Tag Archives: live

Live Review: COG “Between Oceans” Tour @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – 11th June 2009

Review by Bec

COG
[Photo: Stuart Blythe]
   Cog fans are a loyal bunch. They’ll come up to you and tell you how great their band is. “Sold out. Melbourne Hi-Fi, and now here,” one fan tells me. (He waits until he sees me write this in my notebook.) They’ll bear the unusually cold Thursday night to happily wait in line. And they’ll keep coming back to see Cog live – for some fans this is their fourth or fifth gig. Little wonder, if you believe what another fan proclaims: “Best live band – ever”. That’s a pretty big call.

Certainly, Sydney-based Cog is a WYHIWUG (what-you-hear-is-what-you-get) band. If you love their CDs then you’ll love their live shows. No disappointment there. Lead singer, Flynn Gower’s vocals, like his stage presence, are deliberate, steady and enunciated. He’s obviously a dedicated musician as are other band members, Lucius Borich, on drums, and Luke Gower on bass who is extremely animated on stage.

Continue reading Live Review: COG “Between Oceans” Tour @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – 11th June 2009

KARNIVOOL The ‘Sound Awake’ Tour : June 2009

karnivoolKarnivool fans around Australia continue to show their undying support for the band with news that the first show of the Sound Awake tour in Brisbane on Saturday June 20 at the Tivoli has sold out. A second Brisbane show to take place at the Tivoli on Sunday June 21st is on sale now. Both Sydney shows have now sold out. See full tour details below.
Continue reading KARNIVOOL The ‘Sound Awake’ Tour : June 2009

Review: Alex Lloyd @ The Zoo, Brisbane 8 May 2009

Alex Lloyd @ The Zoo, Brisbane 8 May 2009
Author: Merryn
Photo: Stuart Blythe
Alex LloydWhat in the world has happened to Alex Lloyd? Or, more to the point, his fans? Last night’s gig at The Zoo resembled more a congregation for the Corpse Bride than an intimate gathering to celebrate one of Australia’s best artists.

Best Artists you question? Yes! Come on guys, this is a man who’s brilliance dazzled all at the turn of the century, and it wasn’t luck My Friend. With credentials that put other Musicians to shame, Alex Lloyd is one of Australia’s most under celebrated treasures.
Continue reading Review: Alex Lloyd @ The Zoo, Brisbane 8 May 2009

Renée Geyer – Renéessance – June, July 2009 Tour

Renée Geyer – Renéessance
Liberation Blue Acoustic Series

“I’ve avoided doing this album for a long time for the simple reason that I’ve already done these songs. I finally said yes ’cause we agreed to do it live at my keyboard player’s house: just set up like an acoustic gig and play. People tend to like the intimacy of that. It has a certain energy and I think it works.”

Intimate doesn’t mean gentle, as the opening salvo of Renéessance makes bracingly clear. Untreated and unaccompanied, Renée Geyer’s full-throttle entry into the reggae classic, Dedicated To The One I Love, serves notice of an album easy on amps but as highly charged as her most soulful work.
Continue reading Renée Geyer – Renéessance – June, July 2009 Tour

Elize Strydom gets stuck in the mud at the 20th Annual East Coast Blues and Roots Festival

Bluesfest – 20th Annual East Coast Blues and Roots Festival
Friday 10th April
Review: Elize Strydom

Personality test: What sort of footwear would you choose to wear to Bluesfest?

a. Thongs from Woolies
b. Gumboots from Bunnings
c. Your brand new Dunlop Volleys
d. Au Natural (bare feet)

If you answered a. you’re an optimistic idealist. If you picked c. get set for disappointment. If you deliberated between b. and d. then read on…

The 20th Annual East Coast Blues and Roots Festival was always going to be muddy. In the two weeks leading up to the festival the Northern Rivers had copped near-torrential rain, flash flooding and damaging winds. I spoke to Festival Director Peter Noble a day before the gates were due to open and he was optimistic. One day of hot sun beating down on the Belongil Fields meant they had “dodged a bullet” and things were looking up. Yesterday the Rain Gods withheld their mercy but they’re well and truly smiling again today. Steam is literally rising off the sodden grass as punters – young and old – stream past sniffer dogs, security checks and wrist band fasteners. Tracks between the festival’s six stages, market stalls, food tents and port-a-loos have been beaten and new tracks are appearing as people try to avoid the shin deep mud pit at the centre of the original track. So many are falling at the first hurdle as their thongs flick splats of mud up their legs and backs. Others are literally stuck in the mud as their feet plunge into the thick brown slosh and fail to emerge. Now is not the time to suffer from unpreparedness – there’s music to see, oh so much music. More than 500 artists and 220 performances, to be exact. I’ve gotta start somewhere, why not with Watermelon Slim and the Workers?
Continue reading Elize Strydom gets stuck in the mud at the 20th Annual East Coast Blues and Roots Festival

Review: The Kills @ The Zoo, Brisbane 30 March 2009

The Kills, Louis XIV @ The Zoo, Brisbane 30 March, 2009
Author: Stephen Goodwin

The Kills : V Festival @ Gold Coast : 29 March 2009

Normally, hitching your music and performance to a hotted-up click track would be a recipe for constriction. For stodgy, uninspired boredom.
 
A mere 60 minutes with Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart utterly destroys this perception.
 
For sure, dispensing with the rhythm section for an out-of-the-box click track is an anchor.
 
But, paradoxically, the song-to-song invariability it confers is freeing in the hands of the Kills. In fact, it’s not so much a deadweight as a barebones framework the duo inject themselves into with such physical and emotional extremity that it’s surprising their songs don’t simply burst.

It’s etched in the moment when Hince lazily sways back and, between riffs, thumps an extra layer of percussion into Kissy Kissy through the bodywork of his six-string.
Continue reading Review: The Kills @ The Zoo, Brisbane 30 March 2009

Biffy Clyro @ The Arena, Brisbane 25 March 2009 – Photo Gallery

Biffy Clyro @ The Arena, Brisbane : 25 March 2009
Photographer: Stuart Blythe

Biffy Clyro @ The Arena : Brisbane 25 March 2009 - Photo: Stuart Blythe

Click the image below to view photo gallery…
Biffy Clyro @ The Arena : Brisbane 25 March 2009 - Photo: Stuart Blythe
[Photo: Stuart Blythe]
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JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane 10 May 2009

JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA
Jeff Martin
[Photo: Jacinta Mathews]

*** LifeMusicMedia Photo Gallery: JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane 10 May 2009 ***
The Armada will celebrate the national release of their Eastern- fueled, Zeppelin-stained self-titled debut with a short run of launch shows around the country this May.

The Armada features “ferocious drumming demon” Wayne Sheehy (Robert Palmer, Ronnie Wood) Martin’s partner in crime, from Cork, Ireland whom he recorded the album with in 2008. The record was finished at “analogue wonderland” Poons Head studios in Perth, WA towards the end of 2008 and will be in Australian shops on Saturday May 2.

The Armada is a very big, dark, Satanic, sexual rock show, and I love that, it’s a big part of my personality.” says Martin. “The feedback has been amazing, from Tea Party fans and new fans. The Armada did a trial run in Australia in November, and you’d think that the audience for my music would get older. But there was young people everywhere — 20-year-olds getting into it and digging it because it’s just great rock ‘n’ roll music.”
Continue reading JEFF MARTIN & THE ARMADA @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane 10 May 2009

Connect 4: PLAY @ The Valley Studios – 28 March 2009

The Valley Studios will be transformed into a kaleidoscopic extravaganza of music and interactive art Connect 4: PLAY. 4C Arts Collective has joined forces with a collection of Brisbane’s best emerging musicians, visual and performance artists to bring fun and mayhem.

Aural delights will be provided by some great emerging bands. Dot.ay’s highly experimental and creatively satisfying tunes will keep the dance floor buzzing, followed by Hunz, who combines visual art and music together in his unique live shows; Music will be seen; Art will be heard. Combine this with the raw rocking talent, high energy and tremendous tunes of Little Vegas and the Fuzz Parade and 4C has an undeniably stellar line-up.

   Connect 4 Play

All proceeds from Connect 4: PLAY will be donated to Backbone Youth Arts, one of Queensland’s leading Youth Theatre companies. Backbone Youth Arts supports, encourages and grows youth arts in Brisbane and is well known for its annual 2high Festival which provides unique and invaluable experience for festival and event management for young people with a passion for theatre, music and visual arts.


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Photo Gallery | Mélanie Pain @ The Zoo, Brisbane with McKisko : 17 March 2009

Mélanie Pain @ The Zoo, Brisbane with McKisko : 17 March 2009
Photographer: Stephen Goodwin

Click Image to view photo gallery
Melanie Pain

[Photo: Stephen Goodwin]

The Basics “With This Ship” play The Globe, Brisbane 24 April 2009 + more

“Puts a musical punch right in the belly of pop mediocrity” –
Peter Cobbin, Senior Engineer, Abbey Road Studios.

2008 was a busy year for Melbourne trio The Basics; they toured relentlessly to some of the most remote outback areas Australia has to offer, making new friends and fans in high schools, indigenous communities, community centres and pubs and clubs along the way.

2009 already promises to be a huge year for the band. To kick things off, their new single With This Ship was released on Tuesday 22 February and is the first song from their ominously titled forthcoming album, Keep Your Friends Close.

In April, The Basics will play some very special shows taking audiences on intimate and acoustic journeys featuring never before seen photos, videos and many unseen rarities exclusive to the tour. Tickets will be limited, so don’t miss out on The Basics showcasing their exclusive offerings from Keep Your Friends Close!

   flight-of-the-basicsa-225x300

Continue reading The Basics “With This Ship” play The Globe, Brisbane 24 April 2009 + more

The Cat Empire @ The Tivoli, 13 March 2009 : Photo Gallery

The Cat Empire @ The Tivoli, 13 March 2009
Photographer: Charlyn Cameron
  for LifeMusicMedia

The Cat Empire

Photos | The Waifs @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 18 February 2009

The Waifs @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 18 February 2009 Photos
  Support: Jez Mead
  Photographer: Stuart Blythe
  for LifeMusicMedia

CLICK IMAGE for full photo gallery
the waifs

TZU ‘COVER UP MOTEL’ FAREWELL 2009 TOUR

TZU ‘COVER UP MOTEL’ FAREWELL 2009 TOUR

TZU - Open Arms Festival @ Coffs Harbour - November 2008 It’s been a magical past year for Melbourne’s hip-hop maestros TZU. Their Computer Love album stormed the ARIA Top 25, was nominated for the prestigious J Award (JJJ’s Album of the Year) and widely lauded by reviewers and fans alike. Throw in two sold out national tours and slots at a bevy of the country’s finest festivals, including crowning performances at the Falls and Big Day Out, and it was clearly a year to behold. TZU - Open Arms Festival @ Coffs Harbour - November 2008


If that was not enough, the boys embarked on a massive remix project which saw their peers remixing the entire Computer Love album.
Continue reading TZU ‘COVER UP MOTEL’ FAREWELL 2009 TOUR