Deterioration of the ear drums are just one of the many benefits of seeing a live act in the flesh. Groping and drunkenness are just some of the factors which may ward you off such a feat in human endurance and mislocated pain. Squeezing a watermelon through an aperture of a lemon would kill most humans if the lemon itself was not as supple as it needed to be in order to stretch to allow for such a magnificent feat. Pity the pain and the struggle of missing out on a set given by the rockers of choice. Make it yours.
Ethan Switch - Monday, December 4, 2006
Rain on the city streets, people splish-splashing around and heading long into each other with their umbrellas down and for the charge. Partial shock and slight dismay at the fact that Utopia Records is no more. Or at least no longer in the underground location at the foot of the escalators into the George Street cinemas.
Back and forth from one side of George Street to the other and around the block of the lanes to kill the time between open doors. The flush rush inside The Metro waits on from the skinny doors and wide security holding up the flow. Line reaches back from the huddling outside the glass toward the other side into Pitt Street. And a fallen trolley in the break curves the line some.
Read the rest of Hey! We Don't Make The Yules! - Tripod - The Metro - 02/12/06 review
Ethan Switch - Monday, April 24, 2006
Genius. Staples right through the envelope and on to pierce the corners of both tickets. For safety, for security, for making sure the little tokens keep together like all good waffles should. Woman in the vest does things the hard way, yanking them every angle, forgoing any decision to pluck out the legs.
There is no room for drinks service, a bar all the way up past the levels and at the back. This makes no sense with a drinks menu standing defiantly on the table end. They also serve no magic elixir here. Ice melts in the hand when a tongue snaps a jaw.
Read the rest of Bravo - Star City Showroom - 21/04/06 review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, September 25, 2005
Kiosk are on stage first.
Kiosk sound like 80's underground noise/punk.
Kiosk make me regret the fact that way too few people turned up to see Kiosk.
Read the rest of Electrelane - September 24th - @Newtown review
Ethan Switch - Monday, August 29, 2005
Dead lights on the main show off noodles and lines drawn in a Java 3D program. Off the lip of the stage is the console operator, a George Khut. Connected via a chest strap to the laptop, the man breathes in and out to quiet suggestions such as "take sips of air" and "breathe in hard." Swimming in and out and out and in, the lines represent the constrictions and relaxations of the diaphragm, as best as they can relay the information. A relaxing visual feast of nothing, the start of the Song Company's production of Drawing Breath is enough to knock out those eager for a nap.
Watching on for five minutes or more, the gasping and wheezing of an iron lung rides over the speakers. Nobody is certain of the greater con or if indeed there really is a person backstage breathing weakly on a deathbed straight into a microphone. Slight as the delivery is, the purely mechanical sound of undertones and gasps comes direct from the chest device.
Alex Yamakazi - Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Thanks to extensive recent press coverage we all know that Trent Reznor is a recovering alcoholic. I don't know if this was the reason that no alcoholic drinks were allowed in the Hordern, but if it was, then Trent you are a very spiteful man! I can forgive you though because you are also very talented and because I had enough time to guzzle down my drink before you came onstage... however I would have liked to have gotten drunker and you stopped me Trent... you stopped me!
Minor gripes aside it was a great show. No antics, no chit chat, the band were onstage on time and launched straight into proceedings opening with the atmospheric "The Frail" which melded into a bitter and aggressive rendition of "The Wretched". The crowd went wild for the hard industrial sound of old favourites "Wish" & "Sin". These were followed by a track from the new album "The Line Begins To Blur" and then the classic manic live track "March of the Pigs".
Read the rest of Nine Inch Nails - Hordern Pavillion - 19th Aug review
Ethan Switch - Tuesday, July 5, 2005
There is a funeral or a party for Goths out the back. Everyone's in black. Apart from one pair of legs, it's an all dour sensation as the ensemble step out one after the other. First one, then two and then a flock of seagulls.
Opening with the number, "I Am Changing" from Dream Girls, one member of the ensemble assaults the eyes. Light catching no favour, hurtling bright rays right into the retina. Temporary blindness is done with as they move their dress away from the spotlight and into the fray.
Jimmy Weasel - Sunday, April 3, 2005
Easily flustered by traffic on the way in, all cares and woes were lost once Cake took the stage. That unmistakable guitar filter that they use filled my brain and the rest of the night I watched in more than moderate awe.
Thankfully, the show went a lot longer than any of their albums, each of which had songs performed at this particular event. The crowd were not particularly menacing; Cake fans seem on the whole to be a decent bunch. Naturally there were a few exceptions. Some recent failures from Australian Idol were in the seated area; standing to either be annoying or be noticed. "Sit down, dickhead!" someone screamed - but to no avail. Elsewhere in the crowd some goofball proclaimed "Triple M Rocks!" and was instantly and correctly rebuked with a surly look and a "no they don't" from a nearby Dan.
Read the rest of Cake - Enmore Theatre 01/04/2005 review
Alex Yamakazi - Friday, February 4, 2005
In 1995 The Chemical Brothers released Exit Planet Dust the album that drove the final nail into the coffin of the already ailing grunge era and turned the musical community's attentions firmly toward electronica. Exit Planet Dust was a significant album for many as at that time electronica was widely considered as a shallow and soulless genre.
The emotional journey of Exit Planet Dust opened the minds of many previously adamant rockers inspiring them to begin exploring the possibilities of electronica. Thus the Chemical Brothers hold a special and almost nostalgic place in many peoples hearts making their gig feel almost like the gen x equivalent of a Neil Diamond concert.
Read the rest of The Chemical Brothers - 27th Jan Hordern Pavilion review
Ethan Switch - Monday, October 11, 2004
The roulette table captures money as a result of a miscalculated guess on even to show red 15. Time taken reads a full minute with half an hour to spare for the walk up the spiral of stairs and stairs to the Grand Circle level of Star City’s Lyric Theatre. We Will Rock You posters cover the windows and walls, a crowd gathers too close to each other breathing about as the call for seats is made. Melbourne’s showing is looping on a few of the televisions bracketed to the wall and We Will Rock You gently buzzes the air. Dead centre, a girl named Jennifer sells copies on copies of one of the shiniest programmes ever seen. Riding a wall near elevators is a stall selling tshirts, mugs, caddies and albums. We Will Rock You, the musical featuring the hits of rock gods Queen weaved around a script by author/comedian Ben Elton, definitely on for the showing at 1845 on a Sunday night.
At the farthest seating row of the theatre, and on the top most elevation, the stage area seems rather cosy and fearfully deep-seated with the prospect of having to make out the shadows from underneath the over hanging curtains. Fears not particularly founded as it remains within a viewable scope and as the real lights and staging would show, more than enough to accommodate the performances. This is the back row and the first half of the performance before the intermission breaks out. Hardly anyone returns to their seats as they make waves toward the stage.
Belvedere Jehosophat - Tuesday, July 6, 2004
The first band of the night that I saw was a delightful little groop by the name of Arcade. Ah, Arcade...
Do you remember all of the radio-friendly rock bands that sounded like atrocious Pearl Jam rip-offs?
Arcade do the same thing and somehow manage to sound worse than those bands, mainly because, a) it’s been done to death; and, b) it’s been done better.
Read the rest of Alone in the Crowd: Aquanox + others, Hopetoun Hotel, 06/07/2004 review
Jimmy Weasel - Tuesday, July 6, 2004
The assignment seemed straightforward. Go to the Hopetoun Hotel, rendezvous with Belvedere and review the band. Aquanox themselves had suggested we see them in some kind of live environment to best sample their musical renderings.
The opening act (whose name escapes me) seemed to draw a neo-yuppie crowd; dressed a little too well for such a venue. Their music wasn't terribly sharp either. But this review isn't about them. It's about Aquanox.
Read the rest of Alone in the Crowd: Aquanox + others, Hopetoun Hotel, 06/07/2004 review
Belvedere Jehosophat - Saturday, July 3, 2004
just quickly - what did you think of sonic yoof? i thought it was really good.
good enough to get a ticket to go the following night.
Belvedere Jehosophat - Sunday, February 15, 2004
Josh Homme is – seriously, now! – the most rockinest man in rock and the most sexinest in sex!
He walked on stage wearing jeans and a black muscle shirt with a cigarette dangling from his lips. After approaching the microphone he tossed the cigarette over his shoulder as if its presence suddenly bothered him - almost as if he wasn't the one who lit it and put it in his mouth in the first place. He is virility personified. I am but a wilted sunflower.
Read the rest of Queens of the Stone Age - Enmore Theatre - 09/02/04 review
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