Olympia- Rare & Solo

Tonight I attended the first of three sold out shows by Olympia at The Gasometer Hotel which are occuring over the next two nights. This was my very first gig since March 2020! Of course during COVID times things are a bit different: smaller audience numbers due to social distancing, early and late shows, and seating on the bandroom floor. The Gaso also has the added bonus of a retractable roof to assist with ventilation.

Opening the show this evening was Taylah Carroll, who played her set solo on electric guitar. Her songs were introspective and dreamy sounding, and I think it would be interesting to hear them played with a full band.

Olympia came out wearing a red turtleneck mini dress and started with "Biscuits" before segueing into "Somewhere To Disappear," both off her debut album Self Talk. Alternating between electric guitar and keyboard she played songs from all her releases, including "Atlantis" off her first EP, "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things," "Honey" and "Different Cities" from Self Talk, and "Hounds," "Two Hands" and "Nervous Riders" off her most recent album Flamingo.

 

The show was quite entertaining as she talked about the source material and inspirations for many of the songs, which ranged from films, tv shows and news events to tales from her own life. She also had copious notes printed out to refer to, with one of the funniest moments being a questionable review from Beat Magazine. After listening to these stories it was then interesting to pick up on lines in the lyrics and understand the songs a bit better. Olympia seemed to have kept herself busy during Melbourne's lockdown as she also played a couple new songs and even gave a shout out to everyone who was working from home and keeping the green light on, which I think many office workers could to relate to (myself included).

Here's the video for "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things"

Olympia- Star City Tour

Last night Belinda and I attended the second sold out Melbourne date at Northcote Social Club in support of Olympia's new single "Star City." It was nice to have an entire bill of female musicians for a change. We caught the second half of the set by opening act Merpire, who played as a duo. I really enjoyed their atmospheric and dreamy pop music. Next up was Eilish Gilligan, who started solo on piano for a few songs and then had her band join her for a more 80s electronic sound for the rest of her set.

Olympia kicked off the evening with "Somewhere To Disappear" off her last album Self Talk. The first half of the set featured other songs from the album, including "Tourists," "Honey" and my favorites "Different Cities" and "Smoke Signals." Once Olivia removed her kimono to reveal a sequin dress she started to preview songs from her upcoming album, which all sounded fantastic. Her band was made up of a bunch of veterans from the Australian music scene with Richard Bradbeer on bass, Ryan Strathie on drums and Sarah Belkner on keyboard, percussion and backing vocals. They finished the main set with the new single "Star City," and then for the encore Olivia played a new track solo and then had the band come back on for one of her older songs "Atlantis" to end the night. It was great to see her live again and I look forward to the new album coming out next year.

Here's the video for "Star City"

NGV Friday Nights- David Hockney and Olympia

NGV Friday Nights is on again for the summer bringing together current exhibitions at the NGV with performances by Australian and international music acts in the Great Hall. Tonight I checked out the David Hockney: Current exhibition, which featured over 1,200 paintings, drawings and video works from the past ten years of his career. Having seen a Hockney exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco in 2013, quite a few of these works were already familiar to me. He has continued to utilise iPhones and iPads to create his drawings, with prints as well as screens displaying the drawing of the pieces throughout each room.

The exhibitions also displayed 80 of his portrait paintings in a long room, which was amazing to walk through and see them all hanging one after the other in the same space.

The landscapes were the highlight of the exhibition for me, with his "Bigger Trees Near Water" paintings covering entire walls of one room, and a series of prints of iPad drawings from Yosemite National Park which were quite beautiful.

The exhibition also features Hockney's fantastic video work "The Four Seasons, Woldgate Woods" but unfortunately it was displayed on screens in a room that wasn't square and therefore lost the power of engulfing you in piece that I felt when I saw it in San Francisco.

After the exhibition I headed to the Great Hall to catch this week's musical act, Melbourne singer-songwriter Olympia (aka Olivia Bartley) and her band. Her debut album Self Talk is on the short list for the 12th Australian Music Prize, and its songs featured throughout her hour long set. Starting with "Honey," highlights included "Different Cities," "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" and "Somewhere To Disappear." It was great to see some kids sitting captivated at the front of the stage as they watched her absolutely shred on guitar. On a night that saw the launch of the AFL Women's League, it would be great if some of those little girls were equally inspired to pick up an instrument just from watching the gig. The evening closed with "Smoke Signals" (my favorite track off the album), which got a good response from the crowd in the room.

Holy Holy- A Heroine National Tour

Holy Holy have been increasing in popularity both here and overseas since the release of their debut album When The Storms Would Come. Last night they returned to Melbourne to play a sold out show at the Corner Hotel as part of their latest Australian tour.

Opening the evening was Montreal four piece The Franklin Electric, who sounded really great with their folk-rock set which had the crowd engaged from the start. Having been in Australia for the past month they were not looking forward to returning to the snow in Montreal in a few days time. Next up was an electro-rock set by Olympia (aka Olivia Bartley) and her band, which was good but didn't really seem to capture the crowd.

The venue was absolutely packed by the time Holy Holy hit the stage and started their set with "Impossible Like You." As luck would have it lead singer Timothy Carroll blew his amp during the song, so while that was replaced guitarist Oscar Dawson led the rest of the band in playing the theme from Terminator to the amusement of the crowd. Holy Holy were already a great live band, but touring has made them even more of a force onstage with some pretty impressive versions of songs such as "Sentimental And Monday," "History," "A Heroine," "Holy Gin," and "Pretty Strays For Hopeless Lovers." Oscar's guitar work throughout the night was fantastic, and Ryan Strathie was awesome on the drums (and had one blistering drum solo).

We were treated to two new songs, which sounded more upbeat than their previous releases. To finish the set they tore through "House Of Cards" off The Pacific EP. For the encore Timothy and Oscar came out and did a cover of David Bowie's "Starman" before the rest of the band joined them to finish the night with my favorite track off the album "You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog." It's always great to see a truly talented group of musicians get the success they deserve and Holy Holy can only continue to go up from here.

Here's the video for "You Cannot Call For Love Like A Dog"