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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
 Posted - 03/31/2007 : 17:50:10
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/old-fans-off-with-the-pixies/2007/03/29/1174761656712.html
Old fans off with the Pixies
Adam Morton, Reviewer
March 30, 2007
MUSIC REVIEW
THE PIXIES
The Palace, St Kilda, March 28
As the slogan goes, true love waits. Almost 20
years after releasing their first album, and 14
after disbanding, the Pixies arrived on a St
Kilda stage for their first advertised Australian
show (not counting their secret gig at the
Northcote Social Club on Tuesday) to the sort
of outpouring usually reserved for a farewell
tour.
The ovation goes on, and on, and on. Frank
Black and company look happily bemused -
they haven't even strapped on their instruments yet.
This sort of respect - the sort that led to the show selling out in five minutes - was hard-
earned. Formed in Boston in the mid-1980s, the Pixies released a string of critically revered but
mostly commercially ignored albums and EPs of hugely influential abrasive, spiky pop.
They endured fights over creative control and it was no great surprise when, in 1993, Black
announced on radio that the band was splitting before letting his bandmates know by fax.
Despite having little new material, their 2004 reunion has kicked on for three years. It's hard to
begrudge them the pay-off. While waistlines have expanded and hairlines receded, the playing
is tight and lean. And the songs - all at least 16 years old - still sound fresh.
After starting with a sweet shot of bassist Kim Deal's In Heaven, Black takes centre stage for a
slow take on Wave of Mutilation and the stop-start dynamics of Bone Machine. Over the next
80 minutes they barely say a word or catch their breath as they play more than half of
Doolittle, their seminal 1989 album, and plenty from their 1988 debut, Surfer Rosa.
Black is mostly impassive but remains a remarkably adept singer, hitting the high notes on the
folk-rock of Here Comes Your Man and screaming like he's still 24 on Tame. He just manages
to drown out the crowd, which joins the band on every note.
The set finishes appropriately with Gigantic, Deal singing through her permanent Cheshire-cat
grin about a "big, big love", and the diehards stay well after the houselights are up in the hope
the long-delayed romance will last one more song.
The Pixies headline the Best of the V Festival on Wednesday.
http://www.nme.com/news/pixies/27462
Pixies wow at V Festival
Australia
Rock legends become new event's first-ever
headliners
9 hours ago
Pixies headlined the inaugural V Festival Australia
today (March 31), with the first leg of the four-day
event taking place in Sydney.
Around 35,000 fans watched artists including Jarvis
Cocker, Beck, The Rapture, Gnarls Barkley, Pet
Shop Boys, Groove Armada, New Young Pony
Club and Soulwax offshoot Nite Versions at
Centennial Park near the centre of the city.
Both Pixies and New York Dolls - who are also on
the bill - are on their first Australian tours and played
warmup shows in Sydney and Melbourne to a
rapturous welcome during the week.
Pixies fan James, 28, travelled three hours from
Canberra and then lined up for nine hours to see
them play.
"They're such a seminal act - they inspired so much
fantastic music in the 90s and were really
undiscovered in their time, especially in Australia,"
he told NME.COM. "So for them to finally come out
here and tour for the first time - I'm not going to miss
the opportunity to see that!"
New Young Pony Club were one of the first
international bands to play during the afternoon, with
frontwoman Tahita Bulmer telling the crowd it was
the "sweatiest" show she'd played "in years" before
launching into new single and Albert Einstein
homage 'The Bomb'.
Reformed rockers New York Dolls delivered the first
of several covers from bands during the festival, with
guitarist Sylvain Sylvain saying; "A lot of people
say they were influenced by the Dolls, but the band
that we were influenced by was... Janis Joplin!"
before covering her track 'Take Another Little
Piece Of My Heart'. The band also dedicated their
high-speed take on Bo Diddley's 'Pills' to infamous
ex-Dolls member Johnny Thunders and "all the
members of New York Dolls who are no longer with
us".
Gnarls Barkley covered Queen's 'We Are The
Champions' decked out in tennis gear, while Beck
gave a nod to Pixies' 'Wave Of Mutilation (UK
Surf)'.
Headliners Pixies played a 24-song set, including hits 'Here Comes Your Man', 'Debaser' and
'Gigantic'. The band - who reformed in 2004 after an 11 year absence - were light on stage banter, with
bassist Kim Deal merely allowing a big grin with the words; "Thanks for having us down to play!".
Pixies' setlist ran:
'(In Heaven) - Lady In The Radiator Song'
'Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)'
'Bone Machine'
'Monkey Gone To Heaven'
'U-Mass'
'Head On'
'Caribou'
'Subbacultcha'
'No. 13 Baby'
'Tame'
'Hey'
'The Holiday Song'
'Here Comes Your Man'
'Wave Of Mutilation'
'Planet Of Sound'
'Debaser'
'Crackity Jones'
'Something Against You'
'Isla De Encanta'
'Nimrod'
'Vamos'
'Where Is My Mind'
'La La Love You'
'Gigantic'
V Festival Australia continues on the Gold Coast tomorrow (April 1).
A couple of blog reviews:
http://decomposingtrees.blogspot.com/2007/03/pixies-luna-park.html
http://aliasfrequencies.org/son/2007/03/31/where-is-my-mind |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2007 : 04:57:14
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21485123-5001562,00.html
Still noisy after all these years
Mikey Cahill
April 02, 2007
The Pixies
The Palace, Melbourne, March 28. Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, tomorrow. Tickets:
$100.10. Bookings: 136100. Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, Tuesday. Tickets: $130.10.
Bookings: 136100.
THE Pixies are finally undertaking their first Australian tour three years after they
regrouped, and 22 years after the group sprang into existence.
So, do the belligerent Bostonians still have fire in their belly? On Wednesday night's
evidence, absolutely.
As they hit the stage, the crowd has a collective eye-rubbing moment. Hardcore fans
struggle to believe the mischievous little elves have finally come to play.
Joey Santiago and Black Francis are beacons of beatific baldness, bathed in blue light,
slashing through riff after riff. Kim Deal builds her portfolio of chunky bass lines and part-
time magician David Lovering maintains a solid beat on the drums with controlled
thwacking.
The Pixies are sincere in every note they play. Francis takes the crowd with him in Monkey
Gone to Heaven: the song plateaus, then rises, and the audience finally gets to whisper,
then scream, "If the devil is six, then God is seven." Sublime.
Francis stretches his vocal cords to breaking point and, consequently, his vocals falter in
the next two songs, which lack the same biblical authority. But that is only a tiny blemish in
a nearly flawless show.
Closer attention to sound quality would have been beneficial, as occasionally the drone of
the instruments overshadows Black's pained yowling. Deal doesn't quite nail the backing
chorus in Debaser, but she brings a strong ending to the surrealist Dali anthem, and her
breathy tones reclaim the song.
The hits keep coming. In Caribou, Santiago's guitar stutters and chokes as if under
interrogation. When The Holiday Song is ushered in, Deal's eyes are fixed on the balcony
with a look of unbridled joy that seemed almost tearful.
The Pixies show during Nimrod's Son that they can be loud, quiet and proud, and Santiago
treats his guitar as a theremin, grandstanding with Lovering's drumstick before throwing it
back to let the beat roll on.
Purple and yellow lights bathe Francis during Where is My Mind and the crowd howls the
lament back at him. There is some animated talk from Deal and Francis before the two-
song encore, then Gigantic leads to the first crowd surf of the night.
The Pixies in 2007 are bigger than before: they have risen again and are burning brightly.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/v-festival-centennial-park-march-31/2007/04/01/1175366078330.html
V Festival, Centennial Park, March 31
Great Brit ... Jarvis Cocker shakes it up for indie-pop.
Photo: Domino Postiglione
George Palathingal
April 2, 2007
IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of
times: on one hand, a perfect autumn day with
an extraordinary, genre- and generation-
straddling line-up; on the other, a day when
having "a few" beers was out of the question
because soul-destroying bar queues meant you
wouldn't be doing that again any time soon.
Especially after you had faced the daunting
scrum to get into the festival in the first place.
Still, this forced sobriety meant you were
pretty much guaranteed to remember all of the
mostly international acts, from the bona fide
legends with the power to break your heart -
through brilliance or incompetence - to the hip,
newish acts attempting to justify their hype.
Actually, there was likely no "attempting"
about the first such acts to make an
impression as, both being French and cooler
than a penguin's privates, they surely didn't
care. Phoenix swiftly converted this sceptic
with a thrilling run through their precise alt-pop
before Nouvelle Vague effortlessly transcended
the novelty tag that comes with being a band
that covers postpunk classics in a bossa nova
style. They not only made everyone in the
crowd happy, they did everyone from Echo and
the Bunnymen to the Dead Kennedys proud.
The wit and wisdom of former Pulp leader Jarvis
Cocker was the key British contribution,
although Groove Armada and the Pet Shop
Boys brought fierce rhythms and slick
spectacle respectively. With a few "well
chosen swear words" and vigorously shaking his skinny frame, Cocker provided the day's
funniest set, while still proving his musical relevance to the indie-pop scene. Also entertaining
in more ways than one was the 10-piece Gnarls Barkley revue, all dressed as tennis players
and storming through their mini-oeuvre of heavenly future-pop, peaking with a sublime Crazy.
There was a field at one end of for the (new) ravers, where the likes of the Rapture and
Soulwax showed you can make scorching music to dance to with proper instruments. Soulwax,
in their Nite Versions incarnation, offered a terrific alternative to a surprisingly lacklustre Beck.
Beck had started strongly, with a barrage of hits and a hilarious puppet version of his band on
the screens, only to turn off the lights for a song in tribute to Earth Hour and lose himself in
self-indulgence, a daring cover of the Pixies' Wave of Mutilation aside.
And it was those headlining Pixies who held the key to this event, for many. Some such fans
had bought V tickets believing this would be the reunited American alt-rock gods' only Sydney
gig, only for the very sneaky, very late announcement of Friday's side show. But from Kim
Deal's first, instantly recognisable bass notes to Black Francis's last blood-curdling scream,
they more than made up for their sins with the perfect set.
Every note hit the spot, the song selection offering a flawless mix of classics for the casual
listener (Debaser, Here Comes Your Man, an unforgettable Where Is My Mind?) and longtime
fan (the rockabilly roll of Nimrod's Son, a furious, demented Isla de Encanta).
Sent home at a resident-friendly 10.30pm with an exquisite Gigantic ringing in our heads, at
least the last queues we had to endure - to get out of the venue - weren't so bad.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21485125-5001562,00.html
No match for Beck by candlelight
Iain Shedden
April 02, 2007
V Festival
Centennial Park, Sydney, March 31.
ENERGY is at the heart of any rock festival, whether it's coming from the lights, the amps,
the acts or the thousands of sweaty attendees. For that reason, there was never going to
be an excess of we-are-the-world, pitch-black worthiness in Sydney's Centennial Park on
Saturday night, as great clumps of the city switched off the lights for an hour.
Beck, to his credit, did his bit. Low on energy himself after a bout of flu, the American
man-for-all-genres dimmed the lights on stage and played by candlelight for a few minutes.
His set, however, was the most illuminating and exhilarating of this debut Australian
VFestival, despite some hefty competition.
As with a handful of the artists on the two main stages, Beck's show was largely a greatest
hits package, but it certainly wasn't predictable. The singer's performances are as
innovative as his music. We got his band sitting around a picnic table playing cutlery,
building a wall of percussion around their leader. We had a rap dancer-percussionist
throughout and the set featured a puppet replica of the band (the one from the Nausea
video) on stage with their masters, which provided greater artistic relevance than the
customary giant video projections. New songs such as Nausea and Think I'm in Love
blended effortlessly and rapidly with classics such as Where It's At, Novocaine, Devil's
Haircut and Loser.
With one album, Gnarls Barkley aren't equipped to take the greatest hits route just yet;
indeed only their landmark Crazy from last year stood out in a set that at least amused,
with the entire ensemble, including string section, attired in 1970s tennis outfits.
Groove Armada and Pet Shop Boys are prime purveyors of the dance-pop-electronica hybrid.
Pet Shop Boys are the grand masters, yet while their parade of hits is ideal dance-floor
material, the duo's rather unimaginative stage presence, sans other musicians, paled
against the Armada's more potent hip-sway.
Stagecraft isn't always about light shows and dancers, of course. French indietronica
exponents Phoenix have a hatful of ideal festival fare, such as Party Time and If I Ever Feel
Better. Their late afternoon set was simple, feet-friendly fun.
No one could have imagined that one day we'd see '70s glam-punks the New York Dolls
performing in a park across the road from some of the most expensive real estate in
Australia. Only David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain remain (alive, that is) from the original
line-up, but to hear Pills, Trash and Jet Boy delivered straight from the horse's mouth was
a thrill nonetheless.
The Pixies closed the event with their highly influential and revered pop angst. That it has
taken them 20 years to bring it to Australia might explain in part the rapturous reception
they received. An explanation of their craft sits below on this page.
The article above also appears here:
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,21488686-7484,00.html
Another blog review:
http://unintentionalobfuscation.blogspot.com/2007/04/v.html |
Edited by - Carl on 04/02/2007 06:25:00 |
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number 13
= Cult of Ray =
286 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2007 : 05:26:55
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I'm surprised that they didn't bother to play Gouge Away. About Bossanova, otherwise, it's not.
And I'd be curious to listen to Beck's rendition of Wave Of Mutilation. |
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JoshIAm
- FB Fan -
Australia
67 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2007 : 02:30:53
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Me and two of my buddies went from Perth to see The Pixies. Man, I am still buzzing! Number 13 Baby was so tight! I am seeing them Thursday at BlackJack. We should have a nice set of photos from the two gigs, so watch this space I guess...  |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 04/03/2007 : 09:18:51
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http://rockdirt.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22224
The Pixies Perform In Melbourne
Posted on Monday, April 02 @ 19:24:12 CDT by MusicMan
The Pixies performed during their first ever Australian concert and
first stop of their Australian tour at The Palace on Wednesday
(March 28) in Melbourne, Australia. Check out pictures from
GettyImages.
http://www.cqextra.com.au/entertainment/03042007_1.shtml
Pulp non-fiction: Jarvis Cocker wows V Fest crowd
Aldous Supernova
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
yoursay@cqextra.com.au
Twilight rolled into this year’s Gold Coast V Fest with Jarvis Cocker on the stage, singing.
He doesn’t exactly sing, mind you – he’s more of a marionette to the music that bursts
out of him.
Jarvis kicks and points and strolls and collapses and squats and surges and dives and rolls and
crawls, the mic pressed to his lips, the mic chord tangling around speakers and around himself,
the big square ridiculous set of nerd glasses somehow staying on his head, the big wild miraculous
voice somehow soaring out of this head, through the speakers, through the soft Gold Coast
gloaming, then into the heads of a rapt astonished crowd. Mother of God.
Jarvis points to a big gibbous moon that has floated up above the distant trees. He wonders if it’s
an entirely full moon, then decides that it probably isn’t quite. The bottom part needs to fill out a
bit, but really only just a little wee bit.
He assures the crowd that he won’t turn into a werewolf tonight, and I can’t remember if he
meant that because the moon wasn’t quite full and he needed a bona fide full moon to complete
the transformation, or if he meant that he just wasn’t one of those beings who turned into a
werewolf period.
Whatever he was getting at, Jarvis Cocker is certainly not your typical human being. I’ve become
so annoyed with the cult of music idolaters that grow from events like V-Fest, and clog the blogs
and bog you down with what truly seems like endless, unimportant and omnipotent hornswaggle
about the relative amazingness of this act or that that I think I’d started to forget what a
marvelously transcendental experience attending a good gig can be.
Thanks, Jarv.
Aside from the sheer mesmeric thrill of standing there alone whilst this strutbag of a man
snatched my imagination and flung it over that gibbous moon a few times, I came to realise
something that I’d always suspected: Pulp – Cocker’s legendary first band – was really not much
to write home about as a band. Nope, Cocker may be a solo artist now, but any instrument-
playing performers who share the stage with this man, will always just be facilitators of his
greatness. The fact that Cocker allowed the instrument-playing beings of Pulp to go by a nifty
handle, and himself share this handle (and incumbent royalties) with them, was an act of high
generosity on Cocker’s part.
I think the most telling test of this was that I hadn’t heard any of the songs Cocker sung before
this concert. I rocked up hoping he’d play some of the good stuff from Pulp, but from the first
song on I really just found it hard to care. He was so god. I mean, good. Or do I? No, I probably
do mean good. But like god, he was good enough to help me understand how the impulse to
worship develops in people.
If the Pixies – that band we all learned to love long after we thought they’d died – weren’t so
bloody well entrenched, I’d say this V-Fest belonged to Cocker and Cocker alone. And, I wonder –
say the Pixies had showed up and played nothing but new stuff, would they have been able to
strike such chords of awe and appreciation in the audience?
No sense even trying to know that one. But this I know: Mr Cocker's act was gigantic.
What a gas it was to see him.
yoursay@cqextra.com.au
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21502158-5006343,00.html
Pixies define power
DANIELLE O'DONOHUE, MUSIC WRITER
April 04, 2007 02:15am
IS April too early to call gig of the year? Not according to the
Pixies.
Playing at Thebarton Theatre on their first ever Australian tour,
the Boston four-piece that defined alternative rock put an
incredible display of raw rock power.
It's 21 years since the band first got together but they never
made it to Australia before disbanding in 1993. When the
seminal four-piece reformed in 2004, rumours started almost
immediately that we would get to see the band down under.
Finally we got to see a greatest hits set that included crowd
favourites Wave of Mutilation, Debaser, Where Is My Mind and
Monkey Gone to Heaven, before ending with the Kim Deal sung
Gigantic.
The sparse stage – a row of Marshall amps and David
Lovering's drumkit sat in front of a plain white backdrop –
keeping the focus on the simple riffs, Frank Black's dramatic
vocals and bassist Deal's solid grooves.
The set proper concluded with everyone's hands in the air as
the slow march of Lovering's snare accompanied Black singing
the chorus to Where is My Mind, while Deal and the audience
backed him on the 'wooo-ooh, ooh's.'
The night – the Best of the V Fest – was a rock'n'roll bonanza.
Former Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker walked out onstage
eating an apple but then danced and shook his lanky frame as
he played songs off debut solo album, Jarvis. The singer's lush
pop songwriting belied the dark themes running through his
sardonic lyrics. Black Magic was a feast of light and sound.
Some Pulp fans may have bought tickets hoping Cocker would
delve into the back catalogue of his former band, but nobody
could be disappointed with the show he put on.
On their first visit to Australia, French band Phoenix enjoyed their
time onstage, looking like a Gallic version of The Strokes. Live
the band's normally sexy pop took on much harder rock edge –
the drummer was a powerhouse at the back. Even early
electronic-pop hit If I Ever Feel Better turned into a chrunching
riff-fest.
The night's opening act was '70s punk pioneers New York
Dolls. Proving glam isn't dead, original members Sylvain Sylvain
and David Johansen rocked just as hard as their younger band
mates and played old and new songs including a cover of Janis
Joplin's Piece of my Heart. Johansen looked well practised in
his role as choir-conductor/ringmaster, even throwing flowers
out into the crowd, Dame Edna style while Sylvain, in white cap,
tie, and turned up jeans made his gold rickenbaker sing.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21501746-5006024,00.html
Tickets are still available for tonight's Best of V Festival, the last
chance for Melburnians to see legendary US band the Pixies.
Ex-Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker and the New York Dolls round out
the bill.
http://undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=1835
Gold Coast V Festival Review
by Daniel Zugna - April 4 2007
photo by Ros O'Gorman
Avica Resort, Gold Coast – Sunday April 1
On the long walk from the bus stop to the venue,
rumours began to circulate that the Gold Coast leg of
Richard Branson's V Festival was actually an elaborate
April Fool's joke perpetrated by the man who owns
copyright on the term 'flamboyant billionaire'. With
helicopters hovering ominously above, a young gent –
who perhaps decided that the best way to avoid drug
sniffer dogs was to ingest his entire stash prior to
arriving at the gate – was convinced that the 'copters
were beaming footage of the aimless horde directly to
Branson's secret island hideout, the V boss laughing
deliriously at thousands of people paying for the
opportunity to confusedly wander toward a non-
existent destination.
It turns out this was not the case. The V Festival was
a real event, and in a few hours The Pixies would
blow the collective mind of several thousand revellers.
Thankfully, there was plenty to keep us entertained
whilst we waited.
Melbourne four-piece Temper Trap were on early,
playing a punchy set to a decent crowd considering their early slot. Their internationalist sound – defined by
the soaring vocals of Dougy – sets them apart from most local bands. European stages are beckoning.
Wandering over to the main stage, we were greeted by the impossibly smooth pop of Paris-based outfit
Phoenix, who combined hip-shaking indie guitars with dashes of visceral mock-metal under the afternoon
sun.
New York Dolls were up next, with David Johansen instilling fear into the young crowd. The emaciated
lovechild of Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger was greeted with a combination of adulation and sheer terror, before
pounding through a solid set which managed to win over a small group of kids standing in front of me, all of
which would have been roughly one quarter his age. Then again, he could have said "we're actually the
Rolling Stones", and they would have bought it.
The it was time for the day's most annoying clash – Gnarls Barkley, Jarvis Cocker and The Rapture. I caught
a bit of Gnarls, all dressed in high-school attire. 'Gone Daddy Gone' was the first true jump-around of the
day, and went down better than 'Crazy', which Cee-Lo Green introduced as "the song which made me rich".
His strained voice began to struggle as he implored the crowd to help him out, and the expected post-'Crazy'
exodus came to fruition.
The Rapture playing off against Jarvis Cocker provided the most poignant moment of the day. The New York
fashionistas played a hyperactive set to an equally hyperactive audience on the smaller of the three stages.
At the same time, Cocker proved his status as one of the few true revolutionaries in pop music to a subdued
crowd, pockets of which were merely hanging out for 'Common People'. The poet versus the party, and the
party won out.
Groove Armada went through the motions (which is still a good thing), whilst a sickly Beck trudged through
his set, giving the distinct impression that he'd rather have been curled up in bed watching daytime soaps
and sipping lemon and honey tea.
Then came The Pixies. Whilst they were clearly running on auto-pilot, the constant, incredulously grinning
demeanour of Kim Deal was infectious. Looking like a school mum, she gently whispered "hey, we're the
Pixies" at the conclusion of 'Bone Machine'. Two songs in, the innocuous comment acted as a kind of final
confirmation that the Pixies would, indeed, headline the V Festival.
Whilst the cold demeanours of Frank Black and Joey Santiago did little to endear themselves to an
unblinkingly loyal fanbase, it also went to prove that showmanship should always come second to killer tunes.
Musically, they exceeded expectations with the tightest of sets. Indeed, the predictability of the set
(beginning with 'In Heaven / Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)', ending with 'Gigantic', with all the likely suspects
scattered in between) was its strength, resulting in a communal singalong and ten thousand grinning faces,
memories of the day's ludicrous beer queues rendered insignificant.
The Pixies at the V Festival, Sydney
http://www.xpressmag.com.au/archives/2007/04/blackjack_black.php
BLACKJACK Black Beauty!
Unless you’re already there, right now, as you’re reading this on Thursday, April 5, you’re
missing out on seeing The Pixies, The Living End, Gnarls Barkley, Eskimo Joe, The Vines, Birds
Of Tokyo, and Children Collide, who are all playing Blackjack ’07.
Quickly, grab your ticket from Live, Star, Planet, Mills, or www.heatseeker.com.au and get
your arse down to Claremont Showgrounds, ’cause someone awesome is playing, right now,
while you’re picking your nose. Go on, get!
Posted on April 4, 2007 02:21 PM
www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10432782" target="_blank">www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10432782" target="_blank">http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10432782
Crossing the Tasman to see the Pixies
5:00AM Friday April 06, 2007
By Geoff Cumming
So there I am in Sydney watching the New York
Dolls when the young man in front turns to ask:
how many original band members are on stage?
Why ask me? Did I really look of similar vintage to
that Jagger clone David Johansen - he of the
wrinkled skin on heroin-chic bones?
I convinced him that I was very young first time
around, possibly as young as he looked now, and
could only name-check Johansen and Sylvain
Sylvain - and though the Dolls were hugely
influential, I was never wedded to them.
Not like the Pixies. Now there's a band to fly to
Sydney for, son.
Last weekend may have been the first Australian V Festival, but far more
significantly it brought the Pixies as close as they've been to New Zealand.
The band that deconstructed rock in the late 80s and shook it into smart-
dumb, screaming, riff-laden life. The band that were so good they never had a
hit.
I'd blown the chance to see them at their creative peak, in 1991 when they
played the Brixton Academy and I was travelling around Britain, listening to
Doolittle on my walkman (remember cassettes?) and saving the fare to fly
home.
"I'll catch them when they
come out to New Zealand," I
reasoned. But within a year
of the Brixton show, the
Pixies had dissolved in
mutual self-loathing.
In 2004 they did what every
second lamented and not-
so-lamented band seems to
do these days and reunited -
in their case to find a whole
new audience.
It took minimal prodding
from my mate. What was an airfare, three days in Sydney in a lousy hotel and a
NZ$140 ticket to atone for my youthful folly? Quite a lot, actually. But worth
every cent.
The V (for Virgin, as in Branson) Festival started in England in the mid-1990s
and is a famously eclectic, multi-stage affair. The line-up in Sydney's vast,
leafy Centennial Park - from Nouvelle Vague, with their kitsch French jazz
takes on punk and new wave classics, to the Dolls and the Pet Shop Boys -
could have been a Big Day Out for sad old gits. The types whose only dance
move is the pogo and who have to let everyone know the lyrics to every song,
even if they get them wrong.
But this was a (mainly) young crowd and there were plenty of "new" acts as
well, the best of which were the Rapture - interesting, in an early-80s
funk/punk-referenced way. Groove Armada played a stomping, eye-catching
set as well.
But the main event was still to come. Experience has taught me a few things:
expectation doesn't always deliver; old farts at a rock concert should know
their place; you can never go back, etc. I tried to keep my hopes in check but
in the end my expectations were limitless.
They were surpassed. The Pixies transcended genres and generations with a
blistering set, compelling from a slow-burning Wave of Mutilation to Kim
Deal's Gigantic - the song I first heard on bFM in 1988 while driving along
Sandringham Rd.
Famously uncommunicative, Deal wore a permanent grin, the only indication
they were enjoying themselves. As for Charles Thompson, aka Frank Black,
formerly Black Francis, he just stood, delivered and let the songs speak
volumes.
Bone Machine, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Hey, Where is my Mind? No.13 Baby,
Debaser, Vamos ... the greatest non-hits just kept coming - 24 of them with
scarcely a pause for breath.
Five rows from the front, I was wedged in a boiling crowd of younger, smiling
faces, male and female, pogoing and singing as tunelessly as I was to
insightful lyrics like "must be a devil between us or whores in my head,
whores at my door, whores in my bed" and - arguably rock's greatest line -
"where is my mind?"
Back home late Sunday night, ankles and calf muscles still aching, there was a
welcome-home note from my 14-year-old daughter. It was the first verse and
chorus to Where is my Mind? Great music is ageless.
Charles Thompson, aka
Frank Black, formerly Black
Francis, 'just stood,
delivered and let the songs
speak volumes'. Photo /
Getty Images
www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,21517088-5007221,00.html" target="_blank">www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,21517088-5007221,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,21517088-5007221,00.html
It's showtime for rock showpiece
KATHY GRUBE
April 07, 2007 12:00am
HOBART'S highly anticipated marathon 13 hours of non-stop
music begins at 10.15am today when Tasmania's inaugural
Southern Roots Festival gets under way.
The Royal Hobart Showgrounds in Glenorchy will host Hobart's
biggest rock concert for the year, with 17 acts over two stages
and a predicted crowd of 10,000.
Festival co-promoter Charles Touber said perfect concert
weather was predicted for today's festival -- 17C and fine.
"Gates will open at 10am and with the good weather we expect
there will be quite a few people lining up to buy tickets at the
gates," he said.
"Although we expect people to buy tickets on the day, there are
some interstate people who bought tickets in February so they
could secure their place to see the iconic American band the
Pixies for their first tour of Australia."
Although early predictions were that the festival could have an
audience of up to 15,000, Mr Tauber yesterday would not reveal
how many tickets had been purchased, but said he was hopeful
of a 10,000-strong crowd.
Hobart rockers Red Rival will get the festival started and the
Pixies will close the festival at 11.30pm.
The festival will also feature performances by international stars
Gomez, Ben Kweller, The Lemonheads and Iain Archer, plus
Australian acts Wolfmother, Toni Collette and the Finish, Xavier
Rudd, The Vines, Midnight Juggernauts, Angus and Julia Stone,
Dili Allstars, Pnau and The Devilrock Four.
Tasmanian bands The Embers and The Scientists of Modern
Music will also perform on the main stages.
The eclectic mix of bands has attracted a multi-generational
audience, and Mr Touber said people could take fold-up chairs
to make the day more comfortable.
However, all containers are banned, due to the strict alcohol
licensing controls prescribed for the event.
"We cannot allow any containers on site, even if they contain just
water," he said.
"But we will have free water for people."
Metro will operate extra buses at the end of the concert.
Buses from Glenorchy to Hobart city will leave Cosgrove High
School (bus stop 30, a short walk from the showgrounds) at
11pm, 11.15pm, 11.45pm and midnight.
Buses from Glenorchy to Granton, Bridgewater, Gagebrook, Old
Beach and Otago Bay leave bus stop 30 at 11.15pm and
11.45pm.
Tickets are $96 from www.southernrootsfestival.com.au,
www.thedwarf.com.au, Ellison Hawker Newsagency in Hobart,
Aroma Records in North Hobart, the showground, Mojo Music in
Launceston and Red Hot CDs in Devonport. Tickets at the gate
are $115.
HIGH KEY: Riggers Peter Ruggieri and Adam Peacock are on a high
preparing the stage for the Southern Roots Festival. Picture: AMY
BROWN
www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21517722-5005368,00.html" target="_blank">www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21517722-5005368,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21517722-5005368,00.html
Festival season closed in style
Review by Jay Hanna, STM Music Editor
April 07, 2007 06:00am
DARK clouds were looming on the horizon, occasional
showers fell from the heavens and there was a bite to the
early evening wind.
Winter was on it's way and the festival season was drawing to a
close.
It was left to this weekend's Blackjack Festival to close the
season in style. Featuring an eclectic line-up of international
heavyweights and local favourites, Blackjack turned some
impressive tricks dealing a variety of pop, rock, funk and punk.
The ace up the sleeve was seminal indie rock act the Pixies.
The Boston four-piece have an almost evangelistic following,
particularly among fellow musos. Kurt Cobain was one of their
most ardent and vocal admirers and there is little doubt the
band's influence reverberated through the grunge years. Perth's
own music community is jam-packed with Pixies fans and many
were in attendance at last night's concert.
The evening kicked off with Melbourne's Childre Collide and
local rock act Birds of Tokyo. Both bands played to a sparse
crowd as work and bad weather kept many away until later in the
evening.
Back on top of their game, Sydney's The Vines played a rough
and ready set of rock. While their set was hampered by wet and
windy conditions, they were still a welcome addition to the
festival line-up.
A regular feature on festival bills across the country, local lads
Eskimo Joe are now completely at home on the big stage. The
dapper gents always give it their all and their anthemic pop rock
tunes are guaranteed to spark singalongs from their loyal home
crowd. Signature tunes "From The Sea" and "Black Fingernails,
Red Wine" are always standouts. These two songs have been
bellowed across the country all summer long and for many
"Black Fingernails, Red Wine" has become one of the definitive
songs of the 2006/2007 festival season.
By the time Gnarls Barkley stepped on stage the clouds had
cleared allowing the chill to set in. Everyone strained to see
what kind of outlandish get-up Ce-Lo Green and Danger Mouse
would be wearing. Looking like extras from Grange Hill, the pair
and their ten-piece band bounced on stage decked out in tartan
school uniforms and launched into Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In
The Wall Part II".
It was the Gnarls Barkley "School of Rock" according to Green.
There was definite shades of Jim Henson's Muppets in the
band's slightly comic delivery, particularly in the exaggerated
swaying of the four-piece string section "The G-Strings".
Green tried his utmost to get the crowd pumping, stopping just
short of begging girls to flash their breasts, but it was clear this
was not really his crowd. Most people were at Blackjack for one
reason and one reason only, to see the Pixies.
Still by the time Gnarls Barkley whipped out mega-hit "Crazy"
and "Smiley Faces" most were smiling and bopping along.
The Living End are widely regarded as one of the best live acts
in Australia and it is easy to forget just how many hi-octane hits
the trio have up their sleeves. Scott Own rode his double bass
as if it were a bucking bronco as frontman Chris Cheney
thrashed away at his trademark Gretsch and belted out
favourites "What's On Your Radio", "Second Solution", "All Torn
Down", "Prisoner of Society" and their cover of Cold Chisel's
"Rising Sun".
The band's rockabilly-tinged punk rock always works well in the
festival environment where loud, fast and furious earns points
and tonight proved no exception.
And so to the Pixies. It was the moment many Perth fans have
been waiting half their lives for and to say the excitement was
tangible is an understatement.
Thankfully the wind did nothing to hamper the band's sound and
while the camaraderie between members is sadly lacking the
band were tight and polished throughout. Kicking off with "In
Heaven", "Wave of Mutilation" and "Bone Machine" the band
played a greatest hits set from their five album career.
"Monkey Gone To Heaven" provoked an ecstatic response as
did "Debaser" and "Here Comes Your Man". Grown men shed
tears of joy and others couldn't wipe the smile of their faces as
they did merry jigs and sang along to every single word.
It was a sight to behold and one of those memorable festival
moments. While the shortness of the two song encore proved a
disappointment most fans were walking on air when they exited
the Showgrounds.
So now the festival season is over, let the winter come. It has
been one hell of a summer and we need to recover.
SEASON FINALE: The Pixies wowed Perth crowds at Claremont
Showgrounds for the Blackjack concert. Picture Richard Hatherly
Some more blog things:
http://abroadblogs.newpaltz.edu/blog0607/?p=261
http://mog.com/Foraggio/blog_post/59181
www.frogworth.com/stuart/blog/?p=54" target="_blank">www.frogworth.com/stuart/blog/?p=54" target="_blank">http://www.frogworth.com/stuart/blog/?p=54
http://flying0kiwi.blogspot.com/2007/04/away-with-pixies.html
http://andrewmacrae.livejournal.com/63829.html
http://killerrabbitwithpointyteeth.blogspot.com/2007/04/v-to-festival.html
http://plagose.livejournal.com/5175.html
http://twentysevenproblems.blogspot.com/2007/04/where-is-my-mind.html
http://lazyfig.vox.com/library/post/pixies-at-luna-park-part-ii.html
http://mog.com/schnitzi/blog_post/60369
www.lineofcontempt.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html" target="_blank">www.lineofcontempt.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html" target="_blank">http://www.lineofcontempt.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
http://openyoureyestomusic.blogspot.com/2007/04/v-festival-sydney-2007.html |
Edited by - Carl on 04/07/2007 11:19:22 |
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BlueThird
- FB Fan -
Australia
1 Posts |
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Tazzie
- FB Fan -
Australia
1 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2007 : 03:24:08
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Pixies in Tasmania. April 7th 2007
The Pixies headlining the Southern Roots Festival was a dream come true. How the promoters got them and The Vines, The Lemonheads ,Gomez and other great acts to our tiny back-water was amazing. The Pixies set was quite short with no encore. This may have been because I saw some idiot throw an open water bottle at Charles, hitting and wetting his prized accoustic guitar. Other than that it was a great event. Only nine thousand ticket sales, fairly easy to get up close. |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2007 : 07:46:51
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do any of those articles mention whether the Pixies are going to record a new album?
jamming good with Weird and Gilly |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 04/11/2007 : 09:27:18
|
http://www.examiner.com.au/story.asp?id=393291
Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Music festival attracts impressive crowd
By NIC PRICE , Monday, 9 April 2007
UP TO 9000 music fans saw rock icons The Pixies close
the inaugural Southern Roots festival at the Hobart
Showgrounds on Saturday.
Promoter Charles Touber declared the event, which
featured 17 acts over two stages, a success and said he
planned to establish it as an annual event.
"It went exceedingly well. We've had great feedback and everything ran like
clockwork," he said.
"The venue, with the buildings providing infrastructure, was fantastic. There is no
doubt we'll do it again next year."
Mr Touber said the standard of acts across the acclaimed bill was high, and paid
tribute to homegrown electro-rock duo The Scientists Of Modern Music, who drew a
big and energetic crowd.
He said final ticket sales had not been collated but he estimated a crowd of between
8000 and 9000 attended.
Some patrons complained of a lack of food outlets, but generally the festival was well
organised and featured high-quality sound and light shows, particularly on the main
stage.
The diverse crowd was well- behaved and police and ambulance services reported no
major incidents.
The Pixies are indie-rock royalty, and the ageing rockers reeled off a series of their
greatest hits full of their trademark manic energy and eccentricity.
Mass singalongs were the order of the day for classics such as Where Is My Mind?,
with many in the crowd in mild disbelief that the Pixies were on stage in Glenorchy.
Earlier, the effortlessly talented frontmen of UK band Gomez showed off perfect three-
way harmonies throughout a rollicking set of blues-tinged rock, and Wolfmother again
channelled the spirit of the 70s for some stadium- friendly sounds.
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=25&ContentID=25585
Pixies put flesh on the bones of legend
9th April 2007, 8:15 WST
Many of us believed the Pixies to be fictional creatures, confined forever to late-night
appearances on Rage and stereos at alternative rock fans parties. But they exist! And they
rock!
The Boston, Massachusetts quartet split in 1993 but reformed three years ago, and finally
made their first appearance in Perth to headline the eclectic second instalment of Blackjack.
On the eve of Easter, the Pixies delivered 70-odd minutes of devilishly skewed yet melodic
alt-rock anthems to a delirious 7000-strong crowd that sang along to every single word.
The favourites came at us like a wave: Bone Machine, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Caribou,
Gouge Away and, of course, Wave of Mutilation. The cover of Jesus and Mary Chains Head
On was a ripper and while they paid tribute to that equally overlooked band, you could hear
how much the current crop of indie rockers had borrowed from the Pixies.
While the unflappable Black Francis simply stood and delivered, Kim Deal’s ear-to-ear grin
mirrored those in the ecstatic audience. Her throbbing bass intro to 1989 indie classic
Debaser had us all bouncing while the incredible Where Is My Mind? closed the main set.
The Pixies returned for a short and sharp encore of La La Love You and the uplifting Gigantic.
The four unassuming rockers were able to entertain a big crowd with their songs and nothing
more. But what songs they were.
People will talk about the time the Pixies played Perth for a long, long time.
Many arrived after work to see perennial festival performers the Living End crack open a fun-
filled if not inspiring set of rockabilly. Covers of Cold Chisel’s Rising Sun and Led Zeppelin’s
Whole Lotta Love joined their own growing back catalogue.
The Melbourne rockers were wedged between the mighty Pixies and Gnarls Barkley, who hit
the stage dressed up in School of Rock clobber. A rendition of Pink Floyd’s Brick in the Wall
set the scene for this 12-piece garage rock and soul revue complete with the G-strings, the
sexiest string quartet on the planet.
Soon there was a throng grooving up to the monster unleashed by hip-hop MC Cee-Lo Green
and producer Danger Mouse.
The slightly spooky-sounding Who Cares, party-starting cover of Violent Femmes’ Gone
Daddy Gone and soul train-jumping Smiley Faces were superb. While they weren’t the most
polished outfit, Gnarls Barkley had the look, the sound and the crazy frontman in Green, who
was armed with a golden microphone and smooth soulful vocals to match, to create a superb
live show.
It all came together for a tight blast through Crazy, the mega-smash hit that launched the
duo out into the world. Put simply, it’s a classic.
The Gnarls Barkley show was the most fun you could have with your pants on, or perhaps not
in the case of the backing vocalist who was dacked during their encore.
Local heroes Eskimo Joe kept their pants on during their professional set of songs from their
chart-topping album Black Fingernails, Red Wine and its predecessor A Song is a City. The
Freo trio, embellished by stand-in keyboardist Steve Parkin, would have given their first-born
to play on the same bill as the Pixies and seemed determined to put on a great show.
The Vines couldn’t care less. The Sydney outfit led by the unpredictable Craig Nicholls have
built a pretty impressive collection of grungy punk rock songs, such as Highly Evolved, Ride
With Me, Get Free and Outtathaway, which sparked the first moshpit of the day.
The Pixies and Gnarls Barkley were brought across from the inaugural V Festivals on the east
coast, which also featured Beck, the Rapture and the New York Dolls. Given that the event
fell on a working day with a bit of rain around, the numbers were a tad low and the price tag
($100) might have been a tad high.
Then again, the chance to see the Pixies live was priceless.
There is a cross-media relationship between West Australian Newspapers Limited and Channel
Seven Perth Pty Limited.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/sticky-carpet/2007/04/12/1175971218968.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Sticky Carpet
By Patrick Donovan
April 13, 2007
Religious experience
Sometimes music is so omnipotent that no
amount of dancing will fully express its
profound impact on you.
Rocker James "Hound Dog" Young became so
overwhelmed during the psychedelic
cacophony of California's Comets on Fire at the
inaugural Golden Plains Festival at Meredith last
month that he slipped his right white patent
leather Rocco boot off his foot and raised it
above his head.
Before long the second one was off and up
and, by the time the band wound up, hundreds
of boots, shoes and thongs were raised
defiantly in the air - some even ended up on
stage.
Like the scene in Monty Python's The Life Of
Brian - when followers urged the crowd of
Brian worshippers to "Follow the sandle" by
holding their footwear in the air - it was a
religious experience.
Golden Plains organiser Matt High had
anticipated in this column that the festival
would create its own traditions and quirks,
which would evolve through seemingly
unrelated factors.
We look forward to seeing the return of The
Boot next year. Victorians seem to have an
insatiable appetite for music festivals and promoters have responded accordingly by starting
four autumn festivals - Golden Plains, V Festival, Boogie and Point Nepean: A Music Experience.
There are so many festivals kicking around that they need an X-factor to stand out and
transcend their limitations. Golden Plains had the magical boot moment (as well as a fresh line-
up and BYO grog), Point Nepean had the stunning site, Boogie the intimacy and catering and V
had the Pixies.
And, by choosing the best time of the year to hold an outdoor event, they were all bathed in
glorious autumn sunshine.
Point Nepean
All in the name of balanced reporting, Sticky found it necessary to experience the Point Nepean
festival from land and sea last weekend.
Although there was space at the site on Saturday, it was even more liberating watching the
show from the vantage of a friend's boat on Sunday afternoon. The sound was clear, as was
Sticky's view of the stage, and the beers were cold.
Apparently, the water craft were branded as "freeloaders" by the crowd on Saturday but by
Sunday everyone was getting along. The Waifs even acknowledged that the sight of boats
bobbing in the sea added to the vibe and vista.
With only one road to the old quarantine station, punters were resigned to delays and,
besides, waiting half an hour to leave wasn't nearly as tire-some as Sticky's traditional trek
home from the Easter Bluesfest: a 24-hour drive from Byron Bay.
It was fascinating reading the history of the heritage-listed site and exploring Point Nepean
National Park, which had never hosted so many people in its 155 years.
After experimenting with the ill-fated Melbourne International Blues and Music Festival,
Definitive Events wisely bought into the established East Coast Blues and Roots Festival,
touring a selection of those acts around the country.
Sticky would have preferred it if they also brought from Byron Bay first-time visitors Rodriguez,
the Roots and Joss Stone instead of the serial visi-tors Taj Mahal, Ben Harper, Ozomatli and
Tony Joe White. But they played great sets, which were augmented by the authentic roots
sounds of Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, the Hacienda Brothers and Sierra
Leone's Refugee All Stars.
It is understandable that they would bring out reliable crowd pullers to get the festival off the
ground but fingers are crossed that a Lucinda Williams or Al Green will soon play at Victoria's
most picturesque festival.
The Best of V Fest
A lack of venues prohibited promoter Michael Coppel from staging the full V Festival in
Melbourne, so we got it over two nights at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
While the complete V Festivals - with late addition Beck performing a greatest-hits set and
new songs - went down well in Sydney and the Gold Coast, the line-up wasn't strong enough
to split over two nights.
Although the mobile-phone company's logo wasn't as in your face as feared, they were always
going to struggle to create a buzz at a festival starting at 6pm on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Gnarls Barkley and the New York Dolls played to minuscule crowds while most patrons were
scurrying from work and many missed the Dolls as they played an hour earlier than scheduled
on the festival website.
And, despite having already staged two V Fests and one Best of the Fest the night before, the
bar was appalling on the Wednesday. The Pixies, Dolls and Jarvis Cocker were always going to
pull a big, drinking, over-30s crowd but the usual massive bar on top of the hill that worked so
well at shows by Ben Harper and the Bad Seeds was missing.
Instead, patrons had to join a 100-metre queue to enter a smaller bar - and then be told to
join another queue to get a wristband. And when punters got in they had to join another
queue to get a beer. Festivals will have their teething problems but this was a big oversight.
There were long breaks between sets and, because there were no smaller stages, it lacked the
festival vibe. But V was saved by the Pixies. Their first Australian tour was much anticipated
but, for once, a buzz band lived up to the hype.
They played three huge shows in Melbourne, and classics such as Hey, Where is My Mind?,
This Monkey's Gone to Heaven and Debaser enthralled the adoring crowds, which never
thought this day would come - let alone with loud, clear, note-for-note perfect renditions.
Those lucky 300 who witnessed their warm-up at the Northcote Social Club experienced the
gig of the year. It has shot into the third-best gig Sticky has seen behind Iggy Pop at the Falls
and the Stones at the Enmore Theatre.
Golden Plains
Sticky knew we should have taken the safer, more reliable transport option but when we were
offered a lift to Meredith in a 1972 black Cadillac we couldn't resist.
Of course, Vicroads decided to close a couple of lanes for roadworks on the Labor Day long
weekend but if you're going to be stuck in traffic you may as well be reclining in the back of a
glorious automobile built for comfort listening to a CD compilation featuring car classics from
Junior Brown's Highway Patrol to Ministry's Jesus Built My Hotrod.
The weather was more temperate than its summer sister event Meredith and the site was more
comfortable with grass and about half the crowd. The line-up was even more edgy and left-of-
centre with highlights coming from !!!, the Bellrays, George Rrurrambu and Birdwave, Dudley
Perkins and Georgina Anne Muldrow.
Yes, the Cadi broke down and needed to be hot-wired and sparks flew off the beast's hull as
we sped along the Ballarat Road but, like the Blues Brothers, we made it home.
Boogie
If you're sick of queuing forever for entry and a VB can, then
fledgling boutique kid-friendly
festival Boogie might be for you. The inaugural event was held as a private party on a farm
near Ocean Grove by some of the organisers of the Big Day Out's fruity Lilypad Stage and tour
and merchandise company Love Police on Easter Friday.
The $150 ticket included sets by swamp fox Tony Joe White and the Stepfords, drinks
(including cocktails), a three-course teppanyaki and breakfast fry-up, an art exhibition and a
festival DVD marathon.
The Boogie bus ferries patrons to and from the site and those who take cars are asked to
make carbon-neutral donations. While this year's event was an experiment, next year's is likely
to be open to the public.
Love Police have toured the likes of Gillian Welch, My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Black Keys and
Gomez and are hoping to put Welch and Bonnie "Prince" Billy on future Boogie bills.
pdonovan@theage.com.au
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/concerts/33207/pixies/
The world needs another positive
Pixies review about as much as it
needs a new airborne super-virus,
so what say we focus on
sentiment instead of sound?
Pixies
30 March 2007: Big Top Luna Park — Sydney, AUS
by Nick Gunn
The world needs another Pixies review
about as much as it needs a new airborne
super-virus, so, you might ask, why am I
writing this? Well, I’d like to think I can
justify one more write-up. You see, I first found out about Pixies in 1994
at the impressionable age of 15, on my first unsupervised week away from
home. Shortly thereafter I discovered that the band had broken up
without ever making it to Australia. I spent the next 13 years of my life
fantasizing that the Pixies would reunite and tour here.
And, after all that waiting, they finally did.
When I heard that this show was actually going to
happen, something snapped, and I began to
question my surroundings a little more than usual.
As the fateful night drew closer, the paranoia set
in. I was sure something would interfere: they’d
break up again before they got here; they’d get
detained by Customs; or maybe they’d get here
but be fat and old and just generally suck.
As the gig grew closer still, euphoria replaced my
paranoia and my Pixies-friends and I started to get
together and take turns trying to predict what the
band would and wouldn’t perform. We’d rank the
four canonical albums and argue for hours over why Surfer Rosa shits all
over Bossanova, or why Trompe Le Monde should be ranked second in the
list, not last.
Finally the day of the concert arrived, and I was too antsy to work. I
wandered in a daze, babbling incoherently to everyone who crossed my
path. When we finally walked through the evil-looking face that doubles as
the entrance to Luna Park, I thought I would lose it completely.
The Mercy Arms had drawn the support slot—plenty of darkness and
wailing there, but I’m not entirely sure that the world of rock is ready for
the pink chicken-sweater worn by the guitarist. I guess Pixies had nothing
to lose by putting a great band on first. But then, they could have put the
second coming on as a support act and still had my full attention.
In the half hour or so before Pixies came on, the tension was unbearable.
So many people had waited so very long for this that the atmosphere
became one of intense, boiling expectation. In what proved to be an eerie
coincidence, a woman pushed her way through the crowd and stood next
to us. As I glared at her with slight irritation, I realized she seemed
somehow familiar. Seconds later it hit me: she was the girl that had played
Pixies for me that first time all those years ago (seriously, it was her!). If it
weren’t for her, I might not have been at this gig at all!
I felt a little sheepish, but seconds later Pixies took the stage and nothing
mattered anyway. They started nice and slow, twisting a classic by having
Kim Deal take vocals on “In Heaven.” Within a few songs they hit “Head
On,” and the crowd went crazy. I was concerned at first, as I haven’t
been in a moshpit for years, but ultimately decided to go with the flow or
drown.
There’s so much more I could say, but it has all been written before. After
they were gone, I looked around at the dissipating crowd, only to catch a
glimpse of a high-school friend. We hadn’t spoken to each other for a
while, but it was strangely appropriate that we happened to meet here.
Our entire friendship had been based on a mutual love of Pixies. So, we
talked, and for a short while we were all teenagers again; nothing was as
important as the music. Pixies had finally come, all these years later. They
may have been old, and they may have been fat, but they certainly didn’t
suck.
— 16 April 2007
More bloggery:
http://greeneggs.vox.com/library/post/pixies-well-they-sounded-good.html
http://theperthfiles.blogspot.com/2007/04/i-heart-pixies.html
http://somethingold-somethingnew.blogspot.com/2007/04/pixies.html |
Edited by - Carl on 04/16/2007 15:42:13 |
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kfs
= Cult of Ray =
USA
889 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2007 : 06:14:16
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| I like that review...Nice! |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 04/20/2007 : 14:53:11
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http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/concerts/33400/v-festival
V Festival feat. Pixies, Beck, Nouvelle Vague, Gnarls
Barkley, Jarvis Cocker, and Phoenix
31 March 2007: Sydney Centennial Park — Sydney, AUS
PopMatters' Nick Gunn takes on
the crowds and craziness, to find
out what happens when Virgin's V
Festival pops up down under.
by Nick Gunn
Getting into Sydney’s inaugural V Festival
felt a lot like sneaking into another
country: there was a huge crush as
thousands attempted to get through several tiny openings in the fence,
and, once you gained entry, you had to scurry over to the shelter of the
huddled masses, avoiding over-zealous police officers with confused-
looking sniffer dogs.
Still, the V Festival was one of the few festival-type events held in
Sydney this year that didn’t sell out within 48 hours. I’ve thought long and
hard about this, and have come up with three possible reasons:
a) Although Sydney-siders are not so naïve as to
believe that other festivals are musical utopias,
perhaps the average punter thought naming the
festival after a mobile phone company was a little
too corporate-whorey
b) Many, many people were holding their collective
breath hoping and praying for a Pixies sideshow.
The fact that said sideshow was only announced a
week before it happened lends considerable weight
to this argument.
c) The inclusion of the Pet Shop Boys as co-headliners with Pixies made
even the most eclectically inclined music lovers scratch their heads and
wonder.
I arrived at the main stages to hear the
sounds of Phoenix drifting in the crystal-
clear autumn afternoon. While Phoenix are
one of those bands I’ve heard people rave
about but haven’t given much attention, I
have to admit these guys certainly know
what to do with noisy guitars and a little
bit of synth.
Continuing the French theme, Nouvelle
Vague popped up next on the alternate
stage. I was eager to see how they went
over live, as I am constantly amazed by the way these guys effortlessly
transcend the “novelty band” genre to which, by all indications, they
should belong. They obviously have a deep love for the tunes they cover,
because what sounds like an awful idea on paper is a beautiful thing
in
reality. Maybe it’s just nostalgia kicks for aging hipsters, but there’s
something nice about the light in the heavily made-up goth-girl’s eyes
when she finally recognizes that the tune being covered is “Bela Lugosi’s
Dead.”
Halfway through Nouvelle Vague’s
set, god-awful noises started to
emerge from the first stage. The
extremely poor stage layout meant
that I now had a New York
Dolls/Nouvelle Vague stereo mash-
up going on. I had been so
entranced by the nostalgic beauty
of Nouvelle Vague that I’d shunned
the New York Dolls—thinking that
the reformed group might be a
walking car-crash anyway. Instead
of moving toward their noisy
theatrics, I waited until Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse took the stage as
Gnarls Barkley, and cheered along with everyone else as they launched
things with a triumphant cover of “We Are the Champions”.
Leaving Gnarls before the obligatory “Crazy,” I made our way over to
Jarvis Cocker. I don’t get into his music much, but he is one funny bugger.
Only Jarvis Cocker could sing “Cunts Are Still Running the World” as though
he were unaware of the slightest hint of obscenity. He performed “Black
Magic,” and a friend and I had an argument over where he’d stolen the
chord progression. My friend was backing “Sweet Jane,” but I still think he
lifted directly from “Crimson and Clover.” At least the man knows quality
when he steals it.
True to his reputation as an artistic maverick, Beck’s set featured both a
bizarre, bespectacled dancer, and a puppet show replicating the band’s
movements. Like a Russian doll that opens into smaller and smaller parts,
the puppet show itself contained a miniature puppet show. Trippy artistic
genius, or trite lamer bullshit? You be the judge. Beck concluded his set
solo and acoustic, as his band sat down to some tea. Pretty soon they
were jamming with the plates and cutlery while Beck gave us lonesome
renditions of “Lost Cause” and then a portentous cover of “Wave Of
Mutilation.”
There was absolutely no doubt that the
majority of people at this festival had
come to see Pixies, and they aren’t the
kind of band to disappoint. Their set
rapidly turned into the biggest sing-along
I’ve ever witnessed, as thousands of
trippers bellowed along to “Where Is My
Mind?” and an equal number of rockers
thrashed out to “Planet of Sound.” I had
now seen Pixies twice on two consecutive
notes, and the grin on my face took days
to wipe off.
In the end, the V Festival took me by surprise; I expected it to be far
more ramshackle than it turned out to be. There’s only one thing that still
bothers me; has it really come to this? With all the rules, disclaimers,
heavy police presence and sniffer dogs, have we regulated ourselves to
the point of inanity? I wonder what our music-festival-loving ancestors
would think if they could see us now. Don’t take the brown wheat-grass
shot; it may contain traces of nuts.
— 20 April 2007
Phoenix
Nouvelle Vague
Pixies
A late blog review, with video! |
Edited by - Carl on 06/05/2007 02:52:05 |
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Vacuum Boots
- FB Fan -
Australia
7 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2007 : 01:49:29
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| I drove up from Melbourne to catch them at Sydney V fest. Amazing show, Dave throwing his stick to Joey for the Vamos solo and catching it at the end without missing a beat was a euphoric moment. Beck’s set was quite disappointing, seemed like he didn't want to be there, also relied too heavily on gimmicks. Jarvis Cocker was brilliant, very funny and charming, really tight band. Phoenix and New York Dolls were also pretty good. |
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wrbtsibias
- FB Fan -
2 Posts |
Posted - 01/17/2013 : 13:58:40
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Australia reviews/coverage!!
