Live Review: HOLY HOLY + CLEWS @ THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL

The Rosemount Hotel’s concert room is packed wall to wall for this sold-out show. Most of the other shows on this tour are also selling out, including the night before at Mojo’s in Fremantle.
Clews were mesmerising. They have a stage presence that is electric and at first, under-appreciated by the chattering Rosemount crowd. They soon grab the crowd’s attention, though, especially when they play latest release, Crushed, a standout number. After a number of as yet  unreleased numbers that remind me a little of rockers Stonefield, Clews finish with their hit Museum, and leave the stage to huge applause.

It is another twenty minutes before Holy Holy take to the stage. The band are fronted by Oscar and Tim on vocals and guitar, along with guitarist and producer, Matt, and drummer Ryan. The crowd is weirdly rowdy tonight, with a couple of almost fights and a few people dragged out by security. But there is an infectious anticipation just before Holy Holy hit the stage.
Firstly, this set is LOUD. I am still not sure if that is down to the venue, or if they literally turned up the volume on the speakers for tonight’s show, but the bass especially is intense enough that some (ahem, weak) concertgoers grab free earplugs off the bar staff. Their light show is also fantastic, bathing the band in an alternating purple/yellow and red glow that brings Oscar and Tim into the forefront.
Holy Holy kick off the set You Cannot Call for Love Like a Dog, a song propelled by crystal sharp guitar breaks and polished vocal harmonies. Long-time fans mouth along to the words of the song that is off Holy Holy’s first album release, When the Storms Would Come. They play two unreleased songs from the upcoming new album, which they inform the crowd is “Seventy-percent done” and is scheduled for release sometime next year. The second new song is a 1980s-inspired tune that I am sure will be a hit, with an addictive chorus.

For latest single Faces, Clews come back onstage to sing the distinctive backing vocals. The new approach seems to be more heavily drum-focused with none of their signature meaty guitar riffs, though Tim’s talented lead guitar is (thankfully!!) still strong on the live version.
For the bridge of Willow Tree, the guys get the crowd clapping along, building up to a crowd frenzy as the drums kick in again. They also play their Triple J Like a Version cover of Beyoncé’s Hold Up, which is undoubtedly one of the best and most original Like a Version covers ever. The performance helped Holy Holy enormously to gain the national attention they needed to have their own music heard and now to put on so many of these sold-out shows.

Before prog-rock-esque number Send My Regards, Tim basically apologises, saying they don’t always play the song but are going to anyway. Rendering this intro unnecessary, the song is really well-received, building to an explosive guitar-led ending. Also from their last album, the band play Darwinism, and December, a dreamy song with wispy vocals and a strong drumbeat. Then there is the ever-popular track, Elevator.
True Lovers features in the encore, a track that encourages anyone not yet dancing to do so. Loud and guitar-heavy, this Holy Holy set is exhilarating and no one could leave with any doubts about the strength of the band’s new direction.

Live Review: OLAFUR ARNALDS @ Sydney Opera House

It was quite fitting that the day Sydney received a month’s worth of rain Icelandic producer Olafur Arnalds landed in town for his show at the Opera House. The city had come to a grinding halt with flights cancelled and roads closed and Arnalds was fortunate to touchdown two hours before the show started.  Composer Max Richter had to deal with similar conditions two years ago when he played his eight hour opus Sleep at the Opera House for the VIVID Festival. Arnalds is renowned for blending cinematic soundscapes with piano loops and ambient electronics, the multi-instrumentalist is in Australia to tour his new album Re:member.
Arnalds walked onto the lowlit concert hall  with his string quartet and a drummer and took a seat at one of his three pianos. He said they had come all the way from Iceland by boat a month or so ago and was relieved they arrived safely, especially in light of the storms. The audience were then asked to sing back one note to Arnalds so he could record and loop it into the concert’s  opening track which turned out to be the epic Only The Winds from his 2013 album For Now I Am Winter. It was a bold move to open with such a dramatic piece of music but it commanded the audience’s attention immediately, especially  with Arnald‘s delicate piano building  into a debilitating crescendo of drums and strings.

Throughout the show Arnalds sprinkled older songs into the set which seamlessly blended into the newer material from his latest album. The stage was bathed in a luminous orange light for Re:member and Unfold, which then flickered around perfectly in time with the song. For the more sombre numbers such as Only The Winds and 3326,  a blue hue descended upon the stage adding an extra layer of gravitas to the performance. One of the highlights of the night was Undir ; a glitch breakbeat IDM inspired track that nearly had Arnalds leaping out of his stool and dancing on more than one occasion.

One of the most interesting things about Arnalds is that he is very easy going and humorous for someone that is into classical music. As he came back onstage for the encore he dedicated a song to his late grandmother (Lag fyrir ömmu) who played a huge part in his musical upbringing. He said that when he was a teenager he liked punk & death metal and his grandmother in Reykjavik would invite him over to fix her ‘broken’ radio. She instilled a love of classical music in him on these visits and was one of his biggest fans when his career took off. He turned his back on the audience and then played this song on one of the smaller pianos and one could almost hear a pin drop after he played the last note. A few seconds he stood up, bowed and left the stage.

Live Review: JOE SATRIANI @ The Forum

Joe Satriani fans rejoice! At long last, the documentary “Beyond the Supernova” is available as part of an incredible box set Including the film, 32 songs of previously unreleased music, and more!
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Ready Set Go! First set at Joe Satriani’s ‘What happen’s Next’ Melbourne show did not disappoint. There was no support act at 8:15pm just straight down to business with Joe and his band. With amazing sound from Ibanez signature designed electric guitars, Marshall Amps, Korg keyboards at the iconic heritage listed Forum , it was certainly a rocking night. What a fabulous choice for a venue!!
The current live touring band rocking 6 cities in Australia included the 15 time grammy nominated star himself, Joe Satriani, the amazing Mike Keneally on guitar/keyboards, Bryan Beller, bass guitarist, and Joe Travers on drums, from Pennyslvania, U.S.
With the Melbourne show not sold out, the queue of people presenting were a sign of serious musicians attending the guitarists show! T-shirts went past such as Rolling Stones. AC/DC, Metallica, and of course with Joe Satriani from previous concerts! Musicians travelled through the Mezzanine area for a V.I.P meet and greet with Joe Satriani carrying a range of guitars in heavy cases in order for them to be signed.  Many were seen wearing the official merchandise such as the signature beanie and black t-shirts with photography of Joe wearing his aviator glasses. Most of the crowd were mature and low key.

The general admission crowd standing in front of a traditional stage, went wild on the opening song as expected which was assisted with a giant video screen for effect of moving cars. A rock anthem followed with lots of guitar distortion and slides with purple lighting for additional mood. The stage was a blaze with three guitars, keys and drums. Another rocking song followed that was delivered by Joe Satriani from the cool silver metallic Ibanez guitar which was held up to the lights which was quite blinding for the audience!! Black and white screen reflections added to the theme of cold rock.  Loved the strong bass lines from Bryan Beller. The fourth song was a new track from the latest album titled ‘Cherry Blossoms’  A more romantic, epic song. Japanese imagery was on the giant video screen which assisted to create the atmosphere.  The crowd were happy with a small amount of die hard fans evident. Joe continued to change guitars effortlessly throughout the first set. The next guitar change to the Red Hot Ibanez, was a rock song with space ship video imagery travelling at lightning speed through space. Lighting was focused on Joe with all the other musicians in the dark. There were guitar licks and ripper slides inspiring me to take up electric guitar! The next song, the 6thsong in the first set saw Joe performing the string technique whilst using his teeth, inspired by Jimi Hendrix.
There were cosmic keyboard sounds and headless guitar techniques from the talented Mike Keneally. The crowd were clapping to this heavy rock song that was initiated by the bass player so a great atmosphere! On the giant video screen, there were thunderbolts, sunset, earthern imagery to create a dramatic effect. Joe then got down on bended knee for the crowd which was great to see him getting more up close and personal with his fans. The next song ‘Ceremony’ from his seventh studio album Crystal Planet released 1998, was a V.I.P crowd members favourite album. The signature silver metallic reflector guitar was used for this performance under warm red and cool blue lighting. The heavy metal/rock song ended with one ripping guitar solo from Joe. There were loads of phones in the crowd recording imagery and very little head banging going on! The penultimate song, was another great rock song where Joe continued to use the amazing silver metallic guitar for the crowd. The bass guitarist reminded me a lot of my favourite bass player, Timothy B Schmidt from the Eagles with his technique and free flowing mane of hair. There was little talking going on during the gig from the artist and the crowd, and they were absolutely mesmerised by their guitar hero from New York. At times as all guitarists do when they are playing they crouch over like it hurts to hit those notes for additional effect. Absolutely love it!! The bass solo was very cool then Joe ripped another solo. He then said ‘ I’m gonna hold onto this pick and be back in 15minutes’!

The second set commenced at 9:30pm with classic tune  ‘Sleep Walk’. The crowd loved this legendary instrumental song originally recorded in 1959 by Santo and Johnny Farina. Hearing the tune, instantly conjured up feelings of watching the La Bamba movie about singer Richie Valens  Joe Satriani delivered  under cool green lights to polished perfection with the red hot Ibanez guitar.
Drum solo performed by Joe Travers, was fabulous. The drum kit was all lit up under white lights and there were no other musicians on stage so what a time to shine! The crowd loved it.
Always with me, Always with you was next from album Surfing With The Aliens. This song was a highlight of the show, great song. Written for his wife, Rubina. Emotional theme. Video screen featured blue and green mixed with magenta lights. An end of the road song so amazing a tear jerker. One of my favourites of the night.

Performing ‘Surfing With The Aliens’ was the absolute highlight of the evening. Totally electricifying with striking lighting and giant pop art style cartoons on video screen. Same designs as seen on his CD cover. The only CD I have listened to in his career to be honest! His second studio album and most successful to date released in 1987.
After the show, one passionate fan commented this was his best show out of the 6 he had attended. 5 in Melbourne and 1 in Sydney. Another V.I.P fan who I was sitting next to was thrilled to have met Joe Satriani who is a down to earth guy. The show ended beautifully rocking out until 10:25pm!

Live Review: DEAN LEWIS @ The Croxton

Just off the back of winning an ARIA for best music video is Dean Lewis’ Australian tour, stopping in at the Croxton Bandroom in Melbourne on Friday night. Australian artists Jack Gray and Robinson had the crowd huddled in and warmed up in preparation for Lewis’s set in the dimly blue-lit room.
“How ya doin? This is my first tour” Lewis announced, waving and beaming as he bounded energetically onto stage, to which the audience screamed deafeningly as the first notes of Lose My Mind we’re struck up by his 4-piece band. Lewis is gifted with a voice that translates beautifully to live performances and has the quality of a studio recording. Paired with his iconic upbeat guitar and commanding voice the audience bopped up and down as Lewis strummed on his acoustic guitar. However, it wasn’t a long-lasting dance party as Lewis quickly transitioned into his more emotional tracks and took to his keyboard.

“Hey you guys wanna hear a really sad love song?” he asked his audience as the lighting dimmed to a yellow haze and a smoke machine spat out fog. Quickly moving from a Half a Man through to one of the crowd favourites Let Go, Lewis was true to his word and the sad love songs continued. About mid-way through his performance it was clear the audience’s attention was starting to slip a little as conversations began to rise up in volume. But Lewis was quick to reel everyone back in with his most energetic and cheerful song thus far-
‘This is a new song called Tumble, hope you don’t hate it!’
The veins popped in Lewis’ right arm as he strummed vigorously and sang his most uplifting song yet ‘we don’t fall down, we don’t fall down. We tumble magnificently.’ After the welcome change in pace Lewis was back on the keyboard once again with the most anticipated song of the night. Lewis’ 2018 single and ARIA award winning track Be Alright was certified platinum within four weeks of release and is currently certified quadruple platinum.
‘As you know, I’m an actor now’ Lewis joked as he introduced the chart-topping single. Girls jumped onto their boyfriend’s shoulders and phone torches illuminated the stage as hands began to raise and float from side to side. The audience sang along so passionately that Lewis was drowned out completely. As the last chorus began he stepped away from the mic and let the audience carry the song to completion. ‘WE LOVE YOU DEAN LEWIS’ screamed a shrill female voice audience as the cheering
became deafening.

Lewis has one of the most recognisable voices in Australian music today, which he heavily relied on. Lewis let his voice drive the show while his stage performance took a back seat. Not to say that he didn’t have stage presence, but between jumping from guitar to keyboard there wasn’t a whole lot to look at up on the stage. Lewis finished up his set with his debut single Waves, a certified triple platinum song that again had the audience singing louder than Lewis himself, which says a lot for an artist of such high status within the Australian music industry.

Live Review: BLOC PARTY + HAIKU HANDS @ Hordern Pavilion

Who doesn’t love a good old fun, filthy party eh?? Well on Thursday night I jumped on a train and took myself into Sydney to experience one of the best mother-crapping parties in all of the land: Bloc Party!!

The London based rock outfit have come Down Under to tour their original debut album, Silent Alarm, and man am I happy about it. They played old tunes, new tunes, slow tunes, insane tunes, basically just a consistent string of ridiculously delightful tunes.

Opening the night we had artsy girls Haiku Hands. I’d heard these chicks milling around on Triple J quite a bit over the past year, so I was interested to catch them live. Originally, I wasn’t too sure if they would fit the bill for Bloc Party, but once we were a few songs in I was like ‘ohhhh yeah I get it now’. They were confident, creative, and totally bloody crazy, with their songs preaching femme power and pooploads of fun. The crowd started off small, but gradually grew as people began to get sucked in by the girls’ infectious energy. Their fluro outfits were fire, as were their synchronized dance moves, and they even flung out a bunch of streamers at one point. The Haiku chicks popped out songs such as ‘Squat’, ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Not About You’, before finishing off with a universally relatable tune involved the phrase ‘fuck this shit’. Fab.
Between sets I made sure to neck as much water as I could, mostly because the stage’s smoke machine was closing up my airways, but also because I needed to moisten my throat for some serious ‘woo’ing. We’d managed to grab ourselves a spacious spot directly in front of a giant stack of speakers, so immense amounts of musical brain-throbbing was bound to occur, however as soon as Bloc Party hit the room, I welcomed the pain with open ears. The band started off with slow burner ‘Compliments’, turning the room into a forest of swaying punters. The misty, mellow vibes continued as they played ‘Plans’, before throwing us all into a bass-driven boogie with ‘Price of Gasoline’.

One of the things that stood out to me the most (other than how fricken sensational Bloc Party are live) was actually the lighting. There were crazy white strobes for the fast tunes, and dark purple tones for the more ominous ones. It all made so much sense and accented the music very well! But of course, good lighting can only be appreciated if there’s something for it to shine on, and dayum did we get to see something beautiful. Frontman Kele has such a remarkable voice; even his normal speaking voice is bloody nice to listen to! His hard-ass spunky facial expressions during songs were just as entertaining as the music itself, with his beastly stares forcing the crowd to jump a little harder.
As the night partied on, we got to hear more 2005-era masterpieces, including ‘Banquet’ (*cue Guitar Hero flashbacks), ‘Luno’, ‘Helicopter’, ‘She’s Hearing Voices’ and the heart-tingling tune ‘This Modern Love’. The latter was met with a five-thousand-person backing choir and a sky full of confetti, so that was pretty incredible. Each band member was tackling their instrument with absolute precision, meshing the sounds together so flawlessly that I was honestly convinced it sounded better than the original album. The roaring bass lines vibrated every limb, and the twangy guitar complimented Kele’s low velvety voice to about the same calibre as mustard complimenting a pickle. If you know me well, you’ll know those are two of my absolutely favourite foods so that’s a HUGE statement for me to make, and I bloody stick by it! The most impressive person on stage, however, was killer drummer Louise, who is now sitting up there in my personal Top 10 Musical Women of The Year list. God she was so cool, violently chipping away at that drumkit like a wild crop-topped animal. Controlling the beat to such quirky, off-kilter songs isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying to smash out backing vocals at the same time, but she made it look totally sinch. You’re a mellifluous gem Louise.

Eventually the band exhausted their Silent Alarm playlist and went off to have a breather, returning soon after to slap us with a quick bunch of more recent snacks. On came huge 2012 hit ‘Octopus’, punching it’s groovy tentacles into all of our eager ears. The entire pavilion went nuts as heavenly rock tune ‘The Prayer’ entered the scene, and there wasn’t a still bod in the room as hectic song ‘Ratchet’ closed out the night. They gave us all a bow as we gave them cheer, and that was the end of my beautiful Bloc Party experience!

Live Review: GREAT GABLE Golden Slums Tour @ Oxford Arts Factory

Perth based band Great Gable put a subtle twist on the alternative-indie sound. Familiar faces to supporting the likes of The Jungle Giants, The Jezebels and Ocean Alley, they mix lo-fi sounding vocals with unheard of guitar rifts. Their crowds yearn for the quartet’s groovy and mellow vibe, which is almost lazy, in the best way possible.
Their tour was for their newly released hit single Goldem Slums, but brought a heap of old energy with them.

The newly formed band play as if they’ve been playing for decades. Their stage style is carefree, almost apathetic in a way that mesmerises you. The band started out playing tracks from their earlier EP, Modern Interactions, having an even-tempered and gentle feel in such an intimate venue. They performed Early Morning and Something to Say, starting with a slow, easy going tempo.
Things really picked up early when the quartet smack out Punga, which got the crowd dancing together with beers to the roof. A clear highlight would be when Taste squeezed its way through for a nifty guitar solo, hypnotising the crowd to sway their bodies, like puppets controlled by every strum of the guitar strings.
Until that is, the moment almost everyone in the crowd was waiting for, Great Gable begin the chant All Day Long. The whole crowd of about 50 sang along, both through verses and chorus,  singing and dancing in such a tight room.
The energy was almost transferable for their next hits, Golden Slums and Drift, with now short waits between songs, hitting the crowd with banger after banger. These songs were mesmerising and powerful enough to get a crowd of strangers wrapping their arms around each other. It was almost methodical for the band to finish off with Shine, reeling in the crowd to mirror the way the show started: completely tranquil.

Live Review: THE BREEDERS @ Sydney Opera House

The Breeders performed at the Sydney Opera House on 30 November. Although they’ve not set foot on these shores since 2013, the fans’ favourite line-up consisting of the Deal sisters (identical twins Kim and Kelley), Josephine Wiggs and drummer Jim Macpherson that reformed in 2012, played to a packed audience in the Opera House Concert Hall. Although the name ‘Breeders’ was used by the Deal sisters for a folk duo they formed in their teens, the contemporary version of The Breeders began in 1989 when Kim Deal, bassist in The Pixies, got together with Tanya Donnelly, then guitarist of Throwing Muses, whilst The Pixies were on hiatus. A critically-acclaimed album, Pod, was released in the interim, which the troubled Nirvana singer-songwriter Kurt Cobain hailed as his favourite album.

A year later The Pixies disbanded, so Kim, who felt creatively stifled in the group, was enabled to focus her songwriting talents on the new project. In time, Kim’s twin sister Kelley joined a revised line-up of The Breeders (Donnelly went on to form Belly) and in 1993 they recorded the commercially successful Last Splash. This included the singles Divine Hammer and Cannonball, as well as Drivin’ On Nine, No Aloha and tonight’s encores, I Just Wanna Get Along and Do You Love Me Now; catchy, edgy numbers that typify The Breeders’ alt-rock style of bittersweet melodies.

They were all received at the Opera House to a rousing reception, Cannonball especially propelling the sit-down audience into a dancing mass, which made me wonder why rows of chairs were stationed all the way to the edge of the stage. The Opera House Concert Hall is a wonderful arena to appreciate music. Although, traditionally, it has been used for classical concerts, opera and ballet, the layered, genre-defying rock melodies of The Breeders– alternately soothing then fast-and-abrasive, sometimes within the same song! – were magnificently captured. Kyle, “from the basements of Dayton, Ohio,” also joined them on keyboards for one song.