Roxette - Rod Laver Arena, 18th February 2012

Gallery: Roxette

If you had a hit – any hit – in the early 90s chances are that in 2012 you’ll have either just completed, are in the middle of, or a frantically planning an Australian tour.

Swedish duo Per Gessle and Marie Fredrikkson however could never be labelled one hit wonders. As the euro-pop machine Roxette, they have enjoyed more #1 singles, and more top 10 singles in the US than ABBA.

Still, their star has dimmed significantly, and as an unabashed fan of their 1988 album Look Sharp!, and having seen them on their 1991 Joyride tour at the same venue supporting the album of the same name, nostalgia was definitely not a thing of the past.

8:50pm sees the duo take to the Rod Laver Arena stage and get straight to the point, opening with Dressed For Success, a Top 10 Australian hit in 1989. Two other familiar tunes followed, 1994′s Sleeping In My Car (the first single released as Roxette’s mainstream appeal started to slide), and the Joyride offering The Big L.

Perhaps inadvertently, The Big L seemingly stands for The Big Lull. What follows are three more recent – and most definitely unfamiliar – songs, which sit the 30-something crowd back down and lack the impact of the first few hits.

A couple of album tracks from 1991′s album Joyride do their best, but it is the 1989 offering from the Pretty Woman soundtrack – It Must Have Been Love – that gets the 9,000 strong singalong back on course again.

Finding the balance between old and new is always going to be tough when your greatest successes came some 20 years ago, but Roxette – save for a few dubious setlist choices – aren’t too far off the mark tonight. (more…)

Marita Dyson, The Orbweavers - Basement Discs Instore, 17th February 2012

Gallery: The Orbweavers

Basement Discs is one of the great record stores in this town. Indeed it’s one of the few remaining genuine record stores, and situated on the north side of the 1891 built Block Arcade it’s beautifully placed for a lunchtime instore set by The Orbweavers.

Playing today as a 3 piece, this is the 2nd time in less than a week that I’ve had the pleasure of a set from these locals.

The venue is intimate, and showcasing songs predominantly from current release Loom, songwriters Marita Dyson (Vocals, Guitar, Violin) and Stuart Flanagan (Vocal, Guitar) along with Daniel Aulsebrook on Trumpet deliver a laid back set to a good sized crowd who have descended the bill-postered staircase.

There’s an effortless ease to The Orbweavers’ music – effortless to listen to, and seemingly effortless to write and deliver. Dyson is a storyteller both through song and through her beautiful explanations of them to an attentive lunchtime crowd.

It all adds up to a half hour set that gives those present a taste of what The Orbweavers deliver both on record and live. Tucked in between the clattering bustle of Collins and Bourke Streets, listening to music inspired by Melbourne’s inner northern and western suburbs in the basement of a laneway … well, it’s all very Melbourne really.

Related: The Orbweavers @ NSC, 12th February 2012, The Orbweavers @ The Toff In Town, 18th August 2011, The Orbweavers: Official

Marita Dyson, The Orbweavers - Northcote Social Club, 12th February 2012

Gallery: The Orbweavers

I first heard Melbourne songwriters The Orbweavers last August. Playing support at the Toff in Town, they were as mesmerizing as they were warm and accessible.

Thankfully I’d checked their set times in the morning of an overcast Melbourne Sunday – assuming they were playing the Northcote Social Club at night would be fair, right? Wrong, this was a Matinee show, so with the far more school-night suitable start time of 3:40pm, their Loom album launch encore kicked off.

The stage is decorated today. Leaves scatter the front, and the rear is draped with handmade arts and crafts, many inspired by elements of the periodic table. U for Uranium gets a mention, as does Si for Silicon. However it’s the inclusion of Radon – Rn 86 – that makes me wonder if it’s by accident or design given the tram – Route Number 86 – runs past the venue’s door. I digress.

Opening with the tale of a bower bird, The Bower from 2009′s Graphite & Diamonds , the Orbweavers make a low key entrance with a song that holds your attention lyrically as it meanders calmly through the room.

It’s the current album Loom though – Triple R’s Album of the Week back in October 2011 – that provides the lions share of the set. The reflectively beautiful Merri, about the river running through Melbourne’s north is introduced by singer and guitarist Marita Dyson in he own understated, warm and humourous-without-really-trying style.

Introducing the songs is important to Dyson, each song has taken inspiration from what some may overlook – Double Thread, a tune about sewing and the dying out textile industry, You Can Run, a story about the yearnings of a greyhound on a leash, and Spotswood – an unlikely theme about Melbourne’s inner west – could seem fairly basic when used a premise for a song. (more…)

Pat Grossi, Active Child - East Brunswick Club, 8th February 2012

Gallery: Active Child

Always nice to see fellow gingers overcoming the prejudice society throws at them!

Pat Grossi‘s, project Active Child is a hard beast to categorize. His 2011 album You Are All I See is an offering that – to these ears at least – is a low key offering with as many lulls as it has highs.

His set tonight at the soon-to-be-no-more East Brunswick Club however is engaging and similarly low key. It’s a good venue for the bloodnut harpist, and he delivers his strange mix of harp and electro backing well.

The sound is full, defying the fact that there are only 3 musicians on stage, and Grossi’s choral voice is a staple. A past Philadelphia Boys’ Choir member, Grossi’s fascination is seemingly with the spiritual and cosmic. Often tonight though one can’t help but feel that it’s music to listen to whilst doing something else. The live setting doesn’t seem to add much to the experience, even though Grossi himself seems genuinely affable and happy to be playing his first headline show after the Laneway Festival slots.

Perhaps to the spiritual souls in the audience there’s uplifting moments, personally though, tonight didn’t really seem to get out of second gear. What’s not in question though is that Grossi’s musical ability and dedication to his somewhat strange craft – a harpist with the voice of a choirboy – sees him successful in a music climate that would make us predict otherwise.

Svein Berge, Röyksopp - The Palace, 2nd February 2012

A first for me – two Norwegian groups in as many months, though it’s fair to say that the electro offering from Tromsø natives Röyksopp is about as far removed from the set I witnessed by countrymen Combichrist last month as Norway is from Melbourne.

Comparisons therefore end here. Not that there were any to start with really. Other than being Norwegian… and dressing up.

Carrying passports bearing the names Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge ,  Röyksopp kick off their Big Day Out sideshow at Melbourne’s Palace complex to a packed crowd on the lower two levels. It’s a crowd that are aged the other side of thirty to many other Big Day Out revelers, but treated to Röyksopp’s first Australian tour since forming in 1998, they were in great voice. Not to mention armed with some pretty decent moves.

The opening was epic – emerging through the smoke and backlit lights, the duo, joined by a couple of bass players in costumes that probably wouldn’t have got you into Stylus back in the day, kicked off almost ten minutes  of building electronica. 2005′s Alpha Male was lapped up by the crowd.

Happy Up Here followed, with Berge stepping out from behind the wall of synths to prowl the stage. Plenty of the sounds are pre-recorded, but Röyksopp seem to have the balance right between being true to the sounds and putting on a live spectacle for their fans.

A huge highlight tonight was the inclusion of The Alcoholic, the first time anything from Senior – 2010′s ambient follow up to Junior – has been played live. It’s a welcome slowdown to a frenetic first hour.

It’s a brilliant venue for the Norwegians with a dedicated local following, and by far the best Norwegian act I’ve seen this year…

Photos taken for Tone Deaf

Related: Combichrist @ The Hi Fi Bar (January 12th 2012)

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, The Palais Theatre, 31st January 2012

No pics tonight, just a ticket to go and watch the talented one from Oasis.

Ditching his whiny brother has been good for Noel Gallagher. His new project – Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – delivered a brilliant first album that only served to reinforce the thought that perhaps Noel had saved up some of his best work while Oasis were putting out some ordinary material.

In the plush surrounds of St Kilda’s Palais Theatre, Noel and the aforementioned High Flyers made a low key entrance, with a remix of If I Had A Gun… blasting over the PA.

With a minimum of fuss, they delivered two Oasis tunes back to back - It’s Good To Be Free (a B side from the 1994 Whatever single) and the more recent Mucky Fingers. With two back catalogue songs out of the way, Noel ripped into the opening track from his current album, Everybody’s on The Run.

“Do you all ‘ave to sit down?”

“No? Well stand the fuck up then”

A fully seated venue, the Palais crowd forgot about that annoying couple behind them who had said “SIT DOWN!” when the band came on stage and stayed on their feet for the rest of the night .

The Kinks style throwback Dream On followed, as it does on the album, and If I Had a Gun... rounded out three in a row.

Noel himself seemed to be tiring of the bloke behind me yelling out requests. “SUPERSONIC! LITTLE BY LITTLE!” – just an example. Not one to mince his words, Gallagher threw down some rules – “I didn’t spend 20 minutes 6 months ago working out this setlist to listen to you yell out random shit. Stop it”. It received a round of applause not heard in Melbourne since a chair umpire at the Australian Open reminded patrons to turn off their mobile phones last week. (more…)

Mark Foster, Foster The People - The Palace, 30th January 2012

Gallery: Foster The People

For those who hadn’t caught LA indie-pop trio Foster The People on the Big Day Out’s green stage the previous day – or perhaps just wanted to catch them again – Melbourne’s Palace dished up that opportunity for holders of one of the hottest tickets in town.

The three piece, led by songwriter and apparent naming-rights sponsor Mark Foster, delivered a set that was as polished as the floor of the old Metro Nightclub wasn’t.

With only their 2011 album Torches under their belt, this was never going to be a long set, but after a promising opening from Brisbane act Last Dinosaurs, Foster The People burst onto the stage with Houdini, and whilst generally speaking there weren’t too many surprises – Helena Beat and Call It What You Want were obvious crowd favourites – the now obligatory encore did throw something unexpected up.

Last year, fellow LA residents Weezer covered Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks, and did a pretty damn fine job of it. So, to return the favour, Foster introduced his band’s cover of Weezer’s 1994 track Say It Ain’t So. It scrubbed up well and proved one of the night’s highlights.

Unsurprisingly, Pumped Up Kicks closed the night, and it saw Foster climb into the crowd, hoisted up by the fans on the floor as bandmates Mark Pontius (Drums) and the quite brilliantly named Cubbie Fink (Bass) watched on.

A solid set that delivered what you’d expect with a minimum of fuss, but, perhaps surprisingly, not a lot more than that. Still, as a young band about to embark on the recording of their ‘difficult second album’, they’ll return to these shores in a couple more years armed with more songs, more shows under their belts and will again play to an army of iPhones held high above heads recording the entire concert.

Perhaps by then they’ll be iPhone 5′s?

Serg Pizzorno, Kasabian - Festival Hall, 28th January 2012

Gallery: Kasabian

You’d almost be forgiven for thinking that Leicester lads Kasabian were now living in Australia. It’s their 5th tour to these shores in as many years and Melbourne’s favourite sweatbox Festival Hall was filled to the brim with a mixture of accents – Aussie, English and at least 1 American – ahead of their Big Day Out sideshow.

Opening single from their current offering Velociraptor! - Days Are Forgotten – kicked off proceedings tonight, which at least to my memory is the first time they’ve not opened with 2006′s Shoot The Runner. They didn’t wait long though – it followed immediately, and Velociraptor!’s title tracked rounded out the first three.

Quickly dumping my camera gear at the cloak room, I managed to break the landspeed record and only missed half of the epic Underdog. Along with its seemingly permanent followup Where Did All The Love Go? the crowd lapped up two of the standout tracks from West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

Front man Tom Mehigan has his customary strut, and whilst he delivers the songs well, it’s the Russell-Brand-esque guitarist and songwriter than fans find themselves focussing on. With the skinniest of skinny jeans and a haircut that is anything but, Serg Pizzorno paces the stage, takes lead vocals every now and then, and is generally a left of centre focal point for the band. Fans though could do worse than to watch manic drummer Ian Matthews for a whole set, it’s a drumming style that at times borders on strobe-induced epilepsy but is never, ever boring.

Growing in stature with every live show, Kasabian closed out the main set with the upbeat Fast Fuse – driven by Chris Edwards bassline, the slower Goodbye Kiss which sees Pizzorno reach for an acoustic guitar, and the fan favourite L.S.F.

A football terrace singalong ensues, and the band return to deliver the obligatory but superb 3 song ‘encore’ – Switchblade Smiles, Vlad The Impaler and closer Fire – during which all fans on the floor are urged – nay, ordered – to sit down by Mehigan and Pizzorno. We do, and erupt for a final round of woooooooooooo-ooooo-oooooo-ooooo-oooohs before piling out of Festival Hall onto Rosslyn Street to wring out our shirts.

No doubt we’ll see Kasabian back next year, if not a couple of times before.

Pics taken for FasterLouder

Related: Kasabian @ Trak Lounge, Melbourne (July 2010), Kasabian @ Shed 14, Docklands (October 2011)