Music – Page 5 – helenthura.com

September 28, 2008

Water and Fireworks, a dangerous combination

I am sitting at my desk, looking out at the bottle brush, waiting for the family of possums who live in the tree to wake up and start their evening’s play and I just glanced at the corner of my desk and caught my eye on the brochure from the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra concert I went to about ten days ago and thought I really should write about that.

I have every intention of catching the train to QPAC in my refined orchestra listening clothes but time very much got the better of me and the shawl I wanted to wear was at Mum’s place so I ended up driving but I wasn’t going to pay for parking! I parked on the street outside Gambaros at South Brisbane and walked the streets of South Brisbane in my finery instead.

They played three of the Water Music Suites first (D major, HWV 349; G major and minor, HWV 348; F, HWV 348). Which was a reasonable treat but I fully admit I dozed on and off through it (just like I always do in the first half of any performance). After the interval it was time for what I was just begging to see, Music for the Royal Fireworks. The females in the orchestra had changed outfits from black tops with purple skirts to black dresses of a wide variety of styles. It was everything I thought it was going to be and more. The opening strains had me sitting upright in my seat, eyes sparkling as I watched the various sections joining in.

I have no shame in admitting that one of the reasons that I like Music for the Royal Fireworks so much is that at the first concert for the king it featured a nice large number of bassoons ( the superior instrument) and oboes.

It was so great seeing the cellists playing cellos with no endpins, just holding it between their knees. It was also humorous watching the various horn players (all with no valves) constantly empting the spit. One of the cool things was the theorbo player, I had never seen one before it was quite interesting to watch. The funniest thing though was watching the Paul Dyer the founder/artistic director/harpsichord player get really excited during sections and get up from his bench and play with great vigour. It was a fantastic night and I am going to keep an eye out next year to see what the Orchestra offers on their next tour away from Sydney.

August 27, 2008August 25, 2008

Perfect Day

Lou Reed is Lou Reed. I heard this song for the first time on the weekend and I just can’t stop saying the words over. It is just a sweet little song and I guess why I love it is just how low key the instruments are, letting the focus be on Lou, his voice and the song lyrics.

Perfect Day
Lou Reed
Transformer (1972)

Just a perfect day,
Drink Sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.
Just a perfect day,
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later, a movie, too,
And then home.

Oh it’s such a perfect day,
I’m glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

Just a perfect day,
Problems all left alone,
Weekenders on our own.
It’s such fun.
Just a perfect day,
You made me forget myself.
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.

Oh it’s such a perfect day,
I’m glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

You’re going to reap just what you sow,
You’re going to reap just what you sow,
You’re going to reap just what you sow,
You’re going to reap just what you sow…

August 7, 2008August 11, 2008

Still Banging On About The Breeders

It is Thursday night, about 71 hours since The Breeders walked onto the stage at The Zoo. I am laying on the floor of my bedroom with my laptop (oh yes, I got a laptop a month or so ago, it is pink, I love it) in my Breeders shirt, listening to Mountain Battles and loving it more and more. In those 71 hours all I have listened to is Breeders, The Amps and an itsy witsby bit of Kelley Deal 6000 and I could not love the sisters Deal more.

Charlyn likes to remind me round the net that I was super excited and well I must admit she is telling the truth. Man the grin I had on my face was a grin that has never appeared on my face at a concert before and probably never will, well the only time I think it will reappear will be if I ever get to see The Breeders live again and let me be honest and truthful I am by no means counting my eggs for that on the flip-side, I had a thought at the gig on Monday night that I could so see those girls pushing 70 and still singing their songs on the stage. I will have to wait and see I guess but those few hours will be a night I will cherish for the rest of my life.

I still find it so hard to believe that man oh man I saw the Breeders. I will be sitting at my desk at work or walking to the train station and I find myself smiling at the thought of how magical Monday night was.

Gaslight Radio were the supports and to be honest I didn’t really think much of them. They had one or two alright songs in their set but that was about it. The lead singer had quite good stage presence but it was really let down by some of the other band members. One of the guys spent the entire set with his back to the audience playing his guitar??? what the?????

My favourite photo I took during their set was not of them but of a piece of A4 paper I saw on top of an amp.

mmmm yeah! The set list. I close to fainted when I saw that Safari was on there. Still that didn’t stop me from yelling out for them to play it during the set and then Kim said something back to me and they they played it and well Helen went into a state of euphoria. The deviated from the set list a bit I think with the addition of one or two impromptu songs that I can’t recall. Looking at the order of the songs in the photo above and the set list from the show in Boston it seems that the set list for the shows on this world tour are pretty much the same.

01. Tipp City
02. Huffer
03. Bang On
04. Shocker In Gloomtown (GBV)
05. Divine Hammer
06. Night of Joy
07. No Aloha
08. Pacer
09. We’re Gonna Rise
10. It’s The Love (Tasties)
11. Mercury
12. New Year
13. Cannonball
14. I Just Wanna Get Along
15. Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Beatles)
16. Iris
17. Safari
18. Saints
19. German Studies
20. Empty Glasses

21. Overglazed
22. Fortunately Gone
23. Here No More
24. Drivin’ on 9
25. Full On Idle

I would have really really really liked to have heard and Flipside and Hag and When I Was a Painter and Son of Three and well the 100 other or so songs in their discography. Though I am really kicking myself for not yelling out for the Buffy theme as that would have been so fricking cool.

Kelley

I don’t know where to start about the Breeders set. It was just magical. The sold out crowd was a real mix of ages; people my age, people a bit younger and plenty of people who are more Karl’s age. As there were so many people like me who had been waiting years and years to see them, the atmosphere in the crowd as they started to play the songs and banter was just incredible, Kim and Kelley interacted with the crowd a lot and seemed incredibly at ease on stage.

You can see the rest of the photos over at helenpalsson.com.au or at The Dwarf

If The Breeders come to a town near you any time soon, go! (and ask me to come along too :D)

August 5, 2008August 11, 2008

Happiness is a Breeders Show

Tonight, was a night I have waited a many number of years for, by my count, I have waited almost fifteen years for this night. Tonight, The Breeders played The Zoo and oh my jeans what a great night it was.

When the first came on stage I started to weep, when they played Safari I just about died, actually if Tanya Donelly had walked out on stage I probably would have. At the end of the night I had the biggest smile on my face.

What was fantastic though was that they were all just so excited to be there. They chatted to the audience, they showed that fine sisterly affection to each other and constantly made each other and all of us laugh. At the end Kelley walked back on stage with a paperback and gave it to a lady standing beside me as she reminded Kelley of an old room mate and it was taking up space in her bag! how cool was that?

I just dude, The Breeders were just there and I was there and man oh man I saw The Breeders!!!! To say slightly overjoyed would be an understatement. I have looked forward to this night for soo many years now and I was so afraid that they would not meet the expectation I had built in my head but I am so so so so happy to say they exceeded all my expectations.

Lots more photos and words to come

June 28, 2008August 11, 2008

Peter Combe and the Juicy Juicy Green Grass Band

Saturday night, what a night it was at The Zoo, by far my favourite show of the year and I think the favourite show of the year for many of the other punters there. Why? Well Peter Combe was in town and playing at The Zoo :D. I was going to wear a newspaper hat but thought that was a bit too ordinary so I went with toothbrushes in my hair. As I walked past people, they would smile and make comments or start singing Mr Clicketty Cane. Later on as I moved through the crowd, people would exclaim “You’re the girl with the toothbrushes” to which I would smile and ponder the fact that people were actually talking about me. Let me tell you know that putting toothbrushes in your hair is no easy feat, it involved numerous hair ties and I would have to push them up every so often.

The Crowd, Yay Newspaper Hats 😀

First up was Deb Suckling and Craig Spann as Peachfish providing some of their fine folksy, alt-country romance.

Then there was a band, well they were a band and a half. They were The Danaj Show. The lead singer came on stage with a briefcase. With much lead up he opened that case to reveal a newspaper hat!! This was not just any newspaper had though this was a newspaper hat covered with stars (those stars that you used to be put on your forehead when you were good in class). The crowd went wild.

I had left my Spagetti Bolagnaise LP at home, as I had left I had thought of bringing it with me to wave at the right moment. I decided against it though. As the second band played I kept on thinking about the sign that said Peter would be doing a signing at the end of the night. I rang Matthew and paid him $20 to grab the LP and drive into The Valley to drop it off for me.

I got it signed 😀 and you can see the toothbrushes.
Signed

After long wait the Juicy Juicy Green Grass Band came out, led of course by the icon that is Phil. Phil, Phil, Phil is what was chanted as he took is rightful seat behind the keyboards. Then they played a crowd rousing tune as the chants for Peter, Peter, Peter got louder and louder. Then our child icon ran onto the stage, grabbed his mike and everything was ok. Peter Combe was on stage, we knew the words, he knew our faces and no one could be happier.

When he played Tadpole Blues, I smiled, for as much as Matthew denies it, that was his favourite song. Then there was Rain, Rain, Rain, my favourite song now. There was the blow fly song, Down in Bathroom, Nutrition Blues, Rock ‘N’ Roll Is All You Need, Chops & Sausages, Jack & The Beanstalk, Syntax Error, Newspaper Mama, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Toffee Apple, Phone Calls Daddy, Jellybean Road (well I think he played this). He has written a song for each of his children and since his son Tom is in The Juicy Juicy Green Grass Band, they played Lullaby (For Tom). The crowd let out a collective sigh during this. No Parcel in the Post though or 12345, that is life though.

Of course the last song they played was Juicy Juicy Green Grass and it was something special 😀

Band

It was the happiest gig of the year, every where you turned people where smiling and singing/shouting/miming along with the words. As people poured out of The Zoo onto Ann St, the smiles were there, people were milling around humming tunes, clutching their new Peter Combe T-shirts and just going yeah 🙂 I went with Ms Clare and her friend Jackie/Jacquie who was smiling and singing along with me the entire time.

The rest of the photos are here

June 16, 2008August 11, 2008

Angus and Julia Stone, The Tivoli

Thursday night saw me at The Tivoli with The Dwarf for the second night of Angus and Julia Stone. What is most likely a shock to most people is that I haven’t really heard that much of the Stones prior to the concert and what I had heard, I found enjoyable but was by no means a fan. Leaving the show I appreciated them a whole lot more. However the treat for the night was not the Stones but VÃctor ValdÃ©s, the support act. Man, that man can play the harp. Doing requests from the audience is always the way to go, though I was hoping he would pull out Stairway to Heaven for some strange reason but he didn’t. He did though do a Gypsy King song (I think it was Chan Chan) what had me going was of course Guantanamera. I also got to meet a few other photographers for the first time and a chance to catch up with Eleny again. Quite a nice night indeed.

The Harp Man