A short and sweet Elbow Review: Saturday, 24th March 2012, The Tivoli.

I want to just briefly post about my last Elbow gig in March, as I've already reviewed them, and this performance was essentially song-for-song identical as the Enmore gig I first reviewed. Regardless, there are things to be said about this performance, and while I'm in danger of sounding like an obsessed and crazed band groupie, I have to tell you how good they were. 
I only caught the tail end of Bombay Bicycle Club, as gig buddy and I decided that the jazz band at Black Bear Lodge were good enough to sit through most of during pre-drinks. A little bit of research tells me they were the Low Down Jazz Quintet. They were really quite entertaining and their smooth sounds, coupled with the rustic feel of Black Bear, with corner tables and real candles, overlooking a bustling city, made me feel like I was in some 1950's lounge bar in New York. I also now want to be the singer of a jazz band. 

Anyway, Elbow. Oh Elbow. I was really excited to see them for the third time, and despite not trailing off the same setlist as last year's, they did not disappoint in the slightest. Frontman Guy Garvey was all charm as usual, perhaps telling the same stories as usual but with fresh spark and excitement to be there, and keeping us all amused. He also gave annoying hecklers (we heard you yell 'MANCHESTERRRR!' the first time) what for, not being afraid to tell them to shut the hell up. 
The weird thing about me and Elbow is I actually dearly love their earlier albums (especially 'Asleep In the Back', one of my favourite albums of all time), over their newer ones, while I do love them also. Over the past few years, none of these songs are touched on in favour of Mercury prize winning 'Seldom Seen Kid', and latest 'Build a Rocket Boys'. Remember, I love these albums as well, both are stunning pieces of work, they just lack the darker, more mysteriously complex and brooding side of Elbow that their first ones contain. Basically, Elbow are much happier lads these days and it shows. But what really helped me have the  ultimate best time at this concert, was that I am a much happier lady these days, and I can actually relate to the jovial, schmaltzier stuff that they are all about in their live show. It's of course not all love stories and 'today is grand!' moments, and those sweetly melancholic songs they go back to e.g. "The Night Will Always Win", and "Puncture Repair", are enough to bring a little moisture to the eyes. So ending on the uplifting "One Day Like This", is a necessary move, because it ensures their audience leaves with an ultimate high and smile on their face, and that they reflect on the night as a performance to remember.
I haven't even mentioned how GOOD the band is, how precise and delicate and moving their musical performance is, and how fucking emotive and delighting Guy's voice is. It's this, combined with their obvious love of performing, which completely gets me, and even if I'd probably die of joy if they played "Newborn" or "Asleep in the Back" from their debut, I'm still enamoured by their performance every damn time. They're not hip hop or indie rock or ambient-electronic aficionados go-to band by any means, but dammit they're probably the best live band I've ever seen and should be rewarded as such.
Anyway, here are some piccies!

'Mirrorball'. Schmaltz.

oh heavens.

'Weather to Fly'. Still much better than on record.

probably some audience participation bizo or whatev

If you love Australia so much why don't you marry it.

9... and a half... armpits out of 10. 

Bon Iver (with Sally Seltmann), The Tivoli, Friday 16th of March

Riding well off the back of his recent grammy win, in which even One Direction fans want to know who Bonny Bear is, Bon Iver came to Brisbane for a rare three (3) shows, to appease all the new and old fans that have multiplied tenfold in the last year. The shows were announced way back in December last year, at which time I was pretty excited, until Justin Vernon and co.'s 'flavour of the month' status overshadowed everything else.
It was easy to get back into excitement mode when a Thursday night concert goer friend raved about how great he was, and also went and met him not a kilometer from where I was doing nothing in my house. DAMMIT!

Old Sal

My gig buddy tonight was my dear brother who had joined in on the Bonny bandwagon around the same time I had. We rocked up in time to see New Buff... I mean Sally Seltmann. I could be biased, but Sally didn't have quite the same stage presence that she did a fair few years ago under the moniker of New Buffalo. Now that she is riding off the back of female supergroup Seeker Lover Keeper, I guess the audience wasn't as excited as they would have been had SLK been onstage, and hence she played a lot of their songs. She also gave us a few new songs from her self-titled solo album, as well as a couple I recognized from her later New Buffalo repertoire. Despite the disconnect, she sounded lovely and I very much enjoyed it- her angelic voice still comes across well onstage. Sally's also definitely migrated from her days of pressing play on a backing track while singing into a microphone, as she did the first time i saw her in 2005 supporting Bright Eyes. Somehow I just remember more people being a little more transfixed by her back then.

The stage for Bon Iver was made up quite ruggedly with hessian draped around as if we were in a cabin in the woods. He's come a long way since those 'For Emma, Forever Ago' days, as he came on amid huge cheers. Everyone wants a piece of Bon Iver now, and I guess three sold out shows are testimony to that. As predicted by my brother (with a very accurate imitation of the opening chords), Justin and the band started off with the first song, "Perth" from the latest album 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver'. Live, it was a spot on, moving interpretation of the record, which is what I imagined it to be. From the quiet, building opening notes, to it's crashing crescendo, every sound filled the theatre, leading into the second song "Minnesota, WI". It was quite magnificent, and when Justin started to sing, I didn't expect it to sound quite so hauntingly beautiful. He sounded so true to recording, strong and echoey, I wondered if there were any effects going on. And even if there was it was still impressive.
The excellence went on from there and he played a wonderful selection of all the fan favourites, including "Blood Bank" off his title EP, and even "Brackett, WI" which he did for the brilliantly compiled 'Dark is the Night' compilation. 

The musicians were fantastic, and you really couldn't fault them for a second. As they left and Justin took the stage solo for "Re: Stacks", it was a delicate, gorgeous and sniffle-inducing moment. The only thing you could fault was that I realized just how similar their songs sounded and how much of a style Bon Iver have created. It is a style that is is not to everyone's taste, and can at times be in danger of getting old. In fact, there were a couple of moments where i did find my mind wandering... but to be honest that does happen at gigs, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes I can think through an entire problem situation at a gig; it can be a nice place to reflect. (Unfortunately I cannot count gigs toward psychological professional development).

Old mate

Coupled with the brilliant music was the band's, and particularly Justin's, laid back manner. Despite the opportunity to be high and mighty, there is no pretension with this man, and he engaged the crowd as a genuine, down to earth fellow who could be your mate, just doing what he loves and having a good time. 


I have to mention the worst part of the show however. I became so mad about a group of metrosexual-appearing guys behind me that I wonder if i am actually getting quite senile, bitter and twisted. In addition to one of them doing the '*tap shoulder*, *look the other way*' routine to me before the performance, these guys nattered and laughed through the whole performance (because obviously Bon Iver is also a comedy group???). It reached breaking annoyance point when one of them said 'Where are we going afterwards?' and another asked 'Who is this guy again? He's good.' This happened while "Skinny Love" was being played. I was looking forward to hearing the ultimate sad times/break up/depression song transcending onstage and letting it wash over me, but I COULDN'T thanks to their giggling and chatting. I detest that feeling of someone laughing behind you; you wonder if they are laughing at you, know it's probably ridiculous, but continue to be unsettled anyway, and want to punch them all in their collective face. Instead of doing this however, I looked around and glared at them evilly. It did nothing, but I felt slightly more satisfied than if I had just stewed in my spot.


I just DON'T UNDERSTAND, if you don't know who a band is and you'd rather go pick up chixx at the Met, then why are you paying $65 to see a musician at a venue full of his fans? If you're not a fan, and are going to talk the entire time, then go away. I know this may sound hypocritical, because I did do this at Gareth Liddiard's show a year ago, but I was at the window rather than in the crowd, and he was a complete dickhead and sounded like shit. Sorry Drones fans, but not really. Bon Iver on the other hand were amazing, and I felt they were disrespecting the band by doing this. Support acts can suffer from the audience talking through their set, but that is kind of expected since people aren't there to see them, but during the main act... there is an exit. 
Now that rant is over, I feel dirty and like I should be writing to mX or A Current Affair. I just think there should be some mosh pit etiquette to follow. Why don't we list some etiquette rules now since we're in this mind funk?? No? Too bad. 


1. Don't fart. Hold it in. Go to the toilet. Don't fart. For the love of god. 
2. Keep your laughter and loud chats and stupid opinions to yourself. If you want to say a lot of things, use the text on your phone.
3. Don't lean on me, I'm not a pole, or a chair.
4. Do be expected to have your personal space ratio go out the window, and expect it to be somewhat smaller. Don't get too bothered when people accidentally touch you. Having said that, you are entitled to a bit of breathing space..
5. If you want to jump/dance/go mad, please be respectful of people who don't want elbows in their chins and their face on the floor.
5. If you want to drink, buy a couple beforehand. Don't try to go to the bar and get back to the exact same spot you were before, unless you're happy to be cursed by a lot of people. 
6. Putting your arm up in the air and pointing throughout the entire song is not only bad for your arm health but I don't want to watch/ take a photo of your arm. Feel free to point it up and down though, I can kind of work with that.
7. If you have diabetes, take your insulin. If you don't have your insulin shot, and you're about to faint, get the fuck out of the mosh pit. Don't eat my lollies out of my hand with your slimy tongue. I don't care how big of a Björk fan you are. 


I'm sure there are many rules that you, reader, could come up with and share with me. So maybe you should!!


Bonny Bear gets 8.5 "wanna be combovers and Minanite beards" out of 10.

BIG DAY OUT 2012, Gold Coast Parklands, Sunday 22nd of January 2012 (Mostly, Kanye West.)

This year's Big Day Out may well mark the most significant point in the demise of the music festival as we know it. From it's very inception it was fraught with major issues. The 20th anniversary of one of Australia's first and most popular festivals should have been celebrated with a suitable lineup of killer must-see headliners, and a generous variety of excellent local bands- in every state. 

Instead we were treated to international acts that had already made it to Splendour not six months prior (e.g. Kanye West, Foster the People, The Vaccines), and the usual run-of-the-mill or past-their-prime local filler (The Living End, Hilltop Hoods, Faker, etc.). Furthermore, the depressingly gaping holes in the Perth and Adelaide schedules where headliners should have filled; unnecessary clashes (sorry Noel Gallagher); and a way-too-public falling out between promotors Viv Lees and Ken West (Ken West having done a Charlie Sheen with the amount of mental interviews he gave, spitting criticism at everyone but himself) also made the formulation of this year's festival a spectacular disaster.

So.. why the hell did I attend?

Well, 2 reasons. 1. Kanye West was announced, and I had missed his show at Splendour that year. and, 2. My sister wanted to have her first festival experience with her friends, which became her christmas present, and it was deemed easy for mum to give us all BDO tickets for christmas, since us Fornasier children were now all infected with the Kanye virus. I would definitely not have spent money on this event (which, as you would expect, didn't even sell out). So, there I went. 

We started the day by checking out the Triple J Unearthed competition winners Dunerats. Already well into their set they were a smiling bunch of young fellas with long hair and a hazy, breezy attitude. Their music was of an Eddy Current Suppression Ring venacular with a dash of Tame Impala, with very casual subject matter: frontman X introducing one of his songs as being about "smoking cones and playing Xbox". They played well and had a pleasantly grungy feel, but I couldn't help but wonder if they were seriously the best band out of all of the competition entrants.

The Vaccines were a winner with the crowd who gathered thickly by the time they came on, and did a great job playing their top listed album of the year, 'What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?'. I had only just got it a few weeks ago and had no chance to give it a really fair go, but they pumped out a fantastic set showcasing the songs from it brilliantly. The more they played the more songs I recognized, now being one of those bands that play all those enjoyable songs I'd heard but didn't know the artist's name. The musicians were tight and mop topped frontman Justin Young was enigmatic, and replicated his signature drone excellently live. Crowds went crazy for their biggest hits e.g. "Post Breakup Sex", "Wolf Pack", but we left for OFWGKTA before they played gig buddy's most anticipated, "If You Wanna". 

I decided long ago, after giving them a decent go, that I didn't really care for the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All / Tyler the Creator/ Lets throw a few more words in that don't go together crew. Call me a stiff, but I don't have much time for annoying abrasive beats, yelling and lyrics about rape and killing homos and whatever else they've pissed Tegan and Sara off with. But the crew was keen so I bit my tongue. And after seeing their show... I really still don't like Odd Future. While they certainly got the crowd moving and were able to somehow generate energy even while lazing around onstage, they sounded awful, barking together words I couldn't understand (thankfully) and generally being quite average. The sound may have been better closer up, but the only beat or sound I could decipher was was on the crowd pleaser "Radicals" with it's poignant chorus "Kill people, burn shit, fuck school". I was happy to leave for Kimbra. 

Kimbra was dressed in a manner that suggests she is attempting to do a Blasko and become NZ's answer to Björk in terms of quirk and style. Her colourful dress was pretty out there and she wore it with confidence that matched her onstage antics. I'm not the biggest fan of Kimbra's music, while I have much love for "Cameo Lover" and "Settle Down", I don't quite get the huge deal and find her slightly boring on record. However, watching her perform made me appreciate her a whole lot more and she managed to win me over a little. Kimbra threw her whole self into her performance, articulating every consonant and vowel with so much passion and facial expression. As a result, her voice was an exquisite centrepiece of each song, and completely enhanced the well performed music. It was a thrill to watch her completely enjoy herself doing this. I still don't think she could succeed in her quirk attempt because I doubt Blasko nor Björk could get away with saying things like “You guys hot down there 'cause it's a bit warm up ere!” and “Wow, I'm so glad you guys know my songs, it was a bit 'eavy goin' for a while there!” But that's part of why Triple J and the rest of Australia adore her.

After Kimbra it was Röyksopp time at the Boiler Room, and my turn to lead my group into more unfamiliar waters to them. We missed a few key tracks (grr, "Happy Up Here" and "Eple" would have totally got me grooving) and turned up in time to hear "The Girl and the Robot". Because it's hard to get Robyn and the girl from the Knife and Lykke Li, it's easier to get a girl dressed with her face hidden to sing so she could be any one of those girls. She did sound pretty good though, which made me wonder if she was actually miming to a backing track. As for the music, it all sounded pretty excellent even though we were so far back from the front. As the beats built up and dropped, the effect was excellently satisfying and it was impossible not to jive my feet along along with my head. Even the people with me who weren't big on the Royksopp club scene expressed enjoyment. And the assortment of weird insect-esque costumes enhanced the experience that little bit more.

After a relaxing sit at the Tony Hawk Vert Ramp, which was rained out prior to Tony's actual entry on to the ramp, we made our way to the D where Kasabian was just commencing their set. It was very, very weird not having to wait even a second to get through the barrier to the moshpit, where in previous years people were being crushed all over the place trying to get in, much earlier in the day than it was now. 
Kasabian came on stage brooding a bit of smug wankery but generally delivering quite well with their distinctive britpop. They successfully pumped out a pretty decent collection of songs from all four of their albums, hooking the crowd in early with "Days Are Forgotten (from the latest, 'Velociraptor') then later favourites, "Shoot the Runner" and "Underdog". Naturally the set was very hit-driven, including of course their most Sunday Sport friendly, "Fire" as their prestige, but most surprising were the couple of selections from their first self titled album. It's the album I had first enjoyed, after picking it up on a whim so many years ago, and it was nice to hear them play the much more beats-driven  "Club Foot" and singalong "L.S.F (Lost Souls Forever)". I've heard people criticize them for this, as it did kind of drag the momentum down for everyone else, but I was enjoying it. 


I'm not going to lie though, I cheered pretty hard when Kasabian walked off stage, mostly because it meant Kanye West would be playing very soon. Oh, after Soundgarden. 
For those who don't know, Big Day Out houses the headlining acts in two side by side stages, so that when the band on one side plays, the other next to it can soundcheck and be ready to play when the first finishes. Soundgarden was on the stage I wasn't waiting at, and for that reason I'm not going to review Soundgarden. Not only was I paying very little attention to them, but I've never been a fan and would be very biased, particularly as I was in 'lets get this shit cray muffukkas, ha!?' hip hop mood, not 90's Seattle grunge headbang mood.


Now, I'm no fool when it comes to BDO's scheduling boasting no gaps in between the two main stage acts. Kanye West (or Yeezy, if you're not sure who Yeezy is) is not going to take a few seconds to check everything is in order before prancing onstage saying 'how ya doin' brisbayne!!'. Also, I've rarely been to a show in which there wasn't at least a 20 minute wait for the next band to come on. So when 10 minutes passed before anything happened, I wasn't that bothered. I was excited along with my group, who had managed to gather in a prime spot, enhancing our collective excitement. The rest of the crowd, however, was already FUCKING PISSED OFF. As roadies came on and off, people began to scream "FUCK OFF!" as well as begin the most embarrassing chant of the bogan audience world; "BUUUUUULLLLSHIT". I couldn't restrain myself from yelling "SHUT UP!" back at them, horrified that all they would achieve was piss off the people trying to get the show happening, and of course, Kanye himself, who may well take offence (who knows, he's Kanye, he's been an unpredictable fellow in the past). Meanwhile, the whingey girl on my right had joined them, which made me even angrier. As she constantly complained that she was going to faint and this was ridiculous and she didn't even like Kanye that much anyway, everyone gave her a wide berth; which meant she had more space and air than anyone else in the mosh. But on and on she went, until she finally had enough and got herself pulled out (thank christ). UNSOLICITED ADVICE: If you don't really like the main act at a festival and you find yourself in a mosh pit, it's not worth it. Don't be in the mosh pit. Leave us fans to battle it out silently. Thankyou. 
Anyway, forty minutes actually went by before we had any indication that Yeezy was about to come out. The speakers had apparently been screwed up by the rain (oh the questions, why weren't they covered, why couldn't you have told us that earlier, blah blah blah), leading to the delay, but luckily, five minutes later, thank god the lights began to dim. 

The performance started with a backing intro of "H.A.M." off Kanye/Jay-Z's 'Watch the Throne', with a frenzy of dancers leaping around the stage in schizophrenic time with the music. Oh the joy and excitement! My year of becoming completely involved with Kanye's music was finally going to culminate in a hell of a stage show. This lead into "Dark Fantasy", and a moment of confusion where we could hear Yeezy's voice, but where was he? Not on the stage... Not in the audience... Oh look, turn around everyone! He's on a podium chair behind the audience. Why? Why not. This was his version of Michael Jackson's jetpack onstage entrance I suppose. He sang on his podium and then when the song finished he somehow found his way down through to the stage without getting mugged. Straight on into "Power", it was so very worth the 45 minute wait. I ended up flinging myself around with the crowd fully expressing my built up excitement for this moment. 

yeah we know you think you are God... and that's okay. 

The music was mostly backing tracks throughout, but made more effective with Kanye's thundering vocals, the momentum built quickly and shot through. As each song began it was a joyous moment, with "Jesus Walks", "Hell of a Life", "Monster" and "Flashing Lights" allowing the crowd to very easily forgive him for the delay. The show was as big as his ego, i.e. enormous, and it was just what I had hoped for. 
There were a couple of downsides however... One being, it was a bit odd not hearing the guest singers do their cameos. Of course it would have been impossible to get this to happen live, and I hadn't come to see Nicki Minaj so I wasn't that bothered, but the way it was handled was a bit disappointing. Instead of Kanye singing over it or doing a Royksopp (see earlier), they just canned those parts all together. Which did not allow for the same impact as these songs promised (e.g. see lady parts in "Monster", "ET" (which is Katy Perry's, so an odd choice anyway), and "All of the Lights"). 
The other down point was when Kanye went into '808's and Heartbreaks' mode. 808's is a stunning album and the first time I began to think Yeezy was actually of creative merit, however, it's a bit overshadowed by autotune and moping. Hence, not excellent for a festival performance. After three in a row "Love Lockdown", "Say You Will" and "Heartless", there was a collective feeling of discomfort and slight boredom at the downtempo material. The momentum took a while to build back up again. Kanye also used a lot of autotune in the show, which to me was a bit unnecessary- Cher may have needed it, but he really doesn't.
ANYWAY. It was good to hear some older songs I hadn't been too familiar with, including "Homecoming" which I didn't even realise I liked so much (luckily, you can't get rid of a guest vocal bit if it's the damned chorus), "All Falls Down" and "Through the Wire". It was also no Kanye show without a bit of amusing banter, for example when he stopped "All of the Lights" to command us to sing the words "MJ gone, our ni**a dead" again, louder, don't we realise that MJ IS GONE??!?. Similarly amusing was the breath-stopping moment when in between songs he suddenly came out with "She said, Ye can we get married at the maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall?" ("Niggaz in Paris" lyrics off 'Watch the Throne'), then laughed and said he better not do it without Jay-Z, hinting at a possible Australian 'Watch the Throne' tour. Yes pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.

The crowning and perhaps most anticipated moment however was when the dancers came onstage with a giant sheet and spent a lot of minutes dancing underneath, until the sheet cloud went away and Kanye emerged, set up with his lone synth on a small glass podium, ready for "Runaway". He began to play his one note, with all the passion one note can exude. The music came on soon relieving him of this job (good work Kanye! Couldn't have done it without you!) and he let himself muck around with the sample keys a bit too freely (for the "who gotcha!" moments in the song). Like a big kid being allowed to play his pretend keyboard at an orchestral performance, it was hilarious. 

The dancers were excellent and recreated the scene in the filmclip beautifully. As the song died down, one dancer remained, and Kanye continued with ad-libbed crooning, which extended into what felt like a ten minute rant about how "if you love someone tonight, you gotta hold them tight!" It was a sweet message, but it was incredibly indulgent and went on for too long, alienating the audience a little.
His final moments redeemed him however, with the Bonny Bear collaboration "Lost In the World", which I went cray for, as most people around me seemed too tired to bother. He ended on a lovely dedication to his mother, being of course "Hey Mama", which actually brought sobs to a few young girl's eyes. 


Oh man, what a day. I was so grateful that Kanye made up for lost time by playing for about 2 hours, although this meant a few people had to leave early to make their shuttle buses. I could have stayed for another 2 hours, despite how exhausted I was for the next two days. Despite all it's expected, indulgent flaws, Kanye's show was just so thrilling, and the most memorable show of the day, as I expected.


As a whole, BDO was a terribly organised event, but wouldn't it be great if all BDO's had that small a crowd?  It made places easier to get to, food and drinks quicker to get (despite me losing all my drink tickets at one point), and crowds easier to enjoy. As a result, I had a fabulous day. 8 out of 10 australian flag bikinis*.

And I bow down to you back, sir.

*Because in previous years you could see about 1000 of these!