Recently I decided to start a gig journal. And by recently, I mean 43 minutes ago. The year of 07 is easy enough because I love my moleskine and write everything in it. However, I was thinking back to last year, and although I remember going to a fair few gigs, I don't remember the majority of them. Can anyone help me out? Rach?

This is what I remember:
- Jazz in the Domain
- Youth Group @ Manning
- The Merc @ Martin Place
- Eddie Perfect @ Roundhouse
- Ben Folds @ Opera House
- Mayer @ Enmore
- Dappled Cities @ Gasworks
- Evermore @ Gasworks
- Evermore @ The Fiddler

I swear I went to more gigs than that last year...

I got this in an email from a friend the other day. As she said, "couldn't stop laughing and missing the good old days". This is gold - growing up in Australia in the 90’s was rad.


You watched the ABC more than any other station. Those days are long gone.

You made worms by squeezing your Vegemite or peanut butter crackers together.

The best parties always had fairy bread.

The Waugh twins. Go! Aussie! Go!

Super League almost ruining rugby league in Australia.

Getting the Easter Show guide from the paper and circling all the show bags you wanted.

You thought everyone in America carried a gun and you never wanted to go there because you were were scared you'd get shot.

Blinky Bill, Sesame Street and Spot.

You always used to see that dried out, white dog poo on the footpath. You never see that anymore.

SuperTed, Widget The World Watcher and Samurai Pizza Cats.

Going to the Easter Show with a big group of friends from school once you were old enough to go without Mum and Dad.

Doing research for school projects by going to the library or looking up an encyclopedia rather than using the internet.

Brian Henderson and Richard Morecroft reading the news.

Paul Keating was some guy that ran the country and John Howard became the only PM you really ever knew because you were too young to care before that.

Banana Man, Bangers and Mash and The Raggy Dolls.

Game Boy.

Waking up early everyday to watch Agro’s Cartoon Connection or Cheez TV.

Hey Hey It’s Saturday.

Everyone got the Coke bag at the Easter Show and it was only $10.

Buying those 6 packs of Coco Pops, Fruit Loops, Frosties, Rice Bubbles, Nutri-Grain and Corn Flakes so you could have a different one each day and then opening the packets really carefully and removing the cereal so you'd have a mini wardrobe afterwards. You also most probably just let your parents eat the Corn Flakes.

Trying to make the Rainbow Road shortcut on Mario Kart 64.

Postman Pat, Fireman Sam and Lift Off (that show with the dirty, blind doll named EC).

Playing GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 and arguing over whether Oddjob was allowed to be used in multiplayer.

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah...WHEN THEY HAD EYES!!!

Super International Cricket on the SNES. Or if you were me, Zelda and Excite Bike on the NES

Arguing over which was better – Nintendo 64 or PlayStation.

Don’t push me, push a push pop!

Nobody made not jokes... NOT!!

Who shot Mr Burns?

Watching Captain Planet and then driving your parents mad by always singing the song.

That's so funny, I forgot to laugh.

Gumby, Where's Wally, Fresh Prince

WWE was WWF and they actually had cool wrestlers like The Rock, Mankind and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Playing Gran Turismo and MGS on PlayStation.

Rollercoasters at Wonderland, Sydney.

You decorated your room with glow-in-the-dark stickers.

SBS didn’t have any ads.

You played marbles and could name all the different types like blue moon, oily, candy, red wine, galaxy and red devil. You never played anyone for your god marble.

Feeling sad when your Tamagotchi died.

Singing a ram sam sam, a ram sam sam, guli guli guli guli guli, ram sam sam, a rafi, a rafi, guli guli guli guli guli ram sam sam.

Seeing a small rack of DVDs in the video store and wondering if anyone ever rented them.

Dolly the sheep.

Getting up early to watch the Rage Top 50.

Friends when they were all actually just friends. Why didn't Phoebe and Joey get together?

Sonic the Hedgehog.

Watching The Simpsons back when it was funny, every night on Channel 10.

Power Rangers becoming cooler than the Ninja Turtles, even though the Turtles will always be cooler.

Watching South Park for the first time and being really excited by all the swearing.

Watching Hercules and then being disappointed when Xena Warrior Princess replaced it. Nobody was cooler than Herc.

Blowing on the Nintendo cartridge before putting it in the console to make sure it worked properly.

Smell the cheese.

Vulcan, Tower, Flame... Australian Gladiators.

Playing Mortal Kombat and trying to do a fatality but just ending up punching accidentally.

Pokemon! Gotta catch ‘em all!

Watching Hey Dad! and then seeing little Arthur McArthur go on to star in that famous Sorbent ad.

Full Frontal, not Comedy Inc.

Wolfenstein, Doom and Duke Nukem.

Downloading music from Napster.

Chatting with your buddies on ICQ.

Going to see Titanic.

And the winner is… Sydney!!!

Mighty Max and Polly Pocket. Max and Polly always got lost because they were so bloody small.

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Waiting for Tony “Plugger” Lockett to break that record.

Australia didn’t always win the cricket.

The Socceroos couldn’t qualify for the World Cup.

John Eales captained the Wallabies and we won the World Cup.

Ray Martin hosted A Current Affair.

Zoopa Doopa ice blocks were only 20c and if you couldn’t afford it, you asked the canteen lady to cut it in half so you could split it with a friend.

Listening to boy bands like Human Nature and girl bands like Girlfriend.

Happy Meals were only $2.95 and the toys were simple but actually good.

Person 1: Who farted!?
Person 2: Whoever smelt it, dealt it!
Person 1: Whoever made the rhyme, commited the crime!

Brad Fittler was the best in the world.

Thorpe won lots of gold medals and wasn’t so gay.

Opposite day.

We all loved Pat Rafter and almost cried when he lost to Goran Ivanisevic because our Pat deserved that title more than anyone. Definitely more than Hewitt ever did.

Playing tackle Bull Rush at lunchtime and having tackling banned. You had to resort to grab 1-2-3 or tip. Same goes for footy.

Giving a friend a backage in the canteen line. If it was your best friend, you gave them a frontage.

Pogs and Looney Tunes Tazos.

Nobody won Wimbledon unless their name was Pete Sampras.

You ate Smarties instead of M&M’s.

You tried Dr. Pepper and hated it.

Service stations didn’t need space for 4 digits on their petrol prices signs. I remember when petrol prices were in the 60s...

Girl germs! Boy germs!

Goosebumps.

You had to actually call your friends rather than send them an SMS.

Hubba Bubba.

Wearing a Chicago Bulls T-shirt or cap. Wearing the cap backwards.

Arguing over who got to be Warnie in backyard cricket. Six and out!

Paul Jennings’ Gizmo books. Or the Wicked! series!!

Matchbox cars.

The feeling of wonder you got, the first time you were able to see the image in one of those Magic Eye 3D pictures.

The Secret World of Alex Mack.

Talk to the hand!

Johnson and Friends, Noddy and Humphrey B. Bear.

You wished you had enough Lego to build those amazing cities they displayed in the brochures.

Collecting Yowie toys. Aussie wildlife was way cooler than any stupid Kinder Surprise toy.

Playing truth or dare with your secret crush.

Mark Taylor equalling Don Bradman's record.

Slap bracelets.

Jurassic Park and those toy dinosaurs where you could pull a piece of the skin out to see its insides.

Roger Ramjet, he’s our man, hero of our nation.

We had paper money.

Good on ya Mum! Tip Top’s the one!

You could buy more than enough food from the school canteen for only $2.

Begging your parents to go to McDonald’s for dinner.

Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats and Hey Arnold!

Noni, Monica and that bald guy named George on Play School.

Going to World 4 Kids to look at all the toys.

Watching The Lion King and feeling Simba’s pain when Mufasa died. Disney just doesn’t make them like that anymore.

Soft serve cones were only 30c and they never tried to up-sell a Flake because they didn’t have it.

Wanting a Brain or Silver Bullet during the yo-yo craze.

Nesquik without the Nes.

Troll Dolls.

The Kids' Works at Pizza Hut with unlimited drink refills. You made an ice cream mountain covered in choc chips and marshmallows and could never finish it.

Thomas the Tank Engine and TUGS.

Ba-na-na-na-na! Ba-na-na-na-na! Make those bodies sing!

You had to get your photos developed.

Your family didn’t own a 4WD unless it was a real one like a Land Cruiser or Patrol. Range Rovers were tough and nobody thought BMW would make a 4WD, let alone Porsche.

Street Sharks and Biker Mice From Mars

Competing with your friends to see who could eat the most sour Warheads in one go.

The Channel 9 logo had dots next to it and the Channel 7 logo wasn’t a folded piece of paper.

No Hat, no play.

Dr. Dreadful Food Labs. Kids these days wouldn't be allowed that because its not healthy enough. We didn't give a shit about our health in the 90's.

High five! Up high, down low, too slow!

Watching Round the Twist and getting pissed off that the actors kept on changing. You still loved it though.

Cheating in Heads Down, Thumbs Up.

Watching that game show called Vidiot. Game shows didn't have to be educational back then, like That's Academic... that show sucks.

Collecting basketball cards, whether you followed basketball or not.

You always wished your parents had bought you a bigger Super Soaker for Christmas. Christmas is hot in Australia... the more water, the better.

Collecting hundreds of tickets from Timezone just so you could trade them for some crappy prize that you could have bought from Woolies for ten bucks.

Healthy Harold day was the best because you got to miss class to sit in a tiny caravan and listen to a talking giraffe.

Playing handball with Ace, King, Queen and Dunce and making up stupid rules as you went along.

A*mazing.



And some that the original was missing...

Party Of Five - BEST SHOW EVER!!!

Spice Girls - you were either a Baby Spice fan, or a Sporty Spice fan

Ghostdrops, which if my memory serves me right, were banned at school

STEPS and dancing to Boot Scootin' Baby all the time

PEZ

Backstreet Boys, Five and N*SYNC - where did your allegiance lie?

Clatter Rings

Hit The Bin

If you were a strange primary school kid like me, Nirvana, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers

Chumbawumba

...Bridge, Basement, Beth, Ben and (most importantly) Brooke.

Deciphering Me
Lifeline
Love, apostrophe, where is your fire, question mark
Better
Seeds
Without You
Hosea's Wife
Faithful*
Hymn* --> CS Lewis Song
Albertine

---Encore---
Arithmetic*#
Shadowfeet*

* Brooke on keys
# Brooke solo


The bad thing about sold out gigs is that it gets ridiculously hot, which never helps the feet which are already slightly swollen from standing in the same spot for hours so that you don't lose your view of the stage. The good thing, however, is that the gig should be very good. Should be. Luckily, this was no exception.

Last Sunday, Nicola, Diff and I went and stood for 4 hours or so in The Basement to hear an awesome Kiwi singer-songwriter sing her gorgeous songs.

Brendan Welch opened the night with some country music. Odd choice for an opening act, and odd man all round. Not to say that he was bad, but he just wasn't anyone in the venue's cup of tea. Needless to say, the noise level didn't change from before he went on.

I must say, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Brooke that night. Though my first experience of her music was live (she supported John Mayer in 2004), I didn't quite remember what it was like, just that it was good enough to make me buy her CD and have a "Brooke phase". I knew that the bulk of the material would be songs off Albertine, since it was an Albertine album launch tour, but besides that, I guess I didn't have many expectations.

Brooke and her band of "B"s (Ben on drums and Beth on keyboard + electic violin) pulled off a tight set with PLENTY of banter in between regarding punctuation, dendrites, eating Guinness flavoured placentas (like beer-battered chips? I don't know how that has anything to do with Seeds but apparently according to Brooke's neural pathways, it does) and not writing songs about hating yourself. The levels were a bit out and her voice a bit weak during the first few songs, but as the set progressed, it all worked out and she really started to shine. Love, where is your fire? was so pretty it made Diff squeal, Without You was a gorgeous surprise, and Hymn went off as a wonderful, long jam segueing perfectly into CS Lewis Song (I think...) and Arithmetic was just wonderful to hear solo.

After the gig, we hung around for a bit and got to meet Brooke (who is so nice!) then ran off for some Gelatissimo, before seeing Nicola onto her bus back to Basser. And then, we just photo-whored it back to Diff's. Good times.

I think I'm suffering from gig withdrawal.

Headaches, irritability, an inability to concentrate and the feeling that everything is just a few notches too soft. Or are those just caffeine withdrawal symptoms?

It's been a week since my last gig and...why do I feel like I'm in AA??? Anywho, it's going to be another week til I go see Brooke Fraser and I can't wait. There's just something about live music that is that much more exciting

Maybe it's because I went to so many in the Easter break and the few days leading up to it. It kicked off with 2 fabulous free gigs on the last Tuesday before Easter - Joel Plaskett doing a Lunchtime Session @ Manning then a Take 40 Live Lounge gig by Paolo Nutini. Easter Saturday was The Great Escape where I saw Joel again, Wons Phreely, Bob Evans, John Butler Trio, Missy Higgins, The Bird and JBT again, topped of with plenty of rain and mud. There was a bit of a break until Thursday which was the amazing John Mayer with Ben Kweller supporting. The day after, Ben Kweller again doing his own gig at the Gaelic with Wons supporting, and the next day, that random Video Hits/National Youth Week thing in Martin Place featuring John Butler Trio and Thirsty Merc (didn't stay for Sneaky Sound System - a bit overrated if you ask me).

Damn, that was a good one and a half weeks. I like that I got to see Joel, Wons and BK twice, and John Butler thrice.

I know most of you think that I go to lots, if not too many, gigs as it is. Trust me - I don't. You need to meet some of my friends. Hi Rach!

Anywho, I think a quick sum-up of each gig is needed somewhere in this blog so here goes:

Joel Plaskett
The thing about these lunchtime sessions at Manning is that they're a) FREE, and b) so relaxed. It was fabulous just bumming on the couch, reading the paper, listening to whatever they had playing over the speakers and watching Joel set up. This was the most I'd ever heard of Joel's stuff as I was never the hugest fan of his. I really enjoyed (kind of) discovering him that day at Manning. It was all solo acoustic - just him and his guitar and his stomping. Oh, and the $18 keyboard! Gotta love the oboe...

Paolo Nutini
I'd won tickets to see Paolo at the new Take 40 Live Lounge at Fox Studios in a tiny tiny room, not much bigger than your average lounge room, with probably 40 or so other people. FANTASTIC. Got there a little early with Rach (my "plus one") and waited it out. Nabbed front row centre - SCORE!
Just like with Joel, I hadn't been the hugest fan of his music up until the gig - the most I'd listened to was the handful of songs on his myspace from which I decided that he was 'pretty good', but that's all really. Luckily, on this wonderful Tuesday, I got to see him live.
It quite different to his studio stuff - his Scottish brogue is much more distinct and he slouches over the mic so much to the point where he is almost crouching!
From memory, we heard Alloway Grove, Last Request, New Shoes, Rewind, Jenny Don't Be Hasty, Funky Cigarette, 4 other songs, and a cover of ACDC's Overkill which he didn't know the words to - I got the lyrics he had written out and stuck on the feed back amp!
I got to have a chat with his bassist - very nice guy, and cousin of comedian Danny Bhoy, as I discovered - after the gig while a small group of us waited in the carpark for Paolo to get off the phone so we could get something signed. In the end, I only got a few words exchanged with Paolo and my Overkill lyrics signed as he had a plane to catch. Ah well...there's always August.

The Great Escape
So. Much. Fun. It was nuts - hung out with Rach all day listening to awesome music, trying to (greatly) escape the rain, shopping in the funky markets (I got a fork ring!!), sitting in tents chatting, and eventually giving up with trying to not get wet and just going nuts. Ooo, and poffertjes! So much fun was packed into that one day it's hard to remember it all, but the highlight had to be dancing in the rain when JBT played Zebra. Sooo going to next year!

John Mayer
I don't think I need to say anything with this one, because if you're reading this you should know me well enough. But, damn! That boy can play! Awesome solos, awesome set, awesome man! And awesome front row seats! AND HE PLAYED STOP THIS TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He almost never plays that song (prob only twice before) because it's too close to the heart for him.
Something to complain about, however... I got to the Ent Cent at 12pm, hoping to camp out at the gate near the stage door and meet him when he went in. At that time, there was only two trucks there being unloaded. I asked a Ent Cent staffer whether or not John had arrived yet. "Nah, not til later." Fair enough, I only expected him to arrive at about 2. So I go off to get a drink and come back at 12:30, only to see this really nice, navy Merc (I think) sitting outside the stage door. Crap. I sit around, hoping that he hadn't arrived yet. 30min later, I hear him soundchecking Vultures. I missed him by 30 freaking minutes. ARGH!
Next time, I'm getting there at 11 and not leaving the gate until the show.
30 MINUTES! FAR OUT!!

Ben Kweller
I had really been getting into BK's stuff in the past 4 months or so, so I was quite excited to be seeing him live. The night when BK was supporting John before was good, but not awesome - he was trying just a little too hard to impress the impatient crowd, who made it quite clear that they were only there for John. It was quite unfortunate, as he played an otherwise good set - I wanted to stand up the whole time he was playing but didn't want to be the only one in the whole of the Ent Cent standing, nor did I want to block the view of those behind me. But when he announced his last song, Penny On The Train Track, I couldn't deny myself anymore so I got up and danced. I was the only person in the whole centre standing, let alone dancing. This probably explains why so many of my friends noticed me and why BK was staring at me for the whole song...
ANYWHO, on to the Gaelic gig.
BK was on fire - he was having a ball and his infectious energy just spread throughout the whole room. By the end, everyone was singing along and dancing their hearts out. We stayed at the Gaelic for AGES after the gig, chatting with Wons, playing with whistle lollies, being boy band members and laughing about everything and nothing. We also got to meet Ben, who was quite drunk by this time and insisted on telling us about his 15yo diabetic cat. Fun times.
Oh yeah, Wons Phreely supported, and I must say, it was great to finally be at a gig where the crowd really got into his music. He's a great guy with great music. Check him out.

Video Hits/National Youth Week thing
After 3 nights of 3 hours of sleep in a row, and lots of standing and dancing and walking in between, I don't know why or how I came to this. I luckily nabbed a "VIP" pass, whereby you're not really very important at all, you just got to sit in the ampitheatre, get a decent view of the stage, and make Video Hits look good. There was quite a lot of waiting which I guess was OK considering my state of consciousness. John Butler Trio played 3 songs (Better Than, Funky Tonight and Good Excuse) and Thirsty Merc 2 (20 Good Reasons and The Hard Way). It was fun, but sleep probably would have been a better choice.

I recently discovered that a lot of people actually read this blog, despite the fact that I always thought it was only Emz and Twis who read it, since they're pretty much the only ones who ever comment. So "Hello" to all you mystery and no-longer-so-mysterious readers. You see that word "comment" that becomes underlined when you put your cursor over it? If you click it, magical things happen where a box comes up which you can type nice things about me in. Fascinating, isn't it?

Actually, sometimes the lack of comments is rather pleasant...

I recently sent an email out to a whole bunch of people in my address book, asking them to watch a video and then sign a petition against the inhumane slaughter of dolphins in Japan.

It's not that the replies I got were malicious hate mail filled with death wishes and obscene language - I could have dealt with that because that would just make them monstrous, heartless scum with no ethics. No, instead it was the subtle rejection expressed in one sentence or less which got to me. And not just because of the grammar.

And I was so nice in the email too.

Do they sell cameras with bluetooth? B/c that would be sooo convenient to have. I'm one of those people who always looses dongles (or at least get them stolen by my brother) and can never be bothered to hook up any given device to a computer to transfer media from the computer to the device or vice verse. This is really not good, b/c it means that I fill up my camera's memory card and can't take photos when I want to, or I risk losing important files (read: John Mayer live recordings) if my crappy computer ever dies, etc, etc.

I finally uploaded the photos from my camera tonight. It went back as far as September. This is a small portion of what I found:

Nicola's birthday:


Ti's birthday


Ai's birthday


Me, bored, after I got my new phone


Twis's birthday


John Mayer @ The Enmore


My birthday


Thirsty Merc last night