Here I was, yet another concert experience with my parents. This one was a little different; being a festival experience. How was I going to handle the idiosyncracies of my family at a festival? How were they going to handle the idiosyncracies of a festival?? We were there also to celebrate my uncle's 50th, so what better way than with a historical musical assortment?We began by checking out the RockWiz show, my mum's favourite thing in the whole world, which of course my siblings refer to with disgust (luckily, absent) because as if you could enjoy something your mum likes?? I tried to get said mum to compete as a contestant, as Brian Nankervis was finishing up recruiting as we got to the stage, but to no avail. Half of me wished I had the guts to put my hand up, but the other half knows that my reaction time plus limited knowledge of anything I'm not a fan of, would make me look a right fool. So on with the show, and Nankervis entertainingly got the 18 selected people up for a few rounds of the game, so that the 4 best could be determined for the show. This was a bit of fun, and some of the personalities of the people up there were quite colourful, including a bubbly young girl in her 20's (or younger) who managed to make it through, and a young strapping hippy fellow, determined to throw as many corny pick up lines to her rockwiz highness Julia Zemiro, as possible. Julia is even dishier in real life as she is onscreen, (that picture is awful) and her charisma even bigger. It was very obvious that she's done this for so many years and things were pretty heightened and over the top, but to be 'on' for such a long period of time has got to be hard, and she does it well. She also handled sleazy hippy guy without batting an eyelid.
The incredibly charismatic and entertaining Henry Wagons, and put-out looking Kate Miller-Heidke were the guests of the day. I realised on this day, after an exciting little number from Henry, what I don't like about Kate. Kate prides herself on her quirky tunes with a little in joke involved (see that Facebook song, Australian Idol song, Psycho Killer cover), which could be misleadingly described as well written. Take away those jokes though, and you have some pretty vacant and awfully written songs. Also, that quirky fun personality that she tries to emit through her songs, just does not transfer through her on stage persona (or, as I have not seen her perform in years, televised persona). It certainly didn't today, and throughout the whole show, she looked like she would have rather been anywhere else. Julia tried to banter with her with very brief returns, and she really didn't provide much to the experience at all. Perhaps she was roped in? Perhaps she was hungover? Hmmmm.
"Henry, f*** off so I can go write a song with Bemg Folndes"
The greatest part of the RockWiz show were the regular musical guests from other artists at the festival, a lovely treat, as we were only there for a day and wouldn't have the opportunity to check everything out. We got some great performances from Irma Thomas (ahhh she just had to open her mouth slightly to make amazing sweet music come out of it), Eli Paperboy Reed, and Barrence Whitfield, finishing up with a group song at the end with the whole gang.
So the RockWiz part of the day could have been the most value, not just for the gameshow and Julia, but the performances we were treated to. I walked out of the tent to be graced with moans and groans from the oldies at their aching bones and backs and legs... and being the smug young thing I am, I had to say "This is only the beginning!!" Catering for the older group, the festival had some differences that I was not used to at Splendour and Sunset Sounds and such, particular as it had designated places for picnic chairs, which diehard fans had set up in the main tent for hours staking their prime spot for Bob. So in the end, my dear father got us some chairs for us to copy, and I have to say it was nice to be able to sit and relax in between acts.
Before Bob, we caught a snippet of Tim Robbin's band, and a set from Buffy Sainte Marie. She was quite interesting, and I was surprised to find she'd written a few pretty well known songs, such as "Universal Soldier" (Donovan) and "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" (but we won't talk about that...). She was very passionate about her Native American upbringing and standing up for rights, and had a lot of energy and passion... I did feel nasty comparing her voice to Yoko Ono, but it really is quite unique and hard to warm to. Her set was much more interesting than the one that followed, by Warren Haynes of Allman Brothers' fame, a band I really know nothing of and doesn't seem to be my preferred style. I was very bored with Warren's set and could not get into it, but I think it's just a type of music, that country-blues-m.o.r. style, that isn't for me.
That was over soon enough, and Dylan's time was now. As anticlimactic as the whole thing was, it was... truly a unique show. They had shut off the screens for the audience, so there was no closeups of Bob's anything. Because the crowd was so huge, all you could see was a blur with a top hat.
As the music began, I experienced the worst live performance of my life. From beginning to end, it was the dreadfullest. His voice was not a voice, but a crackle of spat out verses... not in sentences but in quickly strung together words. There were moments where he sounded like he was loosening up a bit, but it never really improved. There were so many songs that both myself nor my long-time-Dylan-listener family members could not identify. Even such obvious classics like :Tangled Up In Blue", "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" and "Like A Rolling Stone" were impossible to pick until a poorly executed version of the choruses were played. If the band had been amazing, one may have been able to pick the tune, but even the band weren't anything to rave about... they did the job required, nothing exceptional, but nothing terrible.
From not being able to see much to not being able to hear anything worth hearing, it was much like a really bad session of karaoke, but one you did not have any patience for. Actually, at least a really bad session of karaoke is a bit cheaper and supplemented by egging on and alcohol. This was much much worse, and worser still from such an iconic musical hero to so many people.
By the end of it I was so happy for it to be over. It was embarrassing. I usually have no problem with ageing rockstars touring in this day and age, because they do often have some appeal to the new generation- and while they meant something different to the people listening when they were big, they mean something else to me now. But Bob Dylan needs to stop. right now. Brian Wilson was endearing in his lack of performance skills, and at least he seemed to be enjoying himself. And we all know he's crazy. Bob is ruining his music genius and influencer of all status, by making us pay squillions to squirm at awfulness.
If it weren't for Elvis (and RockWiz earlier) it would have been a total money waster.
What I love about Elvis Costello’s performances, this being the second one I’d seen (first being his QPAC Brisbane show in 2004) is his tendency not to mess around, but get straight into playing as many much loved tunes as he can, with only a small break of minimum crowd banter in between. He flies through one after the other smooth as a whip, swapping guitars now and then thanks to on-guard roadies. It makes for such an energetic show, coupled with the fact that this guy refuses to lose any momentum due to age. His voice is still stunningly powerful and full of emotion, his musicianship is still amazing, and he looks like he’s having a fantastic time, unlike Mr D an hour previously (well from what I could hear anyway). Elvis began with a classic guaranteed to move the crowd out of their depressed slumber, "Pump It Up", and moved quickly through an excellent selection of favourites, including a fair few from 'My Aim is True', 'Next Years Model' and 'Oliver’s Army' (the three essentials in my humble opinion). He also played a couple of new ones from 'National Ransom', and brought up Secret Sisters to sing one (1) word of the chorus of “A Slow Drag with Josephine". They sounded like sweet songs, with as much of the country element as the last toured album I'd heard, 'The Delivery Man'. We were treated to an emotional “Alison”. "Beyond Belief", and an extended version of "(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding". He didn’t play my absolute favourite that gave me tears in my eyes at QPAC, "I Want You", but I wasn’t going to hold it against him; its themes of dark stalkery obsession aren’t really festival material.
Once that whirlwind ended, the feelings of hopeless embarrassment were replaced with a warm fuzzy sigh of relief, and thankfulness that it all hadn’t been a wasted festival. I was so glad Elvis had headlined the Monday night and the best was saved until last, but still a shame that his performance was overshadowed by the folk king Dylan.
Upon writing this review, I’ve looked at a few other reviews of the day, and many sung the praises of Bob’s performance. I don’t know whether they were at the same show as me, or there is a little cognitive dissonance coming into play… justifying paying an arm and a leg (up to $150 a night??) for a terrible performance, by pretending it was awesome?? The inability to accept that such a legend can sound terrible? Geez, get a grip journies.
Post re-edited and re-posted! phew. 6.5 blog hosts out of 10.
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