Author, Adam.
Published, April 19, 2008.

The year started off very well for me in the land of live music.

I have been able to see some of my favourite artists. To start off with, I went and saw Sufjan Stevens at the Forum in Melbourne. It was definitely one of the best gigs I’ve been to. Musically, it was great. He had the works - a grand piano, horn section, a few guitarists, organ/ keys, banjo and drums with the biggest cymbal I’ve ever seen. The combination of his music and the Forum made it a very magical atmosphere. I had never been to the Forum before, so that in itself was great. Along with some really good video projection in the background and great t-shirt design, the vibe was totally there. I pity those who missed out. Highlights were his story-telling leading into ‘Seven Swans’, and ‘Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head’. Ah… the wonderment of it all.

It was also the first time I had been to the Big Day Out. I went for Bjork and Rage Against The Machine and they did not disappoint. Granted, an outdoor gig for an audience impatient for Rage didn’t do Bjork any favours. But I was quite close to the stage when Bjork was on so it didn’t really affect me. Bjork was great – very energetic and a great full sound. I didn’t quite figure out how that table-top synthesizer works, but it looked great. I guess it sounded great too. RATM were unreal. I think what made it was the crowd. Everyone was totally into it – so there was this great energy feeding back and forth, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. ‘Killing in the name’ was obviously a highlight primarily because of the crowd participation. But of course the entire set was a killer, along with some rants from Zack that were most welcomed on my behalf. Not that he asked my permission, or that I got up on stage and said ‘on behalf of the crowd you may rant Zack’. Daniel Johns was a bit of a tool even though Silverchair still sounded good.

I forgot to mention The Arcade Fire. I had not heard much of their music before, but seeing them at the Big Day Out was amazing. I can’t say enough about them. If you haven’t heard them, go out and buy a album. From the moment they opened with ‘Wake Up’ I was totally in their world. The world, from what I perceive, is a big park in autumn where the sun is somewhere in between of right above you and the horizon, and you’re very satisfied to stay in the moment, breathing the fresh air into your lungs. … Ah, must be just me. I mean, having said that, it took me half their set to get through the press of bodies getting through gates into the ‘D’ before I could pay attention to their performance. Their instrumentation itself is enthralling, let alone the songs themselves.

Finally, I saw The Smashing Pumpkins at Festival Hall. Or as some would say, ‘festy hall’. It was only a couple of days before the gig that I even realised that they were playing a sideshow. Fortunately, a kind man was selling his GA tickets on ebay. So my brother and a friend went and saw them. Fortunately again, expecting to catch the tail end of the support act, we rocked up just before 8pm to have the Pumpkins walk on stage within minutes of us arriving. Apparently, there was no support act. Billy was in fine form, playing all the classics –well most of them – for almost 2.5 hours. It was very satisfying to finally see the band of my youth play live. Even some of their new stuff was really good, which was a bit unexpected. Porcelina, Lily, Behold The Nightmare, Mayonnaise, and Stand Inside Your Love were my favourites.

And that concludes my year in live music thus far.