The Boroughs

Yesterday Tash and I attended The Boroughs, which organisers said would be "a celebration of the culture, street art and music of New York." Originally scheduled to be at a warehouse on La Trobe Street, the venue was changed to Shed 4 in Docklands. Wilfred Jackal was finishing up their set when we arrived. Both Tash and I were a bit confused as we walked in. First problem was that they were only using part of the Shed, which didn't really make much sense. Their attempt at making it "New York" was to have some opened shipping containers around the floor, graffiti artists painting a wall (they were amateurs compared to a lot of the graffiti you see around Melbourne), some really bad attempts at performance art, and a small skate ramp for the skaters. It was a total fail.

Music-wise the bands really had nothing to do with New York either, but there was a good mix of different styles. The sound in the Shed was horrendous though, which was really apparent for the bands we have seen live before. I wouldn't mind hearing The Hello Morning in an intimate venue as their alt-country sound was so muddy in the venue. The Frowning Clouds played with a lot of energy and had a group of people dancing at the front of the stage. Bachelor of Arts was probably the closest to a New York sounding band, and Hot Little Hands played a good set of indie rock.

Miami Horror had everyone dancing and their single "Sometimes" got a big reaction from the crowd. Up next was Yves Klein Blue, who were fantastic as always. It was great to hear "Getting Wise," "Polka," and "Digital Love." The final act of the evening was Bertie Blackman, who was dressed in a monk's robe for most of the night. In her hour-long set she played the one song I know of hers, "Byrds of Prey," as well as covers of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and a Fleetwood Mac song. The funniest part of her set though was watching the Frowning Clouds boys with supersoakers running around side of stage and spraying the audience.

Corner Bushfire Benefit

After wasting some time in the city I headed to Richmond to meet Tash and Mary at the Corner Hotel for the Corner Bushfire Benefit. As you probably know, Victoria suffered through severe bushfires a few weeks ago which left over 200 people dead and countless others homeless as some towns were burnt to the ground. Many venues throughout Melbourne were holding benefit concerts tonight with proceeds going to the Red Cross. The first act of the evening was Hot Little Hands. Their set was ok and they did a good cover of "Rip It Up."

Next on the bill was The Basics, the main reason we attended the show. It was their first live gig in three months as Kris has been overseas. They didn't sound too rusty as they played a few newly written songs as well as "Just Hold On," "Money (Gimme, Gimme)," "Like A Brother," and their new single "With This Ship." It was great to see them again and hear those sweet harmonies. We are eager for the new album to come out but it appears that they are still recording some more songs. When they finished their set Tash and Mary went over to Wally for a chat and to get pictures with him. I was good and refrained.

After a comical welcome to the evening and explanation of the auction items by Julia Zemiro of RocKwiz fame, The Pictures took to the stage. Lead by Davey Lane of You Am I, there set was full of classic Aussie rock sounding songs. I thought they played great and were very entertaining. After they were done we went upstairs to the rooftop to have some food, and then decided to head for home since we weren't that interested in the rest of the bands on the bill. Hopefully the evening raised a lot of money to help those affected by the bushfires.