Seeker Lover Keeper

Tonight Tash and I ventured to the Thornbury Theatre to see Seeker Lover Keeper, the new band project of Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby.  We had a good view of the stage from the balcony, as the floor area was full of tables and chairs for those who had dinner and show tickets.

Seagull opened up the evening with a half hour set.  He played electric guitar and was accompanied by a female keyboardist.  I wasn't sure how well he'd go down with the crowd, and people started talking after a couple songs.  However it was good to hear older tracks such as "Dust Storm" and "Train Tracks," and he finished with "Company" off his Council Tree album.

Seeker Lover Keeper came out and began with "Bring Me Back" before bringing out their two male touring band members on drums and bass.  This project has Sarah, Sally and Holly singing lead on songs that each other have written.  They played the entire Seeker Lover Keeper album and highlights for me included "Even Though I'm A Woman," "Light All My Lights," "We Will Know What It Is," and the moving "If The Night Is Dark."  Their harmonies were amazing and the musicianship great to watch as they switched off on piano and guitar.  For the encore they came out and did covers of each other's solo material, including Sarah's "We Won't Run," and finished off the night with a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Wild Heart."

Here's the video for "Even Though I'm A Woman"

Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow

When Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) announced their tour together, Tash suggested we make a weekend of it and see them play in Castlemaine as she wanted to check out the Theatre Royal.  Yesterday Mary and I drove to Ballarat to meet up with Tash and Michelle for lunch at a pub (also so Tash could watch the footy).  It was good to briefly catch up with Michelle before she had to head down to Melbourne for a family dinner.  After the footy match was finished we headed back to Tash's place where her work colleague Michelle met us and then we hit the road for Castlemaine.

Central Victoria is a bit of a foodie hotbed and we had a fantastic dinner at the Public Inn.  They serve wine directly from the barrel and I had a delicious and filling potato gnocchi.  After eating we headed to the Theatre Royal for the gig, and were let into the venue once the dining service was done for those who had tickets for dinner and the show.  Both Dan and Alexander came out on stage at the start and played three songs together, including Icehouse's "Great Southern Land" and the Oh Mercy track "Keith St."

Dan left the stage and Alexander played his solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar.  He started with "On The Run" and we got a mix of tracks from both albums: "Mercy Valley," "Hold Out Your Hand," "Blue Lagoon," "Lay Everything On Me," "Get You Back" and "Stay Please Stay." We were lucky enough to hear three new songs titled "My Man," "Europa" and "Lady Eucalyptus," as well as a few covers.  Alexander was funny and charming throughout his set despite some rude, noisy people at the bar.  He was also loving his eye drops, applying them a few times during the evening.  He closed his set with Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" so that he, like Dan, would have a song about cars in his set (although he didn't understand the first two verses of the song).

After an intermission Dan came out to play his solo set starting on piano and then switching to guitar.  His grandmother was in the audience (at the table in front of us) and he told stories throughout the night about his time in Castlemaine with relatives while he was growing up.  Dan played songs from his two albums, including "Old Fitzroy," "Enemy," "Get Out While You Can," "Nyul Nyul Girl" and a very powerful rendition of "Roslyn."  He came back out for an encore of a couple of songs and then invited Alexander to rejoin him on stage.  They finished the night with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and Hoodoo Gurus' "I Want You Back."  It was a really great show, and I had a brief chat with Alexander afterwards.  I thanked him for explaining the lyrics to "Mercy Valley," and since Oh Mercy will be in the States while I am there hopefully I'll be able to catch a show if the timing works out.

We headed out into the cold and hit the road to drive back to Ballarat.  Mary and I stayed the night at Tash's miner's cottage (or the igloo as we called it before the heater kicked in) and then drove back to Melbourne this morning.  It's always nice to go on a little road trip, especially when I don't have a car here.

Bridesmaids

Last night Amrita, Claire and I went for dinner at Claire's restaurant Tin Pan Alley in Seddon (very good wood-fired pizzas and even more delicious desserts) and then headed to the gorgeous art deco Sun Theatre in Yarraville to watch the movie Bridesmaids.  I had been wanting to see this film since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. Kristen Wiig plays Annie, a woman going through difficult times personally as her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets engaged and asks her to be the maid of honor.  The rag-tag group of bridesmaids includes the ultra competitive Helen (Rose Byrne) who ultimately ends up taking over organizing the wedding.  There are so many hilarious moments in this film that I was laughing to the point of tears several times.  I almost think I need to go back and watch it again because I probably laughed through some of the punch lines.  If you have the chance definitely go to see this film.