When four piece band, Grizzly Bear from Brooklyn appeared on the Sydney Festival 2010 bill, tickets to their shows quickly sold out. It's not surprising really, with the bands thrid studio album 'Veckatmist' receiving raving reviews and overwhelming attention all over the globe. The live shows were held at The City Recital Hall in Angel Place, one of Sydney's hidden treasures for live music and a venue vastly under used for mainstream music acts. This unique acoustically designed auditorium was perfect for this type of event, making the music and the live experience both intense and intimate.
The complexity of this band is truly amazing. With intertwined vocals, four part harmonies, counterpart melodies and various band members (Chris Taylor and Edward Droste in particular) often playing multiple instruments during songs, Grizzly Bear are truly a very rare combination found in a live music setting. Each band member shared the stage equally in a straight line configuration and even drummer Christopher Bear, was set to the front of the stage giving the audience an easy vantage point.
The set mainly focused on the new album 'Veckatmist', opening the show with the thumping track Southern Point followed by the more popular song with the most radio air play - Two Weeks. However, it wasn't until the foursome sang Cheerleader that we really got to hear the beauty and full extent of this band in perfect harmonization. Other tracks from the new record included Ready Able, While You Wait for the Others and the encore acoustic version of All We Ask. Older favourites also made the list with a balance between the previous albums 'Horn of Plenty' and 'Yellow House' featuring Colorado, Knife, On a Neck, On a Split, Lullaby, Service Bell (without Feist) and Deep Blue Sea.
The one thing I'll say about Grizzly Bear is that they are absolutely breathtaking live. Definately a delightful, joyous and unforgettable musical experience that left me with that overwhelming, warm and fuzzy feeling you can't shake for days. This is ultimately what live music is all about!
Thank you Grizzly Bear and thank you to the organiser's of the 2010 Sydney Festival for bringing them out to Australia.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Hordern Pavilion on Friday 8 January, 2010
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a fascinating band who are forever transforming their sound whilst at the same time, always able to producce a notoriously deadly live experience to their loyal fans.
After headlining a swag of summer festivals in Australia, the NYC trio finally gives into a couple of side shows in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to perforem their universally adored new album, 'Its Blitz!'.
I went to the sold out show at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion last Friday and the venue was electrically charged with the excitement of the unexpected. The YYY's are renowned for putting on a crazy show that surprises, enthralls and commands the audiences' attention.
The stage set up was simple with keyboards to the left and a backdrop banner of silver confetti ring behind a giant eye ball prop hanging over Brain Chase's drum kit. The right hand side of the stage was set up for Nick Zinner's fuzzy guitar trickery leaving just enough space, front and centre for Karen O to sing and jump around in her crazy colourful costumes.
The YYY's opened the show with Karen O singing from backstage, then emerging after the first verse of an old track called Shake It. She was dressed in a draped frock with colourful dangly bits and black tights under a red and green poncho cape. Shake It was an odd choice to start with as this raw, rough and ready track does not appear on any of the recorded albums or EP's but is a YYY's favourite for live shows sets.
To warm up the crowd with familiarity the next song played was Phenomena from the 2006 album 'Show Your Bones'. In between songs Karen O swigs her water and then spits it up into the air... she is absolutely wild and likes to shock and pump up the crowd. Coming into track 3 and the sound of the synth intro leads in and when Karen O sings "Off with your head, Dance til you're dead, Heads will roll, Heads will roll, Head will roll - on the floor"... the audience starts cheering and screaming. This is clearly a favourite from the new album and no doubt one of their most popular tracks from 2009.
Slowing down the pace at the halfway mark is the sound of the 3/4 drum beat intro and the crowd clapping along with Karen O singing "Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is". The rest of the set unfolds into a great mixture of old and new material with tracks like Black Tongue, Y Control and Pin from the debut album 'Fever To Tell', 10X10 from the 'IS IS' EP, as well as Dull Life, Skeletons and SoftShock from the new 'It's Blitz!'.
Towards the end of the set Karen O screams out "Party tonight Sydney" before ripping into the song everyone had been waiting for - Zero. The audience became hysterical as two giant beach eye balls were released into the crowd. Zero was the first track released on the 'It's Blitz!' record and is most definately the bands more poppy and mainstream, art punk/dance tracks. With apparent similarities and influences to the bass line and synth progressions of New Order's Blue Monday this single has really given the YYY's some major airplay worldwide, switching this raw garage punk/ska trio into the mainstream forefront.
Cheated Hearts was the last song on the main bill before Karen O , Nick and Brian briefly left the stage pre encore. On return in her last costume change for the night Karen O makes some dedications to the broader YYY's crew, producers and promoters before singing an acoustic version of Maps from the 'Fever To Tell' record. The show closer was another from the debut album - the heavy, edgy, punk track Date With The Night.
I love this band. I would even go as far as saying that their album 'It's Blitz!' is in my top 10 album list for 2009. Karen o's wild and manic vocal delivery is amazing and her dress up wardrobe is quite impressive. She can adapt her voice to be both tough and tender which is an important aspect in the transformation of the YYY's sound. Nick Zinner's fuzzy, buzzing guitar mastery and Brian's mad drumming makes the YYY's sound loud, heavy and raw.
The YYY's are a gritty, trashy, in your face contemporary punk puck outfit who are seriously cool without even trying.
Supporting Act - Circle Pit http://www.myspace.com/circlepit
YYY's Setlist:
Shake It
Phenomena
Head Will Roll
Black Tongue
10X10
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Y Control
Skeletons
SoftShock
Pin
Zero
Cheated Hearts
Encore:
Maps (acoustic)
Art Star
Date With The Night
After headlining a swag of summer festivals in Australia, the NYC trio finally gives into a couple of side shows in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney to perforem their universally adored new album, 'Its Blitz!'.
I went to the sold out show at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion last Friday and the venue was electrically charged with the excitement of the unexpected. The YYY's are renowned for putting on a crazy show that surprises, enthralls and commands the audiences' attention.
The stage set up was simple with keyboards to the left and a backdrop banner of silver confetti ring behind a giant eye ball prop hanging over Brain Chase's drum kit. The right hand side of the stage was set up for Nick Zinner's fuzzy guitar trickery leaving just enough space, front and centre for Karen O to sing and jump around in her crazy colourful costumes.
The YYY's opened the show with Karen O singing from backstage, then emerging after the first verse of an old track called Shake It. She was dressed in a draped frock with colourful dangly bits and black tights under a red and green poncho cape. Shake It was an odd choice to start with as this raw, rough and ready track does not appear on any of the recorded albums or EP's but is a YYY's favourite for live shows sets.
To warm up the crowd with familiarity the next song played was Phenomena from the 2006 album 'Show Your Bones'. In between songs Karen O swigs her water and then spits it up into the air... she is absolutely wild and likes to shock and pump up the crowd. Coming into track 3 and the sound of the synth intro leads in and when Karen O sings "Off with your head, Dance til you're dead, Heads will roll, Heads will roll, Head will roll - on the floor"... the audience starts cheering and screaming. This is clearly a favourite from the new album and no doubt one of their most popular tracks from 2009.
Slowing down the pace at the halfway mark is the sound of the 3/4 drum beat intro and the crowd clapping along with Karen O singing "Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is". The rest of the set unfolds into a great mixture of old and new material with tracks like Black Tongue, Y Control and Pin from the debut album 'Fever To Tell', 10X10 from the 'IS IS' EP, as well as Dull Life, Skeletons and SoftShock from the new 'It's Blitz!'.
Towards the end of the set Karen O screams out "Party tonight Sydney" before ripping into the song everyone had been waiting for - Zero. The audience became hysterical as two giant beach eye balls were released into the crowd. Zero was the first track released on the 'It's Blitz!' record and is most definately the bands more poppy and mainstream, art punk/dance tracks. With apparent similarities and influences to the bass line and synth progressions of New Order's Blue Monday this single has really given the YYY's some major airplay worldwide, switching this raw garage punk/ska trio into the mainstream forefront.
Cheated Hearts was the last song on the main bill before Karen O , Nick and Brian briefly left the stage pre encore. On return in her last costume change for the night Karen O makes some dedications to the broader YYY's crew, producers and promoters before singing an acoustic version of Maps from the 'Fever To Tell' record. The show closer was another from the debut album - the heavy, edgy, punk track Date With The Night.
I love this band. I would even go as far as saying that their album 'It's Blitz!' is in my top 10 album list for 2009. Karen o's wild and manic vocal delivery is amazing and her dress up wardrobe is quite impressive. She can adapt her voice to be both tough and tender which is an important aspect in the transformation of the YYY's sound. Nick Zinner's fuzzy, buzzing guitar mastery and Brian's mad drumming makes the YYY's sound loud, heavy and raw.
The YYY's are a gritty, trashy, in your face contemporary punk puck outfit who are seriously cool without even trying.
Supporting Act - Circle Pit http://www.myspace.com/circlepit
YYY's Setlist:
Shake It
Phenomena
Head Will Roll
Black Tongue
10X10
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Y Control
Skeletons
SoftShock
Pin
Zero
Cheated Hearts
Encore:
Maps (acoustic)
Art Star
Date With The Night
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