Cell Block 69 - The Basement Party Stadium

 

Cell Block 69
The Basement Party Stadium
23 December 2022

Is there anything better than seeing the original artist doing the original hits?

Music in the 80s were all about fun and Cell Block 69 certainly know all about fun. But first a bit of background. Cell Block 69 are an 80s covers band. The thing that separates Cell Block 69 from other covers bands is the conceit they bring to the show. You enter an alternative universe when you go to a Cell Block 69 concert. The story is that they wrote all the songs and then they were brazenly stolen by the famous artists who made them (insert booming voice) “international number one hits”. 

Everyone in the band is called Corey or a variation of Corey. You’ve got Duanne Le Corey Micheals, Corey Sambori, Corey RoKK-SiXXXxxXXX, Corey Anne-Kennerly, Kori the Artist formerly known as Corey, Corey Baden Baden Baden Baden Powell, Corey Ography. Not only that, but the band have all the moves and all the costumes straight from the 80s. They’re pretty authentic.

It’s this schtick that brings the audience into the joke and into the show. The band had the audience in the palm of their hands from the first bar. Side note… it’s handy having a back catalogue of all killer, no filler hit songs. Anthemic hits like Girls on Film, Walk Like an Egyptian, Electric Blue. You name it they wrote it!

It’s quite something being in the audience and knowing all the songs and being able to sing along to every word. Not only that, but the whole audience knows every song. I think that’s really the key to this gig. The audience really lean into the 80s vibe with everyone dressing up in 80s gear. I’ve not seen so much neon and taffeta outside of a blue light disco!

So, is anything better than seeing the original artist doing the original hits?  This. This is better. 

The Killers - Qudos Bank Arena

 

 

The Killers
Qudos Bank Arena
19 December 2022

 

 

Comparing The Killers to a school speech is a stretch but hear me out.

It takes a certain confidence to start your show like other bands finish theirs. The Killers opened the final show of the Imploding the Mirage tour like most other bands play an encore.  Streamers, confetti, explosions. Most importantly lots of big hits! It was an impressive opening.

The Killers are one of those bands that span generations.  In fact they’re one of the last of the big bands. Around 2005 when streaming started to take over as the medium of choice the number of bands that were able to make a mark across the wider culture seemed to diminish. That’s not to say that there weren’t great bands that came after this date, but bands like Coldplay, Arctic Monkey and The Killers were some of the last bands that had a cultural impact beyond just music fans. Not many bands since have been able to do that.  

The Killers, at their best, are a mix of U2 and the Smiths, with a dash of Depeche Mode and the Cure thrown in. You can see why I like them. It’s no surprise that I’ve indoctrinated my children into liking the band and they were (more or less) willing participants in attending the concert. I guess it goes to my main point that the Killers are one of the last intergenerational bands. The crowd was full of people of all ages. Sometimes I feel that it is more important who you go to a concert with than who you go to see.
 
If, after such an impressive start, the show flagged in the middle I guess that was understandable. But as my wise companions said, how else do you get to know the new songs if they don’t play them? They had a fair point.

However, when you’ve got songs like Human (given a new electro treatment), Somebody Told Me and main set closer All These Things That I’ve Done in your kit bag things were never really in doubt.

The actual encore of Spaceman and Mr Brightside was enough to make the crowd go wild and have me reminded by my children of some advice that I gave them "when giving a speech as long as you start well and finish well, it doesn’t really matter if you get a bit lost in the middle”. That kind of summed up the show.   

There was something great about sharing this gig with my newest gig buddies. As the Mastercard ad goes, ticket price = hundreds of dollars.  Going with your adult children = priceless.

Nick Cave - Canberra Theatre Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nick Cave

Canberra Theatre Centre

28 November 2022

 

I used to see Nick Cave everywhere. When the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra opened, they seemed to have only one painting.  A graffiti portrait of Nick Cave.  It became a bit of a joke between my wife and me. “There’s bloody Nick Cave again”. Every exhibition seemed to find a way to jam in that Nick Cave painting. 

 

The thing was that neither of us liked Nick Cave.

He was never really my thing. It’s not even that he did nothing for me.  I actively disliked him. I always thought that he was just too pretentious. I felt that he was an artist I should have liked but didn’t. Every artist that I like cite him as an influence but he left me cold.  However, one of the things that occurred in lockdown was that I re-evaluated his back catalogue. The excellent Skeleton Tree album was the gateway which then lead me to explore his entire back catalogue.  A strange thing happened.  I first started to admire his work and then I slowly started to really like it! 

 

Seeing him at the Canberra Theatre was a revelation.  It’s a bit of a cliché to say that Nick Cave is like a preacher from an alternative secular universe.  But he certainly brings a religious fervour to his performance.  It was mesmerising.  The performance was very much like being in a church in the deep south where all the emotions that a human can experience have free reign to be expressed.  Not only sadness and grief, but surprisingly joy, levity and wicked humour were also on display. 

 

His latest albums deal with the tragic loss of his son and the show leant heavily on this material. If on record the songs seem like they have the most personal lyrics imaginable, in a live setting the slight changes of delivery bring them to another level.  The holding onto notes and emphasising certain lines make you feel you are literally watching someone process the grief that losing a child must bring.  It is almost too much to bear witness to.

 

There were other moments where you felt you were in the presence of an evangelist preacher and you didn’t want to do anything that might break the spell and others where you felt like if this charismatic front man would ask for your soul, you would willingly give it to him.  Yes, it was that powerful. 

 

It feels like a cliché to say that I’m converted.  But nothing about the performance was a cliché.

 

I feel that I’m a new convert to the Church of Nick. 

 

Spilt Milk Festival

 

The Wombats, Spacey Jane, Genesis Owusu

Spilt Milk

Warning… Old Man alert.

Do you know the problem with the kids these days?  it’s that the like the same music we liked growing up.  Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Journey.  They’re all good bands (Ok, maybe not Journey…) but something feels a bit off.

What they should be liking is music that makes their parents say “Turn off that NOISE”.

Which leads me to Genesis Owusu.  Canberra’s own superstar performed at Spilt Milk to a packed tent in the early evening and… how do i say this nicely … as much as he has rock star charisma (and let’s face it, he does.  in spades) I really couldn’t tell much difference between what he was doing and karaoke.  There were no musicians on stage and while I don’t equate “guitars = real music” I feel that you need something more than just a singer.  Sure, he had 3 dancers - or vibe merchants - that brought a particular “male energy” to the performance.  That’s me trying to say it was quite aggressive.  Maybe i just don’t like that kind of music.

Also, the sound mix was terrible.  All bass. Distorted bass that overwhelmed the vocals. I guess that might be a problem if you’ve pre recorded your backing track. there’s not much a sound mixer can do on the night.  

But the packed tent showed that the kids actually loved it.  So in a weird way that made me feel good.  The kids are alright!

I worked my way to the main stage to see Spacey Jane and they’re a really good indie rock band.  Definitely a cut about the standard indie rock fare.  Sure, we’ve heard this a million times before, but that’s not a bad thing.  They were very good. Obviously it wasn’t just me who liked them as the arena was packed. The kids are alright!    

It’s terrifying to think that the Wombats are not a new band (they released their debut album in 2007) but a band who have a long catalogue of hits.  The great thing was they played most of them.  A band that knows how to please a festival crowd. They were really great. The Wombats, much like the kids, were alright! 

Crowded House - Stage 88

 

Crowded House

Stage 88

11 November 2022

In the end, there was nothing to worry about. It all worked out.  We were in the hands of a master. 

 

It is well established that a great crowd feeds a great band to bring them to a great performance.  It’s a positive feedback loop.  The seating arrangement at Crowded House’s show at Stage 88 did the band no favours.  At the end of the day there was really no doubt that we’d all leave very, very happy having listened to an incomparable songbook of hits.

The stage set up had seats in front of the stage, with a general admission area up the back.  People literally had picnic blankets and chairs. I know that CH are a nostalgia act… but really what have we become?  Are we all that old (spoiler… yes). It was initially hard for the band to make a connection.  Not only was there a seated front part of the crowd, there was a  huge gap between the stage and front row of seats.  It was about 5 metres.  Maybe more.  However, near the front of the stage, but to the side of the chairs, was a small area where I was standing. Let me rephrase that. Where I was dancing. Along with, surprisingly, not that many people.  Let’s say there were twenty people initially.  That crowd grew as the night went on and we were having a great time.  The band definitely noticed and complemented us a couple of times.  

In the middle of the gig, Neil Finn came down from the stage and stood in the middle of the vast gap.  Right up against the barrier he performed a song to the front rows. The gig was transformed.  The seated area finally stood up.  I don’t blame them. If you’re paying hundreds of dollars for a seat, you don’t want to be a d*ckhead and stand in front of someone else who has also paid hundreds of dollars for a prime seat.  Having said that, by coming to the front himself, Neil Finn gave permission for everyone to stand.  It was a great moment.  He had the whole crowd in the palm of his hands for the rest of the evening. 

As I was saying before, he’s a safe pair of hands.  That might sound like a band handed compliment. But it’s not. It was a great night.  A great gig.  Safe in the hands of a master craftsman. 

Gang of Youths - Sydney

 

Gang of Youths

Qudos Bank Arena Sydney

 

I didn’t realise that I had a vacancy in the "best concert’s I’ve ever seen” list.  But it turns out that I did. 

 

Have you ever wanted to attend a “local show” from a band? I’m thinking U2 in Dublin, or Springsteen in New Jersey. Well, this was very much like that.  But it was maybe a little better than you can imagine.  Not just seeing a Sydney band in Sydney, but seeing a band in Western Sydney just miles from where they first formed.  While I don’t live in Western Sydney I certainly get the local references they make during the night.  And you kind of know the inside jokes.  When he mentioned the West Connex you nodded in understanding.  This was a hometown show.  And you felt at home with them.

 

You can tell that playing the biggest indoor arena in Australia, just 15 minutes from where lead singer Dave Le’aupepe grew up, is a big moment for him and the band. He mentioned being in the room at various points of the night and you could tell it was part of his consciousness for a long time.  This wasn’t just another gig.  You could tell this meant something.  DL has been quite open about being part of a mega church (Hillsong?) when growing up, which was a traumatic experience for him. In fact, he seems to be still recovering from the whole church experience.  He mentioned that he got paid to stack chairs after attending that church in this very building… so to be playing the same arena must surely be a mind blowing experience for him. 

 

There was something about seeing a band in their prime that is truly special. And there’s something about seeing a band taking a step up to being an arena band that feels satisfying.  Not everyone can do it. It’s a different kind of space than a small venue.  You need to reach all the way to the back of the room and make everyone feel included. But if anyone has the personality to pull that off, it is DL.  Not to take anything away from the rest of the band - they were far from being an anonymous backing band - but the real star of the show was the lead singer.  He made the jump to playing arenas look effortless.  His banter, his stage moves, and his charisma made the large room feel intimate.   

 

Just by comparison, when we saw U2 Iz said that it was kind of like seeing your grandpa singing.  Ouch.  But also, and I don’t really want to admit this, it’s a bit true.  There’s no chance of this happening here. 

 

The performance is filled with songs from their great new album, Angel in Real Time, and you can tell they feel confident playing them.  But more than that, they also they have enough older, well loved, songs in their arsenal that the audience can sing along to. Frankly, I’m struggling to think of a louder crowd that I’ve been part of. I think they were singing along to every word.  And yes, it felt a lot like a communal experience. 

For a guy who says that he had a traumatic experience with a church and has rejected formal religion, Dave L certainly learned a thing or two.  It was a near religious experience. 

Ball Park Music /Archie

 

Ball Park Music / Archie

UC

 

 

What’s the difference between being very good or being great?  Sometimes it comes down to stage banter.

 

Local Canberra band Archie (Colette works with the lead singer Grant’s mum – how very Canberra) had the confidence, after a very strong start, to stop their set and tell a story about trousers. It was the first time on the main stage at UC and they went to buy some special trousers for the occasion.  The lead guitarist thought his online order wasn’t going to turn up, so went to the shop and bought some, but, of course, his order did turn up on time and it was all good.  It was all under control and everything worked out well. It took a lot of confidence and stage presence from the band to deliver this story. It was a perfect metaphor for their set of groovy dance indie rock. I was so much of a fan I literally bought a t shirt after the gig!

 

Ball Park Music have such a strong back catalogue of 2010’s indie hits that they could never play all of them.  It was a pretty great set from start to finish, they had light and shade, singalongs in pretty much every song and the room was jumping. Their stage banter, however, does leave a lot to be desired. I can handle one “Hey Canberra are you having a good time”  but by the 8^th time, it was getting a bit wearing.  Also, I’m happy to be called a “mother*cker” every now and then but, again, does it need to be repeated all night?  Should a band have scripted stage patter?  There’s certainly a strong case for that in Ball Park Music.  A bit better stage banter would have taken them from from being very good to being great. 

Boy and Bear

 

Groovin the Moo

 

Wolf Alice, Peking Duk, Hilltop Hoods, Middle Kids