can be very cool one. But it is neither new nor particularly groundbreaking or mindblowing for anyone born… Read more »
Here’s proof of the abundance of great new music. The great benefit of those end of the year lists of favourite songs/albums/bands for the previous 12 months is that there’s always some gold in them crooked ventures.
The end of 2009 was no different. A friend in Sydney tipped me to the Girls and I still don’t know how I missed their eponymous debut. It’s been on high rotation since.
As has the Canadian band Metric - their CD Fantasies came to my notice when someone picked their song Sick Muse as one of the tunes of 2009. It’s solid, art-pop-rock, New Pornographers stuff and worth a listen. Metric was a band I’d half heard but never focussed on. I’m making up for lost time now.
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Miko says:
Denis Metric are great but I would not have compared them to the New Pornographers albeit both bands are from Canada and both have fairly high end production. The immediate comparison that struck me hearing “Help I’m Alive” was with Kim Deal and the Breeders. Listen to the track “Doe”… Read more »
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Stephen Hill says:
I’ve heard of Rush - in fact I have about ten of their albums - the stuff they did in the 80s was good - as was Counterparts - haven’t heard there last couple of albums. BTW The Decembrists were mighty fine last night - the new material sounded very… Read more »
They say attack is the best form of defence and so I should have expected the very personal attack from Britney’s tour promoter Paul Dainty in today’s Australian.
You see, I was the journalist who wrote on Friday night that fans were walking out of her concert.
``It’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard,’’ Paul Dainty told The Oz. ``I’m so angry. We can take heat if there’s something wrong and people can review shows badly - that’s something you have to live with - but to say people stormed out of the show was an absolute fabrication.’’
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Shane says:
I heard about your review a week or so back and though, “hey that’s a bit harsh”, having went to her Melbourne tour last night. (tickets discounted to $60 for stage standing area). Firstly i could only see her 1/3 rd of the time. Secondly her lip syncing was horrendous… Read more »
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Rebecca says:
I don’t know about Perth, but I live in Brisbane and I’ve seen the show twice now. Once from the GA area and once from seats. I had a very clear view of her when I was standing, she was only a few meters away and there was nobody to… Read more »
Whoa whoa whoa! Australia, hold up. Let’s tread carefully here… do we really want to induce another Britney Spears meltdown?
Because that’s what we’re skirting with this teacup tempest over the somewhat faded pop star’s decision to lip synch the bulk of each stop on her current concert tour.
Since kicking off the Australian leg of her 60-date comeback roadshow at Perth’s Burswood Dome last week, Spears has faced a page one Daily Telegraph hitpiece, reports of WA fans demanding refunds (a claim the venue denied in a statement) and the sort of media harassment usually reserved for Dennis Ferguson.
Continue reading "Let’s not give Britney another nervous breakdown" »
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CelebritiesVsthePeople says:
I would reckon that not talking about Britney Spears would actually send her over the edge of a nervous breakdown. She has survived this long in a very bitter world of celebrity on her ability to keep the press glued to every breath she takes. The press is using her… Read more »
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Ian says:
All she has to do is pack up and go home. WE do not want these frauds here anymore. Read more »
The former Soviet country of Turkmenistan isn’t known for its trendsetting qualities. It’s dry. It’s cold and ugly. It exports lots of cotton. Not what you’d call a world power.
But in 2005 it became the first country in the world to take a strong stand, not against fascism, but lip-synching.
Declared a great crime against the culture of the proud nation, the late President Saparmurat Niyazov banned miming in all forms _ concerts, TV, even private weddings.
Continue reading "And in news just to hand from war-torn Britneystan…" »
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Sun says:
Alex Dickinson, have you been to Turkmenistan? I think not. Referring to the place as merely cold and ugly, coupled with references to its long dead eccentric former dictator, shows quite clearly that you wouldn’t even be able to pinpoint it on a map. It’s a beautiful country, mostly desert,… Read more »
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Conan says:
You’re an idiot Dickinson. What sort of person would openly condone this kind of abuse on the music industry? It’s bad enough that we have to put up with Britney in the first place, let alone tolerate cultural retards, such as yourself, standing up an waving the “It’s OK, as… Read more »
One of the greatest bands in the history of the galaxy is touring Australia next year to play one of the greatest albums ever recorded, hands down, in its entirety.
The Pixies will be playing their 1989 album Doolittle all the way through in one of those inspired classic album tours, like Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation tour last year. The tour is scheduled for March.
For the uninitiated, the Pixies hail from Boston, Massachusetts and recorded two of the most influential records of the late 1980s - their debut Surfer Rosa and their master work Doolittle, the impossibly catchy first single from which, Here Comes Your Man, is embedded above for your listening pleasure.
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Billy Pilgrim says:
I like the Pixies and the Presets and I’m 27, what does that make me? Gotta say though, the latter are not all that exciting live unless it’s their first show in a while. I’d get sick of doing the same shit for the video hits crowd too after a… Read more »
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Lachlan says:
I’m 24 and I’d rather listen to Surfer Rosa fifty times before I listened to 30 seconds of any given presets song. Now, where’s the Replacements? Read more »
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