I'm Still Here! ...kind of

Ok, so I’m sure your observational powers have made note that it has been a very long time since I last posted here.  You probably would have also noted that I promised a lot on twitter and facebook.  Things were mentioned about a Big Day Out review, as well as reviews of Mariachi El Bronx and Soundgarden.  I’ve also since been to see Incubus as well and obtained new albums by Mark Lanegan Band and Joseph Arthur.  I also haven’t kept up to date with the retrospective series I was running on At The Drive-In.  So, understandably I feel the need to justify this lack of follow through.  As much as I’d love to tell some fanciful tale involving a quest of vice and virtue which kept me from my internet obligations, we all know that life is much more boring than that.  Essentially, I moved house and as yet, haven’t hooked up the internet (in fact, I find myself sitting, right now, in the local McDonald’s with an obligatory Sprite, using their free wifi to upload this post).  So, instead of boring you with those details, I’m going to do very short reviews of each show that I mentioned above so that we’re all up to date (before more get added to the list).  So, without further nonsense and petty excuses:

Big Day Out, 29 January 2012, Flemington Racecourse

Bands seen:  Bonjah, Frenzal Rhomb, Parkway Drive, Boy & Bear, Mariachi El Bronx, Kasabian, Soundgarden, Kanye West, Cavalera Conspiracy
Big Day Out got its fair share of knocking from all directions this year.  According to many, the line-up was the weakest in years (maybe ever).  For the first time in a long time, the Melbourne leg didn’t sell out.  Everyone seemed to be asking the question, “What happened to this once great festival?”.  Well, for me, the decline’s been slow and steady so the fact that this year’s BDO was a bit disappointing didn’t surprise me.  In fact, I only bought a ticket because Soundgarden were playing and once I got a ticket to Soundgarden’s sideshow, I attempted to sell my BDO ticket at a reduced price and even this didn’t attract any takers.  Big Day Out has always been a festival deeply in tune with the playlist of Triple J and with Triple J’s audience getting younger and me getting older, it comes as no surprise that it’s not really a festival for someone like me any more.  Having said that, each band I saw played quite well, despite many of those bands having lacklustre sized audiences (again, due to them being older than what the average fifteen year old listens to).  Even Soundgarden seemed taken back by the surprising lack of audience they got with many punters opting to try and get a good spot for Kanye West instead.  Put basically, if you were a huge Kanye fan, you would have gotten your money’s worth.  I’m not and I didn’t.  Mariachi El Bronx were great and almost saved the festival for me.  But nothing could forgive the cost cutting of the Big Day Out big wigs.  The festival is slap bang in the middle of the Australian summer.  Melbourne’s festival date nearly reached 40˚C (104˚F) and there was a severe lack of shade.  There was a limited amount of large marquee type umbrellas, but that was it.  I saw many people with heat exhaustion being carried by ambulance officials.  Cutting costs is understandable, but it should never risk the customer’s health and safety.  BDO, you were once great, but unless you can somehow turn things around, I won’t be returning.

Mariachi El Bronx (USA), 30 January 2012, Billboards The Venue

Support: Vasco Era (Aus)
This was a great show.  Punk rock legends, The Bronx, paraded their Mariachi alter ego to full effect at Billboards.  They smashed through an hour and fifteen minutes of mariachi madness, inspiring dancing from everywhere.  Vocalist, Matt Caughthran, was hilarious comparing the evening to an extended love making session throughout the performance.  The only downside was that their mariachi music generally only has one gear.  There was very little variation throughout the night as they left out many of their more ballad-esque tracks.

Soundgarden (USA), 1 February 2012, Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Support:  The Bronx (USA)
This was honestly one of the best shows I’ve ever been to.  The energy that was severely lacking from their BDO set definitely returned as they played for two and half hours.  They played just about everything a Soundgarden fan could want to hear and to top it all off, I found myself right down the front, on the barrier, directly in front of guitarist Kim Thayil.  The night completed my trifecta of seeing the biggest bands of the Seattle era, having seen Pearl Jam seven times and Alice In Chains twice (it’s obviously impossible to see Nirvana play) in the past.  Highlights of the night were Pretty Noose (not previously played on this tour), Outshined, 4^th of July and an absolutely crushing rendition of Beyond the Wheel.  The first contender for “Gig of the Year” is here.

Incubus (USA), 8 February 2012, Festival Hall

Support: Papa vs. Pretty (Aus)
To be honest, I never really intended on going to this show.  I’d loved the band in high school, but had since well and truly fallen off the wagon.  I went because a friend called me a day before and had a spare ticket so I took it (thank you!).  It was a good opportunity to see a band that I had once loved and had never had the chance to see.  Needless to say, they played mostly newer stuff.  They are, of course, here to promote their new album and I wouldn’t begrudge them that.  They played very well, were very tight and their live sound was excellent.  It just became quite obvious to me that I wasn’t in touch with this band any more, which is fine.  They are still a very good band (and I’m grateful to the friend who offered the ticket), they’re just not really my kind of thing now.  I did, however, find myself listening to them a fair bit in the following days, testament to their ability to get stuck in the head.

Album reviews – Because these don’t rely entirely on me writing them immediately after I’ve listened to them, these are still coming and will be posted…one day.

At The Drive-In retrospective series – I’m discontinuing this one for the time being.  I initially began it because I was (and still am) very excited about the prospect of an At The Drive-In reunion.  I also began it as a bid to gain more readers by trying to be topical and “cutting edge”.  What it ended up doing was distracting me from the music I actually felt like listening to at the time and this blog was made to be a reflection of my personal musical journey through the year, not something where I felt pressured to listen to something that, for whatever reason, I didn’t feel like listening to at the time.  I love At The Drive-In and always will.  If they tour, I’ll be first in line, but this blog should reflect what I’m experiencing musically, not the other way around.  So thank you for reading what I had written so far.  The other reviews of their albums may surface at some stage, but only if I particularly feel like it.

Now there.  Happy now?  I’m pretty sure we’re up to date.  Which is a good thing because I have three gigs to attend this week.  Mojo Juju is playing at Speigeltent, Tripod are playing The Playhouse and I get my first live taste of Tasmanian punk rockers Luca Brasi at Gasometer (supported by the excellent Smith Street Band).  Also, next week there’s Soundwave festival and a couple of sideshows.  So, there’s plenty to come and hopefully I can write them up properly.  As always, thank you for reading.