Aug
31
I’ve always considered the perpetual ringing in your ears after a concert, a testament to the amazing night you’ve just had, the ringing in my ears right now is deafening.
The sheer diversity of concert goers never ceases to amaze me. On one side of me there are primary school aged children, in front of me a group of friends almost as old as my grandparents. To my right is a woman who has travelled from all the way from Hobart, just to see Silverchair and Powderfinger share a stage. This is exactly what I adore about Australian music.
The ‘Across The Great Divide’ tour, together with Reconciliation Australia are recognising the 40 year anniversary of the referendum in which more than 90% of Australians voted for equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and together aim to close ‘the great divide’ between the life expectancy of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians*.
Nabarlek, from Arnham Land in the Northern Territory were already playing when I got to my seat, an amazing nine-piece indigenous rock band, played from the heart and nowhere else. Their music was enchanting, rarely have I ever been content to sit and listen so intently.
The lights go out and the audience roars, Silverchair erupt onto the stage performing a high-energy crowd pleasing set, a mix of tracks from their 2007 release ‘Young Modern’ and older hits from ‘Diorama’. The on stage antics of Daniel Johns are those of a born entertainer, conducting the audience like a mad puppeteer exclaiming exuberantly ‘you can put your hands up, you can clap, heck you can even dance’ and later when audience arms begin to slacken ‘you can keep your arms up, its not illegal’. To the audiences’ immense pleasure Johns announces ‘we’re going to take a trip down memory lane, and let me tell you it’s a long road’, before exploding into ‘Freak’ and acting like one to boot.
As much as I adore ‘Young Modern’ I would have liked to hear more songs off earlier albums ‘Freak Show’ and ‘Neon Ballroom’, however not playing singles seems to be a Silverchair tradition. Regardless of this minor detail, Silverchair are a band who never ever fail to knock shoes and socks off.
I’ll be honest, the only Powderfinger songs I know are their singles, I’m not sure why, but I’ve just never jumped onto the band wagon, so in saying this I was a little apprehensive about reviewing them tonight. Bernard Fannings unusual, aching voice resonates through the entertainment centre and immediately a sea of mobile phones light up the venue.
Playing an even coverage of old and new favourites, Powederfinger are an amazingly energetic and diverse band who epitomise modern Australian rock music. Nearing the end of their set the screaming crowd becomes almost entirely silent as the haunting and controversial song ‘Black Tears’ echoes out and embeds its meaning in the listeners.
Even though I wouldn’t consider myself a Powderfinger ‘fan’ as such, their performance left me buzzing well into the night, and judging by the energy in the room this was the general consensus.
If you missed out on the first concert of the Across The Great Divide tour here in Newcastle, don’t panic, the tour is playing its final show right back at the entertainment centre on October 26th with special guests Street Warriors.
* Information derived from Reconciliation Australia’s official media release. Full text available at www.reconcile.org.au
Aug
7
Maximo Park - Our Earthly Pleasures
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How to tackle the second album after having such a successful debut release, it’s a challenge that so many bands have had to overcome, and in this case it’s Maximo Park’s turn to answer the critics.
After giving ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ a good listen through it seems that these British lads might have found an answer, or at the least they’ve gotten pretty close to it.
The opening track, ‘Girls Who Play Guitars’ is catchy from the get go with its lyrically cool verses and it’s infectious chorus kicking in within seconds of the song starting. This one is currently high up on the play list on Triple J and I’m pretty sure we’ll be hearing it in the Hottest 100 this year.
The rest of the album continues along this now familiar Maximo path without too much deviation, though there is the odd moment where I was starting to think it to be all too predictable only to be happy to discover the band change tempos where opposite to where it sounded like they were going.
‘Girls Who Play Guitars’, ‘Our Velocity’ and ‘Parisian Skies’ are obvious standouts on Maximo Park’s ‘Our Earthly Pleasures’ and I’m sure if we’re lucky enough to host the guys in Australia this summer there will be a lot of singing along happening.
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