Now… before I begin, it's important I reveal that my boyfriend is the bassist in Soviet X-ray Record Club. So I have been attending their shows for a few years and obviously have a pretty biased opinion. However, this one particular show in Brisbane was the first of their 'This Girl' tour and played host to some fresh new talent that really piqued my interest.
Max Chillen + The Kerbside Collective
Max Chillen + The Kerbside Collective are a fresh young band out of Brisbane and they completely blew me away at The Brightside last Friday night. They played a tight set and looked pretty at-home on stage. Their songs were catchy with a surf-dream 70s nostalgia feel. I fell totally in love with the vocalists voice; it was silky-smooth yet strong. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on these guys to see how they turn out. If they hone their songwriting a little and keep at it I think they'd be worth watching.
Big Bad Echo
A more established band by far were Big Bad Echo taking the stage after Max Chillen + co. They're a local Brisbane band with a shoegaze-pop sound who are making their way up the ladder with (hopefully) a bright future ahead of them. Although I loved their sound, not to mention they're some of the nicest guys in the biz (so I've heard), I wasn't as taken by them as some of the other bands that played on the night. There was nothing particularly memorable about their performance. Which is a good thing, in a way. Their sound was really good and they also had a strong lead vocalist. In saying this, it was such a strong lineup on the night and they definitely didn't disappoint, they just didn't stand out.
Big Bad Echo play Against The Grain Festival Fortitude Valley 19 August.
Hedge Fund
Hedge Fund are a Sydney post-rock band who have themselves quite the following. Their frontman had enough energy for the rest of the band on stage, thankfully, who all lacked it in this department. He had some wacky dance moves and focused less on how he sounded and more on how he looked. Which, in this case, wasn't such a bad thing. He was engaging and got the audience interested and moving.
I was caught up at the merch desk all night so I wasn't able to enjoy each band as much as I would have liked to and they may have sounded completely different down on the floor. I was still really impressed by the quality of the lineup, however, and will definitely be keeping an eye on each of these strong bands.
Soviet X-Ray Record Club
This was one of their first gigs back in a while after some time off to work on new material and the start of their 'This Girl' Tour. In their opening track, 'End of Everything' (a new and unreleased track), their absence from the stage definitely showed and they knew it. It was a bad start and they weren't happy but they earned back the attention of the crowd very quickly when they kicked off the set the right way with their second track, 'Good Things (I Only Think Of)'. A few other newer tracks in the middle played really well but were unfamiliar to the audience and some people seemed to have lost interest pretty quickly but there were many people intrigued and impressed. SXRC soon pulled them back in with crowd favourite 'Never Enough' and finished the set on a super strong note with 'Shake'. Although they had a shaky start to the set, they went from strength to strength which each song.
Soviet X-Ray Record Club play Grace Darling Hotel, Melbourne, 12 August and Studio 188, Ipswich, 9 September.
Friday 5 August 2016
Wednesday 3 August 2016
The Cure @ Rod Laver Arena // FAIL
It was the day we had been waiting for for months. We were finally going to see THE CURE performing live before our very eyes. We'd actually waited for this moment for years, not just months, to have them come to Australia and be lucky enough to seize a ticket. We travelled all the way to Melbourne to make this dream come true. Staying for just one night, flying down early in the morning and back the next day, just to have this 'once in a lifetime' experience.
It didn't quite work out that way, unfortunately…
The concert took place last Thursday night (28/07) and I'm only just writing about it now because it still feels so fresh and I'd really rather not think about it. But for your enjoyment, here is what happened…
Getting to Melbourne was fine. We had a really delicious breakfast. Checking into out hotel was fine; it was a really spacious apartment. It was here that I started to feel unwell. I rested for a little bit and decided that the pain in my stomach had passed and we ventured back out into the streets of Melbourne before meeting up with our friends for dinner.
I was feeling unwell again before dinner but just thought it was because I had a collision with a pedestrian that left me a bit winded, and with a slightly black-eye (that's a whole other story), so I thought nothing more of it. We all enjoyed a bottle of wine and a very good meal before we hiked it to Rod Laver Arena. Whilst walking I was feeling really sick but just put it down to eating too much food at dinner and then embarking on a brisk walk and being extremely unfit - which was all true but unfortunately not the case this time. But by the time we got to the venue I was going downhill and fast. I had sharp pain in my stomach and could barely stand up. However, I was determined to grin-and-bare-it for I wasn't missing out on this opportunity and also didn't want to ruin it for anyone else, especially my partner who is the biggest Cure fan I know.
The Cure had no supporting acts and came out onto the stage and just simply did their thing. It was effortless and comfortable for them and they had a great sound. Robert Smith's voice was in such good shape after all these years and Simon Gallup showed an unnatural amount of energy at his prime age of 56. Their light show was all kinds of crazy but just made it a more exciting show. For an audience clad in Dr. Martins, leather jackets, black eye make-up, and mostly over the age of 30, it was ironic how a group of people usually perceived as 'goth' or 'emo' were exceptionally happy just to be there and enjoying every minute of it. They opened with 'Plainsong' followed by (my favourite) 'Pictures Of You'. The next six songs ('Closedown', 'A Night like This', 'The Walk', 'Push', 'In Between Days' and 'Doing The Unstuck') were a bit of a blur for me as I was using all my energy to focus on NOT throwing up. I was in a state. Covered in sweat but also covered in goosebumps. But there was no way I was leaving.
It was during 'Friday I'm In Love' that I excused myself to go to the bathroom, hoping to catch some fresh air and revive myself, when my partner messaged me from inside the concert saying he wasn't feeling well and that he might have to go home. Little did he know, I felt the same way. He staggered out to meet me crumpled over in pain and with one look at each other we knew we couldn't soldier on any longer. We caught a cab and never said a word to each other until we were back at the hotel where we just cried tears of frustration and disappointment. We had come all this way only to let it slip between our fingers.
I remained positive over the fact that at least we got to see them in real life and saw a whole nine tracks played live and got to buy a t-shirt! And were lucky enough to spend the night in Melbourne together. But as we heard more about the set - like how they played for three hours and how they played four encores - it was harder to remain positive and it was easier to just not think about it anymore.
I read in a review that Robert Smith declared at the end of the show that he will be back and this one line is my shred of hope that I will be able to take my partner to see them again one more time in our lifetime and we will love it.
It didn't quite work out that way, unfortunately…
The concert took place last Thursday night (28/07) and I'm only just writing about it now because it still feels so fresh and I'd really rather not think about it. But for your enjoyment, here is what happened…
Getting to Melbourne was fine. We had a really delicious breakfast. Checking into out hotel was fine; it was a really spacious apartment. It was here that I started to feel unwell. I rested for a little bit and decided that the pain in my stomach had passed and we ventured back out into the streets of Melbourne before meeting up with our friends for dinner.
I was feeling unwell again before dinner but just thought it was because I had a collision with a pedestrian that left me a bit winded, and with a slightly black-eye (that's a whole other story), so I thought nothing more of it. We all enjoyed a bottle of wine and a very good meal before we hiked it to Rod Laver Arena. Whilst walking I was feeling really sick but just put it down to eating too much food at dinner and then embarking on a brisk walk and being extremely unfit - which was all true but unfortunately not the case this time. But by the time we got to the venue I was going downhill and fast. I had sharp pain in my stomach and could barely stand up. However, I was determined to grin-and-bare-it for I wasn't missing out on this opportunity and also didn't want to ruin it for anyone else, especially my partner who is the biggest Cure fan I know.
The Cure had no supporting acts and came out onto the stage and just simply did their thing. It was effortless and comfortable for them and they had a great sound. Robert Smith's voice was in such good shape after all these years and Simon Gallup showed an unnatural amount of energy at his prime age of 56. Their light show was all kinds of crazy but just made it a more exciting show. For an audience clad in Dr. Martins, leather jackets, black eye make-up, and mostly over the age of 30, it was ironic how a group of people usually perceived as 'goth' or 'emo' were exceptionally happy just to be there and enjoying every minute of it. They opened with 'Plainsong' followed by (my favourite) 'Pictures Of You'. The next six songs ('Closedown', 'A Night like This', 'The Walk', 'Push', 'In Between Days' and 'Doing The Unstuck') were a bit of a blur for me as I was using all my energy to focus on NOT throwing up. I was in a state. Covered in sweat but also covered in goosebumps. But there was no way I was leaving.
It was during 'Friday I'm In Love' that I excused myself to go to the bathroom, hoping to catch some fresh air and revive myself, when my partner messaged me from inside the concert saying he wasn't feeling well and that he might have to go home. Little did he know, I felt the same way. He staggered out to meet me crumpled over in pain and with one look at each other we knew we couldn't soldier on any longer. We caught a cab and never said a word to each other until we were back at the hotel where we just cried tears of frustration and disappointment. We had come all this way only to let it slip between our fingers.
I remained positive over the fact that at least we got to see them in real life and saw a whole nine tracks played live and got to buy a t-shirt! And were lucky enough to spend the night in Melbourne together. But as we heard more about the set - like how they played for three hours and how they played four encores - it was harder to remain positive and it was easier to just not think about it anymore.
I read in a review that Robert Smith declared at the end of the show that he will be back and this one line is my shred of hope that I will be able to take my partner to see them again one more time in our lifetime and we will love it.
Tuesday 2 August 2016
Travel Diary: Melbourne
I hadn't been to Melbourne since I was a teenager with my family so it was a completely different experience returning, as an adult, with my partner. I had a new perspective on everything and remembered more than I thought I would. We stayed on Queen Street near the Queen Victoria Markets which was a pretty ideal location nearby to China Town, Bourke Street Mall and Fitzroy.
We spent a whole day exploring the Carlton and Fitzroy areas, dropping in at a few bars and even visited an ice-bar.
We also took a trip out to Yarra Valley - on what turned out to be the coldest June day in 28 years - for a wine tasting tour. It was a lovely trip out into the country and I appreciated seeing parts of Victoria that I wouldn't otherwise had the chance to see. We went to the Moet and Chandon winery and Yering Station winery. We also stopped in to the Yarra Valley Dairy for a cheese tasting where I bought a variety of cheese not thinking about how I would transport it home the following day which resulted in a large amount of cheese and wine consumption later that night. We later stopped in to Yarra Valley Chocolaterie for a chocolate tasting on the tour as well.
We enjoyed wandering China town and indulging in some wonderful food. One of the best meals we had was at Red Spice Road - highly recommend. Enjoying breakfast in Melbourne is one of those highly recommended must-dos as well. One place in particular that stood out for me was a coffee shop called Basement. I just ordered the usual 'big breakfast' but it was different and fresh; I would definitely go back.
One night we had no plans so we looked up what was happening in Melbourne that night and decided to see a play at Malthouse Theatre called 'The Events'. It was based on the events of the 2011 Massacre in Norway. It was confronting and moving but also a nice spontaneous event for us in Melbourne.
We spent out final day in Melbourne walking along the Yarra Valley and exploring the markets and galleries in Southbank. Southbank was an area we had heard about but hadn't planned to spend much time there but we were pleasantly surprised and grateful we found time to look around; it was beautiful.
Despite it being bitterly cold I fell in love with Melbourne. It was like an amalgamation of various European cities in one. I could see influences from Italy, Greece, England and more throughout the alleyways and corridors. I can see my partner and I spending a lot more time there and can't wait to go back.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)