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IN THIS ISSUE:
2005 Mardi Gras Review & More! Meet Robert Vaughn, "Surprise" Engineer What Lurks Below - News from Oz The 4th Annual The Bootlog Fan Profile - An Ezralite Couple BTE is the Winning Bet at the Seminole Hard Rock Another Ezralite Halloween Meet Stattica / GCB Lights Up With Cigarette
News & Links TTOY Hall of Fame Cowbell Hall of Fame BTE Impressions
Volume 2
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A Column by Pauly, an Australian Ezralite Greetings from Oz! Lots to tell you about the goings on in the music scene Down Under. Where shall we begin? Velvet Revolver (Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Feb 21 2005) The set began with Duff strapping on his bass, and jumping straight on top of the centre speakers at the front of the stage, with the only light being a few camera flashes and roadies' torches. As he swayed along with the intro music waiting for Matty Sorum's cue, the first 10 rows of fans became wild, squashing each other in appreciation. Slash, like the Rock God that he is, had the crowd in his palm the second he walked on stage... and marked his territory on every inch of it by the show's end. GN'R classics "It's So Easy" & "Used to Love Her" were thrown in to keep the old school fans happy, as were STP's "Crackerman" and "Sex Type Thing." Scott's vocals sounded a little tired on some of the VR tunes, but in the 2nd encore tune, "You Got No Right," he shined like an angel lost in hell. Word was that there was not a drop of alcohol allowed in the backstage area, because VR are all trying their best to stay clean on tour. Considering their drug fuelled past, they all looked and sounded very healthy. All in all, the Velvet Revolver in Brisbane was one awesome show.
Wave Aid In order of appearance, Wave Aid featured The Waifs, Missy Higgins,
Kasey Chambers, Pete Murray, Finn Brothers, The Wrights, John Butler
Trio, Silverchair, Powderfinger and Midnight Oil. Held at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and modestly priced at A$58, tickets
for Wave Aid sold out more than 2 weeks prior to the event. The Waifs laid back, unashamedly Australian tone was a perfect entrée for this stellar show and they delivered their set with flawless precision. Missy sounded awesome, as always. Pete Murray had a slightly tougher sound than I've heard in previous performances, and it worked well. The Finn Brothers played a short but biblical set, filled with songs that have soundtracked much of Australian life over the past 15 years. Probably the most monumental set of the day was by The Wrights - a supergroup containing members from Jet, The Living End, Dallas Crane, You Am I, Spiderbait, Powderfinger and Grinspoon - paying tribute to an Aussie legend Stevie Wright (The Easybeats) by covering his 3 part mega-hit from the seventies, "Evie". If you ask me, it deserved a better drummer than Spiderbait's Kram, but was still an amazing performance.
Powderfinger showed the country that they are human after all, falling all over themselves during the end of "Love Your Way" which brought a comforting eruption from the adoring crowd. Midnight Oil, who came out of retirement specifically for this show, received much praise and respect from all the younger bands performing, and their closing set sounded awesome - until my disc ended after their 3rd song! If anyone is interested in a mp3 disc of (almost) the entire show, or just certain bands feel free to drop me a line and we'll talk deal... |
Big Day Out The first act I saw was a band who I've been friends with for a few years now, called The Wall Of Sound. They delivered a tight action-packed set of quirky dysfunctional rock anthems, and the small-but-adoring crowd were very appreciative. Next up were The Donnas on the main stage. Considering I'm a little tired of the whole 'rock copycat' genre these gals were very impressive. But once their set concluded it was time to move to a smaller stage and see an Aussie band show 'em how it's done. Hailing from Sydney, Wolfmother are everything the hype is making them out to be. I had the pleasure of seeing them at the Trocadero 6 months ago, playing to about 15 people. This time they had about 4,000 punters in the palm of their hands... and for me, it was probably the best set of the day. Admittedly, you can hear a lot of Sabbath / Purple / Zeppelin influence in their songs, but unlike a lot of bands they actually pull it off! Then it was back to the main stage for
The Hives, who were excellent.
I had only heard bits of them on the radio previously, but these guys
were awesome. The really worked the crowd well, and their music was
tasty. Aussie festival veterans Grinspoon kept the crowd happy for another 'greatest hits' set. Then it was the band I was most interested in seeing... Slipknot. Yes I know they're crazy metal, and they look like something I used to have nightmares about, but damn they can play! Their latest album has some awesome tunes on it, if you can see past the cliché screams and 'fast as I can' drop C riffs. They were awesome. System Of A Down followed with a great set, coming off almost commercial sounding next to The 'Knot. And the it was time for Australia's favourite local band, Powderfinger. They were great, probably awesome, but I've seen them so many times recently, and after 8 hours at the festival I was too tired and sunburnt to be blown away by it, but they're still one of the best band's in the world though. Beastie Boys closed the main stage, but I was in no mood for them at this stage of the game, so I trekked over to the Green stage to catch some Polyphonic Spree before heading home. Watching The 'Spree was like being at a big gospel concert for white folk. You couldn't help but smile and develop an unstoppable urge to hug someone. Praise the Lord, I was spent. All in all it was a great day, with some great bands, but in my mind, no Big Day Out will ever be the same after Muse pulverised the main stage in 2004.
The Band Australia loves to love. I understand that they're finally starting to gain some respectable popularity in the USA now. Someone informed me recently that the 'Finger (as we dub them in Oz) have been signed to Artemis, who are coincidentally the new label to which BTE are signed! The 'Finger are 5 boys from Brisbane who have gained success the hard way by playing in pubs for years and years, and gradually getting more and more popular with each album. In 2003, they released album number 5, and since then they have pretty much been the biggest band in the country. The album was titled after a street in Brisbane where the band's then rehearsal room was situated. Vulture Street, is one of the greatest albums of recent times, as the massive nation wide sell-out tour reflected in 2003. They have released a live DVD of this tour, and it is more like a movie than just a concert, containing great interviews and random visuals from their life on and off the road. Check out Powderfinger. Pauly, thanks so much for all the great news from Australia. Your contributions to the Serenade are always welcome. And Pauly, was kind to provide some downloads for our readers:
1. Missy Higgins, Live @ Wave Aid,
Cactus. Powderfinger are indeed finally gaining some U.S. radio exposure. You might have heard their most recent single "On My Mind" from the Vulture Street disc Pauly mentioned. I highly recommend the CD. It kicks ass. And as of this writing, it appears Missy Higgins smash single "Scar" (co-written with Mr. Kevin Griffin) will start impacting U.S. Radio at the end of May, 2005. The single is from the album "The Sound of White."
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