Friday Five: 5 Brisbane-based bands that shaped the city

5 Brisbane-based bands that shaped the city

Before Avalon Drive and Last Dinosaurs roamed the city, there are these bands who helped paved the road and put Australia, even the quieter town of Brisbane, on the global map. In anticipation of my review on Pig City by Andrew Stafford, here are five of the many more bands, hailed from Brisbane, their pride and joy.

#1: The Saints

“They were terrifying! Because their hair was so long, and they were so haughty, basically… and Chris was this cavalier vagabond who even in grade 11 had cultivated this image of a wine bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other.” – Clinton Walker, author of Stranded: The Secret History of Australian Independent Music 1977-1991 ; P. 55

#2: The Go-Betweens

“They were wholesome, upbeat, sunny people. But everything was mediated for them, nothing was ever experienced, and that was reflected in the sort of songs that they wrote. They were masters of the vicarious!” – Peter Milton Walsh, lead vocalist of The Apartments ; P. 87

#3: Regurgitator

“I do like things to be loud. I started out as a live mixer, and I always knew it was good when the bass drum was moving your shirt. You could feel the music as much as you could hear it.” – Lachlan Goold, multi-award winning music producer ; P. 277

#4: Powderfinger

“They were very normal guys, and normal guys are much harder to sell in the beginning, but once you break through it’s a blessing. No one cares what Bernard wears! If it worked – and it worked in a big way – Powderfinger was always going to be something that stuck in middle Australia.” – Paul Piticco, manager to Powderfinger ; P. 298

#5: Savage Garden

“I thought they were brilliant. I thought the discussions that we had together were some of the most honest and frank… that I’d ever had with a new artist. That was what got me, even more so than the music.” – John Woodruff, manager to Savage Garden ; P. 312

Music Monday: ‘The 20/20 Experience’ by Justin Timberlake

Well, well. Look who is bringing sexy back – again? (I know. I see you rolling your eyes there).

He has been keeping us entertained on SNL, rapping up the History of Rap with Jimmy Fallon, going butt naked with Mila Kunis and throwing middle fingers in the air as Sean Parker… you barely even noticed that it has been seven years since Justin Timberlake’s last album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. It was only when he released the teaser video for The 20/20 Experience earlier this year that he brought it to our attention, and by then, we were more than ready to see what Justin has been cooking for the past seven years.

Honestly, to me, the whole sartorial fashion trend has been done to death at this point. But, on the bright side, it is rather timely that Suit & Tie was released to jump on this overridden bandwagon, and I do hope there are no more so-called sartorial events that will overkill that song in days to come. Mind you, a man donned in a well tailored Alfred Dunhill suits does do things to me, but if I were to hear of another event out there with “sartorial” as their dress code, with a bunch of Stinson wannabes trying to dress “awesome” (and of all the words in the English vocabulary, that’s the only word you know to use?), with their cheap ill-fitted suits, I swear to God. (Try to remember back in 2006 those drunk douches thinking they too can bring sexy back, and you’ll know what I mean).

Personally, music from the R&B and Hip Hop world rarely has the most eloquent lyrics out there. Rhythm, yes, but lyrics, and there was even a time when rap lyrics make so much sense, it is getting more scarce by the decade. Justin Timberlake is no exception. I mean, you are talking about a guy who wrote lyrics like “But baby I just wouldn’t be the same / ’Cause girl your love is still on my brain” back in Justified. Brain. I know you are pulling a rhyme there, but I don’t know to laugh or cry when I first heard that.

Likewise in this album, there is “I don’t want to be the one to alienate / You see, I’m trying to find an alien in you” in Spaceship Coupe, and I don’t even want to know what he’s talking about when he sings: “so thick, now I know why they call it a fatty” in Suit & Tie. (Or do I?). When the addictive beats subside, this is the kind of things you have to put up with. That and overly repetitive sentences. Meh.

But. I will give it to Justin, that he will put in more effort lyrically when the song means something more than just a song to him. And it’s not that hard to spot. I thought Cry Me a River was top, allegedly about the infidelity that was his ex Britney Spears. And in The 20/20 Experience, speculations have shown that the second single, Mirrors, is about Mrs Timberlake herself, Jessica Biel, and it contains some of the more nod-worthy words in this album. The mirror metaphor for their relationship and the simplest lyrics like “‘Cause with your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul / I can tell you there’s no place we couldn’t go” and “The vacancy that sat in my heart is a space that now you hold” are enough to mean so much more.

So yes, it is true what they say, that you don’t need to look for the fliest thing to say, when what you already feel in your heart is real. The words will just come out right.

On the rhythmic helm, Justin is pretty much set with Timbaland and J-Roc working alongside him. And practically all of the songs, are a two-part deal on its own, reflecting the likes of LoveStoned/I Think She Knows from his FutureSex/LoveSounds album. Like Pusher Love Girl, Strawberry Bubblegum, Let the Groove Get In and Mirrors. Seamlessly fusing two distinctive genres and with that, creating opposing moods from the initial ones, and sometimes, bridging sounds from past decades with a touch of modernism in effective beatboxing, and sometimes, not so effective crooning (ah, his boyband days). Not to mention, the inclusion of vigorous strings for Tunnel Vision and the robust background of Alhamdulillahi in Let the Groove Get in, to keep things diverse.

On this forefront, Justin does have it down pat for this album, but having the majority of the album running at 5 minutes and up per song, sometimes, it does get to a point when you wonder, “is this song over yet?”

Not to mention, there is a second part in the making, ready to be released in November. Just makes you go, “Wait, there’s more?” Would it be something that will make us crave for more at such short span of time, or will it be like the sartorial trend itself, milking the cow till it dies with its udders still in your hands?

As someone who has been chasing Justin’s curls since his N Sync days, I am glad to see that things are going down the right track for him. Not only in his personal life, being married now and all – and can I just say here that his life compared to Britney’s is the perfect example of “karma’s a bitch”? – but also in his music career as well. He just seems to hit the right notes that bring him to greater and better heights. Even JC Chasez, who once was as popular as Justin was in the band, could not hit it as well as his fellow N Sync-er. (I’m sorry, as much as I adore JC still, but with a stunning voice like yours wasted on singing something like All Day Long I Dream About Sex on such early of your solo career, is a bad move).

Sure, you still see mirrors (heh) of his old beats reflected in this third solo album (Blue Ocean Floor versus Until the End of Time, for one), but overall, you know that that fella has been busy finding new sounds and hopefully, setting a new trend in the industry, as he has always been trying to do, even back when he was in a pop boyband.

W: JustinTimberlake.com
T: @jtimberlake

Spotlight Sunday: Ellie Goulding, NYC, New York

January 21, 2013
Terminal 5, New York
(via Joe Russo / Rolling Stones)

Ellie Goulding will be performing live this Tuesday at Esplanade Concert Hall, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore. Tickets are still available from SGD68 onwards. www.sistic.com.sg.

A good day for Laneway

Event: St Jerome’s Laneway Festival 2013
Date: January 26, 2013 (Saturday)
Venue: The Meadow, Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

After my last few run-ins with the rain at various music festivals – Laneway circa 2011, Rockaway circa 2011, Urbanscapes circa 2012, to name a few – I was more than ready for another bout of mudfest over at this year’s Laneway Festival. Fortunately though, the sun hung high and bright that day, and a sunny day at a music festival definitely beats a rainy or gloomy one any given day.

But boy, was I not prepared for that!

Ugh.

And whose bright idea was it to not allow umbrellas in the premises? A sunny day at an outdoor music festival, but umbrellas are not allowed. Hellllooo…! A little ridiculous, innit?

Despite that, I thought The Meadow at Gardens by the Bay serves as a more accommodating festival venue this year, compared to the previous years at Fort Canning Park. If you’re not happy with the on ground food and beverage choices, a ten minutes’ walk away at the Supertree Grove is a great selection of food with comfortable and proper seating areas. Not to mention, the option of proper toilets instead of the usual mobile ones.

Fine, call me high maintenance, not diving into the deep end of a music festival experience and all, but hey, there is only so much unwrapped sanitary pads you can take in the stinky confinements with floaters still hanging about.

Photo credit: Rizki Maulana // The Spool

Norwegian indie folk duo Kings of Convenience started things off on an easygoing note, with beloved numbers like Mrs Cold, 24-25 and I’d Rather Dance with You. Although I have seen them previously three years ago, it was a different experience this time around. One that mirrors a calming island retreat with lapping waves and fluffy clouds rolling over the gentle sunlight. Whilst the songs may still be the same, the ambience was not, and Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe proved that their music is suitable for any kind of mood, in a dark auditorium or out in a sunny day, rain or shine, night or day.

Photo credit: Rizki Maulana // The Spool

Photo credit: Rizki Maulana // The Spool

If you want me to be honest, I was just at Laneway this year for Of Monsters and Men, and despite being a fairly new fan to their music, (I mean, I ran into lead Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson and drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson without even knowing it was them, until I recognised Arnar’s frills onstage), I never knew I would be so glad to see them live that day. I would have to say, this Icelandic five-piece carried the most responsive crowd at the festival. Everyone was singing along to favourites like Little Talks and King and Lionheart, punching fists in the air with the strong “Hey!”s

Standing upon a better vantage point at the back, and seeing the crowd down below by the stage, it sent goosebumps across my skin and made me smile – it was a beautiful sight. Despite the crazy sun hanging above us by that time, and the heat creeping up our spines, I could not have thought of a better place to be then. It was great to have caught them performing, even if it was just for a while, and I would gladly catch them live again performing a full concert set.

By the time Nicolas Jaar went onstage, I have had about enough of the festival, sitting under the hot sun without shade for some five hours straight. We retreated out past the festival entrance, where they were some shades and just lied there, staring up at the whispering trees. From the inside, the light breeze carried out to us Jaar’s drowsy and hypnotic beats, which sent us off easily on an agreeable shuteye, before we headed back in once again.

The megalomaniac Marina Bay Sands standing proud in the background of Laneway Festival, and the Supertree Grove nearby lit up as night falls, and American psychedelic rock band Real Estate welcomed dusk with music that reminisced the soothing beachfront, before bigger festival acts like Englishmen Alt-J, second Laneway timers Yeasayer, Aussies Tame Impala, and last but not least, at the stroke of midnight, all hands were on deck for Belgian/Australian Gotye, and his ever popular catch, Somebody that I Used to Know.

But by then, I have had enough for the day, and was more than ready to head back to the hostel and call it a day. I was pretty much wandering about outside when Tame Impala performed, and I laid on the grass once again, staring up at the stars and the moon, as Bat For Lashes played Laura.

Photo credit: Rizki Maulana // The Spool

All in all, it was a great Laneway instalment. Indie music fans went home tired but satisfied with the year’s line-up, and for some, me included, not so satisfying tanlines. Clearly, I have yet to build up a stamina for a full 12-hour straight music festival, but I definitely would not mind patronising Laneway again the following years, hopefully with more like-minded music friends, and make the most of the festival.

More photos from the gig taken by Rizki here.

What we expected from The Vaccines

Event: Upfront presents The Vaccines
Date: January 11, 2013 (Friday)
Venue: The Bee, Publika, Malaysia

Upfront is back with another night of intimate gig and this time, Brit-rock connoisseurs, The Vaccines hit the Malaysian shores and along with them is The Rubens, a new upcoming AUS/NZ talent (they’re on the line up for St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth) as the opening act for the night. Lucky you Malaysia.

Meanwhile The Vaccines were in the holding room hanging out, The Rubens warmed the crowd up with a 9 song set, in which they played their famous My Gun; which is fit to be a Bond theme song. The Rubens took their guns and shot their fans with their wonderfully crafted songs which makes the listeners yearn for more.

After the soulful set by The Rubens, the seniors came to play. Kicking off with No Hope, The Vaccines gave the crowd a test of their sing along skills. Oh boy, the crowd did wonderful that they could be heard from outside as I was taking my cigarette break. “There is no hope, and there’s desperately, no hope, and there’s definitely, no hope, If you don’t believe me. Oh.”

The Vaccines then wrecked the hearts of the fans with Wreckin’ Bar and I Always Knew, and then took things back a few steps by playing some old songs from their previous album, A Lack of Understanding and The Vaccines got the kids instagramming when they played Wetsuit Instagram. Too bad there were no wetsuits involved.

Photo credit: Rizki Maulana // The Spool

Taking a notch up on the beats, the band proceeded to get the gig goers dancing to the fast paced Teenage Icon. Well, that’s what the teens should be doing anyways, dancing and having fun! Then the band hits sparked the flames and hits it off with Post Break Up Sex which made some gig goers who were taking a cigarette break outside ran in and started singing along. Exhausted from all that dancing around, The Vaccines went a little softer with All In White and proceeded with Change of Heart and Blow It Up.

In my opinion, The Vaccines should’ve ended the set here, or at least with If You Wanna as an encore. It was the song with the most positive vibe and feedback that night. 3 crowd surfers, the front barricade needed reinforcement and girls can be seen climbing their boyfriends’ back. For encore, The Vaccines played Bad Mood, Wolfpack and their happiest song ever, Norgaard. Which made the listeners happy for the rest of that week. Well, for me at least.

Contributed by Rizki Maulana (@rzmaulana)
More photos from the gig taken by Rizki here.

* If you would like to contribute your reviews on concerts you have been to and/or new bands/albums/songs you have recently heard, feel free to drop me a line here.

Retreat, retreat… with the 65daysofstatic

Event: Upfront presents 65 Days of Static
Date: January 8, 2013 (Tuesday)
Venue: The Bee, Publika

After a long hiatus, Upfront is finally back with a bang. So far, they’ve announced 4 shows which are 65daysofstatic, The Vaccines (feat. The Rubens), Dia Frampton which happened earlier this month and later this March, Grimes. Promising you intimate evenings of thrills and frills, Upfront chose The Bee, Publika as the venue for their 2013 series.

65daysofstatic kicked things off from an earlier album with Drove Through Ghosts To Get Here. And as the music starts, you just know that it’s going to be a night to remember. The band then proceeded with something new, Piano Fights from their latest release, We Were Exploding Anyway. Something much more familiar for new listeners who just picked up their album. However, the band felt like the lights were too bright for their liking and asked the lighting engineer to shut the lights off. “If we were meant to be seen for these lights, we wouldn’t be fat.”

After Await Rescue and Install a Beak in the Heart That Clucks Time in Arabic, 65daysofstatic got people off their feet and started jumping around with Crash Tactics. The band also told the crowd to squat down and wait for the part of the song to jump up (think of Slipknot’s jumpdafuckup). The jumping around also led to a few crowdsurfers. Definitely not your everyday post rock gig.

Photo credit: Rizki Maulana // The Spool

Picking up where they left off, 65daysofstatic took things more electric without their guitars and things went crazy. Weak4 sent pulses of eargasms to the crowd which got them cheering for more. The intimacy between the crowd and the band was so strong.

Things got dark, squatting and jumping were involved, Japan, Debutante, Taipei and Mountainhead were played. Then the time of the night came, the last song. PX3 was the song of choice and during the last transition, we just can’t believe that that was the last song. “Retreat Retreat!”, shouted a fan. There it goes, the power of one shout triggered the whole restaurant to shout “Retreat Retreat!”.

You guessed it right, Retreat Retreat was the encore. And as the familiar intro was heard: the xylophone, the electronic drums and finally the recording, “We will not retreat, this band is unstoppable!” It was like everyone was waiting for this. Everyone danced in trance, joy filled the air of The Bee that night. But 65daysofstatic wouldn’t let the fans down when they began chanting “Radio! Radio! Radio!” and so the set was closed with Radio Protector.

Contributed by Rizki Maulana (@rzmaulana)
More photos from the gig taken by Rizki here.

* If you would like to contribute your reviews on concerts you have been to and/or new bands/albums/songs you have recently heard, feel free to drop me a line here.

Local Wednesday: ‘Fairweather Friends’ by Ferns

I was on a car ride to Mont Kiara when I was listening to Ferns’ sophomore album, Fairweather Friends for the first time, and it was rather amazing how the album in its entirety fits into my being like gloves to hands. The album is the weekender’s kind of album – it doesn’t matter if you’re out at your favourite weekend café sipping on artisanal coffee with your friends, or lazing at home because you can, there is a song to suit any mood you might be going through on a weekend. Something fluffy and snug, something versatile and adaptable.

Like the titled track, the anticipated dawn of the day, as the sun rises over the horizon. No jarring alarm clocks, or early morning appointments to rush to. You wake up whenever, you linger in your bed, tangled in your sheet however long you want. Rearranging yourself in bed with the body next to you – cat, dog, or lover, whichever way that best fits the both of you.

Hey, remember the 50s? Letterman jackets, A-line skirts, knee-high socks, milkshakes with whipped cream and a cherry on top? Yeah, me neither. But Ferns did bring us back to that era of good loving fun, especially in Miss Stormcloud, or for Dismay and Apparitions, a high school prom filled with ill-fitting pastel blue suits with ruffles illuminated by the slow-spinning disco ball above you. The elementary percussion and bass rhythm, clean backing vocals complementing lead Warren’s dreamy vocals. It does remind you of simpler times, even ones we would have just seen on television or in movies, without necessarily having lived them ourselves.

Anti Social Scene goes: “I’d rather be doing something else / Should’ve never left my home / My cover’s blown”.  We all have those weekends, when even though events and activities are abundant, and you may or may not be required to attend at least one of them, and you may have headed out because your friend insisted you to and you feel obliged to. (And don’t you just hate it when some of them pull the ”don’t be so lansi” card?). And when you do, you’d kick yourself and go: “Well, that was a terrible idea.” All you want to do is just sleep in, curl up in bed catching up on your reading, or just go on a 12-hour Modern Family marathon. But noooo. We do live a life where we do things we don’t necessarily like out of obligations, don’t we?

And there are also those weekends, when you have chosen to stay at home despite the abundant events and activities happening around you. You know, those weekends when you can’t give a fuck if the world is just passing you by. But there you are, browsing through your Facebook timeline, and popping up minute after minute, your friends’ endless pictorial testimonies of their latest escapade at a rave party, an indie flea market, or a shopping spree. And you think to yourself: “Feels just like I should be having more fun”. We can be such a sourpuss sometimes, can’t we?

But of course, there should be weekends when you are at the right place, at the right time, with the right people. It does not necessarily have to be something of gigantic proportion, like attending an alcohol driven event, or having a massive dinner party. It could be something as little and approached with such grace as meeting up with a favourite friend at your favourite restaurant eating your favourite dishes. You know, things you do that just feels – right. There should be weekends like that, that is lived without obligations you don’t want to make, but only things you want to do at your own time, at your own pace. Things you do that make you go: “A-OK, I might not be that kind of guy / But hey, it’s OK”. Or else what’s good about life, really?

Good things take time to grow, and it has taken the quirky indiepoppers Ferns some four years to mature a garden of good natured pop tunes from their On Botany days back in 2007, into their sophomore attempt titled Fairweather Friends, and what a dandy little garden it has turned out to be. Like that little garden out back, it’s something you could rely on on the best of days over the weekend, and at the same time, something you could relate to on the lesser of days.

W: Ferns.Bandcamp.com
T: @fernsband

La vie en Sigur Rós

Event: Urbanscapes Festival presents Sigur Rós
Date: November 25, 2012 (Sunday)
Venue: Padang Astaka, Malaysia

Till this day, I still find it hard to believe that Urbanscapes Festival, what started off as a mere local creative arts festival, managed to bring around something as phenomenon in size as Sigur Rós for their 10-year milestone this year. I mean, yes, I was much delighted when LAMC Productions announced their Singapore concert instalment a few months earlier, but this – this.

Sigur Rós, I have always thought, to be one of the few bands that I would have to make an effort to go see live. Like Radiohead. We have spoken so often about flying all the way to Iceland to see this peculiarly comforting post rock band live in their homegrown habitat. It’s something we have to do, somewhere down our busy urban lives. Be it something to check off for our mid-life crisis, or something to check off our lives once and for all, it has to be done. Yet. Here they were.

I suppose, now is the time that much more credit has to be given to the local event organisers. This year alone, they all have achieved so much. Despite the many downfalls and disgruntles that come along with each of the events, I am still proud of them, and I am glad to be in the middle of it all, at this time and age.

It has been an awful month, to be honest. So much happened, and so much realisations dawned. Despite the few good things that managed to slip in between the cracks, November has been, for the most part, discouraging. Most things did not seem to be going right, and I just long for that one day when I know things will be somewhat alright again, by putting life on hold just for a little while, in the hands of someone who seems to know something of the subconsciousness that I often fail to realise – put words in my mouth, reawaken feelings in my heart.

I was disheartened that my initial plan to catch them in Singapore, to catch them twice, was smothered, and with a heavy heart I had to sell off my concert ticket to a stranger, whom at the very last minute, could not take it off my hands anyway. (And also, to later find out that they played Fljótavík, one of my favourites there and not here – oh the frustration!). So, of course I was excited, to say the least, come Sunday. So much so that I could not wait to get out of my house and get to the festival. Moments leading up to the concert, I was just bouncing at the balls of my feet.

Like sweet dreams from the night before, Sigur Rós crept into our presence with the light footsteps of Í Gær, easing us in, preparing us for that great depression we once grew familiar with in their 2007 compilation album Hvarf/Heim. Proceeding to guide us through the vague subconsciousness behind closed eyes, the archangel Jón Þór Birgisson, or more commonly known by the lesser beings and the non-Icelanders as Jónsi, led us with the sleepless Svefn-g-englar with hypnotising rhythmic drops that echo, and breathed life into the strings of his guitar, transmitting them through the booming speakers onto us, giving us life once again.

The most loved song for the night was, of course, Hoppípolla. When the familiar intro flooded across the mud field of fans, everyone cheered, and was pretty much ready to jump into puddles (of mud). However, I somehow could not grasp the magnificence of the song that night, one that would never fail to make me smile hearing the crescendo rhythm through my headphones, and would make my arms pimply at the climatic bridge. Perhaps it was the inappropriately rowdy surrounding near me, or the way Jónsi had sang his Icelandic verses, hence not creating that effect he had in the recordings. Whilst some friends who had patronised the Singapore installment said this was better, but whatever it was, there was a bar I set for this song, and Sigur Rós did not quite hit the mark that night, unfortunately.

They, instead, hit it for songs unexpected for me. Varúð, one of the newer ones from their latest album Valtari, with the smoke effects creating such eerie haunt playing with the blaring stage lights, and the background display of multiple souls from faceless beings, leaving bodies and finding their peace with the abundant stars in the skies, they made immaculate synchronicity with the steady beat of the drum growing louder, before fading off to the cherub voices echoing:  ”Varúð…“

Sigur Rós too gave us a lick of where their next working album is going towards with the premiere of Brennisteinn on Malaysian soil. Heard foremost at the Iceland Airwaves Festival in their hometown Reykjavik, and at the many subsequent shows after, it was said to be anti-Valtari, and possessed such darkness and more rock elements to it, which created the perfect lead up to their signature ending song, Popplagið – that has once ended ( ), and Inni, and now, the 10th installment of a once small time local creative arts festival. How the stage lights just ran amok as the feedbacks of Jónsi’s bow running recklessly across the strings of his electric guitar, and his eerie pitch, on repeat, reached far across all four corners of Padang Astaka, as if reminding us obsessively, compulsively: remember, remember this moment, as we end the night with such might.

Many lives completed in full circle that night. Mine included, suffice to say. Damien Rice, Death Cab for Cutie, Dashbord Confessional, and now – this. Never in my life have I ever thought that I would be able to catch all the bands and musicians I want to see live before I turn 30. It just makes you wonder: what now? Where do you go from here, when all the ones on top of your list are checked off? Festivals, perhaps. Yes. That would be a feat. Or I could turn back around, and start all over again, in a whole different place. There is still always the dream of seeing Sigur Rós in Iceland. Heh.

That one time when I flew all the way to Melbourne to watch Radiohead live.

Event: Radiohead live in concert
Date: November 17, 2012 (Saturday)
Venue: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia

It’s no secret that I like my regular stints down to Singapore to catch a good act performing live. Travelling any further than that has been, thus far, mere wanderlust talk: to catch Summer Sonic in Japan, to revel in the famous Glastonbury in the UK, and to drink in Sigur Ros in Iceland.

Maybe I was getting tired of it just being Singapore. Maybe I wanted something different for a change. Maybe I wanted to do something ‘crazy’. So, when Radiohead announced their Australian shows back in February (a few months after hearing their show in Taipei sold out within minutes), I thought, why the hell not?

It was a chance to experience a different concert crowd in another country as well, and may I just say that I love the Australian concert crowd. Everyone was so well-behaved, it made the better part of Malaysian and Singaporean concert goers seem barbaric.

Everyone made the most of their money’s worth for a live show. They do not hold random chit chats with their friends when the performers were at it onstage, and there was not a sea of beaming smart phone screens in the air throughout the show. Occasional ones, perhaps, to snap a quick shot or so, but overall, everyone just reveled in the live concert experience, instead of busying themselves recording the show and missing it out live.

Everyone was really there to enjoy the concert and the music, and more importantly, they were all respectful to other concert goers, and don’t get in each other’s hair.

Weeks leading up to the concert, I came across the stage setting for Radiohead’s concert through glimpses of photos unintentionally, and for someone jakun like me, I was more than excited to see it all live. Besides the floor to ceiling LED back screen, they had about twelve LED flatscreens hung off the ceiling, suspended in midair like fallen shards of glasses magnified, frozen in time. For every song, these screens would change formations, either at random, or that would best suit the mood of the song, reflective against the band members: lead Thom Yorke, guitarists Colin and Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien, and drummer Philip Selway.

Radiohead eased into this leg of their Kings of Limbs tour with Lotus Flower, something futuristically, psychedelically electronica, and throughout the set, peppered numbers from their latest album like Separator, Feral and Give Up The Ghost. There were also a fair share of beloved tracks from six of their preceding albums, save Pablo Honey, seemingly shying away on purpose from more commercially known songs like High and Dry, No Surprises, Karma Police, and yes, even Creep, prioritising more on the quality of a mindblowing live show, rather than a sing-a-long song fest.

Personally, the beginning of the set was rather monotonous, but as time passed, you could see a slow yet healthy ascension for the overall arch of the night. With sprouts of occasional climaxes from respective songs, like There There, You and Whose Army?, and Paranoid Android, the lights onstage went off with every musical eruption. Oh, you should have seen how everything combusted for Paranoid Android. Deafening sounds, blinding lights… it just eats into you.

Fans seemed to warm up towards the middle, and when they began to react more to the older and more lovable ones, everything just felt more alive in the arena. Not to mention, Yorke feeding off the crowd energy with his animated onstage persona, dancing along to his songs as if thousands of fans were not watching him, and cracking somewhat lame jokes with the locals every once in a while, it was rather entertaining.

Yorke too paced the night with a couple of slow ones like How to Disappear Completely and These are My Twisted Words. When the screens arranged themselves over Yorke, as the white light rained down on him like a God sent, and his words echoed through the speakers: ”Strobe lights and blown speakers / Fireworks and hurricanes / I’m not here, this isn’t happening / I’m not here, I’m not here” - it did feel surreal for me at that point in time. Did I really go all the way to Australia just to see Radiohead? Is this really happening? Am I really here?

It wasn’t long till I was reassured. By the second encore, (why yes, there were two encores!), after toning down from Idioteque with equally soothing but musically distinct Give Up the Ghost and Reckoner, the night fell into this comfortable solace with Everything in Its Right Place. (Cheesy and a tad obvious, but well, still – right). The tousled synth beats, the repetitive haunts of “What was it you tried to say?”, tattooing its presence in your memory. All jumbled up at the wrong time, but coming together to a firm end that seemed appropriately right.

So yes, I did. I travelled all the way to Australia to catch Radiohead live, and their concert that was the last one of their Kings of Limbs tour, which they set out nine months ago. That’s quite special already in its own right, no?

It’s something that I would probably do again. Travel to a new country, and if timing permits, catch a concert there while I am at it. Make the trip all the more worthwhile, I would say. I am beginning to like being caught in the midst of a totally different concert culture, just to see what it is like – crowd wise and production wise. And to know that you are in a strange place where not everyone knows you, that you are akin to a wanted suspect blending into the crowd and living like Romans do. All that is left to entertain is just the music, which is really what it is all about at the end of the day.

Spotlight Sunday: Sigur Ros, Seattle, Washington DC

August 8, 2012
Valtari Tour
The Paramount Theatre, Seattle, Washington DC
(via David Lichterman)