Roxy Music @ The Riverstage, 01.03.2011
Well. To say that I royally fucked up tonight would be a bit of an understatement. Being led through the backstage to the front of the Riverstage, the photographers are greeted with a seated audience and a barrier pushed very close up to the stage, with the gap between the stage and the barrier being […]
That Was The Year That Was 2010
Somehow I’ve managed to make it into the second half of February without the traditional round-up of the previous year. Every year I get to this post and start off by saying the year was even more hectic than the one before and 2010 was no different. Year-on-year the number of gigs I’m photographing (and […]
Deadshits #2 @ Woodland, 28.01.2011
A mixed evening of highs and lows: The Highs Boomgates Assassins88 Superstar Per Purpose Bands playing on the floor The hard lighting from those cheap external working/security lights (usually painted yellow, with grille over the front) The Lows Circle Pit Holy Balm, mainly because of the huge gap between Assassins88 and Holy Balm playing, despite […]
Deadshits #1 @ Woodland, 05.11.2010
I didn’t write down any notes from this night, which is a shame as the specifics of the night, as experienced by me at least, have been lost to the ages. It was a good night all around though, and I do remember Blank Realm being fairly outstanding; they’re definitely one of Brisbane’s best bands […]
Sufjan Stevens @ The Tivoli, 30.01.2011
I think out of all the new artists I heard in the last decade, Sufjan Stevens has turned out to be my favourite. Ever since I first bought Seven Swans, completely old school, purely on the basis on a couple of reviews and without having heard a note of his music (something I still regularly […]
Black Mountain + Night Terrors @ The Zoo, 17.02.2011
The third of my three mid-week nights at The Zoo; tonight it’s Black Mountain Thursday, which comes after Swervedriver Wednesday and Caribou Tuesday. Gentle Ben Friday and Good Vibrations Saturday are yet to come and they’re stories for another time. Despite knowing the least about Black Mountain and their music it ends up being my […]
Sunset Sounds 2011 @ The Riverstage: Day 2, 06.01.2011
First published on Collapse Board (13.01.2011). It’s traditional for street press reviewers to miss opening acts and then use their limited word count to tell the world that there were ‘public transport issues’.This precedent has obviously rubbed off on me, but with Sunset Sounds I managed to take it to a new level and due […]
Swervedriver + Giants Of Science + Loomer @ The Zoo, 16.01.2011
The last time I saw Swervedriver was at the ATP MBV-curated Nightmare Before Xmas weekend back in December 2009, in a still-yet-to-be-written blog post. It was supremely loud (not as loud as MBV, but then nothing comes close to that) and frustratingly the band played in the dark, making photographing them the usual, frustrating low […]
Caribou + Four Tet @ The Zoo, 15.02.2011
In the cold light of the morning after the night before, I’m annoyed with myself for taking home a such a bad set of photos from the Caribou/Four Tet double-header. Firstly, there’s Four Tet. There’s only one thing worse than taking photos of keyboard players and that’s taking photos of laptop musicians. At the very […]
Owen Pallett + Jessica Says @ The Old Museum, 25.01.2011
One of the easiest ways to really irritate a music photographer is to wait until they arrive at the venue, tell them that it’s the first three songs with no flash and then play in almost complete darkness. Owen Pallett achieves this with aplomb tonight, although unlike many artists with a seemingly irrational hatred of photographers, the […]
HEALTH + The Death Set + DZ @ Woodland, 15-01-11
It’s interesting reading what I wrote about the last time HEALTH played in Brisbane towards the end of last February. Writing that “…you can’t help but think that in five years time it’ll sound really dated. Time will of course tell but it’s hard to tell whether their primary fan base will have moved on […]
The Charlatans @ The Hi Fi, 10-11-10
I keep going to gigs in Brisbane and wondering about the atmosphere. Maybe it’s just old age and rose-tinted spectacles but I keep thinking that when I was going to gigs when I was younger, we used to have a lot more fun than punters seem to now. There keeps being a strange energy level and […]
Deerhoof + Wooden Shjips + Tenniscoats + Jefferey Lewis @ The Hi-Fi, 05-03-10
The flotsam and jetsam from the wreck of the Lost Weekend festival has been salvaged into a number of highly attractive, hastily arranged, last minute gigs over the city this weekend. With the bulk of the bands still willing and able to play lined up for a mini, all-day festival at Rosie’s on the Sunday, tonight’s […]
sixfthick @ Woodland, 29-10-10
First published on Collapse Board (05/11/2010). Sixfthick are the band by which I judge all the other bands in Brisbane. If you’re in a band you should be here, you should be in the front row furiously scribbling notes about how to put on a show. Tonight is their 15th anniversary show and the launch […]
Paul Weller @ The Tivoli, 19-10-10
First published on Collapse Board (22/10/10). I’ve never really gotten Weller. Although I can remember ‘Town Called Malice’ on Top Of The Pops, The Jam were largely before my time. But that’s no excuse; I like plenty of bands who split up and singers who died before I started buying records. People have said they were […]
Smudge + Little Scout @ The Troubadour, 09-10-10
First published on Collapse Board (19/10/2010). Watching Smudge tonight it’s really hard not to feel incredibly nostalgic. It’s not just that the band are part of the audience’s past, tied to a 1990s discography and not having released an album since 1998’s Real McCoy, Wrong Sinatra, but something much deeper than that; it’s a nostalgia for bands like Smudge. […]
The Jezabels + Oh Ye Denver Birds + Inland Sea + Dance Hall Paradiso + Lunch Tapes @ Lightspace, 01-10-10
First published on Collapse Board (11/10/2010). First things first: a small apology. I keep posting comments that bands, especially those in Brisbane, really need to stop trying to be either Vampire Weekend or Arcade Fire. But then last week I saw a band of what I would have called the Arcade Fire ilk that made […]
Velociraptor @ The Club House, 18-09-10
First published on Collapse Board (21/09/2010). The band that could well be Brisbane’s Next Big Thing, Velociraptor, are launching their début 7″ at The Club House tonight. Except manufacturing delays mean the vinyl isn’t ready so CDs are available with a voucher to exchange it when the records turn up. It was a shame that a prior engagement with […]
The New Pornographers @ The Zoo, 09-11-2010
It always annoys me whenever a New Pornographers tour is announced and the first comments on any forum always concentrate on whether Neko Case is touring with them this time around, as if she is the whole raison d’être for the band and the sole focal point. It’s a bit disrespectful to and unfair on […]
Vegas Kings @ The Troubadour, 13-11-2010
An evening of farewells. On one side of Brisbane, down by the river, Powderfinger are playing the final show of their illustrious 20 year career. Surprisingly, given the demand, that is the fourth show at the Riverstage, that it’s the very end and supposed to be sold out, tickets are still on sale at the […]
Lost & Found Festival @ Rosie’s, 07-03-10
By the time I’d been signed up to cover the Lost Weekend Festival it had already been relocated from Ivory Rocks, a 45 minutes drive west from Brisbane, to The Riverstage and downscaled from a three day camping festival to a two day festival in the heart of the city. Having looked forward to the […]
3OH!3 + Tonight Alive @ The Old Museum, 12-08-10
They say a change is as good as a rest, which is part of the reason I find myself at 3OH!3’s all-ages show at the Old Museum tonight, something a lot more ‘pop’ than I would normally go and see. The other part of the reason is that I’ve known their Tour Manager through the […]
Batrider + Kitchen’s Floor + Blank Realm @ Rosies, 20-05-2010
Something from the hard drive archives. I didn’t write any notes the following day so musically can’t tell you much about the night, other than Batrider had a much different line up from the last time I’d seen them at The Troubadour, with only singer Sarah Chadwick remaining. The one residing memory from the night […]
This Is Not A Photo Opportunity – The Revamp
Largely based on what I’ve learnt putting together Collapse Board, I decided my own blog was well overdue for a bit of a revamp. The trouble is that it makes the posts and photos from the last 4½ years look pretty terrible. Maybe if I ever have the time I’ll go back and update all […]
