Reviews + Interview Ops: La Roux, Metric, Sarah Blasko, Tori Amos, Empire of the Sun, Patrick W x 2
I think I should have bought a lottery ticket the other week. All things were definitely coming up Josh!
To start with I had the pleasure of a visit from Nathan, a friend I first met back at Billy Corgan's solo show in Sydney in 2005. He was first in line for the show at the Enmore, I was second. We're both Pumpkins nerds to a degree and the friendship blossomed from there. Nath very generously decided to pay me a visit so he could accompany me to a series of gigs: La Roux on the Thursday night, Metric on the Friday and Sarah Blasko on the Sunday. Three high quality gigs in four days - I imagine that's what it's like living in New York (I can dream!).
La Roux played at the Palace (ex Metro) which was to their/her advantage, as it's one of my favourite venues in town, second only to the Forum. We had a nice vantage point away from sweaty moshpit bodies up on the first floor balcony. It took Elly Jackson, the singer, and bandmates a while to get into the swing of things; initially they looked quite bored and uninspired. But despite the fact they don't exactly have a massive back catalogue of songs to choose from, the one album they have released is pretty consistent and as such the majority of songs went down quite well. The girl can really belt out those high pitched vocals! Throwing in a cheap local plug by switching up the lyrics at the end of Quicksand to "I'm in the quicksand Melbourne!" didn't do anything to hurt the cause.
Metric were up next at Billboard The Venue. Why it's so clumsily named, I'm not sure. My dislike of the name also extends to the venue itself. I think it'd actually be much better suited as a nightclub, rather than a forum for live music. But I digress. Nath, Matt, Scott (who took some awesome photos of the gig which can be viewed here) and I were lucky enough to score an unobstructed view to the side of the stage for the duration of the show. Metric's performance couldn't have differed more from La Roux. Where Jackson was all about perfect pitch and pretty girl polish, Metric's frontwoman Emily Haines, who I must admit is quite the babe in person, personified passion and raw emotion. She thrashed her thin blonde locks about when the moment called for it and had the crowd eating out of her hand during show highlights like Monster Hospital and Help I'm Alive. Apart from seemingly odd choices for opening and closing songs (the mellow Twilight Galaxy and a slow-burning acoustic ballad, respectively), Metric put in a solid performance. That said, one area where both La Roux and Metric failed to excel was value for money. Both groups occupied the stage for just on an hour, which is excusable for the former given their newcomer status but with four great albums under their belt, Metric surely could have entertained us for a little bit longer.
Determined to show the internationals what gig stamina is all about, the adorable Sarah Blasko took to the Forum stage for a whopping hour and forty minutes on the Sunday night. In an outfit that wouldn't have looked out of place on a certain avante garde Icelandic pop princess, Blasko was resplendent in a shimmering white dress with intriguingly puffy shoulders which, at exactly the right moment mid-set, were pulled down to reveal a kaleidoscope of colours all folded together resembling the bellows of an accordion. The show was divided into halves, with the first being dedicated purely to songs from the singer's splendid third album, As Day Follows Night, and the second was a trip down memory lane, visiting the highlights from Blasko's first two albums.
In other awesome music-related news, four amazing interview opportunities have landed in my lap over the past week. The two Patricks (Watson and Wolf) are to come, but this week I conducted phone interviews with Luke Steele from Empire of the Sun and, wait for it, Tori Amos. Tori freakin' Amos. I think any knowledgeable music fan would forgive me for the expletives I uttered after I found out via email that I'd be interviewing the lady who has a firm hold on the number two spot on my last.fm profile. She was so lovely. I had the time to ask her pretty much everything on my question list and she was thoughtful and sincere in all her responses. "I hope I die at the piano" is the quote I think I'm going to lead the story with. As the 20 minute mark approached, I stopped her so that I could tell her thank you, that she was wonderful and that I was eagerly anticipating seeing her again at one of her upcoming Melbourne shows. I was so pleased with how it had gone; I didn't think it could have been any better and I was just so grateful that I had my own small shared moment with her, recorded for posterity. Then, out of the blue, she told me to get in touch with her press guy and tell him that she said I could get backstage when she was in Melbourne. I almost had a heart attack! Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed she'd offer that to me of her own free will. Wow, wow, wow. I've emailed her press guy about it and haven't received a response just yet, but if he disputes it - I have her saying it on tape!
Sometimes life can be incredible.
To start with I had the pleasure of a visit from Nathan, a friend I first met back at Billy Corgan's solo show in Sydney in 2005. He was first in line for the show at the Enmore, I was second. We're both Pumpkins nerds to a degree and the friendship blossomed from there. Nath very generously decided to pay me a visit so he could accompany me to a series of gigs: La Roux on the Thursday night, Metric on the Friday and Sarah Blasko on the Sunday. Three high quality gigs in four days - I imagine that's what it's like living in New York (I can dream!).
La Roux played at the Palace (ex Metro) which was to their/her advantage, as it's one of my favourite venues in town, second only to the Forum. We had a nice vantage point away from sweaty moshpit bodies up on the first floor balcony. It took Elly Jackson, the singer, and bandmates a while to get into the swing of things; initially they looked quite bored and uninspired. But despite the fact they don't exactly have a massive back catalogue of songs to choose from, the one album they have released is pretty consistent and as such the majority of songs went down quite well. The girl can really belt out those high pitched vocals! Throwing in a cheap local plug by switching up the lyrics at the end of Quicksand to "I'm in the quicksand Melbourne!" didn't do anything to hurt the cause.
Metric were up next at Billboard The Venue. Why it's so clumsily named, I'm not sure. My dislike of the name also extends to the venue itself. I think it'd actually be much better suited as a nightclub, rather than a forum for live music. But I digress. Nath, Matt, Scott (who took some awesome photos of the gig which can be viewed here) and I were lucky enough to score an unobstructed view to the side of the stage for the duration of the show. Metric's performance couldn't have differed more from La Roux. Where Jackson was all about perfect pitch and pretty girl polish, Metric's frontwoman Emily Haines, who I must admit is quite the babe in person, personified passion and raw emotion. She thrashed her thin blonde locks about when the moment called for it and had the crowd eating out of her hand during show highlights like Monster Hospital and Help I'm Alive. Apart from seemingly odd choices for opening and closing songs (the mellow Twilight Galaxy and a slow-burning acoustic ballad, respectively), Metric put in a solid performance. That said, one area where both La Roux and Metric failed to excel was value for money. Both groups occupied the stage for just on an hour, which is excusable for the former given their newcomer status but with four great albums under their belt, Metric surely could have entertained us for a little bit longer.
Determined to show the internationals what gig stamina is all about, the adorable Sarah Blasko took to the Forum stage for a whopping hour and forty minutes on the Sunday night. In an outfit that wouldn't have looked out of place on a certain avante garde Icelandic pop princess, Blasko was resplendent in a shimmering white dress with intriguingly puffy shoulders which, at exactly the right moment mid-set, were pulled down to reveal a kaleidoscope of colours all folded together resembling the bellows of an accordion. The show was divided into halves, with the first being dedicated purely to songs from the singer's splendid third album, As Day Follows Night, and the second was a trip down memory lane, visiting the highlights from Blasko's first two albums.
In other awesome music-related news, four amazing interview opportunities have landed in my lap over the past week. The two Patricks (Watson and Wolf) are to come, but this week I conducted phone interviews with Luke Steele from Empire of the Sun and, wait for it, Tori Amos. Tori freakin' Amos. I think any knowledgeable music fan would forgive me for the expletives I uttered after I found out via email that I'd be interviewing the lady who has a firm hold on the number two spot on my last.fm profile. She was so lovely. I had the time to ask her pretty much everything on my question list and she was thoughtful and sincere in all her responses. "I hope I die at the piano" is the quote I think I'm going to lead the story with. As the 20 minute mark approached, I stopped her so that I could tell her thank you, that she was wonderful and that I was eagerly anticipating seeing her again at one of her upcoming Melbourne shows. I was so pleased with how it had gone; I didn't think it could have been any better and I was just so grateful that I had my own small shared moment with her, recorded for posterity. Then, out of the blue, she told me to get in touch with her press guy and tell him that she said I could get backstage when she was in Melbourne. I almost had a heart attack! Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed she'd offer that to me of her own free will. Wow, wow, wow. I've emailed her press guy about it and haven't received a response just yet, but if he disputes it - I have her saying it on tape!
Sometimes life can be incredible.