Time for you all to look at this and say "pfft, what would that guy know?" I have an answer to that question: "I don't care!" I've compiled (yet again) a list of my top ten favourite albums of the year. I'm pretty sure the top two or three I love equally, but when it came down to it, the album I picked for Numero Uno kicks serious butt.
So given that three quarters of my year was spent travelling, I was listening to a LOT of music, taking advantage of good hostel wifi when it rolled around and trying not to fall too far behind. I discovered an immediate love of Villagers an unnatural liking for Kanye West, plugged Aussie acts to plenty of Americans and cemented far too many associations between albums and journeys between one place and another.
So here we go, my favourites counted down from 10 to 1...
10. The View - Bread and Circuses
9. Florence + The Machine - Ceremonials
8. Kimbra - Vows
7. Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding
6. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
5. Foo Fighters - Wasted Light
4. The Wombats - This Modern Glitch
3. Boy & Bear - Moonfire
2. Architecture in Helsinki - Moment Bends
And finally...
It should have won the Aria, and triplej are seriously stupid for not even mentioning it for a j award... My favourite album of the year is....
So Tess and I went for a pretty big trip. In my downtime I've collated a bunch of photos from the adventure, compiling three videos with some wicked sick music to boot!
The first of these is Part 1 (the first Schengen visa), which covers our European winter jaunt. Starting in Italy, where it was still warm; to Prague, Germany, Austria and all the snow; then through Amsterdam, Bruges and around France...
The second video covers Parts 2, 3 and 4. Part 2 is our time in SE Asia – Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Part 3 is our few weeks in the UK and Ireland, counting down the days til the next Schengen visa could start :P. Part 4 is back in Europe, covering ground in Spain and France again, on our way back to Italy...
Part 5 kicks this last video off; it being our time at English Camps in Italy. Finally, Part 6 back in England (and briefly in Wales). This video does feature the famed Team Noceto Bubblegum rendition and Badoere’s Asparagus madness...
Headed along to Parklife on the weekend (I know, weird right?) Here's my review on FasterLouder...
Parklife has rolled around once again, back at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl to kick start 2011’s circuit of the touring festival. It may be the metro’s festival event of the year, but surprisingly it does actually offer a great variety of musical offerings. And with none of the internationals allowed to provide sideshows, this served as the only chance to see them. The festival was full of varied happenings; Lykke Li showed how a non-dance act can headline a dance festival, The Streets played up on their last ever show in Melbourne, Death From Above scared the crap out of the festival’s target patronage, and Santigold demonstrated how a two piece horse outfit is the perfect filler for a costume change. This was one mixed bag of acts.
If you wanted to see anyone at any stage with no fuss, squash or bother, first thing in the day was the only time to do so. And there were some nice early offerings. San Fran Disco outshone the oft-talked about Strange Talk first up, if only for the stage differences early on. Both had the synthesized pop down pat, and both had a healthy sized crowd of early comers, but the Sahara Stage (that is, the Bowl itself) made Strange Talk sound like they were playing in a cave (or, The Cave Stage even, which was situated somewhere behind the Bowl’s sails). A cover of Hella Good didn’t help too much – the sound on the lawn was that bad – but it did get the uniformed mass down front jumping about.
Back at the Atoll Stage (the stage for most bands that don’t come to mind when you hear “Parklife”), the token local starlet for this year’s tour, Kimbra, quickly drew a decent crowd for a different kind of dance to what would later be installed for the day. The slinky jazz of Good Intent was a standout in her set, which got things moving nicely and had people bopping along in the afternoon sunshine – happy for whatever warmth they could get. The funk outro on new track Samaritan was another moment to dance, this time with plenty more intensity from Kimbra’s ensemble.
From one Kiwi favourite to the next, The Naked And Famous made drawing a crowd look easy as they led off with All Of This and Punching In A Dream; two perfectly suited tracks to get the sitters standing and singing along to what they knew. The Naked And Famous then changed course a little, and turned a bit gloomier, with the verses of No Way retracting the vibe and even getting a little drowned out by DJs over the hill. They were a hard act to place, as their openers set them up as an excellent Parklife match, then much of the set confused more than a few wanting to dance, with many obviously just waiting out for Young Blood.
Little Dragon had no such back-and-forth, instead turning out to dazzle throughout their entire set. Front woman Yukimi Nagano charmed the crowd with her chilled out demeanour and pleasantries. Clearly happy to be there, the crowd enthusiastically responded in kind. Heavy on percussive tricks, Little Dragon impressed both fans and passers-by with effects boards and indie electronics that wouldn’t be heard anywhere else for the day. Little Dragon’s set also initiated the tree climbing trend for the evening, giving everyone a chance to practice their trash-pegging abilities.
Where Little Dragon dazzled, Death From Above 1979 simply confused. Their backdrop consisted of a tombstone reading “DFA 1979 2001 – 2006”, a note to those none the wiser that the Canadian duo haven’t exactly done much recently aside from reassemble (another note to the fact, Sebastien Grainger announcing, “This is the title track off our new album… That came out six years ago”). “I understand how difficult this must be for you,” Grainger announced about half way through, and for many it certainly was – the number of onlookers holding their ears and walking off was both surprising and amusing. But for those willing to brave the volume and noise (and boy to they make a lot of noise), DFA put on a terrific show, with both Grainger and Jesse Keeler banging about carelessly and many in the crowd surfing away above their fellow DFA faithful. DFA weren’t exactly Parklife material, but they provided a stand out set nonetheless.
Post smashing out rock tunes, it was time to get the proper dance shoes back on and head to Sahara. As the sun set and a large crowd gathered to see Santigold, the cold began to set in, so it was time to dance. And the perfect tutors for such dancing were Santigold’s backup – a pair that only added to the style and amusement of Santigold’s set. Go was an appropriate starting point for both the costume-clad band and crowd alike, before L.E.S. Artistes got people singing along as well as moving. Ever the entertainer, Santigold was full of encouragement for those willing to dance, inviting about 25 extras on stage to help out on Creator, and later, while the band jammed away during a costume change, the stage was led by a two-piece horse dancing away while the backups did their best to lasso the thing. Weird, but funny. But as great as Santigold was to watch, the festival wasn’t exactly making it easy at their biggest stage – some strange decision to have only one immobile camera for the entire Bowl was pretty disappointing. And the Bowl’s sound production: it got louder, but the quality didn’t go up too much with the volume.
Needing no such screens as he stood high above a speaker, Mike Skinner quickly played his entertainment cards too, only with less theatrics and more personality. When Skinner thinks it’s cold, it must be cold. He proposed to the crowd they really only had two options: hug a lot, or just go apeshit. And that they tried to do, even if The Streets beats didn’t exactly provide that many “apeshit” moments. Hung up on the fact that Diplo had been arrested the night before, that the set would be their last ever in Melbourne, and that Mötley Crüe were playing over at Rod Laver, Skinner’s quips between (and during) songs were arguably the most entertaining parts of seeing The Streets live. With lights over the crowd for most of the set, Skinner was watching and commenting on anything that caught his eye (“Is that a goth pashing in the tree?”; “You could be on neighbours”; “Never in my life have I seen a man in a wheelchair crowd surfing”) and the crowd was more than happy to interact. At one point, Skinner had everyone hit the deck, and even if the jump-up result was a little underwhelming, at least he knew he could get people to do whatever crap he wanted them to do. The set ended with a big sing along to Fit But You Know It (with Skinner’s additions of I Love Rock And Roll an ode to Mötley Crüe across the way), a shout out to check if Diplo was alright (he was on the main stage), and finally a rocking Going Through Hell.
For those not willing to endure the sounds of Barbara Streisand any more than they already have to in their day to day life, there was Lykke Li, who headlined the Atoll Stage. “I know this is a dance festival,” Li admitted, “but I’m one of the slow bands tonight”. Li’s set may have been slow at times, but it by no means lacked diversity and intrigue. Beginning in a very dramatic fashion, Li appeared beneath a black veil to thunderous flashing, revealing her theatrics and voice that wouldn’t dwindle for the whole hour. Somewhat appropriately, Dance Dance Dance stood out as Li’s best number, though it wasn’t the kind of dance that’d be happening at the other stages. The gentle number turned to a percussive onslaught as Li joined the right side of stage, which was completely set up with drums and various other things you’d hit. As she moved through her set, Lykke Li had the crowd dancing at times, stationary at times, but all the while mesmerised by her stunning voice and dominant stage presence.
Into the cold night Lykke Li concluded as the giant inflatable duck down in the Bowl finished the festival off with all its novelty value. And that was Parklife away from the decks – maybe not the experience you’d see in the commercials but a musically worthy one all the same. ty of musical offerings; and with none of the internationals allowed to provide sideshows, this was the only chance to see them. The festival was full of varied happenings. Lykke Li showed how a non-dance act can headline a dance festival, The Streets played up on their last ever show in Melbourne, Death From Above scared the crap out of the festival’s target patronage, and Santogold demonstrated how a two piece horse outfit is the perfect filler for a costume change. This was one mixed bag of acts.
If you wanted to see anyone at any stage with no fuss, squash or bother, first thing in the day was the only time to do so. And there were some nice early offerings. San Fran Disco outshone the talked about Strange Talk first up, if only for the stage differences early on. Both that the synthesized pop down pat, and both had a healthy sized crowd of early comers, but the Sahara Stage (that is, the Bowl itself) made Strange Talk sound like they were playing in a cave (or, The Cave Stage even, which was situated somewhere behind the Bowl’s sails). A cover of Hella Good didn’t help too much – the sound on the lawn was that bad – but it did get the uniformed mass down front jumping about.
Back at the Atoll Stage (the stage for most bands that don’t come to mind when you hear “Parklife”), the token local starlet for this year’s tour, Kimbra, quickly drew a decent crowd for a different kind of dance to what would later be installed for the day. The slinky jazz of Good Intent was a standout in her set, which got things moving nicely and had people bopping along in the afternoon sunshine – happy for whatever warmth they could get. The funk outro on new track Samaritan was another moment to dance, this time with plenty more intensity from Kimbra’s ensemble.
From one Kiwi favourite to the next, The Naked And Famous made drawing a crowd look easy as they led off with All Of This and Punching In A Dream; two perfectly suited tracks to get the sitters standing and singing along to what they knew. The Naked And Famous then changed course a little, and turned a bit gloomier, with the verses of No Way retracting the vibe and even getting a little drowned out by DJs over the hill. They were a hard act to place, as their openers set them up as an excellent Parklife match, then much of the set confused more than a few wanting to dance, with many obviously just waiting out for Young Blood.
Little Dragon had no such back-and-forth, instead just turning out to dazzle throughout their entire set. Front woman Yukimi Nagano charmed the crowd with her chilled out demeanour and pleasantries, she was clearly happy to be there and the crowd responded in kind. Heavy on percussive tricks, Little Dragon impressed both fans and passers-by with effects boards and indie electronics that wouldn’t be heard anywhere else for the day. Little Dragon’s set also initiated the tree climbing trend for the evening, giving everyone a chance to practice their trash-pegging abilities.
Where Little Dragon dazzled, Death From Above 1979 simply confused. Their backdrop consisted of a tombstone reading “DFA 1979 2001 – 2006”, a note to those none the wiser that the Canadian duo haven’t exactly done much recently aside from reassemble (another note to the fact, Sebastien Grainger announcing, “This is the title track off our new album… That came out six years ago”). “I understand how difficult this must be for you,” Grainger announced about half way through, and for many it certainly was – the number of onlookers holding their ears and walking off was both surprising and amusing. But for those willing to brave the volume and noise (and boy to they make a lot of noise), DFA put on an awesome show, with both Grainger and Jesse Keeler banging about carelessly and many in the crowd surfing away above their fellow DFA faithful. DFA weren’t exactly Parklife material, but they provided a stand out set nonetheless.
Post smashing out rock tunes, it was time to get the proper dance shoes back on and head to Sahara. As the sun set and a large crowd gathered to see Santogold, the cold began to set in, so it was time to dance. And the perfect tutors for such dancing were Santogold’s backup – a pair that only added to the style and amusement of Santogold’s set. Go was an appropriate starting point for both the costume-clad band and crowd alike, before L.E.S. Artistes got people singing along as well as moving. Ever the entertainer, Santogold was full of encouragement for those willing to dance, inviting about 25 extras on stage to help out on Creator, and later, while the band jammed away during a costume change, the stage was led by a two-piece horse dancing away while the backups did their best to lasso the thing. Weird, but funny. But as great as Santogold was to watch, the festival wasn’t exactly making it easy at their biggest stage – some strange decision to have only one immobile camera for the entire Bowl was pretty disappointing. And the Bowl’s sound production: it got louder, but the quality didn’t go up too much with the volume.
Needing no such screens as he stood high above a speaker, Mike Skinner quickly played his entertainment cards, too, only with less theatrics and more personality. When Skinner thinks it’s cold, it must be cold. He proposed to the crowd they really only had two options: hug a lot, or just go apeshit. And that they tried to do, even if The Streets beats didn’t exactly provide that many “apeshit” moments. Hung up on the fact that Diplo had been arrested the night before, that the set would be their last ever in Melbourne, and that Mötley Crüe were playing over at Rod Laver, Skinner’s quips between (and during) songs were arguably the most entertaining parts of seeing The Streets live. With lights over the crowd for most of the set, Skinner was watching and commenting on anything that caught his eye (“Is that a goth pashing in the tree?”; “You could be on neighbours”; “Never in my life have I seen a man in a wheelchair crowd surfing”) and the crowd was more than happy to interact. At one point, Skinner had everyone hit the deck, and even if the jump-up result was a little underwhelming, at least he knew he could get people to do whatever crap he wanted them to do. The set ended with a big sing along to Fit But You Know It (with Skinner’s additions of I Love Rock And Roll an ode to Mötley Crüe across the way), a shout out to check if Diplo was alright (he was on the main stage), and finally a rocking Going Through Hell.
For those not willing to endure the sounds of Barbara Streisand any more than they already have to in their day to day life, there was Lykke Li, who headlined the Atoll Stage. “I know this is a dance festival,” Li admitted, “but I’m one of the slow bands tonight”. Li’s set may have been slow at times, but it by no means lacked diversity and intrigue. Beginning in a very dramatic fashion, Li appeared beneath a black veil to thunderous flashing, revealing her theatrics and voice that wouldn’t dwindle for the whole hour. Somewhat appropriately, Dance Dance Dance stood out as Li’s best number, though it wasn’t the kind of dance that’d be happening at the other stages. The gentle number turned to a percussive onslaught as Li joined the right side of stage, which was completely set up with drums and various other things you’d hit. As she moved through her set, Lykke Li had the crowd dancing at times, stationary at times, but all the while mesmerised by her stunning voice and dominant stage presence.
Into the cold night Lykke Li concluded as the giant inflatable duck down in the Bowl finished the festival off with all its novelty value. And that was Parklife away from the decks – maybe not the experience you’d see in the commercials but a musically worthy one all the same.
Almost a year ago, Sydney’s Sparkadia played at the Forum supporting Little Red. At that time they were introducing new songs to a venue well suited to the songs’ size and they quickly impressed. In the time since, two tracks that were easily the best of that new material have become the band’s biggest. Now, months later, and with their second album having made a very nice dent on local radio, Sparkadia stood up to headline the Forum stage – a task they were certainly ready for.
Perhaps to keep the theme of “solo artist with a band name”, first up was The Trouble With Templeton – the moniker for Brisbane’s Thomas Calder. Gracing the stage with only his acoustic guitar, Calder succeeded in demonstrating a deal of variety in his folk tunes, yet didn’t seem to be straying far from what you’d hear any number of boy and guitar combos doing. For good timing’s sake, the introduction of female vocals halfway through did add flavour to the set, and on one track the harmonies could have even been chilling had it not been for the lack of atmosphere that comes with a chatterbox, careless crowd.
Keen to change that attitude were Canadians, Imaginary Cities, who came out next with every intent to please their first ever Melbourne crowd. Having released their debut album this year, Imaginary Cities are doing good things back home- including scoring a Pixies tour support slot – so it’s good that Sparkadia brought them over for Aussie ears. Before they even started to play they were making friends in the crowd though, with guitarist and seemingly all round nice guy Rusty Matyas handing out stubbies in the front row.
With varied musical likenesses throughout their set – from Fleetwood Mac to fellow Canadian indie band Metric – Imaginary Cities were a audible treat. But their real flair came in performance, with the entire band positively buzzing with energy and delight for playing here. A cover of Cake’s Mexico was thrown in for variant sake, the slower duet memorable when sandwiched between the fast and heavier numbers. Imaginary Cities were a band the crowd wanted to keep watching, so here’s hoping the Sparkadia tour will gather enough fans to bring them back some time.
Sparkadia certainly took their time to appear on stage, but thankfully for them the venue had filled up considerably by the time they did. Rather than immediately demonstrating that they’re a band with big things to prove, they began with the understated album opener, The Great Impression. It seemed pretty obvious why Alex Burnett would have chosen the Forum for his Melbourne show, as the sound quality is brilliant time after time, with tonight being no exception. His voice, evident from the offset, definitely took added strength from the fact.
Whilst the band on stage may have changed over the past couple of years (from indie types to the current pair of guitarist/bassist picked straight out of pouty-lipped, pretty boy parade), Burnett still holds the band’s trademarks. It’s not just his beautiful voice either, the crazy darting eyes still shoot across the stage and his hair still looks like it’s taken longer to prep than ten sound checks. The old songs remain excellent as well, with early additions of Kiss of Death and Too Much To Do in the set list getting the crowd’s voice warmed up for the latter half of the show.
Talking Like I’m Falling Down Stairs – one that Burnett claims to have been “a wonderful mistake” of a song – was another early highlight, with the front man eagerly turning his microphone to the crowd to have them take its chorus away. Of course, the first song to be thrown to the crowd is bound to sound good when they’ve just been told the radio’s recording them.
Whilst the first half of the set dabbled in friendly sing-a-longs, it wasn’t until the later moments that Sparkadia showed how large their sound can be. With menacing strobe lighting partnering the forceful percussive introduction to Up In The Air, Burnett’s new band were backing him as a really strong unit, intent on proving they had moved well and truly beyond playing smaller venues. Toward the end, the stellar Mary threatened to take the roof off, with Burnett trying his hand at gospel like theatrics and getting the crowd to deafeningly call the chorus.
That should have ended things, but Ghost was brought out to little more than filler effect, before China again sparked the crowd to life to end things, though arguably not as well as Mary already had. An encore ensued, and began with something different entirely – Burnett’s solo acoustic stint for Space And Time. This proved a fitting step back from the fanfare and a worthy encore addition. Clearly the larger ones were going to get the best reactions, though, and the band reverted to how their main set ended, with a giant Jealousy finishing things off, and again demonstrating via the crowd’s roar-along reaction that Sparkadia are on top of their game.
Current “it” girl Kimbra seems to be making all the right moves. She’s seemingly smashed the presumption that the “so hot right now” acts have to fix multiple sell outs of the Corner before selling out the Forum (Cloud Control, Jezebels, Lisa Mitchell, Washington), and to have such a sizable tour to her name so early on is something she can be pretty chuffed about. Here to play songs from her debut, Vows, Kimbra’s show was never going to be a lengthy one, but it certainly proved an exciting one.
Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! were first to grace the stage, with singer *Caitlin Duff*looking better suited for a spot of flamenco than the hard to pin, funky-meets-brooding style of pop the band generated. Possibly just because they fell victim to the first support slot, much of Duff’s vocal quality seemed to be lost, and unfortunately several songs seemed hard to tell apart. Despite showing promise with the technology, the band’s use of a looping sampler was too minimal to be considered too much more than wasteful (Kimbra would show how that thing’s to be used later on); but when the band pulled out their natural talent with three or four part vocal harmonies, that was when they were on the mark.
Next out was Husky Gawenda’s namesake band Husky, who lightened the mood with their gracious and pleasant approach to playing. Simplifying things down from the first act (who had six members) with only the base instruments needed, Husky was immediately appealing lyrically thanks to any sound issues being resolved. The band have collected a bit of attention lately with decent indie support slots, playing the kind of pop folk that Boy & Bear have taken all the local love for of late. Husky’s likeable stage presence certainly held them in good stead though, so only time will tell if there’s room for another indie folkster headlining stages.
There’s really nothing subtle about Kimbra, which, for the most part, is a good thing. Moments after her introduction, it became a battle between fashion sense and theatrics – a fight for which theatrics thankfully won over the crowd. Opening with Settle Down, it didn’t take Kimbra long to demonstrate that she’s a performer with more confidence than she knows what to do with. At 21 years of age, she would be excused for being a little reserved headlining in front of this kind of sizeable crowd. But then, her self-assurance seems to be one of her biggest assets, and the crowd was thankful for that.
It seemed Kimbra had taken more than musical influence from Prince, and between her killer dance moves, super-enthused band and weird sketch projections, she put on a really entertaining, albeit short, set. Adding to the intrigue was her use of vocal samples, most impressive on Plain Gold Ring, with the song bursting well out of its finer recorded shell and exploding in massive layers of Kimbra’s own voice, replayed from minutes before.
If anyone wasn’t sure about whether they could classify Kimbra a pop star or not, her mid set interlude (a sassed up Miles Davis instrumental) gave her moments for a costume change – a classic move if ever there was one. The set continued with a bunch of Vows material and, surprisingly, a new track that Kimbra figured would appear on album number two – a surprising thought, given most artists touring a debut album haven’t managed to think too far beyond getting the current material right. The track, Marigold, came up quite well; a vocal dominant piece that would have slotted nicely onto the current disc.
Cameo Lover finished the set off with a very positive response from the crowd. It serves as an example of pure pop and was deployed with the appropriate upbeat fervour on both the crowd and Kimbra’s part. Her encore took a slight detour from the bouncy fun of the main set, with Kimbra picking up a guitar for the first time that evening and playing Somebody Please – a much more subdued and vocally gentle number.
Kimbra has certainly set up the foundations for her success very quickly. Selling out shows this size in Melbourne and Sydney are signs that she’s got the right stuff right now. Hopefully she’ll keep it up, because more performances like this are worth waiting out for.
Can’t keep a good thing down, they say. Well, that’s certainly what The Living End fan base think. The trio – one of the country’s most enduring rock outfits – made their return from a brief hiatus this year to release their sixth studio album. And with that came the best thing about the Living End: a tour.
The night’s sold out performance held the hometown cards, with both supports being local rock and rollers. The first was Hunting Grounds, who squawked their way onto stage via their Unearthed High winning Blackout. The song that won the Ballarat boys some attention a couple of years back was by no means an indication of their sound overall, and they quickly slid back and forth into more melodic (but possibly less interesting) sounds. Amongst the sounds of grungy rock and self proclaimed “pussy metal” (for any metal fans that might have realised it was not in fact metal at all), the six lads put on a pretty cool set – sharing instruments and dismantling their drum kit mid song so that three of them could simultaneously have a go.
Post frantic and, at times, savage sounds of Hunting Grounds, the tight retro rock and roll of King Cannons seemed a little strange, despite both bands actually being right for the bill. The first thing to strike about King Cannons was that they weren’t kids like the band before, and they certainly weren’t awkward about being on stage. Classic rock and roll infused with reggae and soul, King Cannons took to the stage like headliners: “I know we’re the support band here but we wanna get this place moving”. They got a pretty good response, too, with plenty clapping along and stomping their feet to the dancehall numbers – how could they not with all that cow bell and bongos.
The Living End seem to have a knack for continually drawing new fans, whilst many of the older ones take turns to sit gigs out. This seemed evident by the time they came on, with The Palace – not nearly as large as Festy Hall or Hisense Arena that they’ve played previously – hosting what looked like a balanced mix of Living End returners and first timers. If the set was anything to go by, the band knew there were plenty of newbies; playing a fair divide between The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating tracks and older numbers, albeit only singles.
A trio of new songs were first out of the gates: In The Morning, Heatwave, and Machine Gun, but it took until the third for the crowd to respond like a typical Living End crowd. A weighty intro provided an invitation for those on the floor to push forward, but even then the mosh of sorts was quite reserved – no one really knowing yet how to respond to these new additions. It didn’t take too long to resolve the situation, with Second Solution busting out the fist pumps and bogan chants and giving The Living End their warm welcome home.
Familiarity played a big part in set from there on in, with the usual double bass acrobatics from Scott Owen, and Chris Cheney’s easy cracks at Sydney. The big hits like Roll On and Prisoner of Society unsurprisingly gained the biggest response, but weren’t necessarily the best parts of the set.
Certainly from a more interesting, variety perspective, the acoustic lead-in to Nothing Lasts Forever stood out, Cheney’s vocals finally more prominent than his guitar riffs or the bellowing mess of voices coming from the crowd. The eager reception for new singles like Song For The Lonely and The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating must have been encouraging for the trio, too – something of an indication that a band who has released both excellent and crappy records in their time are currently on the money.
TLE bowed out with their staple encore performance of West End Riot, which you could say is annoying predictable, except for the fact it still garners the same mad reaction every time it’s played. But while it isn’t exactly strange for TLE to finish with their most popular track every gig, it is kind of odd that, six albums down the line, their headline shows aren’t extending in length – the band cut off at the 75 minute mark, with a decent sized back catalogue left unplayed.
So we landed back in London at the start of the month for our final month of travelling – yes, that is a scary prospect after spending 9 months on the road already. June and July had been pretty good to us; living with Italian families had certainly been a far stretch away from dorm life in hostels (at times it couldn’t have been farther from). It was back to the land of pubs, though, so goodbye to that amazing, amazing Italian food (seriously, Redondesco, you even managed to outdo yourself – several times).
So it was back to London for the day, arriving after midnight and staying in a shoebox room with seriously noisy roommates, which would serve as a reminder of what we’d been doing previous to Italian splendour. Nothing much eventuated from London this time around and a day later we were off to Oxford to stay with Kate and Waz. We’d spent about a day in Oxford last time we were there, but didn’t really see much at all. This time around we explored a great deal more and discovered what a beautiful little city it is. We’d thought we might go for a daytrip or two outta there, but upon discovering that hiring a car for one day is actually cheaper than two people catching the bus somewhere, we put the tripping on hold til the Monday.
T and Banksy in Camden
Trex with Trex at the Natural History Museum in Oxford
As nice as Oxford is, there’s no chance I’d ever want to go and study there... There’s the horror of getting in to begin with that I’d never want to deal with – All Soul’s College have it the worst, I think: They have a seriously outdated (it may have been taken away or it may be taken away soon) entrance examination, where pupils are given one random word (everyone has the same word) and they have to write about it coherently for 3 hours... And it’s not just the tests either; there’s the lack of drinking club entrance. You have to be amongst the extremely wealthy and elite to join any of the drinking clubs. Because that makes perfect sense.
Out of Oxford we grabbed a car and set off on the very long way round into Wales. About 15 minutes out of Oxy, we crossed a poor excuse for a bridge that had a 5p toll! 5p! Hilarious! Turning the motorways off on Judy (Judy is our GPS for those who don’t know, named after Judy Garland because she tells us to follow the road) was not a good idea, though, because the bridge (a real bridge) to Wales, obviously, a motorway. Four or five hours later we managed to make our way around to Cardiff.
Cardiff was nice in a really strange sort of a way. The map we were given had landmarks in 3D and the department store pretty much took up half of the city centre. Hard to believe until you actually see the centre of Cardiff, where sure enough the place is dominated by three enormous shopping centres!
We were at the pub in the late afternoon and everyone in the whole drag got sent inside in case of an oncoming riot. Luckily, the Welsh aren’t as stupid as that. There were quite a few shady characters about, though, and the city didn’t exactly seem inviting after about 8 pm...
Cardiff... Need I say more
Our second day in Wales was spent driving around the south trying to find nice places. The day was hit and miss. First was the obvious choice: Caerphilly Castle. This place was pretty cool, but I was happy enough for it to be my final castle to pay my in to (over-castled). We did our best to not make too many puns. We also considered taking the giant, operational ballista on the grounds and mounting it on our car in case we experienced any riots – like if long boats of Bristol bogans made their way across the channel.
Be Caerphil not to make any puns about the place
Next we went to Cowsbridge, which was a bit of a non-event, but a pretty nice market town nonetheless. Nash Point followed as we drove down to the coast, and this was a little cooler for two reasons – the wind and the cliffs (and a third – watching the stupid people who’d set up tents in the wind on the cliffs). Serious wind = awesome. We then drove a little more and ended the day at Barry Island – a depressing hole of a place if ever there was one. To be fair, it was pleasant enough to look at the coast; just the sorts hanging about and the fact its central point was a permanent carnival didn’t really help its appeal.
Walking up to Nash Point
Nash Point
The Wind
From Wales we drove over the bridge back into England (there’s no toll going eastward!) on our way to the expensive-parking capital of the world: Bath. Parking aside, Bath is a wonderful city that is very unlike the rest of England. It has a real European feel to it, which was nice following the “blergh” side of Cardiff we’d just been staying near. Out of Bath the next day we went for a hefty day of driving through the Cotswolds – to Tetbury, Cirencester, Bibury, Bourton on the Water and finishing in Stratford Upon Avon. Stratford is Shakespeare crazy, and we were really lucky because we arrived after 6, which meant (a) free parking and (b) no busloads of tourists! Turns out, amongst Shakespeare’s list of achievements, he actually wrote the entire Goosebumps series as well as – in my opinion his finest moment – the screenplay to Dumb and Dumber. Who’d have known...
Bath!
Think harder, dude. Think harder!
Following Stratford, we ventured to a tiny village called Haselor to find a house that T’s aunt and uncle used to live in. I think when the guy in the window saw us taking photos of his house he was more than a little confused, especially considering the tiny road down there was only to get to the three houses.
Phone box in Haselor
Colin in front of the house we found in Haselor... But was it the right one...?
When the sun goes down in Haselor
Out from Bath, we drove a bit to check out Stonehenge – cause why not, right? Unlike the masses, we decided 8 pounds was a bit much for a bunch of rocks, so we just walked along the fence and guess what; it makes pretty much no difference. Still can see it perfectly, still can get nice photos.
Stonehenge... From OUTSIDE the fence
From there it was a hefty drive west into Cornwall to end up in Bude – a place we’d picked for its central location that actually turned out to be really lovely (and would provide a smorgasbord of puns for T). The place was full of crazy people. Crazy because in the freezing sea they were all surfing! There was a concrete swimming pool that had been built against the coastline there, and the rough-as-guts sea was belting the hell out of it. That wasn’t stopping four guys, who seemed to be jumping into the sea from the platform, then bodysurfing back onto the concrete slabs... Stitches waiting to happen right there.
Out of Bude we drove around Cornwall, which is certainly a nice part of the world. We visited: Welcombe, which had some really incredible branches of rock stretching out into the sea from the coast; Hartland Quay, with magnificent cliffs to wander the edges of; Tintagel – the home to Arthur’s castle, which is supposedly the best ruined castle in England, as well as Merlin’s cave which we could wander through because the tide was out; Padstow, which was supposed to be nice but actually turned out quite annoying because of the hordes of people and dogs (seriously, this place put a truth to the saying “every man and his dog”) – serious overcrowding is not cool; and finally Boscastle – an amazing tiny town in a valley, surrounded by slate cliffs you can walk to the tips of! Boscastle was probably our highlight of the English drive.
They point to the sea - rocks at Welcombe
The old outhouse (maybe) at Hartland Quay
Hartland Quay
One cool thing about Padstow: Wellie Dog!
Messin' about in Boscastle
Sittin' on the edge in Boscastle
From Bude we went to Plymouth down south – across the bridge into what is technically Devon. Plymouth isn’t exactly the first place I’d recommend given where we’d just been – the sorts that hang about there seem to be some of England’s less desirables (so to actually go somewhere the English have a reputation for being bad would be pretty awful). We lucked out on our visit, though, because the British Firework Championships were to be held the very night we were staying! So we got ourselves some fish and chips and mushie peas (from this awesome chippie where the guy took about 12-14 orders walking down the line and remembered them all) and sat by the sea to watch about an hour of championship worthy fireworks. We didn’t even realise until it had finished how many people were actually there – thousands!!! The line for the Park & Ride was plain ridiculous!
British Firework Championship in Plymouth
Wheel by night in Plymouth
From Plymouth we drove north again into Dartmoor National Park, spending the morning in lovely Tavistock and filling up on pasties before heading across to Mortonhamstead to find our very strange hostel. Mortonhamstead is tiny and didn’t really offer much more than a great tearoom (may have gotten a little addicted to the cream teas... whoops), but Dartmoor certainly offered plenty for the eyes. Buckfastleigh was a cool town with its old steam rail and abbey; and Two Bridges certainly had a classy oldschool hotel (that was the entire “town”); but the reason you come to Dartmoor is to explore the plains, hills, rocks and forests.
They stole it! A eucalypt in Tavistock!
Those are some smokin' wellies, Trex!
A lavender garden in Buckfastleigh... Clearly too many types to give every one a serious name
The old rail in Buckfastleigh
Found a letterbox... Now what to write in it... (Dartmoor)
Hangin' about on the rocks
Colin in the park
Evening light in the park
Driving in the park is a bit of a nightmare. There are two main roads that cross over the park and meet at Two Bridges in the middle. These roads are great because they are open so all the animals just roam about on the roads and come up to cars to say hello. But if you want to get anywhere else, you have to go on these horribly narrow roads that are mostly walled or lined with trees so pretty much every corner is blind. The locals don’t give a crap, and even if there’s nowhere to pull to the side, they just drive at you. Can’t say we’ll miss driving on ‘em.
We spent a bit of time hiking about the place – wandering up hills to explore what they call Tors: collections of big rocks that are weathered to look like stacks from a distance. These were pretty darn impressive, and climbing about them offered some pretty spectacular views of the park. Hidden amongst some of the Tors were “letterboxes”. This is part of a popular scavenger hunt in the area, which started in the 18th century or something ridiculous like that. You basically get clues to find the things, hike out and stamp the book. If you collect 100 letterboxes, you can join some exclusive club. Well, we’re two down by fluke. To be honest they’re not very well hidden...
Finally – Hairy coos. Or, more accurately, a hairy coo blockade. Final drive in Dartmoor couldn’t have been better.
So post National Park it was back to London for Tess’ surprise belated birthday. And we went to the zoo! Was pretty stoked about that. Now we’re just enjoying London for a few more days before... READING FESTIVAL! Yeeeah!
What on earth is wrong with children!? This is probably the best thing to discuss for my first camp entry on the tube. I raise the question in relation to one point (because, let’s face it, there are many): violence.
So I introduced a game to my group of 10 – 12 year olds. The game involves one group silently acting out a scenario and being told to freeze, then the “audience” children are asked, “What is going to happen next?”
My first scene involved three boys and a bank robbery. The teller is giving money to a customer when in runs a thief with a gun. The boys are told to freeze when the gun is being pointed at the teller’s head. “What’s going to happen?” I asked. Half of my children responded, “He’s going to take the money and run.” Fair enough. The other half answer, “He’s going to kill him.” I asked if that was really a reasonable response and would he take the money anyway... Nope, they thought he’d just plain kill him. I turn to the gunman; “So, what will you do?”
“I’m going to take the money.” A sensible answer. A pause...
“And then I’m going to kill him.”
So off ran the boy, leaving a dead teller and a shocked customer – who of course called the police.
“And what is going to happen to the thief now? Will he go to jail?”
“No, he’s going to buy a Ferrari.”
...!
Now, this scene had a gun involved so the chances of it leading to first degree murder when a ten year old is involved are pretty high (right?) It’s the next four that had me wondering if I was perhaps doing something wrong...
1. A girlfriend overhears her boyfriend speaking to another girl on the phone. She slaps him and then, just as the audience predicts, she kills him. Not exactly sure how but he’s dead by the end of the scene.
2. A talent contest is being held and the first girl is utter rubbish. She’s told to leave and heads off crying. The second girl comes in and is very successful – the judge loves her. All of a sudden, the first girl is back in the scene with a chair, beating the second girl and the judge to death. What!?
3. A football match is taking place and one player kicks a goal. An angry fan runs onto the field and starts a fight with the player. (Italian football – I can see this actually happening, sure.) “Will the goalie help, or join in?” I asked this question, to which answers were divided. I asked the goalie and he said he would help, of course. The scene resumed and =BAM=, all of a sudden there was a dramatised knife fight going down – two out of three killed.
4. At the swimming pool, a diver misjudges a dive and needs rescuing before he drowns. He doesn’t drown because the lifeguard saves him (finally no death, right? Wrong!) The diver’s competition emerges to kill both the lifeguard and the diver. Trying to emphasise that killing isn’t actually as cool as it looks, I ask the question: “So what will happen to [the other diver] now?” The audience responds: “He will now be the winner. The better diver is dead.” (If only I knew how to spell the sound effect of when the palm of my hand hits my head.)
...
I must say I am a little frightened of these kids.
Time to experience a festival... Italian style. Heineken Jammin Festival is Italy’s biggest rock festival; held in Venice every year. Last year’s line up was internationally huge, with the likes of Cranberries, Aerosmith, Green Day, Pearl Jam and Massive Attack all on one bill! This year, the Italian heavyweights (Vasco and Negramaro) had their turn, except for the first of three days, on which English boys Coldplay took the reins. Here’s my rundown of the musical action (and not a rundown of how unorganised Italians are when it comes to letting people into a festival).
Echo and the Bunnymen were the first of five main stage bands and went straight into things without a hint of faffing about; but that’s the way they’ve always done things. An arvo timeslot did mean a lack of visuals of stage, which, when mixed with the band’s lack of motion, made for a not so eye-catching set. Still, they sounded excellent all the way through, from ‘Lips Like Sugar’ to the self proclaimed “best song every written”: ‘The Killing Moon’. No one ever said the man was modest. The set also ended with first a threat, then a sample of rain – obviously brought all the way from Liverpool (which Echo and the Bunnymen claim is the prettiest city in the world. Venice comes in second). Luckily, the rainy gloom passed us by.
We Are Scientists looked the happier part in front of their bright red banner, opening with ‘Nice Guys’ and immediately proving they were an active trio and indeed nice guys themselves with plenty of friendly small talk. “We’re from Venice... As of yesterday; so this is a nice homecoming for us.” The not-so-hometown show included standouts in old tracks ‘Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt’ and ‘It’s a Hit’, in the set closer, ‘After Hours’, and as always in one dirty mo. They’re happy, they’re funny and they sing catchy songs – what’s not to like?
If there was pretentiousness in jest with the first English band of the day, there was such for real with the appearance of Beady Eye third on the bill. “Oasis 2.0” (as they were labelled in the programme) may have seen higher places, but were more than willing to show their usual swagger – and they sounded pretty darn good. Even without the hint of an Oasis classic, Liam Gallagher’s voice is enough to get people excited, and on tracks like ‘The Roller’ that is indeed what happened – clearly this one is getting some air time here. Yet whilst the material (all off their debut) sounded good, the Gallagher grime is just ridiculous. For half the set he picked a fight with someone down the front, with threats he never carried out, and for the entire set he continued to roll a towel around his fist as though getting ready for such a punch up. It’s an image he’s trying to keep, but it’s pretty worn. And of course, bagging out the key sponsor was a choice moment: “Have ya had lots of Heineken? That’s a shit beer man.”
Smarmy could describe Gallagher, but it’s the perfect antonym for Simone Cecchetti, and his band – the only Italian act of the day – Cesare Cremonini. These guys, obviously with a home advantage, had the crowd in the palm of their hands very early and seemed to love every second of it. Cecchetti literally dripped energy all over the stage as he got the crowd singing to tracks that were either ballsy or cheesy, or both. Spending time either running, striking a pose, or hunched over his piano, this was certainly setting a high enough bar for Chris Martin...
...And with an hour of set up, that bar was suitably hopped.
Say what you will about Coldplay (all you “I like their old stuff better than their new stuff” people) – this is a band that knows how to put together a live show – with new and old both surpassing expectations. Visually, this set was bound to be spectacular from the very beginning; the theme for the band’s current tour is certainly “neon”, so this kept everything remarkably bright, with numerous screens, fireworks, confetti jets, giant balloons and (my personal favourite) a wicked laser show!
As far as the set list went, it was almost a three way split between A Rush of Blood to the Head, Viva La Vida and new songs. ‘Yellow’ made its contractual appearance very early, and ‘Fix You’ was played in the encore, but those two were the only deviations from that division. ‘Viva La Vida’ itself was the set’s standout, if for nothing else than the sheer volume of the crowd chanting the “whoa-oa-oa-oa-oa” parts. A reworked and enormous sounding ‘God Put a Smile Upon Your Face’ was also terrific. The new songs were well received by the masses, though Martin’s introduction to ‘Up Against the World’ – “if you don’t like it, f* it” – seemed to show the band were just out for some fun testing them. That one was the ballad in an otherwise very stadium/festival worthy bunch of new tracks.
An encore that included ‘Clocks’ got another huge reaction from the crowd, and interestingly this was equalled when the band finished with their new single, ‘Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall’. You can tell for yourself how that one went down:
Travel bug, music obsessive and serious lover of food, coffee and beer! Currently making my way around the world, searching for Carmen Sandiago and all that jazz.
