(no subject)
Days late, but I though I might weigh in with my thoughts on the Destroid/Diary of Dreams/Covenant extravaganza.
I was DJ'ing the evening, so arrived to a madhouse of stress as people rushed around trying to organise all the last-minute stuff. Next time I'm going to arrive later after everyone kept asking me stuff and then yelling at me when I had no idea what they were talking about, and then yelling at me more when I asked if we were going to sort the lights out at any point. It says so much about the talent and dedication of everyone involved that the night ran so smoothly given that Diary of Dreams were finishing their sound check three minutes before the doors opened and we only had some red lights on the dancefloor for the first 10 minutes of the night.
On to the bands:
DESTROID - Genius! What more can you say? When I was saying hello to people after the set and they asked me how I was I would answer "I've just seen Daniel Myers on stage - how do you think I'm feeling?!?"; That man is an incredible talent. Just wish the set could have been longer. Slight embarrassing moment when he announced Penetration for which I cheered loudly - and alone. Still, once he played it everyone got what I was on about...
DIARY OF DREAMS - There seems to be the entire gamut of reactions to these guys, so I'll come out and declare that I've been a fan for years. I was excited when I heard that God Module were going to be coming out originally, then disappointed they weren't, but only for 30 seconds until it hit me that Diary of Dreams would be here. I had goosebumps from the sound check... They could have started out with something a little more up-tempo to grab the crowd from the beginning, but their live versions of AmoK, Soul Stripper Butterfly Dance and The Curse (OK, all of them!!) left my socks well and truly rocked! On the downside, the memory of their live show leaves their studio stuff sounding a little flat at the moment...
COVENANT - I'm in two minds about Covenant's set, or rather I've got fairly strong opinions about the two halves of their set. Maybe it's because I was in the DJ booth instead of the crowd, maybe I was just a little annoyed having thought I did a good job of getting the dancefloor pumping in anticipation only to have a 6 minute intro with the curtains closed deflate things somewhat, but I was disappointed with the first half. Everything just seemed to lack energy. I thought it might have been the sound, but when they played Invisible and Silent and it sounded fantastic it became clear that it really was them. Fortunately things picked up with We Stand Alone - Eskil may have gotten some of the lines wrong, but at least he remembered something, unlike Call the Ships to Port and Dead Stars! From then on it was just fantastic synth-pop driving the crowd on. I think something in my head blew up when they started playing Theremin! Still, all up, whilst enjoyable I think if I hadn't seen them before in all their splendour I might have felt a little let down.
In the end, I'd say that Diary of Dreams probably shaded Covenant on the night, but that's almost definitely the fanboy inside me talking, and VNV are still at the top of the heap in terms of gigs I've seen.
As tiberius_n mentioned in his post, we outsold the eastern states, and all the bands said that we were the best crowd, best venue, best vibe... as always! What he doesn't say is that he plays a huge part in all of that, and if it wasn't for him we'd just be bitching about how none of the bands make the trip over west or lamenting our empty wallets for all the trips to Melbourne to see concerts. Much, much kudos to you Nathan - take a bow!!
I was DJ'ing the evening, so arrived to a madhouse of stress as people rushed around trying to organise all the last-minute stuff. Next time I'm going to arrive later after everyone kept asking me stuff and then yelling at me when I had no idea what they were talking about, and then yelling at me more when I asked if we were going to sort the lights out at any point. It says so much about the talent and dedication of everyone involved that the night ran so smoothly given that Diary of Dreams were finishing their sound check three minutes before the doors opened and we only had some red lights on the dancefloor for the first 10 minutes of the night.
On to the bands:
DESTROID - Genius! What more can you say? When I was saying hello to people after the set and they asked me how I was I would answer "I've just seen Daniel Myers on stage - how do you think I'm feeling?!?"; That man is an incredible talent. Just wish the set could have been longer. Slight embarrassing moment when he announced Penetration for which I cheered loudly - and alone. Still, once he played it everyone got what I was on about...
DIARY OF DREAMS - There seems to be the entire gamut of reactions to these guys, so I'll come out and declare that I've been a fan for years. I was excited when I heard that God Module were going to be coming out originally, then disappointed they weren't, but only for 30 seconds until it hit me that Diary of Dreams would be here. I had goosebumps from the sound check... They could have started out with something a little more up-tempo to grab the crowd from the beginning, but their live versions of AmoK, Soul Stripper Butterfly Dance and The Curse (OK, all of them!!) left my socks well and truly rocked! On the downside, the memory of their live show leaves their studio stuff sounding a little flat at the moment...
COVENANT - I'm in two minds about Covenant's set, or rather I've got fairly strong opinions about the two halves of their set. Maybe it's because I was in the DJ booth instead of the crowd, maybe I was just a little annoyed having thought I did a good job of getting the dancefloor pumping in anticipation only to have a 6 minute intro with the curtains closed deflate things somewhat, but I was disappointed with the first half. Everything just seemed to lack energy. I thought it might have been the sound, but when they played Invisible and Silent and it sounded fantastic it became clear that it really was them. Fortunately things picked up with We Stand Alone - Eskil may have gotten some of the lines wrong, but at least he remembered something, unlike Call the Ships to Port and Dead Stars! From then on it was just fantastic synth-pop driving the crowd on. I think something in my head blew up when they started playing Theremin! Still, all up, whilst enjoyable I think if I hadn't seen them before in all their splendour I might have felt a little let down.
In the end, I'd say that Diary of Dreams probably shaded Covenant on the night, but that's almost definitely the fanboy inside me talking, and VNV are still at the top of the heap in terms of gigs I've seen.
As tiberius_n mentioned in his post, we outsold the eastern states, and all the bands said that we were the best crowd, best venue, best vibe... as always! What he doesn't say is that he plays a huge part in all of that, and if it wasn't for him we'd just be bitching about how none of the bands make the trip over west or lamenting our empty wallets for all the trips to Melbourne to see concerts. Much, much kudos to you Nathan - take a bow!!