REMI x Sampa The Great- Fire Sign Tour

REMI and Sampa The Great are on a co-headline tour around Australia and tonight was the sold out Melbourne show at 170 Russell. Opening the evening was DJ Mz Rizk (who also played tunes throughout the night in between sets). We were also treated to a great mini set by soul and R&B singer Thando, which included her own songs as well as a cover of Mary J Blige's "Enough Cryin."

The Dreaming Now did a Welcome to Country ahead of Sampa The Great taking the stage with DJ Ziggy and Sensible J on drums. She started her set most appropriately with "Intro." It was fantastic to finally get a chance to see Sampa live, and she had a brilliant performance with songs such as "Class Trip," "F E M A L E" and "The Plug." She invited a friend on stage to do some African dancing with her and also did a cover of the Fugees' "Fu-Gee-La." Her set finished with a portion of "Mona Lisa."

Next up was REMI and they started their set with "Forsaken Man." The crowd was really into his whole performance, especially the higher energy tracks like "Sangria," "XTC Party" and "Tyson." I really liked that Remi did some of his more socially conscious tracks like "Lose Sleep" and "Ode To Ignorance." They finished the set with one of my favorites off Diva & Demons "Substance Therapy."

REMI and Sampa The Great then came out for a joint set together, which included Sensible J's new track "Fire Sign" and their song together off REMI's album "For Good." To finish off the night everyone on the bill came out to sing and dance along to Kendrick Lamar's "Alright." This was a fantastic show and a great showcase of some of the talent in the Melbourne hip-hop community.

Here's the video for "For Good"

Sarah Blasko- The Soloist Tour

Despite being a solo artist, Sarah Blasko has never done a tour without a backing band before. Tonight her Soloist Tour came to the Melbourne Recital Centre. Opening support was provided by Cameron Avery, who played a set of his solo material alternating between keyboard and electric guitar. He also did a cover of Alexandra Savoir's "Girlie."

Sarah Blasko came out onto the stage and started with an a cappella version of "Down On Love." As she sat down at the piano she joked, "Welcome to my recital." The set list covered songs from throughout her career, but was mainly focused on her last three albums. As she played these stripped back arrangements using piano, samples, guitar and even ukulele, highlights included "I Awake," "Bury This," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "Beyond," "Luxurious" and "We Won't Run." Sarah had three microphones set up across the stage and was quite funny and silly as she moved between them for each song. Her voice soared in the acoustics of the venue, and the lighting and staging for this show was simple yet dramatic.

We were fortunate to get a preview of a few new tracks from her upcoming album, which sounded fantastic. As she came out for the encore she joked about encore anxiety and that she would only do three songs and then the show would be finished. We got to hear "All I Want," a cover of Cold Chisel's "Flame Trees," and "Perfect Now" from her first album. Sarah got a standing ovation from the crowd as she left the stage, and it was another amazing show from her.

Here's the video for "Luxurious" off Eternal Return:

An Evening With Bic Runga - MEMO Music Hall

It's been five years since Bic Runga last played in Melbourne, and tonight was the first of a two night run at St Kilda's MEMO Music Hall. Bic started the evening solo on acoustic guitar playing "Drive," "When I See You Smile" and "The Be All And End All" before being joined by her band, which included her partner Kody Nielson on drums. The songs played across the two sets covered material from throughout her career and her latest album Close Your Eyes, which is a mix of originals and covers. I really enjoyed her version of Nick Drake's "Things Behind The Sun" as well as the new original songs "Close Your Eyes" and "Dream A Dream."

Bic played some of my favorite tracks of hers, including "Get Some Sleep" "Listening For The Weather," "Winning Arrow" and "Something Good." We also got some rarely played live songs such as "This Girl's Prepared For War" and "Darkness All Around Us" off Belle, and the Beautiful Collision tracks "Gravity" and "Election Night," which I'm guessing was thrown into the set due to yesterday's UK election.

What really made this show special was the songs that were done with Natalia Mann on the concert harp, which enhanced the arrangements for "Precious Things," "Beautiful Collision," "Birds," "Captured" and "Bursting Through." As this year is the 20th anniversary of the release of the hit single "Sway," it was only appropriate that it closed out the second set. Bic was so happy to finally be able to come back to Australia and was really grateful for everyone coming out to see her. For an encore she attempted an audience request for "Gracie," but only made it part way through as she couldn't stop laughing at the lyrics which she wrote when she was 19 years old. All in all it was a great and intimate show, and hopefully Bic will make it back across the ditch sooner rather than later for another live performance.

Here's the video for "Close Your Eyes"

I Love The 90's Australian Tour

I got a call late this afternoon from Chantal that she and Shevonne had a spare ticket for the I Love The 90's concert at Hisense Arena tonight. Once I saw the line up I knew I couldn't say no as it was a list of late 80s and early 90s hip hop and R&B acts that I used to watch on MTV.

First up was Young MC, who did a rap to Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" and of course played "Bust A Move." Next was Tone Loc, who not only played his hits "Funky Cold Medina" and "Wild Thing," but also did a cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice."

Three members of the boy band Color Me Badd hit the stage in matching outfits and sang their hits "All 4 Love," "I Adore Mi Amore" and "I Wanna Sex You Up," along with a cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity." Coolio was the next act to play, and had a band with him. Their set included "Fantastic Voyage," "I'll C U When U Get There," "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" and "Gangsta's Paradise." They also did a bizarrely short tribute to Prince by playing the intro to "Purple Rain" but not the whole song.

The main act that everyone was there to see was Salt N Pepa with DJ Spinderella. Celebrating 31 years together, they played lots of their best known songs, including "Do You Want Me," "Shake Your Thang," "Let's Talk About Sex," "Shoop," "Whatta Man," "None Of Your Business" and of course "Push It." Spinderella did a bit of a DJ set during the middle of the set, and they got some fans up on stage to dance with them, including a little kid who broke out some break dancing moves.

The closing act of the night was Vanilla Ice, who wanted to turn his set into a block party so he invited people up on stage just a couple of songs in. His set was all over the place as he played "Ninja Rap," his song from the 1990s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie,  "Play That Funky Music" and of course "Ice Ice Baby," which resulted in nearly half of the crowd heading for the exits once it was done. He did a freestyle rap with Coolio and Tone Loc, and finished the evening by doing a cover of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" to a near empty arena.

Overall while the concert was entertaining it was a bit sad to see a packaged tour which was clearly just a money grab. Everyone quickly played their hits and then got off the stage for the next act. I imagine it would be a bit demoralising, but then I guess if you need the money you have to cash in somehow.

Van Gogh And The Seasons

The latest exhibition for the NGV's Melbourne Winter Masterpieces is Van Gogh and the Seasons. It contains around 50 drawings and paintings from Van Gogh that are themed around the four seasons.

As you enter the exhibition there is a large screen video presentation about Van Gogh before you get to see some examples of the different types of art that influenced him in the first rooms, such as Japanese woodblock prints.

The main sections of the exhibition focus on a specific season, with paintings and drawings of landscapes, still life, and people working out in the fields. Here were some of my favorite pieces:

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer

It's not the largest exhibition, but it took a while to get through due to the sheer number of people trying to see it. I wish the NGV would sell timed tickets to cut down on the lines and crowds going through the exhibition at any one time as it was an exercise in patience to deal with the number of people in there.