Time for a roundup of my favourite gigs for the year. First up I want to mention a bunch of local bands who I saw often throughout the year who were excellent. Often individual local gigs don’t stand out in the memory as much as visits from overseas or interstate bands (or gigs in other cities), but all of these bands have played excellent shows this year and have made up the bulk of the many gigs I’ve been to:
Batrider, Bitch Prefect, Cheer Advisory Council, Fake Tan, Fair Maiden, Hit the Jackpot, Like Leaves, Mondo Phase Band, Satan’s Cheerleaders, The Sea Thieves, Steering By Stars, Terrible Truths
Now for the individual gigs that stand out:
- Joanna Newsom at The Forum (Melbourne), Jan 20
Gig highlight of the year. Thanks to my train being 2.5 hours late I missed all of Ned Collette’s supporting set and the first couple of JN songs, but fortunately she played a very long set so I still got to hear plenty. I was also happy when shortly after arriving I heard someone call out for Emily since it meant I hadn’t missed it. I can’t wait to see her again at Womad next year. - Laughing Clowns at the East Brunswick Club (Melbourne), Jan 22
For the second night in a row (they played a “don’t look back” show the night before), I found this gig better, partly due to the more intimate venue, but also there was better sound and they played more. Afterwards I got to chat with Ed & Les as well. News just in – Ed plays at the Gov on March 20! - RZA at Fowler’s Live, Feb 11
Lots of Wu-Tang tours lately (e.g. Ghostface, Raekwon), this has been my favourite. - Yo La Tengo at Fowler’s Live, Feb 19
Things were going great and an amp died. If you want to see a band come up with a comprimise at the last minute it’s definitely YLT, they abandoned their setlist and played a largely acoustic set including lots of requests. While I expect the set as planned would have been fantastic, it was fascinating to see them play such an impromptu set. - Pimmon at EMU, Feb 20
I was a Pimmon fan for a long time before first seeing him play live, fortunately in the last couple of years he’s playing a lot more than he used to. He plays abstract electronica/noise with a laptop, I can’t think of anyone I’ve seen do it better and this (with the Adelaide city skyline as backdrop) was probably the best I’ve seen of him. I was fortunate enough to see him again later in the year in Sydney for another good show. - Curse ov Dialect at Shimmering West, Mar 5
Left the first evening of Womad early for this. It was poorly advertised and almost noone was there. There were about five or six of us CoD fans at the front, and a bunch of unimpressed hip-hop fans at the back who were there for the supports. While CoD do play hip-hop, it’s very unconventional and they would do much better playing to the sort of crowds that go to places like Format or the Metro, who are open to all sorts of music, rather than hip-hop crowds. Despite the poor turnout they were still amazing though, it just leaves me thinking it will be a long time again until they’re back here. - Pavement at Thebarton Theatre, Mar 7
Another early departure from Womad. I don’t mind a bit of nostalgia now & then and that’s what this show was all about, and very satisfying it was too. - Dinosaur Jr at Fowler’s Live, Mar 13
This on the other hand is not as much about nostalgia as some might think since I think their latest album Farm is right up there with their best. DJ aren’t just playing the old hits, they’re making great new music as well. - Eddy Current Suppression Ring at Jive, Mar 24
This was immediately after another nostalgia show (the Pixies), while I thought they were good it was ECSR who were the highlight of the night. Definitely deserve their reputation as one of the best live bands in the country. - Jandek & Primitive Calculators at the Gov, Mar 28
I’d seen Primitive Calculators at ATP a couple of years ago and thought they were OK, but this show was much better than there, they were in top form. How do you describe Jandek? Let’s just say it was a unique experience. You can measure how much I liked it by the large number of Jandek cds I’ve bought since then (10 I think). - Crayon Fields & Aleks and the Ramps at the Northcote Social Club, Apr 24
Last chance to see CF before they went off overseas, they’ve been favourites since first seeing them last year. A bonus was finally getting to see A&tR. - The Bats at the East Brunswick Club, Apr 25
Still no visit to Adelaide, but closer this time than the last time I saw them in Christchurch. Lots of the old Flying Nun bands seem to be back together and touring (Chills, Clean, Verlaines), but the Bats aren’t reunited, they never split up. Their latest album is great too. - Autechre at the Hi Fi Bar, May 29
Can you describe Autechre’s music with words? Even a thorough knowledge of their recorded output only partly prepares you for the intensive onslaught of their live show. A darkened room is filled with pummeling beats which gradually form patterns, before disintegrating and reforming into something new. To experience Autechre live is to witness their creativity in raw form. Sometimes it’s hard going, you can’t make sense of it (often it takes many listens to make sense of their records), but then there are those sublime Autechre moments, where cold electronic sounds come alive with an organic warmth and you’re not quite sure why you ever listen to anything else. - Ed Kuepper & Chris Bailey at Bennett’s Lane, May 30
I’d already seen Ed & Chris play together with the Saints, but this intimate show in a small jazz club was even better. - DJ Lord at Rocket, Jun 5
Some were there because DJ Lord is the DJ for Public Enemy, but there’s a lot more to him than that as anyone who saw his Dubstep set a few years ago at the Summer Break festival (where PE also played). At this show he started out with Dubstep until the hip-hop fans looked ready to desert the venue, then switched over to hip-hop and filled the dancefloor and then kept going with long set that was all over the place (in a good way). - The Crying Game at the Metro, Jun 13
It was enough to make you laugh, cry and fear for your life all at once. Go read Spoz’s five star review. An excerpt
“Every song is hamfisted through with the bare minimum consideration for tuning, timing, structure, lyrical content, cohesion or even for the audience foolish enough to stand too close to the stage to which they’ll frequently target for all out abuse. Matt Hayward is the main offender for this: as he’ll spend most of the second half of the set barrelling straight into them and sending everyone flying like he’s a bowling ball to their ten pins; but each and everyone of them will just as easily bicker amongst themselves like a bad family reunion.“
I guess you had to be there. - Home for the Def at Format, Jun 1
This was the launch for Stan Mahoney’s book which featured reviews of all fifty Home for the Def releases and HftD played a great set for the occasion, which even included everyone taking communion with HftD biscuits. - Straight to Video at the Metro, Jul 3
A one-off reunion, lots of fun had by all, great to hear songs like Lightning Over the Asylum and PhD in Apathy again. - Grong Grong at the Metro, Aug 21
Election night, so I’d spent all day handing out at polling booths, and then had done a fair bit of celebrating at the Greens election night party, but this gig was so good it kept me going until the early hours. I’d heard of this legendary Adelaide band but hadn’t heard their music before and was very impressed. - No Through Road at the Metro, Sep 3
A farewell for a local favourite of mine for quite a few years. Some of their other recent gigs had tended to turn into a bit of a mess but this one went perfectly, a very fine send off. Video here. - Paradise Motel at the Troubadour, Oct 1
Another comeback, the only other time I saw the Paradise Motel was at the Royal in 1998. This time they played a set of material from their excellent new album Australian Ghost Story, I think it was even better live than on cd. For an encore they played some of their 90’s material which was also great. A show in Adelaide is a definite possibility for next year. - Broadcast at the Hi-Fi Bar, Dec 9
Another long time favourite, I liked the experimental edge to their show along with the general hauntological weirdness, and balanced out by some great songs (e.g. Valerie, Corporeal) - The Fall at Billboards, Dec 10
Given the bands reputation I was prepared for just about anything … but three encores? That was a surprise. Mark E Smith was in great form (possibly because he was having so much fun pissing off the sound guy) and the band were tight. There was a great mix of songs, with a focus on the most recent (and rather excellent) album, but a sprinkling of material from the last decade plus a couple of really old ones (2 from 1979’s Dragnet!). Given that they’ve previously toured Australia twice – 1982 and 1990 – it’s quite likely this is my only chance to see them so it’s great that this was such a good one.