Dirty Three

saw them on Saturday night at the Metro - always liked their songs, ever since discovering them through the aussie flick "Praise", to which they contributed some stuff. i quite liked their last album, which actually had vocals on it, although they didn't have a singer the other night.

i always find it amazing that just three people can produce such extradinary sounds - the combination of the bass guitar, drums and violin (sometimes the mandolin) were just fantastic...the guy on the vioin, unusually, performs with his back to the audience, quite often jumping up and down, leaping about the stage.

he also has a habit of introducing each song by it's name, and then going on to describe (with humour) what the song is meant to be about - pain, love-lost, loneliness, depression, a song for his wife rah rah rah....i say with humour, because he was quite a character, very Rasputin-like with his beard and crazy eyes - but i actually found the explanations a bit annoying, as i prefer to bring my own interpretation to the music rather than have someone tell me what it's supposed to be about. anyway. was still a good night, apart from the fuckers talking in front of us at the start of the night.

i didn't buy a Dirty Three teatowel though.

Scottish Twee

Saw one of my favourite bands Belle and Sebastian the other night. It was a fun gig. I had seen them a few years ago, but this time I was "seated" and not on the dance floor. Our group had good seats though and I had (mostly) an uninterrupted view of the band on stage.

Unfortunately I can't help comparing the 2 gigs, because the first one was so terrific and a delight. There's a couple of reasons why the other night didn't live up to my expecations, however I still enjoyed it.



Firstly, I couldn't really get into the last album "The Life Pursuit". It feels too 60s, Beach-Boys to me and a bit over produced. I also missed their sadder songs (such as "I Fought In A War", and at the opposite end their OTT geeky pop tracks ("Step Into My Office Baby"). There's a few gems on the current album - "To Be Myself Completely" is my favourite....i spose in general, i couldn't really get into this latest effort.



Also, Stuart the lead singer, seemed a bit off (i think he even apologised at the start), and he didn't seem as pepped as the last gig. However, there were some gold moments - one being a cute, young lass being invited up on stage to dance to "Jonathan David" as Stuart and Stevie pretended to fight over her. Also, i loved it when Stuart bought out a piece of paper which contained the lyrics to "Another Sunny Day"....."There's a lot of lyrics" he proclaimed as the audience laughed.

Stuart's hipless, nerd dancing always delights me, as did Stevie's robotic moves during "Electronic Renaissance" (which had a cool light show and projection set-up, perhaps the best of the night).



I also loved the performances of the rest of the band, in particular Beans, Sarah and Mick (a bit cute, while he danced and played the tambourine during "The Boy With The Arab Strap"). They always never cease to amaze me, with their talent and ability to pick up various instruments during the gig.

However, what was not cute were the 2 geeky uni student girls who begged Stuart to let them up on stage at the end. they wanted to dance, and he asked them to mime to "Judy And The Dream of Horses". he joked they were lucky the band wasn't going to do "The Chalet Lines" (a song about rape). anyway, these 2 girls were tragic, generating audible groans from the audience with their sad dancing (the one on the left couldn't even dance). I've even read other reviews online bagging out these chicks. haha.

people kept yelling out requests during the show, which implied that the overall feeling was that the new stuff was not as well-liked...this actually got irritating, especially the 2 boys in our row who kept screaming out "Seeing Other People". admittedly, this is one of my favourite tracks, but it's up to the band to sing what they want!!! then sum idiots starting screaming out requests for covers (B & S did A-Ha's "Take On Me" last time haha). in fact, i've just discovered a whole bunch of covers they have done, including Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Buggles "Video Killed The Radio Star"!!!! gold!!!!

all in all, it was a pretty good gig - over 2 hours - and value for my hard-earned dosh. i look forward to seeing them again and again....

oh and I also bought a new tee while i was there, which has the cover of The Life Pursuit. yay.