Posted by kluster on February 27, 2010
The Enmore Theatre throbbed as a near capacity crowd chanted with nervous anticipation for their idol, “...Lupe, Lupe, Lupe...”, going nuts as the rapper finally arrived after a ridiculously OTT electric guitar solo. He swaggered onto stage in a navy military jacket resplendent with polished brass buttons. When the Chicago native last toured, just over 12 months ago, he brought a six-piece band and all the trimmings with him; this tour however was a slightly more low-key affair, in hip-hop terms anyway. The entourage consisted of DJ Simon Says, a guitarist, a man-mountain of a drummer (who played with two drumsticks in each hand) and what I can only assume was a bodyguard who spent most of the show wandering aimlessly around the stage and occasionally dancing clumsily with cluster of hot-pant clad, squealing groupies on stage right.
iPhones twinkled above the audience as Lupe Fiasco skipped and hopped nimbly around the stage during ‘Shining Down’ with unrivalled energy. The crowd hung on his every word, even the slightest hint of a sly smile eliciting shrieks of delight. During ‘Hip Hop Saved My Life’ Lupe raised his hands up and down over his loyal subjects, resembling a puppet master as the audience rose and fell to the jazzy base line. Continue...
lupe fiasco, enmore theatre
Posted by kluster on February 23, 2010
Last time Perth’s Kill Devil Hills played Sydney the city glowed through western red dust, this time a summer thunderstorm turned the night steamy and sub tropical and provided a perfect atmosphere from the swampy blues sounds of their new album Man, You Should Explode.
Sydney locals Wifey opened the evening with a charming and relaxed set from their debut EP Salt, Sugar, Fat. Rock pop tunes, with an strong dash of country, gently but surely warmed the crowd up. Andy Calvert’s vocals were full of lovely emotion and Kirsten Morley looked enchanting playing the melodica.
Tucker B’s were up next and kicked of with the spooky 'First Born Son' which made excellent use of some torch-under-chin/camp fire lighting. Screaming vocals and ferocious guitar abuse resulted in a big fat rollicking set. Spod’s Brent Griffin helped out on keys and clearly shares the band juvenile but endearing sense of humour.
Their unique sense of variety and up-yours attitude provided few dull moments.Continue...
kill devil hills, wifey, tucker b's, annandale
Posted by kluster on February 8, 2010
I take my job very seriously. I don't believe in lollygagging and always arrive at a show with pen in hand, notepad in fist, ready to record. It’s an old habit and has developed over time to become something of unconscious gig-rating system. It goes something along the lines of this:
If I leave a venue with less than one of my Moleskin pages full of barely legible notes the band have played a below-average set. One to two: average. Three to four: now we’re talking. Four and above: getting close to top 10 rating. I walked out of Mumford & Sons with a cramp spreading across the palm of my right hand last Wednesday night and a rather squished seven pages filled. Here’s the abridged version of what they contained:
Jonathon Boulet opened the show with the kind of youth and young manhood-filled enthusiasm that is testament to his 21 years; delivered in the form of various extended instrumental offerings and, among others, the crowd-friendly ‘A Community Service Announcement’. The assembly threw said enthusiasm right back at him.
Mumford & Sons stepped into their set with the kind of no-fuss attitude that belies their musical complexity, launching straight into a pensively delivered ‘Sigh No More’. The evocative ‘White Blank Page’ was delivered with the same sincerity as two days prior, during the Sydney leg of Laneway Festival. And so on and so forth through what initially appear to be almost the same set list as played at the aforementioned festival. Continue...
mumford & sons, oxford arts factory, jonathan boulet
Posted by kluster on February 5, 2010
For the last few years running St Jeromes Laneway Festival organisers have proven that they know how to successfully curate an independent music festival. Thankfully 2010’s efforts allowed them to maintain their unsoiled reputation. We use the word thankfully because we all know how ugly a festival line-up fall from grace can be. Yes, Big Day Out, we are looking at you.
We managed to squeeze in quite a few bands during the course of the day and not one disappointed. The new venue provided ticket holders with more room to move - in space imparting a rather 20th-century-institutional vibe - and the fact that all stages were completely removed from one another meant that they each ended up developing a vibe of their own.
Speaking of institutions, Whitley, post beginning their set with sounds twinged with musical grandiosity, admitted there could think of no better place to play than somewhere reminiscent of an insane asylum. Over on the Clock Tower stage (Playschool imagery, anyone?) Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit were warming up with a spot of ethereal guitar-driven indie rock. ‘Keep Yourself Warm’ rounded up what proved, for us, a pleasing first-time FR experience.
Wild Beasts win Kluster’s non-existent award for Most Pleasant Surprise of The Day in The Form of a Band. Stepping out onto the stage to the sounds of an extended si-fi-esque voiceover they won over the audience with their delightfully discombobulated sound – encapsulating theatrical vocal lines, pulsating beats and windswept hair served on a bed of singer swapping, with a side of Jamaican undertones.Continue...
laneway festival, giveaway, florence & the machine, the xx, whitley, frightened rabbit, wild beasts, mumford & sons, daniel johnston, black lips, radioclit, eddie current suppression ring
Posted by KB on February 2, 2010
With only one album released thus far, Them Crooked Vultures were never going to surprise anyone with their set list, but the question on everyone’s lips is whether they could possibly create a live experience as great as the sum of their legendary parts. So we headed to the Hordern for the first of their Sydney performances to find out.
Kicking off with ‘No One Loves Me & Do I’, the band created instant chaos among the crowd, setting the pace for what was to be an energy-charged event, before racing on through ‘Dead End Friends’. The slower, heavier pace of ‘Bandoliers’ gave fans a chance to catch their breath, while ‘Mind Eraser, No Chaser’ provided a rare singalong opportunity.
The driving force behind much of the song writing is obviously Josh Homme – on paper many of the tracks could find homes amongst those of QOTSA – but onstage the presence of the two other parts of this holy trinity were undeniable.Continue...
them crooked vultures, josh homme, dave grohl, john paul jones
Posted by Danni Le Toullec on January 29, 2010
Like a kaleidoscope of entertainment, Peaches took over Sydney’s Home nightclub with lasers, vibrating lightsabers, costumes and an attitude that would most certainly frighten a small child. Perched on the drum kit wearing some sort of feathered, tasselled, leather monster suit, she glared out at the audience, emanating an energy and presence that didn’t waver for the entirety of her show.
Flanked by her three-piece backing band Sweet Machine, Peaches has come to us by way of the Big Day Out. For this sideshow, the audience was warmed up with the talented lyrical stylings of hip-hop artist, Shunda K.
By the look of the crowd, it’s clear that Peaches’ fourth album I Feel Cream has indeed cracked the mainstream audience whilst keeping her hardcore fan base intact. Seamlessly moving between fast-paced rapping, synthy beats and softer vocals, she flaunts her musical capabilities as a producer, singer and performer. Not many artists can go from screaming ‘Fuck The Pain Away’, to sweetly crooning ‘I Don’t Want To Lose You’. As the woman who passionately encouraged us to use the term “fatherfucker” to move beyond gender divides, Peaches sure knows how to get your attention and keep it under lock and key. Continue...
peaches, sweet machine, shunda k, home nightclub