My Chemical Romance - 30 Nov 2007 - Sydney Entertainment Centre

The second support act Circa Survive were a little rough at the beginning of their set, and the crowd response was minimal, but I quite enjoyed them by the end. Their frontman was crazy into performing, and also had a surprisingly high voice which contrasted with their heavier sound. They also had this crazy sense of rhythm, a lot of syncopation in their beats, which kept things on edge, and lead to some really interesting (and also kind of alarming) resonance.

But I was here for My Chemical Romance, and let’s be honest: I love everything – the theatrics, the mouthy attitude, their concern for fans, the unashamed rock roots in their punk music, the grand anthemic songs. The show did not disappoint despite seeing them only a few months ago – it was a bigger affair overall with the larger venue, the pyro, the fantastic solid playlist of hits and old favourites. The energy on the floor was great, and the band were playing well (despite losing their drummer to a wrist injury a few weeks ago and having to play with a substitute instead). I spent most of the night watching lead singer Gerard Way, with his deliciously camp showmanship, and guitarist Ray Toro with his halo of hair and power stance guitar playing.

Highlights for me included Mama (complete with Way's hilariously OTT fake crying at the end; Toro's awesome extended guitar solo leading into Teenagers; the grand, slow-build of Sleep; and once again, the incredible feeling of joy that I get from seeing and hearing Famous Last Words live, my arm in the air like every other kid there, yelling the same affirmative words. I also loved the amount of songs they played from second album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge as well as getting to hear songs that are not usually in their live shows.


How I Disappear
Dead!
I’m Not Okay
Give ‘em Hell
The Sharpest Lives
Mama
Cemetary Drive
Welcome to the Black Parade
I Don’t Love You
House of Wolves
You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison
Teenagers
Helena
Sleep
Cancer
-
Desert Song
Famous Last Words

Muse - 17 Nov 2007 - Sydney Entertainment Centre

We wanted to be close enough to watch Matt Bellamy play, so we zipped from space to space until we were about 8 or so people behind the barrier right in front of Matt Bellamy by the middle of the night. It was a magnificent sight to behold! Muse were in rock god mode last night, and watching Matt shredding on his guitar was so awesome. There was also the awesome piano, which was transparent and lighted-up at times, and when the camera threw up on the big screen Matt's fingers on the keys during the spectacular piano solo during the middle of Butterflies and Hurricanes it was a musical epiphany for me.

Muse seem to have a certain backbone to their set list where they cycle certain songs within that framework, and it seemed the energy levels didn't spike until New Born, when the mosh really picked up. I was glad for the slowed down period in the middle with the ballads, to focus on listening to the lovely music and Matt’s unearthly voice - Ruled by Secrecy was absolutely beautiful live - and watch him play from a good distance without the frenzy of the mosh getting in the way.

The highlight for me was Time Is Running Out and Bliss back to back, with the pretty pink confetti balloons making a reappearance, the songs sounding crazy fierce with awesome energy and the crowd mightily appreciative all around me. The first encore was good too, another dose of joy and energy from hearing two well-loved songs. It was an interesting set overall, pretty evenly distributed with songs from the last three albums (*nothing* from Showbiz though other recent set lists have seen Sunburn substituted for Invincible), with lot of extended intros and outros between songs of riffs from (mostly) b-sides, an appeasement for the hardcore fans seeing them for the second time within a year.

I was massively dehydrated by the end and yet soaked in sweat, my legs sore and shaking as we walked out of the Ent Cent. But during the dying moments of Knights of Cydonia, I looked across to this tiny girl near me and we just got each other - we were both wrecked and sore but we had matching smiles because, yeah, it was an awesome experience.


Take A Bow
Map of the Problematique
New Born
Butterflies and Hurricanes
Supermassive Black Hole
Citizen Erased
Feeling Good
Ruled by Secrecy
Invincible
Hysteria
Fury
Starlight
Time is Running Out
Bliss
--
Plug In Baby
Stockholm Syndrome
--
Knights of Cydonia

Justin Timberlake - 1 Nov 2007 - Acer Arena

Considering how disappointed I was the last time JT played in Sydney, buying the (again v. expensive) tickets this time around was a bit of a wrench. But I'm so glad I did go, because this time around he brought the spectacle that I so wanted last time, the consummate showmanship, the real deal. Starting with the stage, a technical marvel in and of itself, which looked so bare and deceptively simple but turned out to be this intricate interlocking series of platforms. It was highly effective and bringing to the fore whatever part of the show was being featured - the back up singers, the musicians, the dancers, and of course, Justin himself. The whole stage show was awesomely done, from the amazing use of stage, lighting, visual effects and choreography, which didn't distract from the music, but helped enhance the concert experience into an all singing all dancing extravaganza.

The concert started with 'FutureSex/LoveSound' which worked really well to build up the atmosphere, from Justin’s voice in the dark with the ominous rhythmic hook backing him up to a brilliant interplay of light and sound. And then it was two solid hours of mostly hits with a few of his ballads thrown in. The instrumentation was great, the arrangements were good if not inventive, and there was lots of great dancing all around the stage – basically, everything you could possibly ask for from a pop concert done really really well.

Justin looked great, but his banter was terrible – apart from some obviously honed monologues about Aussies and drinking and surfing, he spent most of the night yelling “SYDNEY!!” at random intervals, eliciting huge screams for sure, but after the 8th time I was pretty sure everyone was clear on which city there were in, thanks. However, his voice was good and clear; it had its nasal moments, but he'd improved greatly from his NSYNC days. There was an obvious backing track, but excusable in light of how much dancing he had to do as well. Oh my goodness, he is such treat to watch, dancing singing and performing his little heart out.

There were problematic aspects, like the use of stripper-like dancers in 'Damn Girl', where the explicit sexuality just seemed too much and out of place considering the themes – costume and dance wise – for the rest of the night. (Also, rather distractingly, the dancer on our side looked A LOT like Britney in her VMA performance but y'know, not sedated) And as I said, the arrangement stuck really close the CD. The ballads still don’t hold up as well as the brisker songs, though they are few and far between and cushioned well by the dancier numbers, so the energy never flagged.

I also approved heartily of all piano playing moments; the projection screens were great in that they would show close ups of his fingers on the keys, mmmm. The encore was Justin alone on stage, out of his costume and in just a worn grey T-shirt and jeans, playing on the piano. It was a nice way to end the night, slower, but still very pretty (and the song wasn’t bad either. Boom-tish!)


FutureSex/LoveSound
Like I Love You
My Love
Senorita
Sexy Ladies
What Goes Around…Comes Around
Chop Me Up

Rock Your Body
Gone - Take It From Here – Last Night (medley)
Damn Girl
Summer Love
Losing My Way
Cry Me A River
Lovestoned
Sexy Back

(Another Song) All Over Again

Stealing O'Neal / Planet of the Stereos - 20 Oct 2007 - Spectrum

Missed the first band on, but we did end up catching the next two bands, the first being a loud and energetic pop punk band called Stealing O'Neal. They looked ridiculously young. The lead singer was doing his best Adam Lazzara (from Taking Back Sunday) impression, with his crazy all-over-the-stage moves - quite dangerous since the stage is *tiny* and they had five guys and assorted instruments all squished on there - and the microphone lead twirling around his neck. I think the most memorable song for me was actually a cover, an acoustic rendition of 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' (from the Arctic Monkeys).

Planet of the Stereos were good! A rocking indie band, with some really catchy songs; I particularly liked 'Wasting Time', and 'Delicate Girl', both of which managed to sound sweeter and fuller live. I was surprised to hear they'd only been around two years or so, since they played well together.

Kisschasy / British India/In Fiction - 27 Sept 2007 - The Metro

In Fiction were an average five piece rock band. They seemed to have trouble picking a genre to play in, and while April and I agreed that musical range is a good thing, changing styles four times during a song seems rather excessive.

I knew *nothing* about British India except there was a bit of hype about them, that they were supposedly pretty good. I was not prepared for how young they looked, nor for how much I liked them and how utterly enjoyable they were. They had lots of energy, played well together, and had a gloriously chaotic rock/punk sound. The lead guitarist was a tiny tiny axe wielding maniac, and the drummer looked like he was going to die of exhaustion by the second last song but managed to keep going. The lead singer, who looked like your average teenaged indie geek, didn't know what to do with his hands when he wasn't playing the guitar, and settled for trying to dance with his arms waving around loosely and uselessly. But they were definitely a new band to keep an eye out on.

The room started filling up properly for Kisschasy. Their set started with the lead singer doing a simple acoustic version of 'Black Dress' which was very well received by the crowd, and then the rest of the band came out. Their sound was more rock live than I'd expected from their almost pop singles from radio, and I found them very generic in sound; I kept waiting for the song to really interesting...by which time it was over and they went straight into another one that sounded about the same. After four songs I was ready to leave.

Fall Out Boy - 26 Sept 2007 - Acer Arena

I saw Fall Out Boy in March at the Big Top and really enjoyed it, but I was surprised then by how little they played from their latest record, the very good Infinity on High. So when I saw that they were coming out again, having gone triple platinum, and with Jack's Mannequin as support, I easily coughed up for a second go.

Jack's Mannequin - kind of Ben Folds Five gone pop punk with a detour around the lighter moments of Death Cab for Cutie - were on first, and they put on a really fun set, with an emphasis on the more upbeat songs from their one album to date (Everything in Transit). The crowd on the front floor were really into it, which resulted in a heavier crush than I expected that early in the night. Lead singer Andrew McMahon was adorably hyper, and sounded *great* live. I am a complete sucker for piano-tinged rock played with abandon, so the finale where he ended up marching up and down the piano and then on top of it was amusing.

I'm Ready
La La Lie
Bruised
Dark Blue
Holiday from Real
The Mixed Tape
MFEO

I was already dripping with sweat and completely dehydrated after JM, so I went to buy some overpriced water, checked out the merch (but was good and didn't buy anything), then went back to my spot on the floor for the Gyroscope set. Which was short, loud, energetic, and a hell of a lot heavier than the kids were expecting, considering the bemusement around me; they were much more in the rock mould. The set was a mix of old ('Doctor Doctor'), more recent ('Fast Girl', 'Beware Wolf') and really new (latest single 'Snakeskin').

Finally, Fall Out Boy came out to that instantly recognisable opening riff of AC/DC's Thunderstruck. Their set was ridiculously fun; three songs in I was already exhausted from jumping around so much, but I couldn't help myself. I ended up centre left a little way back, still within the happy moshers, but not close enough to feel crushed, and I barely needed to watch the big screens at the side because I generally had a decent view. Sound was not great overall, it was a little messy at times and Patrick's glorious voice seemed drowned out a bit from where I was but what they lacked in sound cohesion they made up with heaps of presence.

Pete was in an odd mood, not withdrawn, but rather introspective; a fair bit of his stage banter was musings on how fans react to them, and how they perceive that adoration and attention. For example, he prefaced the cover of Basket Case by talking about how people often tell him that FOB music has saved their lives, which he says he finds it difficult to respond to, but in turn they wanted to play "a song that saved our lives". How, I don't know, but it was a good cover of a great song.

Thriller
Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy
Don't Matter (cover) - video -
Sugar We're Going Down
Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued
Of All The Gin Joints In All The World - video -
Hum Hallelujah
I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
Basket Case (cover) - video -
I'm Like a Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You)
A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More ‘Touch Me’
Beat It (cover) - video -
Carpal Tunnel of Love
This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race

Thnks Fr Th Mmrs
The Take Over, The Break’s Over
One and Only
Dance Dance
Power of Love (cover)
Saturday

RIAA vs. The People: Four Years Later

I found this fascinating; an indepth, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the RIAA's campaign against illegal downloading of music by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). Some of the methods used by the RIAA are little short of extortion, and a lot of it sounds really ruthless and also rather futile in the broader picture. The paper also gives a good overview about the way file sharing has gone underground - foregoing P2P software for private networks and "darknet technology" (simple CD ripping and burning) that are harder to trace.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Why Internet Safety Policy is Cracked

The article is a good overview of why the government's $84million porn filter was a half-baked idea even before it was publicised as 'crackable', but it's the comments that really fascinate me. A lot of people who work in the net security arena have measured input as to why its not technologically feasible to have a filter that works 100%, teens add their point of view as to what is really important to address about kids online, and parents contribute the struggles and their own layered methods of internet security. It's thoughtful, interesting, and ties very nicely into the stuff that danah boyd's panel brought up (see post 3 down). Media interest and government scrutiny needs to turn to other areas in order to bring about real useful change, rather than using scare campaigns to frighten people about technology and drive parents further away from communicating with their kids over these issues.

...the work of Satan?

Australian government caught editing Wikipedia

This is maybe old news, but I was skimming through this article at work today (ooh, yeah, that's right, productive use of my paid time...) and the following passage caught my eye:

Additions to various Wikipedia entries made using government computers
included "Freemasonry is the work of Satan", "Mormonism is the work of Satan"
and "Jesus is god", the paper said.

This just strikes me as really hilarious, and a little scary. It's not that I think government officials editing Wikipedia is wrong - before you can yell about bias, it's the democracy of Wikipedia that allows it to be such an interesting place and a good overview resource. Anything that is obviously biased is usually pointed out by its lack of notation, and tidied up by opposing forces soon after that. Plus, the fact that it is on Wikipedia means there is a level of awareness by its users that critical analysis is important in evaluating the truthfulness and honesty of information posted.

But. There are people working in the official administration that runs this country that would put the above sentences into public circulation. Part of me believes it's the work of pranksters - bored office people playing with the freedom and anonymity. But another part of me is thinking, "What if they really do think that?" I mean, I can't say I agree completely with the beliefs of Mormons, but "the work of Satan" is a very strongly worded opinion!

Is Me Really Monster? by Andy F. Bryan

Cookie Monster Searches Deep Within Himself and Asks: Is Me Really Monster?

Me love cookies. Me tend to get out of control when me see cookies.

Hee! Cookie Monster under psychoanalyses, perhaps; comes to a disturbing conclusion. Also reveals the depth of depravity that is lurking within the innocent looking confines of Sesame Street...

Ryan Adams - 23 Aug 2007 - Enmore Theatre

Thursday night’s gig was 5 parts brilliant, 1 part hilarious, and an unfortunate 4 parts frustrating. Ryan Adams is a brilliant musician: the music was *superb*, his voice was strong and beautiful, the band were tight and played so well. I think the Cardinals are good for him, because they give his shiny riffs this warm, full sound that really draws out the songs. And I barely knew any of the songs tonight (more on that later) but even then, the music was wonderful. Ryan Adams can really write excellent songs and play and sing them beautifully.

BUT.

Ryan Adams was being a deliberately difficult artist last night.

Well, the first frustrating thing was (probably) not of his doing; the Enmore had been very misleading about the seating arrangements before the pre-sale, so there were lots of unhappy fans who had bought dancefloor tickets early, only to find out on arrival that floor was *behind* a whole section of seating. Not that there was much to see – that’s right, Ryan had a certain lighting plan (dim, very dim), and he was sticking to it. It was a very pretty set, with the curtained backdrop and the Chinese paper lanterns in different shapes and colours, and I understand the idea of a cosy ambience to focus attention on the music, but it was a bit disappointing not to be able to see the band you had paid to see! For the first four songs, it was kind of hard to work out *where* Ryan Adams was – as someone near me said in the first few minutes, “I can, uh, I think that’s his guitar reflecting the light a bit…?” – and it wasn’t until he spoke to the audience to respond to the few audience members yelling for him to turn the lights up (they weren’t particularly rude – I remember one being, “Ryan, we love you, but we’d love you more if we could see you!”) that we had confirmation of where he was. At one point he was still pretty good natured about it – after one such shout he got out his lighter and held up the flame near his face so we saw him flickering for a few seconds, and everyone laughed. But after 'Off Broadway', someone yelled for the lights again (even though now these requests were being met with an equally vocal response from the audience of groans and ‘shut up!’) and this time Ryan said, rather huffily, “We’re playing two sets tonight. When I come out for the second you had better have learnt how to act.” Then he stalked off the stage and the lights went on, and we all hoped like hell it was just an intermission. *sigh*

I guess it’s not a proper Ryan Adams experience without a tantrum of some sort?

After a fifteen minute break, they came back on and started playing again. The first half off the set had been easy on the hits but still fairly accessible, heavy on songs from the recent albums particularly the ones he recorded with the Cardinals, but the second half became wilfully obscure, and there has been discussion online as to whether this was a deliberate decision made in the break. Anyway, of the seven songs in the second half, one was originally written for Willie Nelson, two have yet to be released, and one was a bonus track that is not readily available. Yikes Anyway, highlights for me were 'Cold Roses', where the harmonies with the band were awesome, as well as 'What Sin Replaces Love', which I hadn’t heard before, but have utterly fallen in love with. There was a blistering extended jam in the middle of the song that was just fantastic, and by the end there was a line that Ryan just sang on his own, and it just about floored me because it was so beautiful. 'Wild Flowers' got a good response from the crowd, 'Peacefull Valley' sounded great, and 'Arkham Asylum', a new song, was well received with its last few bars being the Batman theme. However, after a good last two songs, Ryan felt the need to close the set with a ten minute drawn out feedback and drum outro of utter cacophony, while the remaining members of his band looked lost and liked they wanted to leave. Oh, not to mention the utter condescension in his voice as he ‘congratulated’ us for coming and staying for his idea of a concert, then he followed it up, in the most patronising voice, “You learnt how to listen to music. GOOD JOB."


Goodnight Rose
Please Do Not Let Me Go
Mockingbird
Wild Flowers
Cold Roses
Dear John
Peacefull Valley
Off Broadway
--
Blue Hotel
Magnolia Mountain
What Sin Replaces Love
Trouble On Wheels
Arkham Asylum
A Kiss Before I Go
Easy Plateau

I knew of his reputation, but now I’ve seen first hand how wilful he can be. It is part of who he is and what makes him interesting, but it was also *frustrating* as a fan to be treated that way all night, as if we were all bad children from the start who deserved to be punished. I still love his music, his talent outweighs the crazy, but I don’t think he did himself any favours on Thursday night. The same snippets of conversation were overheard, over and over again, as we walked out (no encore, not that we were expecting it from his mood): “What a prick!” “I’m never listening to him again!”and so on.

Ryan Adams is such a talented musician but he is also a dick, and a lot of that gig felt like a giant “Screw you!” to his fans.

sexual predators and online bullies

Just the Facts About Online Victimization

danah boyd links to media from a panel she was asked to speak on. The speakers presented quantitative and qualitative data on youth presence online and how they were exposed and responded to sexual and other forms of victimisation.

The Shins - 9 Aug 2007 - Enmore Theatre

I had heard that The Shins were not a particularly animated band live, and I found this to be true, though it was still a good concert experience. They were musically *beautiful*; the band plays together very well, the trademark lovely melodies were present, and there was a good atmosphere. The crowd was very enthusiastic and loyal, and as mellow as expected.

Some of the arrangements were interesting, such as 'New Slang' becoming rather sombre in a slightly slowed down version, while Caring is Creepy' was also slower but it was nicer that way, I felt. And I also picked up a few new favourites; I think my two favourite moments of the night were an incredibly joyful rendition of 'Saint Simon' (everyone singing along with the la-la-lahs), and a beautiful moving performance of 'The Past and Pending'.


Sleeping Lessons
Australia
When I Goose-Step
Kissing the Lipless
Gone for Good
New Slang
Pressed in a Book
Girl Sailor
Mine's Not a High Horse
Turn a Square
A Comet Appears
Girl Inform Me
Saint Simon
Turn On Me
Pam Berry
Phantom Limb
Know Your Onion!

Breathe (Pink Floyd cover)
Caring Is Creepy
The Past and Pending
So Says I

Cobra Starship / The Academy Is... - 7 Aug 2007 - UNSW Roundhouse

Cobra Starship are 500% awesome (100% for each member of the band). I don't think I’ve had so much fun during a set for ages. They were were good musicians but didn’t take themselves too seriously; also, they were obviously enjoying themselves on stage, and knew how to bring everyone along for the ride. I was on side of Vicky T (keytar) and Alex (bass), but I had a better view of Ryland (guitar) and Gabe (lead singer). Actually I had a great view of Gabe, which was all important, because Gabe's dancing was *hilarious* and Gabe in general was very funny and scarily charming. He also talks very very fast in a loose way, seemingly verbalising everything in his mind between songs, keeping up a very natural banter.
They only had one album out (the dancetastic While The City Sleeps We Rule the Streets) so the set list was a best of. I would’ve been happy for them to play every single song off the album and keep on being awesome.

Send My Love To The Dancefloor, I'll See You In Hell (Hey Mister DJ)
Keep It Simple
It's Amateur Night At The Appollo Creed
The Kids Are All F****d Up
It's Warmer In The Basement
The Ballad Of Big Poppa And Diamond Girl
The Church Of Hot Addiction
Hollaback Boy
Bring It (Snakes On A Plane)

I must admit, I was definitely more there for Cobra Starship than The Academy Is… But I’d paid my monies, and I’m a completist if not a real fan, so I stayed. I enjoyed them in the songs where they were rocking out (like 'We’ve Got a Big Mess On Our Hands' and 'You Might Have Noticed'), but I had to hear an equal number of songs that annoyed me greatly , in particular the overly sincere ballads like 'Everything We Had' (the lyrics they make me want to cry). The highlight though was the first song of the encore, with just William, Michael on guitar, and their drummer (The Butcher) harmonising very nicely.

Oddly enough, considering they shared the same (Aussie) sound tech, the sound was rather muddy for TAI but nicely clear for CS. And I get it, they have Aussies on tour with them (aforementioned sound dude, plus their new guitarist Michael Guy Chislett - a Sydney boy who used to play for the Hillsong band, go figure), but did they really have to mention it in every lull?


The Phrase That Pays
LAX to O'Hare
Slow Down
Classifieds
Black Mamba
We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands
Seed
Bulls in Brooklyn
Everything We Had
You Might Have Noticed
Neighbours
Checkmarks

40 Steps
Almost Here

Run Rabbit Run

Petstarr (of Bland Canyon) takes the popular 'Run Rabbit Run' ad for Visit Victoria, and gives it new meaning (horror movie style) by re-soundtracking it to Donnie Darko music. It's definitely a more sinister view of the same images (not that it wasn't a little...creepy to start with).

when funny people go nuts...

Don't Have A Cow, Man...

I thought this was a very funny joke, but googling "Judd Apatow", "Mark Brazill" and "emails" gets you a whole slew of articles about how they're *real* emails full of real, insane venom between two people who might once have been friends. This is what happens when people are passive agressive, methinks.

reruns #1

An article on social networking that I find fascinating: A Group Is Its Own Enemy

It looks at social interaction online and the software that supports these kinds of interactions; but more than that, it delves into the fact that the way people relate and interact online forms both the bonds that grow a group and also tends to lead to the groups' own destruction at the same time, because of the mistaken assumptions made about how technology will/can/should change the way people behave.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007, d. David Yates)

This adaptation of the fifth book in the series is a decent addition to the Harry Potter film franchise, sitting somewhere between the best so far (Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban) and the terribly earnest and plodding Chris Columbus' pictures at the start. Considering the massive length of the original book, great effort has been made to prune the storyline to a manageable movie run time, and the abbreviated plot in addition to the choppy editing gives it an uneven episodic feel, a chain of scenes without enough connection between, and causing some scenes to drag as they lacked the necessary urgency and drive towards the next. The setting is beautifully filmed, as always - Hogwarts portrayed amongst misty moors and plunging ravines in different climes - but Yates resorts, a few too many times I feel, to ending scenes with swooping shots from the ensuing action to the scenery without giving any meaning to either.

The most problematic sections are the beginning and the end, where the action deviates greatly from the book, mostly to the detriment of logic and continuity. They are particularly glaring and frustrating in the climax, where the important theme of love is hammered home to the audience by having Harry declare it in a ridiculous speech expressing his internal struggle against Voldemort's possession, which broke the dramatic tension! Overall, I didn’t like the final battle at all; in the book, these scenes demonstrate one of the best written fight/climaxes of the whole series, with the utter chaos and power on show from both the adults and the children, but the movie chooses to focus solely on Harry's struggle and it lessened the traumatic impact, the pain and darkness, of the ending.

In contrast, the DA scenes during the movie were wonderful, as they show how Harry had grown as a person at this point – both in magical skill and also in his understanding of the seriousness of the situation - and visually it managed to be both informative about the other students and their skills in fighting, which is important considering what parts they play in later books, as well as being playful. The same comfortable chemistry was encouragingly present in the scenes between the core trio of Harry, Hermione and Ron. However, the children's acting seemed to be improving imperceptibly - Rupert Grint continues to mug/mope for the camera giving Ron a perpetual infantile two-dimensional feel; Dan Radcliffe, well, yikes, learn a new expression!; and in stark contrast, Emma Watson tries so hard to emote with her face that her eyebrows are now almost a separate character.

Blades of Glory / Transformers

Blades of Glory (2007, d. Will Speck, Josh Gordon)

As any iceskating fan knows, deep in their heart, it is a sport ripe for mocking. Some parts of the movie were just so spot on in its ridiculousness (the costumes! the over-the-top commentary!) though as a satire it needed to be sharper and more critical. It works quite well just as a visually amusing and irreverant comedy it works quite well. The absurdist humour is hilarious, a great example being the ice-skate chase towards the climax, though it also serves to highlight the strength and weaknesses of the cast and the script. Will Ferrell (as Chazz Michael Michaels) does a great job as the annoyingly arrogant skater-jock; as his nemesis-turned-partner, Jon Heder (as Jimmy the effeminate epitome of male ice-skater) unfortunately doesn't manage to project much apart from a shaggy goodnatured bemusement. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler do their best as psuedo-incestuous skating rivals, and considering their comedic pedigree, could have been given more to do, particularly as they made the most of their brief scenes. Jenna Fischer was sweet and efficient, but about as memorable as her counterpart in her role as the object of Jimmy's affection.


Transformers (2007; d. Michael Bay)

This was highly enjoyable; early expectations were only to be entertained by something flashy and dumb and noisy, and yes it was all that, but somehow managed to be more.

The first attack at the beginning sets the tone so well - an awesome set-up of action and explosions, tense and gloriously tummy-crunching as the badass Decepticon proceeds to destroy a desert army base - and the energy rarely flags after this. The special effects in this were amazing - the transformations are complex but not clunky, visually interesting but not unbelievable.

More suprisingly, the screenplay, while maintaining broad appeal with that brand of action-movie cheesiness at times, is never risible, blending fanboy-pleasing references to the original and a wise-cracking sense of humour, helped along by Shia LeBeouf's great knack of playing fast-talking, adorably neurotic teens. The romantic subplot is not intrusively irksome, even if it does feel terribly convenient that Megan Fox's character is the complete package - hot, bitchy, scantily-clad AND mechanically minded - though it was refreshing enough that she played a major active role in the finale. The most disturbing aspect of their relationship was **spoiler** when Sam and Mikaela were making out on top of Bumblebee at the end....THE CAR IS SENTIENT.

Dappled Cities Fly / Red Riders - 15 Jun 2007 - The Metro

Last time I saw support act Belles Will Ring, supporting Death Cab for Cutie that time, they were a four piece, and not particularly memorable in a generic rock way. This time around, they were now a five member band, and they'd picked up a 60s folk-rock influence. Some of the songs from their album Mood Patterns are quite catchy – I particularly liked 'Park Benches', which is the point where their set picked up for me, 'Midnight' and 'The Coldest Heart'.

After Belles Will Ring, both Red Riders and Dappled Cities came out on stage and did a coin toss to determine who would play first on the double bill. To my relief, Dappled won the toss and elected to go first. After hearing Dappled briefly at Modest Mouse and wanting more, I'd come to really enjoy their sound. They didn't disappoint, with a good tight set; the band gelled together really well, and they seemed to be really enjoy playing, and the crowd’s response. I admit I tuned out a touch during the middle of the set with more material from A Smile but there were lots of great moments from second album Granddance. 'Work It Out' was slowed down, which threw me a bit at first, but still sounded great, and 'Holy Chord' was really beautiful live, with the crowd singing along enthusiastically.

Not a set list, but we definitely heard: Granddance, Peach, Vision Bell, Within Hours, Beach, Work It Out, Fire Fire Fire, Holy Chord and Colour Coding.

We ended up only staying for the first 3 songs of the Red Riders set, which included their hit 'What They Say About Us'. They struck me as being quite young, not really polished on stage yet, but they had a real energy to them that was fun. The crowd on the floor was really into them. They reminded me a bit of The Strokes, a bit of Franz Ferdinand.

Brand New - 9 Jun 2007 - UNSW Roundhouse

Some time at the end of last year, I heard two tracks from Brand New's latest album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me and fell in love with the brooding music and the really interesting, intensely emotional lyrics. I could not wait to see them live. Since we weren't interested in the support, and the weather was terrible, so we rocked up about 10 minutes before they were due on. Despite muddy sound the concert was good. There were times it was clearly evident that Jesse Lacey's voice was really strong and capable, so I think that was more a problem with the acoustics of the room than the band, or someone at the sound desk needed to pick up their game.

The band were able to create this massive wall of sound that I could feel all around me. They played around with the songs, with interesting arrangements and variations from the album sound (eg. slowed down first verse of 'Jude Law...'), which worked mostly, though sometimes it threw the crowds' attempts to sing along. There were lots of Jesse Lacey acoustic guitar moments; 'Play Crack the Sky' being played as sparsely as it is on the album at the start, great calm-before-the-storm moments before the song goes crazy and beautiful and LOUD. Jesse Lacey's voice was...I don't know how to describe it, apart from feeling like he was breaking down in front of us and everything he felt was carried in the burden of his voice and words. It wasn't perfect, but it cracked with emotion and it made me believe that he was really passionate about what he was singing, and that was awesome.

They started with songs from the previous two albums, which was great, but a bit confusing – I kept waiting for them to throw the new stuff in, but it didn’t come for the first hour! They went offstage for a brief period after 'Play Crack the Sky', and when they came back on they played almost all of the The Devil and God... which is so so awesome. The Green Day cover was unexpected – Jesse was just strumming as they were prone to do during the numbers, and then it suddenly became recognisable and a part of the crowd started singing along happily. He only played a bit, then he stopped just as the drummer started to pick it up, and laughed and said, “Oh, Brian really wants to do this”, teasing us, before he said, “But no, no happy songs, we’re here to play sad bastard music".


Jaws Theme Swimming
Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades
Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis
The Shower Scene
The No Seatbelt Song
The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot
Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't
Jude Law and a Semester Abroad
Seventy Times 7
Play Crack the Sky

Welcome to Bangkok
Sowing Season (Yeah)
Millstone
The Archers Bows Have Broken
Luca
(short cover of Basket Case)
Limousine (MS Rebridge)
Handcuffs
Jesus
Degausser
You Won’t Know

The Science of Sleep (2007; d. Michel Gondry)

This was as beautiful and creatively wonderful as I'd read, as well as being quirkily funny, and much more coherent than some reviews had led me to believe. I believed the awkward romance between Stephane (Gael Garcia-Bernal) and Stephanie (Charlotte Gainsborough) - the way it didn't flow smoothly in that Hollywoodised way, but had this stop-start motion to it. They progressed because they really were kindred souls in their creative minds and expression, but also it was impeded by the self-same obsessive infantilism in Stephane that left him about as emotionally mature as a four year old. The ending though, its bittersweet ambiguity, was perfect for the movie and my expectations of how their love was shown throughout the movie.

Fall Out Boy - 9 Mar 2007 - Big Top

We ended up about halfway down the room, on the far left. The crowd around us was pretty good – no drunk idiots, a mix of tall and tiny, and, I was told, a lot less scene than the crowd at the Hordern gig the night before. Fall Out Boy started at 9:30 on the dot, with the Kanye West remix of “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s an Arms Race” playing out over the dark and the cheers, before the stage lit up for first song 'Our Lawyer Made Us...' The stage set was pretty – dark blue backdrop printed with Infinity on High images, and lots of coloured lighting and a lighting effect that looked like fairy lights. Pete and Joe liked to prowl the stage, swapping sides constantly we got to watch them both while playing, though Joe was on our side more often. They also liked to get up on the amps at the front of the stage, giving everybody a better look (Pete gets more screams, obviously). Joe played like a maniac, which is just as I’d seen in other live footage, while Pete is much more low-key while playing. Andy was a sight playing like a maniac up on his riser. And Patrick – oh Patrick. His beautiful big voice, right there – I was so happy to hear it live.

Near the beginning, Pete did almost exactly the same “back up three steps” talk as Gerard Way to try and get the mosh to be a little less crazy, which, do they teach that in Frontman 101 or something? It was much weirder coming from Pete, particularly as he later encouraged crowd-surfing and a circle pit. The set was nicely packed and fast moving, but oddly biased towards older material – they’re ostensibly here for new album Infinity on High but they only played four songs from that. Overall it was a great gig for singing and dancing along to one poptastic song after another, a fun experience.


Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued
Of All The Gin Joints In All The World
Sugar We’re Going Down
The Patron Saints of Liars and Fakes
Chicago Is So Two Years Ago
Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner
Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year
A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More ‘Touch Me’
Thriller
Grand Theft Autumn / Where Is Your Boy
XO
Grenade Jumper
Golden
This Ain’t a Scene, It’s An Arms Race
I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
The Take Over, The Break’s Over
Dance Dance
Saturday

My Chemical Romance - 26 Jan 2007 - Big Top

Late last year, Alison made me listen to MCR's latest album, The Black Parade. I put it on not expecting much but to my surprise I fell in love – with the soaring anthemic melodic rocks songs, the passionate lyrics, the underlying punk attitude, the absolute sing-a-long enjoyableness of an album that is ostensibly about death. And I could not wait to see them live and sing-a-long with my fist in the air, which is the default feeling I get when I listen to the albums over and over again.

Support act Another Day Down came across really LAME, trying to be this heavy rock band. One of them had a mullet and looked right out of the 80s, but without the irony. Totally forgettable songs that didn't even sound good the first time.

But My Chemical Romance were AWESOME. They played so much from The Black Parade, almost the entirety. Gerard sounded great and looked healthy and happy, and seemed like he was really enjoying himself in Australia. During 'Dead!' the front of the mosh got quite scary and he stopped the song completely to try and calm it down. He made sure the people getting crushed were pulled out, he instructed everyone to take some steps backwards slowly to create more room, and told the kids that no matter who much fun they were having they should stop and help people up if they’ve gone down in the mosh. He had the room’s attention all nigh. He made a great frontman, with gestures and voice and passion, throwing himself around the stage, singing his heart out. I *love* him.

The rest of the band were great, but subdued. Ray was so so so good – whenever I knew a great lick was coming up I would make sure I was watching him shred on his guitar. There wasn’t much band interaction during the set, mostly Gerard talked to the audience and had them eating out of the palm of his hand. The highlight of the night was last song 'Famous Last Word'. It was insanely good live, with Gerard taking out his earpiece to hear the audience yelling the refrain back to him, arms reaching out towards the stage, loving him and the band and their music and his words.


The End
Dead!
How I Disappear
I’m Not Okay
Mama
Welcome to the Black Parade
I Don’t Love You
Thank You for the Venom
Teenagers
House of Wolves
You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison
Helena
Sleep

Cancer
Famous Last Words

Muse - 23 Jan 2007 - Hordern Pavillion

Hordern = not so good. It is my least favourite venue for shows, because in its supposed egalitarianism of all GA it just damns short people like me, and for some reason the worst crowds I've ever encountered have all been at the Hordern. But I saw half the Ground Components set with Alison and her friends and I quite enjoyed them; Fiona had told us beforehand that they were “scream-y, but with good melodies” and it was true, but she forgot to mention the screaming was done by an Iggy Pop lookalike over catchy rockabilly tunes (this is a plus).

In between the sets I went and hung out with some other friends right of centre, in the thick of the mosh. The crowd was uniformly tall and hulking, with lots of very excited/drunk/high guys, and it was getting pretty rough in the wait for Muse. People kept asking me, “Are you sure you’re going to be ok?” I thought I was going to be fine...in the end, I lasted in the mosh for the first four songs, then my glasses flew off my face (ACK!!!!!) After rescuing them, I decided that I was sick of bracing myself against giant frat boy types who were threatening to fall on me en masse every other moment and made my way out towards the side. But before that, someone dumped a beer over the crowd near me during the second song, so I smelt like beer and sweat for the rest of the night, which earned me lots of dirty looks from other girls during the concert, understandably. I ended on the far right, about 6 rows from the front but so so far away from Matt Bellamy. *sadface* I did have fun dancing around like crazy and moshing in that area though; it was good that the energy levels were so crazy that the mosh was fairly far reaching actually, and where I was there were lots more short happy fans and it was a comfortable, fun mosh rather than a violent experience. But there was the only one moment during the gig that I got a decent view of the band, when I had a rest on the steps to the seats before a security guard forced me to move, which is partly why I can't say I had the best concert experience; while the music was awesome, I just felt like I came away with almost no sense of the band as a visual experience since most of the night all I saw were sweaty shoulders, hair and more heads. I normally don’t have this much to say about the mechanics of being on the floor at a concert, but I felt a lot of what I felt about Tuesday night stemmed from that – the good and the bad.

Musically, I didn't have any qualms about the gig at all. It was pretty damn spectacular. I love the first four songs played but I had very little recollection of them because of the aforementioned mosh shenanigans. They followed that up with 'Feeling Good', and it is the classiest rock rendition of a great Nina Simone song, and then they followed that with 'Hoodoo' and it sounded so so good, with the intense piano chords and giant sound. The whole night, they sounded MASSIVE and awesome live. Even though it’s just the three of them on stage, it was so strong and powerful, whether it was the ballads with Matt's unbelievable voice, or the rock songs pounding out.

The first encore was the real highlight though. When they came back out, Matt said that we should all get our lighters and mobile phones out for 'Soldier’s Poem', but in my area we were all giggling because this person had a lighter that was more like a flamethrower, it threw out these massive tongues of fire and you could see the owner getting their thumb burnt over and over again, but he kept doing it and we really appreciated the spectacle. Then the energy levels went through the roof with 'Hysteria' and 'Stockholm Syndrome' back to back, again tight and fast and insane, and yeah, I enjoyed this mosh. “Second” encore was just fun, with a crowd karaoke singalong to Knights of Cydonia, so tongue-in-cheek and enjoyable live, ending the on a high energy note.


Take A Bow
Map Of The Problematique
Butterflies And Hurricanes
Supermassive Black Hole
Newborn
Starlight
Forced In
Bliss
Feeling Good
Hoodoo
Invincible
Time Is Running Out
Plug In Baby

Soldier's Poem
Hysteria
Stockholm Syndrome

Knights Of Cydonia

Modest Mouse - 3 Jan 2007 - Enmore Theatre

I didn’t really have any expectations going in, because I am woefully acquainted with the entirety of the Modest Mouse oeuvre (though what I know I like) so I was ready to go and experience for experience's sake. It was good to see some really good live ROCK (when I'm listening to Modest Mouse my dad will often pop in and ask what all the noise is) with the jangly guitars, the growling bass, the massive percussion section.

We arrived about halfway through the Dappled Cities set, and what I heard was catchy and good. Two things in particular struck me – they can caterwaul in harmony! and the lead singer/guitarist has a really nice voice. I will be looking for more of their stuff to listen to.

Modest Mouse started with 'Ocean Breathes Salty', which was one of about five songs I wanted to hear tonight. They followed up with a stompingly good 'Black Cadillac', then a song that was only about a minute and a half long, then Isaac Brock stopped and said something along the lines of “Normally we just play this through again because that’s all there is. It’s a good song so here we go.” And then they really did just play it all the way through again.

Before the concert we'd wondered when in the set 'Float On' (their far and away best known song) would go and we guessed either first or last or in the encore to draw out is popularity. However four songs in there it was, and it was good but not great – I still love the song, but hearing it live did nothing for me. However, a few more songs in they played an absolutely blistering rendition of 'Tiny Cities Made of Ashes' that just raised the energy levels. This started a great section of songs – 'Tiny Cities', 'Bukowski', 'The World At Large', 'The View' - where the crowd really got into it; the moshers started a crazy whirling pit in the centre, and others were less timid in moving along to the rhythm and beat. And I got to geek out over the use of unexpected instrumentation, especially during Bukowski with the bit when it’s the banjo, electric double bass and accordion only – so cool.

Isaac Brock tried a bit of banter, though for him it consisted of awkwardly funny sarcasm. He was most animated when he was talking about cuddling koalas in Brisbane, which is adorable. And I’ve discovered that I really like it when frontmen are narky at certain parts of the crowd – it might be a bit mean, but it’s still amusing when they’re paying out some idiot in the crowd (I guess as long as it’s not me I’m ok with that). The crowd was a bit insane last night though, with the crazy hyper girls on the barrier, and the half-naked guy who kept trying to crowd surf and actually dove onto the stage at one point, only to be chased back onto the floor by a big security guard who dragged him away forcibly while the guy’s girlfriend hung off the security guard as an useless impediment.

Last song of the set was 'Breakthrough' (also good). There was a two song encore ending with 'Dramamine', which I did want to hear, but they noodled through it for a bit too long. The energy level of the crowd was flagging and it seemed that most were not in the mood for that kind of extended jam, which meant the concert ended on a strangely impatient note.