Major Leagues and Bloods

Despite the chilly Melbourne winter weather Belinda and I headed down to Shebeen Bandroom tonight to catch the joint headlining tour by Major Leagues and Bloods.  The first act for the night was Melbourne's Zone Out, a four piece with a female lead singer/guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, and male guitarist.  Their set contained very dreamy indie sounding songs with some nice harmonies sung in the choruses by the lead singer and keyboardist.

To determine the next band to play there was a rock, paper, scissors contest between the two co-headliners.  Brisbane's Major Leagues lost so they were up second.  It was good to see yet another female dominated indie band.  The three ladies took turns singing lead vocals, although it was difficult to hear them at times due to a bit of a muddy mix up front.  Their set included a cover of "Pure Shores" by the UK girl group All Saints.

The final act for the night was Sydney punk trio Bloods (the main reason I wanted to see this gig).  We were lucky to be treated to a lot of new songs that they are currently recording, including the new single "Want It."  They also played old faves such as "No Fun," "Into My Arms," "Hailing Down," "Goodnight," and "Bodies."  It was an awesome set full of great energy from the band and the new material sounds really promising.  As the lights went up Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" was played over the speakers in honor of the end of the tour.

Here is Bloods with "Want It"

Essendon v. Adelaide

It's been a tough few weeks for the Essendon Football Club as we've likely lost captain Jobe Watson for the rest of the season due to a hip injury, had 34 current and former players issued with show-cause notices by ASADA over the 2012 supplement program, and managed to lose to Melbourne last week by one point (after kicking 17 behinds). We weren't favorites going into tonight's game against Adelaide, but I had a feeling the players might stand up and fight this week.  Essendon had a fantastic first quarter scoring 7 straight goals to Adelaide's 2 goals and 6 behinds.  This helped set us up for the rest of the game as each side had patches of strong play, including former Bomber Josh Jenkins who kicked 4 goals.  Adelaide managed to close the margin down to 9 points a couple times during the last quarter, which made for a nerve-racking finish, but we managed to hold on and get a confidence boosting win.

Final Score
Essendon: 15.11 (101)
Adelaide: 14.8 (92)

The Good China Farewell Show

It was very sad when The Good China announced they were calling it a day after six years together, so Mary and I were determined to make their farewell show last night at the Northcote Social Club.  The first band for the evening was Rich Davies and The Little Devils, who played a set of alt-country songs along with a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game."  Next up was art rock two piece The Stiffys, who may be my new favorite live act.  A hilarious band with positive messages, both members were dressed in matching sailor suits.  They played songs about champagne, being groovy boys and (not surprisingly) sex.  The highlight of their set was when they got an audience member to ride a board on top of the crowd for "Boogie Boarding."

The Good China came out and launched into their newly released song "What You Learnt From The Self Help Section" (which contains the mantra "You won't die alone / You will find new love").  The crowd was really into every song from the start and sang and danced along to old favorites like "You Looked Better A Brunette," "If Pain Persists," "We Found 3 Whistles," and "No More Maps, No More Roads."  There were even a couple new songs in the set, including the other new release from this week "Your Ancestors Were Dinosaurs."  The group paid tribute to the band that inspired them to form with a cover of Arcade Fire's "Wake Up."  It was also nice to hear older and rarer songs like "A Million Little Pieces" that haven't been played live in a while.  I thought the band members did remarkably well to hold it together on stage, and many of them took turns telling little stories between songs throughout the evening. 

For the encore they started with a cover of Jen Lekman's "Maple Leaves" and then we were all ready to hand clap during "All Nothing."  Cara gave her farewell speech and thank yous before the last song of the night, which was the very appropriately titled "We Knew That We Had To Leave."  The band had a group hug before taking their final bows and leaving the stage.  It's so depressing when one of your favorite bands calls it quits, but at least we were able to attend this final show.  All the best to each of the members of The Good China- you will be missed!

The Harpoons- Unforgettable Single Launch

Last night I headed to the Shebeen Bandroom on Manchester Lane for the sold out launch of The Harpoons' latest single "Unforgettable."  The first act was electronic synth pop trio Habits, who ran effects on their vocals and utilised layered loops and a keyboard in their songs.  Sometimes it worked and other times it was a bit of a mess, but I did appreciate their attempt at covering Silk's "Freak Me."  Next up was a DJ set by male and female duo Friendships.  I liked that they included visual projections to go along with their set, which included their remix of The Harpoons' "Unforgettable."  Both acts were rocking a bit of a hipster chav look, which I guess must be a thing.

The crowd had really built by the time The Harpoons hit the stage.  They started their set with "Keep You Around" and played a mix of new songs and more recent tracks such as "Falling For You," a funkier version of "I Walk Away" and "Hold On."  Bec Rigby's voice was absolutely divine and soulful as always, and each band member took a turn on lead vocals throughout the night.  Towards the end of the set they invited the support acts up on stage to play percussion and the audience to sing along on the last three songs, including the single "Unforgettable."  It's always uplifting to see The Harpoons play live and it looks like their debut album will finally be released in August (although I think I'll believe it when I see it).

Here's the video for "Unforgettable"

Rue & Co

Rue & Co is the latest pop-up food venture in the Melbourne CBD located on the corner of Exhibition and Collins Streets.  Open all day it features three different food options from the popular eateries St. ALi, Jimmy Grants and Kong BBQ.  There is also a gorgeous eight-story portrait on the side of a building by street artist Rone that needs to be seen in person to really appreciate its scale.

I have been to Rue & Co two times now for lunch with work colleagues and each time it has been full with people from the surrounding office buildings.  As I have previously eaten a few times at Jimmy Grants on Smith Street I was eager to try out the other two eateries.  On my first visit I went to Kong BBQ and ordered the BBQ lemon and gochujang chicken SSAM roti roll with Korean chili paste, slaw and zucchini kimchi.  It was pretty tasty and a good meal for lunch, although I still had room for dessert on the way back to the office, which was a stop at La Belle Miette on Collins Street for a few macarons.

Today I tried out St. ALi, who have smartly got a designated special burger for each day of the week which should result in repeat business.  As it was Friday I tried the "Pork Me!" burger with pulled pork, celeriac coleslaw and apple sauce, along with a serve of french fries.  Both tasted good, and I also couldn't help myself and got an espresso custard donut (which was from Cobb Lane in Yarraville) since the salted caramel ones were sold out.

All in all the atmosphere at Rue & Co is fun but it will be interesting to see how they go as we head into winter.  If you are looking for somewhere new to try to break up your regular lunchtime routine be sure to check it out.

Major Tom And The Atoms- Cherry Bar Residency

Throughout the month of May Major Tom and The Atoms have been doing a weekly residency at Cherry Bar on Wednesday nights, with each week devoted to a dearly departed legend of rock.  Tonight I met up with Mary as the opening act Casey Dean from the band Secret Tsunami was starting his solo set on acoustic guitar.  He played a mix of bluesy rock songs as well as covers of the Foo Fighters' "Everlong" and R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion."

Major Tom and The Atoms began the evening with their latest single "Boom Boom Boom."  Tom Hartney was wearing a very impressive plaid suit (on the Matt Preston scale for loudness).  The set list featured many songs from their debut album Heroes, Villains, Boom Boom Boom! including "Bloodhound," "Confusion," "Evil Angel" and "Hey Flo."  It was also good hear old favorites like "Merri Creek (Dead & Gone)."  This week's residency was devoted to English singer-songwriter Nick Drake so the band did covers of "River Man" and invited Venice Music on stage to sing lead vocals on "Hazey Jane II."  To finish off the night and their May residency they had people up and dancing to "The House That Love Built" and "Mockingbird."

Here's the video for "Hey Flo"

Things Of Stone And Wood- 25th Anniversary Tour

It's been 25 years since Things of Stone and Wood formed so the original line up have reunited and hit the road for a small run of shows to celebrate their 25th anniversary.  Taking advantage of a special dual show ticket price, I have spent the last couple days at the Northcote Social Club for their first two sold out Melbourne shows- an evening performance on Saturday and matinee show today that included quite a few kids in the audience.

The opening act was singer-songwriter Carus Thompson who played a solo set on acoustic guitar and harmonica.  His songs told stories about current events, personal experiences and his travels.  For the song "I Found Love" about a prisoner he encountered at a jail house gig in Germany, he came into the audience to sing and got us all to join in on the chorus.  His set was engaging and entertaining.  The next act was Gentle Persuasion, another early 1990s Melbourne folk-rock band that was around at the same time as Things of Stone and Wood which has also come out of retirement for this tour.  I had never heard of them before as they disbanded before I came to Australia for the first time, but there were some definite fans in the audience who were singing along to the songs in their set.  I think they are the only opening band I have ever seen come back on for an encore!

Both Julie and I commented that the guys in Things of Stone and Wood really haven't aged that much over the years.  The set lists for both shows were pretty similar, with a strong focus on songs from their debut album The Yearning.  It was great to hear "Share This Wine," "Beg," "Rock This Boat," and beautiful acoustic versions of "Rain Fell Down" and "Single Perfect Raindrop."  As expected there was a huge audience sing along for "Happy Birthday Helen," and pogo jumping by both the band and crowd for "Barkly Street," with Greg Arnold and Mikey Allen joking that they were risking middle-aged soft tissue injuries to do it. 

Justin Brady had a very impressive two harmonica solo at the opening of "Hand Grenade," and at today's show Greg played a solo acoustic version of "The Yearling" (which he said he last played live in 1994).  The hour and a half sets also included my faves "She Will Survive," "Beautiful Wonderful" and "Wildflowers," although it was disappointing that there were no songs played from the album Whirligig.  It was great to hear some stories about the band's history in between songs, and for today's finale a couple members of Gentle Persuasion came on stage to sing "Roar" which was a song by their combined folk super-group back in the day called Four.  All in all these two shows were pretty special and I feel fortunate to have been able to see the original line up live and in such great form.

Essendon v. Sydney

It was a big Friday night of footy at Etihad Stadium as Essendon faced the Sydney Swans and our nemesis over the years, former Hawthorn and current Sydney player Lance "Buddy" Franklin.  Considering how we have been playing lately I wasn't overly optimistic about this match, but I did not expect us to only manage to score 1.1 and be 6 goals behind by the end of the first quarter.  It was good to see Tom Bellchambers back from injury, and that freed up he and Paddy Ryder to go forward from the ruck at times, although it didn't have a massive impact on the scoreboard.

Of course, the biggest worry was Buddy, and he was up and about getting 3 of his 5 goals in the second quarter.  In the third quarter an umpire collided with a Sydney player and was down on the ground motionless for 5 minutes before being stretchered off.  Some in the crowd were actually booing him, which was a bit rough (Onagh and I even had a guy sitting behind us who wanted him put down like a race horse).  Part of the reason for the booing was likely the bad umpire calls, with the last straw being Michael Hurley getting a head high bump from Sydney's Dan Hannebery that put Hurley on the ground for a few minutes and resulted in no free kick.  Jake Carlisle was our sub for the game and managed to kick 2 goals, so hopefully that is an indication of his form starting to improve.  In the end Essendon lost by 50 points but at least we managed to stop Buddy from getting his 600 career goal!

Final Score
Essendon: 9.10 (64)
Sydney: 18.6 (114)

Eurovision 2014

I have spent the past three evenings enthralled by the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark this year.  It was a tight race up to the end with a bit of geopolitical intrigue as any votes for Russia were booed by the audience.  For once my top three was fairly close to the final voting results.  The winner was the amazing Conchita Wurst (Austria) with her song "Rise Like A Phoenix," an epic power ballad which could easily be the theme song for a James Bond movie.



My second choice didn't make the top three, but was my favorite dance song in the competition: Freaky Fortune featuring RiskyKidd (Greece) with "Rise Up"



My third choice ended up finishing second on the night: The Common Linnets (The Netherlands) with their alt-country song "Calm After The Storm"



Honorable mention must go to Carl Espen (Norway) for his sensitive and lovely ballad "Silent Storm"



In the second semi-final Australia got a special segment while the votes were being counted due to our obsession with Eurovision and desire to participate in it (even though geographically we cannot).  After what could be considered a cringe-worthy skit of Australian stereotypes our very own Jessica Mauboy got to sing a song she especially wrote for the Eurovision stage:



All in all it was another good year with a truly stand out winner.  Congratulations Conchita!

Essendon v. Western Bulldogs

It's been a mixed start to the season for Essendon.  After the first three rounds we had two wins and a close loss to the reigning Premiers.  Everyone was very optimistic for our prospects this year.  However, we have lost the last three games and have not been playing consistently, so it was very important to get a win tonight against the Western Bulldogs.  As Belinda is a Bulldogs fan she joined me at Etihad Stadium for the match. 

It was a scrappy game from the start with the Bulldogs going into half time with a 14 point lead as we had another disaster second quarter for the second week in a row and did not score a goal.  After watching Darth Vader and some Stormtroopers walking along the boundary at half time (there was some strange Star Wars cross-promotion going on) I was hoping the force would be with Essendon in the second half.  Thankfully a few minutes into the third quarter the boys started to show some life and kick goals again, and we went into the fourth quarter with a 13 point lead.  The last quarter was tense as the Bulldogs got within a goal, but we managed to hold on for a gritty win as our senior players stood up.  Dustin Fletcher had an amazing game but we are still having issues with the forward line.  Hopefully the team can start putting together a full four quarter effort and play better in the coming weeks.

Final Score
Essendon: 10.13 (73)
Western Bulldogs: 9.11 (65)

MICF: Sara Pascoe Vs The Truth

Tonight's Melbourne International Comedy Festival show pick was done by Onagh for Sara Pascoe Vs The Truth.  Sara is from the UK and was the first international comedian I've seen at the festival this year.  Her show explored themes around what is true or actually real in life through personal ante dotes about her family, boyfriend and herself. It was a good stand-up set that wove things together in the end with some interesting observations on doppelgangers, feminism, whether we are living our own versions of the Truman Show, and the acting ability of Andie Macdowell.

StArt Up: Top Arts 2014

I was fortunate enough to attend the opening of StArt Up: Top Arts 2014 this evening at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia in Federation Square.  The exhibition presents outstanding work by students who completed Art or Studio Arts studies in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) in 2013.  From over 3,000 submissions, 49 students were chosen to exhibit their work.  These were some of my favorites pieces:

Gemma Topliss

June Uili- Sina and the tuna

Paris Triantis

Hieu Nguyen- Mind like a river

The exhibition runs from 11 April - 20 July so be sure to check out the works of these talented young artists.

MICF: Celia Pacquola

This evening Belinda joined me at the Swiss Club for Celia Pacquola's Melbourne International Comedy Festival show titled Let Me Know How It All Works Out.  Celia told a well-woven story centering around her love of psychics, even while admitting she would mock anyone else who visits them or wears crystals like she does.  One day at a UK music festival though things changed when Celia received a disturbing palm reading in a tent by "Tony."  The news had her questioning her beliefs, especially after visiting a doctor and being given evidence that refuted what she was told.  She also talked about events in her life, and I could definitely relate to her love of the tv show Hoarders and feeling rage against those with air-conditioning during Melbourne heat waves.  Celia cleverly joined up the bits and pieces of the show at the end and even gave us an epilogue like in the movies.

MICF: Fiona O'Loughlin and Wil Anderson

For the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this evening Onagh and I took advantage of the Tightarse Tuesday prices to see two veterans of the Australian comedy scene.  First up was Fiona O'Loughlin at the Melbourne Town Hall with her show My Brilliant Career, which she admitted was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek title.  Fiona told several stories about her personal and professional life throughout the years, which ranged from an embarrassing encounter with actor Aidan Quinn in Edinburgh, finding and taking an ecstasy tablet 5 years after it was given to her, and an unlikely friendship with an American living in Alice Springs.  The stories were told with a warm and wicked sense of humor and highlighted the freedom one can have in life just by being able to laugh.

Next we headed to The Comedy Theatre for Wil Anderson's show Wiluminati.  This is his 19th year at the festival, but the first time I have seen him live.  Wil did a very tight and funny stand-up set with interweaving stories.  He talked about the positive sign he received in New York City ten years ago before his first stand-up performance there, the offensiveness of Outback Steakhouse restaurants to Australians, a gig in Fairbanks, Alaska where a survivalist woman tried to pick him up with a memorable line, and living with the osteoarthritis in his hips and the sex tips he was given by a 70 year-old occupational therapist.  Let me just say that I will never look at pillows the same way again.  A heckler nearly spoiled the entire ending to the show by shouting out the closing punch line, but thankfully those of us in the upper part of the theatre didn't hear what was said.  After admonishing him for a few minutes Wil commenced the conclusion of the show again and still got the laughs from the crowd.

John Butler Trio- Flesh + Blood Tour

Last night Belinda and I headed down to the Palais Theatre after work to see John Butler Trio play the first of their two Melbourne shows in support of the new album Flesh + Blood.  We had ridiculously close seats in the third row thanks to my friend Ben, which provided us with an amazing view of John's awesome guitar playing.  It's a real joy to watch such talented musicians and I was in awe of the sounds John managed to get out of an acoustic guitar by running it through various pedals.  The instrumental track "Ocean" had the audience on its feet at the end, and we got to stay there as the band played favorites such as "Better Than," "Don't Want To See Your Face," and "Zebra," complete with a call and response from the crowd.  As it was John's 39th birthday we got to sing to him as a cake was brought out onto the stage.  We were also treated to a guest performance by Ainslie Wills, who joined the band to sing her part on "Young and Wild," which was a lovely song.  The evening finished with a ripping version of "Funky Tonight" that had everyone in the venue dancing.  It was a pretty incredible night with nearly 2 1/2 hours of live music.

Here's the video for "Only One" (complete with zombies!):

MICF: Hannah Gadsby and Mel Buttle

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival kicked off this week, with most shows in previews through the weekend.  Onagh joined me to take advantage of the cheaper ticket prices and see two shows this evening.  First we went to the Melbourne Town Hall to see Hannah Gadsby in The Exhibitionist.  Her show this year was about self portraiture throughout the ages.  Utilising photographs she illustrated the similarities between historical painted portraits dating back to the 1500s and the modern day selfie, exploring how people present themselves and their image.  My favorite parts were a comparison between Russian President Vladimir Putin and pop singer Justin Bieber, as well as Hannah's self curated memorial video due to her fear of people using unflattering Google search images if she were to die.

Next we headed to the Victoria Hotel for Mel Buttle's show Bring A Plate.  It was more of a traditional stand-up comedy set touching on members of her family, personal experiences and her obsession with the tv show Embarrassing Bodies.  Mel also touched on the theme of maintaining control of your image in the age of the internet when people can make both good and bad comments about you online.  I found her set to be quite funny at times, particularly her written script for a confrontation with an internet troll.  Overall it was a funny night with two extremely talented female Australian comedians.

The Royal Jellies- Brunswick Music Festival

The Brunswick Music Festival has been running for the past couple weeks and tonight Belinda joined me to see The Royal Jellies play at The Spotted Mallard on Sydney Road.  This was my first time inside the venue and the band room is actually quite cute and a good size.  The opening act was Aluka, a female three piece a cappella group which sounded really nice in the acoustics of the room.

The Royal Jellies played a fantastic set featuring many songs off their debut album Burrows St. Poolside, including "Place In My Head," "Shoot You Down," "Bumblebee," "Isobel" and "Sweet Papa Joe & Maestro Julio."  About two-thirds of the way through the set some people went up to the front of the stage to start dancing and were quickly joined by others once they played a cover of Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" with Annabelle from Aluka on lead vocals.  I don't think I ever thought I would hear a jazz/swing version of that song!  The crowd wouldn't let them finish their set without an encore so they played a couple instrumentals that had everyone dancing and "Scotch and Coke" off their first EP.  It was a really fun evening in a lovely venue and always a joy to see a group of talented musicians play live.

Here's the band playing "Place In My Head" last year on ABC Radio National:

Neil Finn- Dizzy Heights Tour

For the past two nights I have been at Hamer Hall in the Arts Centre precinct to see Neil Finn play in support of his fabulous new album Dizzy Heights.  The opening act was Joshua James, a singer-songwriter from Salt Lake City.  Accompanied on electric guitar by Evan Coulombe, Joshua played a lovely set of his folk songs as well as a cover of George Jones' "Choices" and even a couple verses of "You Are My Sunshine."  Overall he was pretty impressive.

Neil Finn and his band snuck out onto the darkened stage and started off both nights with one of my favorite tracks off the new album, "Impressions."  He couldn't resist the urge to do a bit of a Dad joke with his "Stop, Hamer time" line.  The set lists both nights featured the majority of Dizzy Heights, which was great to hear live in person for the first time.  I particularly liked "Better Than TV," "White Lies And Alibis," "Pony Ride," "Strangest Friends," "Dizzy Heights" and "Flying In The Face Of Love" (only played on night 2).  However, the absolute highlight of the new material was the fact that he did "Divebomber" live as I never thought he would attempt it.  That just blew me away.  Unfortunately there wasn't as much material from his previous solo albums, which was a bit disappointing as the opportunities to hear those songs live in non-solo mode are slim.  However, we did get "Sinner" and "She Will Have Her Way" both nights, and another favorite of mine "Turn And Run" on night 1 and the rarely played "Into The Sunset" and "Faster Than Light" on night 2, which were great to hear again.

The rest of the set list was made up of songs from Neil's various bands and projects over the years.  There were the usual suspects in the Crowded House tracks "Fall At Your Feet," "Distant Sun," "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Locked Out," and the Split Enz songs "Message To My Girl" (played beautifully on piano with only backing vocal support), "One Step Ahead" and "History Never Repeats" (played on night 2).  The Finn Brothers project was represented by "Only Talking Sense," and there were even a couple Pajama Club songs with "From A Friend To A Friend" on night 1 and "Golden Child" on night 2.  Although Neil has a new band playing with him everything sounded fantastic, and having female backing vocals really added depth to the songs.  The show was also enhanced by the amazing backdrop made by Noel Crombie and Sally Mills and how it picked up the different lighting throughout the evening.  As Neil said it was "some next level shit" that came out of a vague request for trippy clouds.

One of the main reasons I love seeing Neil live is that you never know what special things might happen.  On night 1 a guy had to wait for a song to finish before being let back inside so Neil made up a little song on the spot about him being locked out of Hamer Hall.  There was the usual fun banter between songs with the band and audience on both nights, and a shouted request led to a piano version of the Split Enz song "Strait Old Line" which was so cool to hear.  On night 2 Neil demonstrated his American accent for his keyboardist Andrew from New York, and we learned why guitar tech Rohan (from Te Awamutu) has the nickname of Digger through a poetic note he wrote that Neil then read on stage.

Neil's chosen method for entering the stage for the encore was to jump and slide across the top of the piano.  "I Got You" was a feature of the first encore both nights, but on night 2 Neil ended up inviting people from the audience to join him on stage mid-song, which they did.  This then led into a sing along of "Weather With You" as they stayed up there before finally heading back to their seats.  The really special moments though were in the second encore with just Neil on stage playing acoustic guitar.  Night 1 featured a cover of The Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon," Crowded House's "Private Universe" and the rarely played Split Enz song "The Devil You Know."  This was nearly topped on night 2 with the older Crowded House tracks "Mean To Me" and "Love This Life."

Overall both nights were pretty amazing, and although the set lists were similar he did change up the order and around a third of the songs played each night, which made me happy as I'm used to him switching things up on consecutive nights.  As I had seats in different parts of the stalls each night I was able to appreciate the lighting on the backdrop when I was further back and also experience being ridiculously close to the stage.  Neil really seems to be loving playing with the new band and I know my friends in the States with tickets are in for a treat when he plays there next month.

Here's the video for "Dizzy Heights"

Friday Nights at Melbourne Now with Big Scary

The Melbourne Now exhibition has been going on since November 2013 and as it draws to a close in the coming weeks the NGV is celebrating with extended Friday night hours and also featuring local Melbourne bands in the Great Hall.  Tonight Belinda joined me to catch Big Scary, who have had quite the week after being awarded the 2013 Australian Music Prize (AMP) for their fantastic album Not Art.

Tom and Jo were accompanied by two other musicians throughout their set, which really filled out the sound and acoustics of the space.  They mainly played songs from Not Art, including my favorites "Twin Rivers," "Luck Now" (see video below) and "Invest."  We also got "Gladiator" and "Falling Away" from their first album Vacation.  In addition there were some great projections running on the screens in the Hall during their set, with the one of a tree falling in reverse even distracting Tom mid-song.  Overall it was a great set and good to have such a huge turn out to see them play.



Belinda and I also checked out parts of the Melbourne Now exhibition, which "celebrates the latest art, architecture, design, performance and cultural practice to reflect the complex creative landscape of Melbourne."  This contemporary art exhibition contains over 175 individual and group presentations in a wide variety of media across multiple sites in the city.  Of the pieces we saw I liked Patrick Pound's Gallery of Air, Peter Kennedy's neon light work, Jon Campbell's Dunno (T.towels), Marco Fusinato's Aetheric Plexus (Broken X), the data visualization of ZOOM by Greg More and Darren Sylvester's ever changing illuminated dance floor which kept us amused for quite a bit as we tried to take photos.  Melbourne Now closes on 23 March so get down to the sites to check it out if you are interested.

Dan Sultan- Under Your Skin Tour

It's not often that you get to see a matinee show at the Corner Hotel, but that was the case this afternoon for Dan Sultan's second Melbourne show for his Under Your Skin tour.  The opening act was The Medics a four piece grunge/rock band from Cairns.  They played mostly new material that they are about to record for their second album, which sounded good.

Dan also played a set filled predominately with new songs off his upcoming album Blackbird, including the first single "Under Your Skin."  The new songs sounded great with a full band and Dan was in fine voice throughout the afternoon.  We also got to hear some old favorites including an impassioned version of "Old Fitzroy," "Crazy," "Your Love Is Like A Song" and "Letter," which finished the main set.

Dan brought his young nephew onto the stage at the start of the encore, but he wouldn't do his air guitar trick and soon left the stage to get back to playing Angry Birds.  Dan played a couple more songs and ended the show with "Kimberley Calling," which he and guitarist Ash Naylor were pretending was their stadium rock anthem after opening for Bruce Springsteen a couple weeks ago.  Dan is such an entertaining performer and was so humble that people continue to support him.  I'm looking forward to the new album finally coming out in April.

Here's the video for "Under Your Skin"