I was wondering which Ryan Adams was going to show up tonight.

Turns out it was the happy, smiling, gracious, accomodating Ryan. Full review/photos when I’m home from work tomorrow but here’s the setlist from what has to be one of the Cardinals’ more “hit” focused sets. 2 hours!

UPDATED REVIEW
Last night was my fifth Cardinals show in the last four years and it is easily up there with my favourite gig in Vancouver in 2007. Whereas Ryan’s last visit to Sydney was marred by a toxic show, last night was practically a love-in. Ryan indulged the crowd by busting out all those songs idiots yell for at shows:

> Come Pick Me Up was sooooo awesome to finally hear live.
> New York, New York was a totally random, surprise inclusion in the set
> Oh My Sweet Carolina was sublime

The band were totally on and focused last night. While I am a huge fan of the Cardinals penchant for improvising and jamming, there was little of that this time around (with the exception of the Peaceful Valley/Goodnight Rose medley). Instead the Cardinals focused on more concise songs which meant the show never stopped moving. I was constantly turning to Amanda and a friends of ours with looks of disbelief: “He’s playing Shakedown too?!”

The recent announcement that the Cardinals will be no more as of March is all the more baffling after watching them on stage last night. They were all smiling at many points throughout the gig; while the megajams were gone, you can tell the band still find little spots in songs to throw something new in to surprise one another. Ryan even introduced the band as his BFFs which the band followed up by playing an improv song “called” You Are The Audience. Ryan’s good mood and a relatively dickhead-free crowd meant the atmosphere was great all night. Ryan even treated us to a story about “accidentally” taking mushrooms at a gig back when he “wasn’t well.”

And while it easy to focus on Ryan’s good mood (given his visit last time) it’s always going to be the music of the Cardinals that stands out. From the opening notes of Stars Go Blue (which featured a mean solo by Ryan) to the loose groove of Let Us Down Easy (played for just the second time last night) the band were just on. Many of the newer songs felt a lot fuller live; Born Into A Light, for instance, was great with the addition of electric rather than acoustic guitars.

This tour’s version of Wonderwall has been spectacular and last night was no exception. Over the years Ryan’s arrangements of the song have been constantly evolving and the band has it nailed now: atmospheric, delicate, true to the original’s memorable melody, and yet a totally unique take on the song. Just beautiful.

The night ended at curfew (11pm…LAME Enmore) with Cobwebs, my favourite song off Cardinology. While it wasn’t necessarily a satisfying final song (I See Monsters was listed as next on the setlist…guess they didn’t want to break curfew) it sent the crowd spilling out onto Enmore Road pleasantly surprised that Ryan and Sydney finally made up.

Setlist
When The Stars Go Blue
Two
Let It Ride
Fix It
Everybody Knows
Magick
Wonderwall
Come Pick Me Up
New York, New York
La Cienega Just Smiled
(Band Intros)
You Are The Audience (Improv)
Freeway To The Canyon
The Sun Also Sets
Evergreen
The Rescue Blues
Let Us Down Easy
Born Into A Light
Oh My Sweet Carolina
Shakedown On 9th Street
Peaceful Valley
Goodnight Rose
Cobwebs

Any show with New York, New York, Oh My Sweet Carolina, and Come Pick Me Up is gonna be awesome.

Photos from the gig here.

I must say I wasn’t really all that excited when I walked into the Opera House last night to see The Swell Season (or, as it was billed, Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova with The Frames). Maybe the magic of Once has subsided or maybe it was the fact that I’m not a massive Frames fan but whatever the case, I left the Opera House last night completely (surprisingly!) enthralled by Glen and Marketa’s performance.

Throughout the course of the evening Glen and Marketa played solo, as a duo, and with the accompaniment of The Frames. Even Colm from The Frames had a little solo slot in the encore to play a beautiful traditional Irish song on his violin (complete with looping effects which seemed to really pique the interest of the Babyboomers in the audience who obviously missed Final Fantasy and Andrew Bird in town). Whatever the makeup of the band on stage, the two hour show was never short of totally engaging.

Glen Hansard proved himself to be a funny storyteller (well, he is Irish) as he introduced many of the songs with lengthy tales. One story, before his cover of Astral Weeks, explained the refusal by Van Morrison to allow the producers of Once to use Glen’s busker versions of his songs in the film. After the story the song itself was pretty special as Glen worked the song into a frenzied, distortion filled climax…all on an old acoustic guitar.

Due to the popularity of Once, the crowd was clearly most pleased to hear much of that soundtrack played. Falling Slowly was, predictably, beautiful and perfectly executed. There were also new Swell Season songs from their upcoming album, a Frames song and a few covers. The band returned for two encores much to the pleasure of an absolutely adoring crowd who hung on every word all night.

The final encore was really special. Glen kicked it off with a solo rendition of the traditional On Raglan Road. I’d never heard the song before (though Amanda had) and I was pretty blown away by Glen’s take. After its final notes faded away the rest of the band returned, they unplugged all their instruments, stood at the front of the stage and belted out Dylan’s You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere to a silent audience. It was a remarkable way to end what was a pretty memorable evening. And, like I said, maybe it was my lack of excitement for the gig, but I really, really enjoyed this one.

Setlist:
Say It To Me Now*
Lies
This Low
The Moon
When Your Mind’s Made Up
“I’d Love To Run”/”All My Might” (unsure of title…Mar sings)
Falling Slowly
Leave*
Backbroke*
Astral Weeks*
Happiness
Low Rising
Once
——–
The Hill^
If You Want Me
The Court Of New Town%
Fitzcarraldo
———
On Raglan Road *
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere

* Glen solo
^ Mar solo
% Colm solo

A few distant photos here.

We actually walked in at 8:05 to find that they had already started…so if you were there, what did we miss? Say It To Me Now? And be warned if you are heading there tonight or tomorrow…get there early.

And I must say, I was informed by a friend after the gig that Glen and Marketa are no longer a couple and I was a bit surprised. The fairy tale is over, people.

After years of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I finally got to see TV on the Radio last night as they played their Big Day Out sideshow at a very, very sold out Metro. I’d heard they were great live and, luckily, they totally lived up to the hype. The energy exuded by this band on stage is incredible: Dave Sitek’s right hand moves as fast as a hummingbird’s wing, Tunde Adebimpe’s shirt was, literally, entirely soaked in sweat, and Kyp Malone’s beard was awesome times a million. In addition, a pair of saxophonists accompanied the band for much of the gig and they added a lot of punch and low-end to many of the songs.

Once TV on the Radio took to the stage they opened with Young Liars. It was an unexpected but totally great way to start the show. In fact, two other older songs immediately followed it (The Wrong Way, Dreams) which was rather refreshing. Most bands trot out that amazing opening track from their new record to kick off a show which often works but is terribly predictable (in fact, TVOTR didn’t even play their amazing opening track off Dear Science, which was the only let down of the night). I think this band showed a lot of respect for their audience by kicking things off with some older material.

The new stuff did come though. Through the course of the set the band played most of last year’s stellar Dear Science. Red Dress and DLZ, which came back to back toward the end of the set, were my favourites. For relatively new songs, the crowd was totally into them, belting out the words and backing vocals as if the songs were old classics.

While the new material works great live, Wolf Like Me had to be my highlight of the night. Having not seen the band before, I was waiting for this one and I didn’t have to wait long. Tunde’s powerful and passionate singing was evident all night but he really gave Wolf Like Me his all. Gesturing to the crowd, howling, and prowling the stage, he was completely magnetic and the song’s finale was an incredible release.

The band returned for an encore which, somewhat surprisingly, included a couple tracks from Return To Cookie Mountain, Blues From Down Here and Let The Devil In (the latter included some sweet extra drumming from Sitek). The final song of the night had to be Staring At The Sun. In its live incarnation the song is more guitar-heavy (actually true of many of the songs) but equally impressive. Tunde’s vocal was, again, totally insane.

Just another stellar January gig in Sydney. We are pretty lucky people.

Setlist:
Young Liars
The Wrong Way
Dreams
Crying
Golden Age
Wolf Like Me
Dirtywhirl
Stork & Owl
Shout Me Out
Dancing Choose
Red Dress
DLZ
Satellite
———
Love Dog
Blues From Down Here
Let The Devil In
Staring At The Sun

A few photos from the gig here. How cool was the drummer’s shirt?

The only letdown of the night (other than no Halfway Home) was the sound. Normally the sound at the Metro is great but tonight it seemed pretty muddy and both Kyp and Tunde’s vocals were way too low in the mix. Meanwhile, Dave Sitek’s guitar sounded like a rocket launch. Was it just me?

It was only in the past year that I’ve gotten into Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. I’m still exploring the back catalogue but I was nonetheless extremely excited to see Bad Seeds live. I’d heard they were great live performers but after seeing them last night I have one question:

Why the hell did no one ever sit me down, look me directly in the eye and say, “You must see this band live or I will stab you”???

To say I was blown away is an understatement. Two songs into the set and I was already texting Amanda expletive riddled messages of joy and amazement. The Bad Seeds are an incredible, INCREDIBLE, live band. Warren Ellis is insane. And two drummers…again NO ONE TOLD ME.

Then there was Nick Cave. The man himself is possessed while performing. He stalked the stage like some sort of deviant shaman as he belted out his stories of love, death, and pain all the while completely connecting with the crowd. The entire show was one of the finest live performances I have ever witnessed.

The set drew heavily from last year’s Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! which was fine by me as it was one of my favourite records from last year. But it was one of my least favourite songs from Lazarus that was one of the highlights of last night: set opener Night Of The Lotus Eaters. The song was transformed into a monstrous declaration of arrival and it instantly informed the audience this would be an intense, passionate performance.

The songs I didn’t know, somehow, blew me away just as much as the ones I could sing along to. Tupelo, for one, was particularly ruthless while Straight To You, which appeared in the encore, was one of the most beautiful, touching songs I’ve ever heard.

I particularly enjoyed the rapturous crowd responses to songs like Deanna and Red Right Hand. I felt a little bit like an outsider (Canadian, new Nick Cave fan) but to be surrounded by such excitement was completely infectious. The only complaint I have about the gig was that it seemed like it was over five minutes after it started…surely the sign of a great set. The final song of the night, Stagger Lee, was…well it was intense/scary/funny/insane. I wonder how Cave explains songs like that to his kids as they sit at the side of the stage.

Not to continue to gush but everything was perfect: the lights were great and the sound was so pristine that you could clearly pick up every instrument the Bad Seeds were playing. So to sum up: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

Setlist
Night Of The Lotus Eaters
Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Tupelo
The Weeping Song
Red Right Hand
Midnight Man
Love Letter
Moonland
The Mercy Seat
Deanna
We Call Upon The Author
Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
———
Straight To You
Stagger Lee

My complete review of the day is here.

My photos of Nick Cave and others are here.

After an amazing gig Friday night, Spiritualized had absolutely no chance of recreating all the magic with only 45 minutes on stage at ATP. And while they couldn’t deliver all the highlights of their usual set, Spiritualized still managed to put on an impressive show.

Once again, Shine A Light was completely majestic. The way the song builds to its finale gets me every time. And in my review of Friday night’s gig I neglected to mention how great the arrangment of Walking With Jesus has been on this tour. Ditching the heavy distortion chorus of years past, WWJ has been transformed into a country-blues shuffle. People were dancing! At Spiritualized!

After a heavily edited I Think I’m In Love (only the first verse was played before the closing movement of the song), I was pleasantly surprised to hear Ladies And Gentlemen… get a festival airing. It went down great with the crowd as well.

Setlist
Amazing Grace
You Lie You Cheat
Shine A Light
Walking With Jesus
I Think I’m In Love
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Come Together
Take Me To The Other Side

My complete review of the day here.

My photos of Spiritualized and others here.

After years of events overseas, All Tomorrow’s Parties finally staged a series of events around Australia this month. Here in Sydney, the ATP Festival was presented as part of the Sydney Festival and was held on Cockatoo Island yesterday and today (same lineup both days). I attended ATP on Saturday with only two big acts on my Must See list (SPZ and Cave) and a whole bunch of acts I was eager to discover.

Before I get to the music I need to say some things about ATP Festival as an event. This was probably the best run festival I have ever been to (not an easy feat considering the only way to get to the event was by ferry). The combination of ATP and Sydney Festival organizers worked a charm: this festival was douche-free, had an eclectic lineup (although food was TOTALLY pigeonholed into easily identifiable genres), and was a pleasure to attend all day. It was easy to get around and the food/bathroom lines ranged from manageable to non-existent.

I guess it was mostly the slightly leftfield lineup (Afrirampo! Psarandonis! James Blood Ulmer!) but the people attending this festival actually wanted to listen to the music. Big Day Out this was not. Over the course of the day I saw people at the festival reading the Sydney Morning Herald and drinking cappuccinos. And I thought the selection of wines was a classy touch. So for future event organizers, a few quick tips for keeping your festival awesome:

1. Hold it on an island
2. No Presets fans

See how easy it is?

Alright, about the music. Here are some quick notes I took yesterday on the acts I saw (except SPZ and Nick Cave who will each get their own posts later on). My photos from the day are here. In chronological order…

Hunter Dienna
- Intriguing
- Good sized crowd for first act of the day
- This Barracks Stage is awesome

The Stabs
- Pretty sure these guys are a Jonny band
- Dirty, dirty, dirty guitars
- They look awesome

Bridezilla
- I am the last person “involved” in the Sydney music scene to see them
- Playing WAY beyond their years
- Very, VERY impressive
- Instrumentals…good sign from a young band
- Violin player is chaotically excellent
- (My favourite performance of the day excluding SPZ and Cave)

Beaches
- Another awesome group of women on stage
- three guitars but not messy
- Kim Gordon (credit: Dan)
- Am I starting to get sunburned?

Conway Savage
- FULL of people
- A Bad Seed

Afrirampo
- WTF
- Japan’s musical exports don’t do much to diminish the Japanese Are Crazy stereotype
- We want a party. At Nick Cave’s house. In Melbourne. With family.
- Fun? Yes. Good? Not sure.

Dead Meadow
- Power trio…circa 1974?
- Seriously, the drummer has clearly discovered time travel
- Not bad…more psychedelia would be cool

Harmonia
- The first of a few legendary, influential bands back from the dead
- Three old German dudes
- Kraftwerk but not Kraftwerk
- Enjoyed what I heard but maybe more of a CD band for me

Laughing Clowns
- Another “legendary” band I know nothing about
- Ed Kuepper’s first of two performances today
- Too much sax
- Am definitely sunburned

Robert Forster
- The legends keep coming
- Classy, playful
- An understated showman
- Great songs

Spiritualized
- My review/setlist is here

The Necks
- Improv
- Great music to just zone out to…which is what I want at the moment

The Saints
- More “legends”
- Don’t shoot me…but they seemed uninspired bar a few songs
- OK, Kuepper is on his game though
- But the singer…make an effort and get out of your pyjamas before performing
- Smoking whilst performing =/= Punk
- (I’m) Stranded was pretty cool

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
- My God. My review/setlist is here.

Fuck Buttons
- Impossible to follow Nick Cave
- Kind of generic electronic music with some cool moments
- But 15 minutes in I’m on a boat

So a great day. Bridezilla a total highlight. Nick Cave was unbelievable. Too much sun. As far as I’m concerned the ATP Festival was damn near the perfect music festival.

It’s been nearly eleven years since I first saw Spiritualized. In the years since I’ve seen them a few more times but until tonight I had not seen them since 2002. Each gig was revelatory and transcending as only Spiritualized can be so I had pretty high expectations when I walked in the door of the Metro tonight.

And I was still blown away. This was the best I have ever seen Spiritualized.

The (relatively) stripped down band is just five members but this tour has seen them performing alongside two wonderful female backing vocalists. Together the seven musicians were a force on stage as they dipped into the Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 catalogues as well as trotting out one new song (Life Is A Problem).

As the band took to the stage, Jason Pierce smiled to the crowd and began playing a tiny musicbox in his microphone before the band launched into a droney, spacey rendition of the traditional Amazing Grace. From their the show absolutely took off. You Lie You Cheat was the first indication of how loud and aggressive this gig would (at times) be while Shine A Light, which followed displayed the more graceful and atmospheric side of the band.

I was pretty blown away all night but when I Think I’m In Love started up I was pretty much destroyed. In a good way. The band stretched out the opening movement of the song before swinging through the final part complete with the backing vocalists responding to Jason’s lines. Further destruction was thrust upon me when Lay Back In The Sun began. To hear this one live was unforgettable.

The new one, Life Is A Problem was another highlight but it was kind of dwarfed by Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space which immediately followed it. This one has never been a staple of the live set until this year, and while it’s damn near impossible to capture all the glory of the recorded version, it was fantastic to finally hear it live. The way the song seamlessly morphed into Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling In Love was perfect.

The show ended with a trio of rockers…She Kissed Me, Come Together (which was immense), and Take Me To The Other Side (which ended in five minutes of improv and feedback). After a lengthy break the band returned to the stage to play Lord Can You Hear Me. All night Jason sang of love, redemption, and salvation; to end the night with a song which asked if he was heard at all was a fitting and grandiose finale.

Just an unbelievable gig.

Setlist
Amazing Grace
You Lie You Cheat
Shine A Light
Cheapster
Soul On Fire
Sweet Talk
Sitting On Fire
Walking With Jesus
Oh Baby
Rated X
I Think I’m In Love
Lay Back In The Sun
Death Take Your Fiddle
Life Is A Problem
Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)
Come Together
Take Me To The Other Side
———
Lord Can You Hear Me

Photos (good ones! thanks Amanda) here.

And to top it off I get to see them again tomorrow at ATP.

Silver Apples supported. And while I totally appreciate the Silver Apples’ influence on electronic/indie/krautrock music, I can’t say I was all that thrilled with the set. The beats were great but the lyrics were distractingly bad at times. However, tt was great to see someone on stage making electronic music without a glowing Apple on stage.

Asobi Seksu’s 2006 album Citrus took a while to get under my skin. At first I dismissed the record as a My Bloody Valentine-lite shoegaze ripoff but over time I found that the band had their own unique charms and my initial reflex reaction was totally unwarranted: Citrus is a beautiful little record full of perfectly distorted guitars and dreamy vocals.

Next month Asobi Seksu will release their follow-up to Citrus entitled Hush. The band seem to have moved away from the shoegaze tag that dogged them on their last record by placing an increased focus on synths and, the band’s strongest weapon, lead singer Yuki Chikudate’s ethereal vocals. Lead single Me & Mary was released on a 7″ last year but Pfork have another taste of the record which you can grab below.

Download:
Asobi Seksu – Familiar Light

Off to see Spiritualized tonight. Very, very excited.

I know it’s already been covered elsewhere but a little more Eddy Current Suppression Ring blog love ain’t gonna hurt nobody. First up, I need to confess I am totally late to the party on this band. Despite finishing fifth on the Top Aussies Band List last year, I’ve only somewhat recently got into Primary Colours and I’ve missed them live on several occasions. I suck.

That said I’m pretty excited to find out there is already new ECSR stuff about to hit the streets in the form of a new 7 inch called That Time Of Day. You can pick up the record next week but for now you can download the title track.

Download:
Eddy Current Suppression Ring – That Time Of Day

For more info on the release hit up the Remote Control blog.

It seems that once Ryan Adams and the Cardinals wrap up their current tour dates in March, the Cardinals are over. And Ryan is going to take a step back from music for a while.

Read Ryan’s post about it all here.

I guess the 29th will be my last go with the Cardinals.

Download:
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Come Pick Me Up (live 12/17/2008)