Emma Russack and Lachlan Denton- Noisy Ritual

Noisy Ritual in East Brunswick bills itself as an urban winery as they make their own premium wines with grapes sourced from vineyards all around Victoria. The space itself is a big hall with barrels lining the walls around the room, a bar, small stage at the front, and tables and benches to sit on to enjoy your glass of wine along with a light selection of bar food.

On Thursday evenings Noisy Ritual hosts the event School Night, which features live music. Sean and I headed over there tonight for a glass of wine and to catch Emma Russack and Lachlan Denton (formerly The Ocean Party) play some songs they have recorded together as a duo. Their new album Take The Reigns just came out last week, and they played some songs off of it including "Cake," "Love For Myself," and "When You Wake Up." They also played songs from their previous two releases, including a couple of my favorites from Lachlan with "I'm Right Here" and "I'll Be The Rock." The banter between the two of them in between songs was hilarious and also revealing about personal incidents (e.g. Lachlan's woodworking accident) as well as their friendship.

Here's a live video of them playing "The Heatwave (Eloise)" and "I'll Be The Rock"

John Waters- Make Trouble

This evening Sean and I headed to Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre to see the legendary cult American filmmaker John Waters in his one man show Make Trouble. We weren't sure what to expect but John just took to the stage by himself with a microphone and told stories for around an hour. He spoke about growing up in Baltimore, the making of his many films and the actors he has worked with over the years, as well as his observations on the state of global affairs, including the United States and Trump. As expected there were moments of filth and subversive humor, which extended into an interesting Q&A session with the audience, where he dealt with some oddball questions like a pro.

Pokey LaFarge- Australian Solo Tour 2019

Tonight was the final date of American musician Pokey LaFarge's Australian tour at the Northcote Social Club. Opening the evening was Nashville resident Sierra Ferrell, who played an amazing solo set on acoustic guitar. She had a unique old-timey style of singing, and her guitar fingerpicking on her faster country/bluegrass songs was impressive. Her newer tracks sounded more like classic country and were slower and melancholy. She was really great and I highly recommend checking her out if you get the chance.

Pokey LaFarge was greeted with big cheers from the sold out crowd as he came out on stage to play his solo set. He was in a really great mood and hyped up on Red Bull (and then a couple shots of tequila). He played a range of songs from his back catalogue on acoustic guitar, as well as a few unreleased tracks from his upcoming album due out in the first half of 2020. Highlights for me included "Wanna Be Your Man," "Something In The Water," "Goodbye, Barcelona" and "The Devil Ain't Lazy." It was amazing to watch him play the guitar and he really interacted well with the crowd and got everyone to sing along. For the encore he came out into the middle of the floor and stood on a crate to play unplugged, which included a cover of Roger Miller's "King Of The Road," "Bad Girl" and one of his earliest song "Josephine" to finish. It was a really fantastic and special gig, and such a pleasure to see these two talented musicians in person.

Here's the video for "Riot In The Streets"