Gotye / The Basics @ Manning Bar, Sydney
Last night Sydney Uni was taken over by the Sounds in the Grounds mini-festival at Manning House. Despite waiting in the rain outside a wee bit too long (things kicked off about an hour late) Amanda and I had a great time. We pretty much only went to see two bands so I’m not going to mention sets by I Heart Hiroshima and Wolf & Cub as I didn’t catch much of them at all.
The Basics kicked things off in fine fashion. I’ve seen them quite a bit over the past year but they have yet to let me down. They are simply one of Australia’ finest live bands – hell, finest bands. Their short set featured a mix of songs off Stand Out / Fit In as well as some older EP tracks and one of my favourite covers of theirs, Hey Rain. Hey Rain is such a beautiful Australian song, I recommend you check it out:
Download
The Basics – Hey Rain (live in Melbourne 2006)
The Basics have spent some time playing shows overseas this year and all the gigging shows in their set. While as tight as ever, the boys seem to be taking things into slightly more improv/jam territory during songs like Money (Gimme, Gimme). As always, they left me smiling and wanting more.
Fast forward a couple hours and it was Gotye’s turn (Gotye being Wally “ARIA Winner” de Backer of The Basics in case you’re new). Fresh off Australia’s televisions, Gotye and his mini-orchestra capped the night off with a stellar performance working through much of Like Drawing Blood as well as touching on the first Gotye record, Boardface. Since last seeing Gotye at Homebake a year ago a lot of work has gone into this live show and it’s all been worth it as every song was deeper, louder, and fuller. The Only Way and Coming Back were highlights for me.
What struck me during Gotye’s performance last night was just how ingrained some of the songs have become in the collective Australian consciousness. During Heart’s A Mess the entire crowd bellowed the chorus back to Wally with the type of exuberance usually reserved for the likes of U2. I often wonder what goes through Wally’s head as he performs these days; here’s a guy who worked on a record at home for ages, using mostly samples, and then it just explodes into ARIA nominations and massive gigs. Crazy.
Anyway, all in all, another great night thanks to The Basics and Gotye. As an added bonus I also got to meet this guy. Great to see you Joe!
Photos from the gig here.
Yesterday also saw me frantically working two laptops and two credit cards and managing to get tickets to four shows that all went on sale at the same time. I still can’t believe I managed to get Bjork tickets. That was a minor miracle.
Also I keep forgetting to post this, but Polaroids of Androids have an mp3 of the Dappled Cities / Red Riders cover of November Rain. Go check it out. Thanks for that one guys!
November 4th, 2007 10:39
no probs sean..
i am hear for all of your vinyl to mp3 conversions.
November 4th, 2007 10:39
here even
tarded
November 5th, 2007 16:15
I thought the show was heaps better than the Metro shows a few months back, and that’s despite the heat and the ugly lights coming on unexpectedly.
That second last song he played (off Boardface methinks) was amazing; just him on drums. I’m thinking of skipping a wedding and going to Homebake just to see that again.
It just kept me riveted this time, and made me forget that he looks like a 14 year old just our of short pants when he plays as Gotye.
The set would be perfect if only he added Night Drive and also his cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘I Just Can’t Seem to Get Enough’. And perhaps a Basics song for good measure.
He’s sure come a long way from his first Gotye show on keyboards at the Corner Hotel in Richmond oh, gosh, three and a half years ago maybe…