There's a fire going out

Bon Iver - HMV Hammersmith Apollo - 24th October 2011

I took my time getting into Bon Iver and wasn't keen enough to go to the effort of seeing them tour For Emma. Then the Blood Bank E.P. was released and I was sold. When I was emailed the presale details for a show taking place on my birthday, I ignored my empty bank balance and bought two tickets. Not that I knew who was going to come with me. I don't mind going to concerts on my own, but going solo on your birthday is just a little sad. Thankfully the boyfriend contract includes certain obligations and I dragged J out to the Hammersmith Apollo to see a band that he'd basically never heard of.

I think of For Emma as such a quiet album. Almost just a guy and a guitar. I know that there's plenty more to hear on it, but that's how it's reduced in my head. The second album isn't quite as low-key. The band's sound has changed dramatically, and the stage show has not just changed to match, it's overtaken the recordings in terms of density and scale. Bon Iver are touring with about 9 musicians, including a horn section. Bon Iver fans really really fucking love Bon Iver. Cue trumpets entering at the perfect time, two percussionists, multiple vocalists, it all combined to turn the material (particularly the new album) into something epic that was visibly moving the audience. The light show was significant and certainly added to certain songs, but I couldn't help but think that some of the flashing must have made things difficult for the musicians.
Flume is made better with horns entering at just the right time. The current live version of Blood Bank is super rocky. Beth/Rest is great, but just a little too eighties for me to be fully on board. Predictably the encore consisted of For Emma and Skinny Love performed with just with Justin on guitar and vocals, and very quiet choir back up from the rest of the band. Fan dedication extended to this conclusion. The pauses during Skinny Love were the quietest I have even seen/heard a room with that amount of people in it.

All at Sea

Jamie Cullum - HMV Forum - 18th October 2011

I tried to see Jamie Cullum live years ago. Back after his second album was released, he played at a club in Penrith, Sydney and I missed out on tickets. To be honest, I haven't completely kept up with his music in recent years. There's at least one album that I've never heard, but I'm still interested to have made the trip up to North London to finally see him. Thankfully, his set included plenty of material from his second album (some lyrics slightly altered though as it's been a while and Twentysomething is now definitely Thirstysomething).

His band included some very impressive multi-instrumentalists and it occured to me early on in the night that it's hard to classify the type of show. It was either the jazziest rock gig I've been to, or the rockiest jazz gig. Probably the latter, even though Cullum's on stage persona tends to lean towards the former. The frontman antics were jarring for about 30 seconds, but between his energy and his very easy and humble banter with the crowd, it became clear that he knows exactly how to use his charisma. There's no doubt that he really just wants to entertain, and he seems to derive such joy from performing, and creating performance in others. Towards the end of the night he organised the crowd into an impressive three part harmony and the shher delight on his face when the crowd hit the sound indicated that the interaction was as much for his pleasure than anyone else's.

There was some decent variety. Cullum's brother joined him onstage at one point and the second half of his set was cover heavy, including his ever impressive version of Jeff Buckley's Lover, You Should Have Come Over. Overall, it was an infectious performance. One that would have been difficult not to enjoy. The two Brisbane lads whom I chatted to during my tube ride to Charing Cross seemed to agree. It's always nice having a post gig wrap up with people equally enthusiastic about live music.



Did you Hear the '59 Sound?

The Revival Tour - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire - 15th October 2011

I feel somewhat ill-equipped to provide a write-up of the Revival Tour because I know virtually nothing about Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause and Dan Andriano. I went for Brian Fallon after spending the past year getting heavily into The Gaslight Anthem. I almost didn't go because sharing the bill with 3 other musicians, I wasn't sure whether he'd get enough stage time to justify the trip to London. The deciding factor was the debut album from Fallon's side project, The Horrible Crowes. 'Elsie' was release about a month ago and I've had it on repeat since. As far as I could tell, the Revival Tour is Fallon's only planned live performances of the Crowes' songs, and I'm obsessed with the album enough to make sure I caught this show.
My company for the evening was a tiny Hungarian named Rita who befriended me in the ticket queue. She earned points by insisting on buying me a drink, lost points by admitting that the last band she saw at the empire was Papa Roach (Those guys are actually still touring?!? and people are going to see them?!).
The night wasn't structured like a standard rock gig. I arrived a little late, figuring that Brian Fallon's set would be late in the evening, but walking into the theatre, found that all of the musicians were onstage together playing a bluegrass inspired tune. They played a few songs together, including a Gaslight track, and then worked through each musician's solo set. Yet solo isn't the right word. There were about 10 different musicians onstage during the evening and they kept popping in and out of each other's sets, providing accompaniment or back up vocals.

I didn't know of Hause or Andriano before the show, but Ragan seems to know what he's doing when he puts together the line-up for these tours. Stripped down to acoustic sets, all of the singers had certain sounds in common.

Fallon's set was the highlight. 'Elsie' was a collaboration between him and Ian Perkins, a guitar tech who wonderfully was with him on tour, and performed the songs live with him. The live and acoustic arrangements of the Crowes songs were different, but worked really well. 4 songs from the album wasn't enough and I wish there was going to be a dedicated Horrible Crowes tour.

Then came the Gaslight tracks, and it was clear that that's what a large percentage of the audience was there to see. Fallon did a couple on his own and then started bringing other musicians on. His set culminated in the rest of the line up contributing to a brilliant version of American Slang. Fallon went all Springsteen style and plucked a girl out of the front row to sing back up vocals. The poor thing spent the entire time looking like she was on the verge of wetting herself.

I can't really fault the tour. It's an interesting concept and the quality of the musicians involved ensured that's it was a brilliant night of music, even for someone unfamilar with most of the people on stage.



The Summertown Wine Cafe

This cafe became my second home in Oxford. Good coffee, cheap baguettes, free wifi, super friendly staff and a great wine list, it's the perfect place to spend a couple of hours. Their house wines would regularly change and were guaranteed to be quality. I only left Oxford two weeks ago, but I miss spending my afternoons here.

What does Canberra taste like?

Firestone is a small chain of pizza restaurants. We visited the one in Oxford a couple of times. The menu is divided into continents and has a pizza named after home, sweet home. J's a fan and it cracks me up to hear him order a 'Canberra'.

And I know that we've still got time

Enter Shikari - O2 Oxford Academy - 6th October 2011

I've seen Enter Shikari twice at big festivals and have alway been impressed with how much noise and energy they manage to create, despite not being massively popular. On both occasions their sets took place in broad daylight and I've always felt that I was missing part of the experience. I found that missing part by seeing them play a club show in Oxford. The energy was still there, but this time in a packed room with wonderfully appropriate smoke machines and lasers. They are loud and thrashy, but such a tight live band that it holds together instead of descending into a mess of sound.

Another Time II

Sculpture by Antony Gormley, installed on the corner of Broad Street and Turl Street in Oxford's City Centre.