Jebediah at the St Kilda Festival

After eight years living in Melbourne, I went to the St Kilda Festival for the first time on Sunday.  I happened to leave my camera battery charging at home, so I had to make do with my iPhone camera. I was disappointed. Apologies.

It was a beautiful day. I only went for two hours. Just to see Jebediah.

So many people packed the streets, enjoying the free entertainment and stalls.

Jebediah played on the foreshore near the sea baths. I loved their energy. I'm glad they're still kicking around.

There was moshing. And crowd surfing. Much different to a Bob Evans gig I'm used to. I loved it!

 I was so so happy to hear Harpoon then She's Like a Comet. I died. Wow.

My week-long crash course in listening to Jebediah songs paid off because I knew a lot more words than I thought I did!

I started off viewing them from far away then realised I could have been down the front for a longer time!

I saw a man with two beautiful Newfoundlands. They were so affectionate. And big! I asked for a photo. He asked me to hold them while he took the photo. I was hoping they'd stay still, because they'd just bolted after some small dogs.

Fortunately there were no uh-oh moments. Unfortunately you can't really see me in the photos. But the dogs still look gorgeous. And I was still doing the 30 for 30 remix - outfit 15: Bob Evans tee, denim shorts, hat, sunnies and ballet flats.

 (source)

Someone kindly recorded Harpoon. I die. 

Sia - The Palais, St Kilda - concert review

Sia
The Palais, St Kilda
1 February 2011

When I told a friend I was seeing Sia Furler live, he asked me to pass on a message, should I meet her. I was to be the intermediary for his marriage proposal to her. Unfortunately this is as close as I got to asking her.

But when I saw her on stage, I also wanted to marry her. Well maybe not marry - I can't cut my friend's grass - but I definitely wanted to become her friend.

One thing I admire is Sia's individuality and inhibition for being herself while in the spotlight. These traits make me want to be her friend. And also her creativity - wow! I love how she doesn't rely on tits and arse to get noticed, like many other pop stars do. Her beauty is her voice and imagination which she uses on stage.

I don't know how much of a say musicians have in the creative visual design of their stage, costumes and videos. But I'd say Sia has quite a bit of say. Her stage was decorated in small room dividers, crocheted nanna rugs and sheets, all geometrically printed with stripes and squares. These covered the floors, speakers and instruments. A big fabric mural hung as the back drop, with 3D letters spelling SIA. Even the musicians' clothes were striped different directions, so at times, all you could see was their hands playing their guitars or piano and their faces.

Sia arrived on stage looking like a doll stuck to its packaging. She was painted black - her arms, face, legs, shoes, and even hair. A giant piece of card was attached to her back. She wore a beautiful candy pink tutu skirt and black feathered top, perhaps inspired by the movie Black Swan. It was a wonderful, intriguing sight, and I imagine it may have been restrictive - judging by her extremely limited movement on the stage during the night (walk on stage, move arms to dance around a bit, walk off stage...).

The audience was a stylish one. Very many quaffs in hair, and some cool, cool clothes. I saw a woman with a tattoo of a skyline on her arm - so very cool! I felt like Sia gave me permission to wear my bright blue luxury pyjama pants, just by her previous clothing choices. Some of the audience seemed to be hardcore fans, probably following her whole music career. I, on the other hand, like perhaps some other fans at the concert, am a recent fan. I came to know her music from the We Are Born album via the lazy person's way - the Nova radio station. And I then listened to her older stuff and wished I'd known about her sooner.

Sia interacted with the audience throughout the show. I love that she's maintained her Aussie drawl despite living overseas for years. She is an avid Twitter user and gave a shout out to her followers (one lovely Twitter follower baked her cookies, and I spoke to the cookie baker after the show and she recognised me from No Limits!). A couple of weeks back I requested an interview with Sia for Ramp Up (I wanted to ask her about her illness, and also working with the Deaf community on the Soon We'll Be Found clip) - I asked her for an interview on Twitter. I was so impressed she wrote back, even with a polite decline.

My favourite songs of the show were Soon We'll Be Found (she signed through the song), I Go to Sleep, You've Changed, Bring Night, The Girl You Lost to Cocaine, and Clap Your Hands. Her vocal range really stood out live. She was powerful, soft, husky, and classical throughout. Some songs were calm, others were disco. Really amazing.

The thing that impressed me the most during the show was her wit. So very funny. So many memorable funny moments (I took notes).

After the first song, Sia spoke about heckling. Then an audience member called something which Sia misheard as 'party ruler' and she replied 'Party ruler. Like 30 centimetres'. And the laughs kept coming.

She spoke about her love for chair dancing ('it's relaxed'), and then said that chair dancing is not at all annoying for the person sitting behind you.

She asked what channel is our Mum and Dad, and proceeded to list the Australian TV channels. The consensus was most Dads are ABC, and she quipped 'some people get VH1 [dads]'.

We wrote a song together - it comprised four words that audience members called out: Seven, Love, Locomotion and Spaghetti. It was fun, and cleverly impromptu.

She talked about mispronunciation of words and asked the audience what words they used to mispronounce. She said 'uncomforbumptable' and the audience called out words such as 'amblience' (ambulance) and 'barkaloo' (BBQ). At the end of the show she said this discussion was her favourite part.

Someone yelled out that they'd named their dog Sia. She said that she feels like she could die now, and that's the best thing that could happen to her aside from being placed on a worst dressed list in People magazine after the ARIAs - she came between Cher and Padma Lakshmi.

She asked the audience whether the onstage banter was boring. I thought it was equally as great as the music! I loved how funny she is - it's really charming.

Sia closed the show with a 'fake encore' - comprising of Clap Your Hands while wearing her bubble wings. Literally, wings that rotated, attached to her arms, and blew bubbles via a fan. Adorable.

And instead of the regular bow, she and the band showed thanks with starjumps!

Sia was so lovely, so charming, fun and cute and so talented that I really really wanted to hang out with her for a day. Definitely not your average pop/super star.

After the show I thanked Sia the modern way by tweeting her. My tweet is the first grey one, the other is from Ruby Rose. And lookie!

Angus and Julia Stone concerts

Angus and Julia Stone concerts
The Palais, St Kilda
9 and 10 September 2010

In the spirit of being dedicated to bands close to my heart, I saw Angus and Julia Stone twice last week.

I went with my friend Elvira the first night and a friend from work and her family on the second night.

Here is Elvira and I before the show on Thursday.

And here I am. I am very happy with this picture. And I am loving the blue top too - I bought it earlier in the week from Sportsgirl and wore it to work and also to the Powderfinger concert last night.

I admit, we were a bit bored during the support acts. I usually pay a lot of attention to the support acts, but these two did not excite us. So El and I took a lot of photos before Angus and Julia came on stage.

When they finally did come on stage, it was magic. And I remembered why I feel in love with their music four years ago. Honest, devastating lyrics that I can relate to, beautiful voices that complement each other so well, and a fantastic array of instruments.

The show opened with the two of them alone, in front of the curtain, doing an acoustic version of Santa Monica Dream. I adore this song. 'You're somewhere, I'm somewhere, I could go there but I don't...'. They proved they don't need a backing band to sound brilliant. The acoustic set continued with Bella, and midway through the song, the curtain was raised to reveal a beautiful set and the full band. It was amazing!

My favourite song was next. For You. 'I'll tell you what you already know. If you love me with all of your heart, if you love me I'll make you a star in my universe...'. It was amazing, and I had tears in my eyes seeing it live.

They played many great songs - some from Down the Way, others from A Book Like This, three covers and some new songs too. A highlight was Julia doing a song from her solo album The Memory Machine. The song was called Where does the Love Go and featured a shy Angus on trumpet.

Paul Kelly was also a highlight. He came on stage after Angus said he was a nice friend of theirs, and a good ping-pong player. They did a beautiful version of Crowded House's Four Seasons in One Day. I love Crowded House and they truly did the song justice.

My other favourite part was when And the Boys was sung, and gold really fell from the ceiling.

It was just beautiful.

Maybe it's because I've seen them before, and that they've got two albums and a number of EPs, but there were so many songs I wish they could have played. I really wanted them to play Draw Your Swords and Paper Aeroplane. Maybe next time. I could listen to them play all their songs forever. And another thing, maybe it's because they're more polished and refined for a venue like The Palais, but there was less funny banter on stage in the first concert. I love hearing Julia's funny or sad stories. There was far more banter on stage in the second concert though.

I bought a hoodie and a poster on the first night. What is with the size of band merchandise?? My hoodie is a size small and it fits like an extra large on me. Meanwhile the Powderfinger tshirt I bought is a large but fits like a size 10. Bizarre! On the second night, I bought Julia's solo album which is stunning - very dark and calm.

As mentioned, my friend from work and her family came with me to the second show. I've been wanting her to come along to a Stones gig for years now as she's a huge fan too. I am so glad she came, she LOVED it. We sang along - and noticed so many people just sitting still in their seats. We thought they may not have known the words.

Friday night's show was just as magic. I think I enjoyed it more because of the banter between Angus and Julia and to the audience. They are so humble, so beautiful.

The crowd was noisier though, hollering 'I love you Angus...Marry me Julia!'

During the first two songs, there was some kerfuffle two rows in front of us. An extremely drunk girl sat in the seat with a jolt and promptly spewed up over the floor and maybe on the people in front of her. She and her friend were removed from their seats and the mess was cleaned. Yuck. And a waste of a show for them!

Paul Kelly did not appear, but they did a few different songs which included a number of new songs they'd both written recently. One of the most devastating songs was about Julia's past love who cheated on her. With lyrics like 'you had her in the bed with my hair still on the pillow', I couldn't help but get a lump in my throat. I think this is one of Julia's rawest song yet. I can't want to hear it recorded. Amazing. I also said to my friend that Angus writes hopeful songs about love, and Julia writes sad songs about love.

The thing I marveled at was their harmony and chemistry on stage. When either of them sing, the other complements them in such a way that it shows a sort of respect. They either watch on in awe, or contribute to parts of the song, layering the sound. Amazing.

Here are some pictures from Friday night.

I feel so proud that Angus and Julia Stone hail from Australia. They have succeeded in leaps and bounds, and their future as song writers and musicians is nothing but promising.

Thanks for great shows Angus and Julia. You are amazing!

Food diary

After an epically disappointing three days last week, I had three nights of seeing bands. Which made me much happier indeed. I have also eaten some pretty amazing food before the concerts. Except for before Powderfinger where I had chips with cheese and gravy.

Rather than mix these photos in with the concert reviews, I will post them here.

Dinner before Angus and Julia Stone, Thursday night.
Phamish, St Kilda

The beautiful Elvira

My brinner (breakfast for dinner) - salmon, hash brown, scrambled eggs on toast)

Elvira's gnocchi prosciutto - looked good on the plate...

But the gnocci was a puzzling taste and texture

It was spinach gnocchi but we decided it was made of grass. The waiter said 'it's not boogers on a plate' - and thank god!

Lunch on Friday - Japanese

Don 2 in Melbourne CBD

My roast pork don - $6.50 for roast pork, pickled radish, salad and rice!

My colleague's sashimi plate - so cheap and so much salmon!

Yes, I wore almost the same outfit as the night before. Ok, so I was tired. And I reaaaaaallllly liked the top

Dinner before Angus and Julia Stone, Friday night
Chinta Blue, St Kilda

This was anchovy relish. It tasted like cat food. It was delicious though. My friend and I shared it. Everything else tasted bland in comparison.

Gado gado stuffed tofu. My favourite dish at Chinta Blue.

Roast duck with bok choy and rice. Fiddly.

Obligatory roti.

Brunch, Saturday afternoon
Big Mouth, St Kilda

Baked beans, cheesy toast and hash brown. The hash brown was like deep fried mash.