Lady Gaga 13 February 2010
So from one of the best concerts of my life to one of the worst. In a moment of madness I decided it would be a good idea to see Lady Gaga, after rating her as not that bad of a singer, and I was going to be in Auckland anyway.
The concert started as expected, terrible opening band, packed full of teenage girls and a lot of gay guys, skantily dressed in heels and a lot of glitter.
Lady gaga started the show stroking her ego by having a massive white screen showing pictures of herself in various poses. She then appeared as a silhouette, singing her first song. The screeen lifted and the crowd went wild.
Now dont get me wrong, i was expecting a pop concert, with costume changes, a ridiculously sized set and stage props. And Gaga as she likes to be referred to, delivered on these items. the outfits were skanky as but brilliant. The set was massive and the back up dancers were spectacular. AND Lady gaga is a good singer, and carries herself well.
But to the things that ruined the experience for me, firstly who has a story line to their concert? 'we have to get to the monster ball gaga!' 'oh no our car has broken down, we have to take the subway!'
When the average age of your audience is probably about 17, 18 its time to get away from the bad acting, we are mature enough and smart enough to follow that the songs dont link together and we're fine with this.
Secondly, the crowd just stood there taking photos, not dancing, not even singing, just taking photos. Yep there were plenty of cool things happening, but lets ease up on the photo taking, i mean 1) noone wants to see millions of blurry photos of half someone elses head half lady gaga do they? and isnt the part of a concert enjoying the experience instead of spending it trying to get that good snap?
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
The mother fucking pixies
The Pixies - Vector arena, March 12 2010
Yes the pixies. Like faith no more, a band I've been wanting to see since I got recommended them by a friend when I was 16.
The anticipation for this one was great, their reunion in 2004, the rumours of a big day out tour, the disapointment in finding out they werent.
Finally! the day arrived, and what a day! A major storm hits Wellington at 4.30pm, just as I make my way to the airport. Arrive in the airport completely drenched and FREAKING OUT that we wont be able to fly out tonight.
After a 30 minute delay, the plane takes off, im on it, we dont die, a pretty uneventful trip apart from the free alcohol which went straight to my head.
By the time I reach vector, collapsing cities are playing, a local indie band who are alright but nothing special - so we gave them a miss.
The crowd was an interesting one, full of 40 yr old office workers out with their partners, dressed in the always classic t shirt and jeans, a very different crowd than the one that i saw the next night.
When the pixies come out the roar of the crowd was deafening, four slightly overweight, baggy t shirt wearing geniuses walk out, the most unlikely rockstars. yet when these guys start playing, it all came back to me about why i love them so much, quiet, loud, quiet, that unique pixies sound AMAZING!
they started off with Kim informing us that the are playing b sides. pretty good too, recognised none of it of course. however Kim also informed us that some of the b sides are so obsure they even had to learn how to play them again.
then onto the main event. Doolittle. My favourite album in the whole wide world, with my favourite song in the history of songs - hey. when they played that i felt like my world was finaly complete, can cross something off my bucket list (crossed so many things off lately i think its time to write a new one).
When they finished doolittle the crowd went wild. honestly, never ever heard a crowd cheer for that long and that loud. the band walks off, the cheering continues for five minutes until they come back on. and start playing all the classics, first off was where is my mind? i dunno but that sure blew whatever was left of it away.
The thing about the pixies is that i love them and i love particular songs so much, but then they just came out with all these tracks i had completely forgotten about and was SO stoked to hear like nimrods son. they finished on gigantic. the first song i ever heard of the pixies.
Im still riding the high of this concert and it was 2 weeks ago already!
Yes the pixies. Like faith no more, a band I've been wanting to see since I got recommended them by a friend when I was 16.
The anticipation for this one was great, their reunion in 2004, the rumours of a big day out tour, the disapointment in finding out they werent.
Finally! the day arrived, and what a day! A major storm hits Wellington at 4.30pm, just as I make my way to the airport. Arrive in the airport completely drenched and FREAKING OUT that we wont be able to fly out tonight.
After a 30 minute delay, the plane takes off, im on it, we dont die, a pretty uneventful trip apart from the free alcohol which went straight to my head.
By the time I reach vector, collapsing cities are playing, a local indie band who are alright but nothing special - so we gave them a miss.
The crowd was an interesting one, full of 40 yr old office workers out with their partners, dressed in the always classic t shirt and jeans, a very different crowd than the one that i saw the next night.
When the pixies come out the roar of the crowd was deafening, four slightly overweight, baggy t shirt wearing geniuses walk out, the most unlikely rockstars. yet when these guys start playing, it all came back to me about why i love them so much, quiet, loud, quiet, that unique pixies sound AMAZING!
they started off with Kim informing us that the are playing b sides. pretty good too, recognised none of it of course. however Kim also informed us that some of the b sides are so obsure they even had to learn how to play them again.
then onto the main event. Doolittle. My favourite album in the whole wide world, with my favourite song in the history of songs - hey. when they played that i felt like my world was finaly complete, can cross something off my bucket list (crossed so many things off lately i think its time to write a new one).
When they finished doolittle the crowd went wild. honestly, never ever heard a crowd cheer for that long and that loud. the band walks off, the cheering continues for five minutes until they come back on. and start playing all the classics, first off was where is my mind? i dunno but that sure blew whatever was left of it away.
The thing about the pixies is that i love them and i love particular songs so much, but then they just came out with all these tracks i had completely forgotten about and was SO stoked to hear like nimrods son. they finished on gigantic. the first song i ever heard of the pixies.
Im still riding the high of this concert and it was 2 weeks ago already!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Patton is god
Soundwave 2010.
I've always been jealous of the variety of festivals Australia has and the wide range of genres and bands that they attract. So when I heard that Faith no more were headlining Soundwave 2010, it was an opportunity I couldn't miss.
After an awkward plane ride over the ditch (including a sexual abuse disclosure by a teary American), I arrived in Sydney to 25 degree heat, sunshine and 3 million Sydneysiders.
Soundwave took about an hour to get to via trains from the central city. There was then a bus ride from the train station to the festival which was situated out in a race course far away from any civilisation (or at least it felt like it). There was a large presence of police and sniffer dogs, something you never see in New Zealand, yet i didn't manage to see anyone getting tackled down, or bitten by the dogs (or the police for that matter). disappointing!
The festival itself included four stage areas spread out around the race course. problems i had with the festival were:
Little shade (esp for my pasty skin!)
No one was selling sunscreen
Tokens to buy your alcohol, what the truck! this just made things far too confusing!
A high number of southern cross and Australia pride tattoos
However, there were a lot more awesome things about soundwave than there were bad.
I really liked that the stages were quite far apart, meaning that 1) i didn't have to interact with the large number of emos at the festival and 2) the sound from one stage didn't interfere too much with the next. which meant that you could easily sit at the bar and listen to a band, without having to half listen to one playing on a nearby stage (thanks bdo).
Anyway, now to the music!
First band we saw was the gallows. A hardcore band from the UK. Cant say hardcore is really my thing anymore, but it sure brought back a lot of memories. I liked that the singer got a bunch of kids to make a pyramid in the middle of the moshpit. however, other than that they weren't particularly memorable.
then off to the beer tent to get confused with tokens. Isis were the next band. i was very excited about them after watching them at San Fran earlier in the week. their set at soundwave was far too short. however they played a lot of their new stuff, and their melodic metal was inspiring and the crowd were loving it, invisible oranges were seen all around.
After Isis we managed to see the end of eagles of death metal. A band I don't mind to listen to on occasion. However, this band was truly terrible! The singer, sporting pedo facial hair, shouted out many a pun involving the lyrics of the song they were about to play. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Just like they enjoyed paramore, a equally awful band.
Luckily about this time we headed over to see MESUGGAH! Epic. as. fuck. thoroughly enjoyed this set however i was falling asleep by this stage (too much beer and sun), so don't actually remember so much the specifics of their set.
After nabbing a bit of shade under a sole tree (managed to give shade to like 20 people, go tree!), it was finally starting to get a bit cooler and we went down to Janes addiction. I was quite interested to see these guys, after only really knowing a couple of songs, and hating Dave Navarro (esp after rockstar supernova). These guys were very unimpressive. The singer was a pretentious arsehole, telling the crowd how much they like to party, the bassist looked extremely out of place, and old dave looking like a complete tool.
After Janes, the excitement started to build for faith no more. pity there was one more band to watch. possibly, the worst band of all time. well no, previously my chemical romance was supposed to play in this slot, thankfully they cancelled. unfortunately, jimmy eat world then got the gig. it was awful! like honestly, cheesy shit! and they played for agggggesss! saying how this was their best gig ever (really? the whole crowd was booing you off).
ten hours later, it was finally time for faith no more. i was SO excited, Mike Patton is the greatest vocalist in the world. the crowd was cheering, the joints were lit, i was jumping in anticipation. And they arrived on stage, to a hiss and a roar, singing reunited.
It was so fantastic to finally see these guys live, and they put on a great performance. Again, Mike had such amazing stage presence. Ive seen a lot of bands, but never before have i seen someone own the stage as much as he does (with Karen O coming in second).
Cup of sorrow, epic, ashes to ashes and easy had to be my highlights.
So yes, Patton is god and I would also like him to be my boyfriend, because that man is delicious!
I've always been jealous of the variety of festivals Australia has and the wide range of genres and bands that they attract. So when I heard that Faith no more were headlining Soundwave 2010, it was an opportunity I couldn't miss.
After an awkward plane ride over the ditch (including a sexual abuse disclosure by a teary American), I arrived in Sydney to 25 degree heat, sunshine and 3 million Sydneysiders.
Soundwave took about an hour to get to via trains from the central city. There was then a bus ride from the train station to the festival which was situated out in a race course far away from any civilisation (or at least it felt like it). There was a large presence of police and sniffer dogs, something you never see in New Zealand, yet i didn't manage to see anyone getting tackled down, or bitten by the dogs (or the police for that matter). disappointing!
The festival itself included four stage areas spread out around the race course. problems i had with the festival were:
Little shade (esp for my pasty skin!)
No one was selling sunscreen
Tokens to buy your alcohol, what the truck! this just made things far too confusing!
A high number of southern cross and Australia pride tattoos
However, there were a lot more awesome things about soundwave than there were bad.
I really liked that the stages were quite far apart, meaning that 1) i didn't have to interact with the large number of emos at the festival and 2) the sound from one stage didn't interfere too much with the next. which meant that you could easily sit at the bar and listen to a band, without having to half listen to one playing on a nearby stage (thanks bdo).
Anyway, now to the music!
First band we saw was the gallows. A hardcore band from the UK. Cant say hardcore is really my thing anymore, but it sure brought back a lot of memories. I liked that the singer got a bunch of kids to make a pyramid in the middle of the moshpit. however, other than that they weren't particularly memorable.
then off to the beer tent to get confused with tokens. Isis were the next band. i was very excited about them after watching them at San Fran earlier in the week. their set at soundwave was far too short. however they played a lot of their new stuff, and their melodic metal was inspiring and the crowd were loving it, invisible oranges were seen all around.
After Isis we managed to see the end of eagles of death metal. A band I don't mind to listen to on occasion. However, this band was truly terrible! The singer, sporting pedo facial hair, shouted out many a pun involving the lyrics of the song they were about to play. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Just like they enjoyed paramore, a equally awful band.
Luckily about this time we headed over to see MESUGGAH! Epic. as. fuck. thoroughly enjoyed this set however i was falling asleep by this stage (too much beer and sun), so don't actually remember so much the specifics of their set.
After nabbing a bit of shade under a sole tree (managed to give shade to like 20 people, go tree!), it was finally starting to get a bit cooler and we went down to Janes addiction. I was quite interested to see these guys, after only really knowing a couple of songs, and hating Dave Navarro (esp after rockstar supernova). These guys were very unimpressive. The singer was a pretentious arsehole, telling the crowd how much they like to party, the bassist looked extremely out of place, and old dave looking like a complete tool.
After Janes, the excitement started to build for faith no more. pity there was one more band to watch. possibly, the worst band of all time. well no, previously my chemical romance was supposed to play in this slot, thankfully they cancelled. unfortunately, jimmy eat world then got the gig. it was awful! like honestly, cheesy shit! and they played for agggggesss! saying how this was their best gig ever (really? the whole crowd was booing you off).
ten hours later, it was finally time for faith no more. i was SO excited, Mike Patton is the greatest vocalist in the world. the crowd was cheering, the joints were lit, i was jumping in anticipation. And they arrived on stage, to a hiss and a roar, singing reunited.
It was so fantastic to finally see these guys live, and they put on a great performance. Again, Mike had such amazing stage presence. Ive seen a lot of bands, but never before have i seen someone own the stage as much as he does (with Karen O coming in second).
Cup of sorrow, epic, ashes to ashes and easy had to be my highlights.
So yes, Patton is god and I would also like him to be my boyfriend, because that man is delicious!
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