Neil Finn and Paul Kelly live: Better be home to make gravy.

I saw two of Australia's (and New Zealand's) greatest musicians share the stage on Saturday night. It was amazing. Paul Kelly and Neil Finn are beautiful song writers and their voices complement each other. And they show so much respect to one another. I loved it and feel so lucky to have seen them play.

Lisa Mitchell opened the show - her voice and lyrics are dreamy. I really enjoyed her, but the large venue didn't quite provide the atmosphere she deserved.

Neil Finn and Paul Kelly entered the stage to a huge applause and cheering, and the appreciation for the duo continued throughout the show. As expected, it was a greatest hits show. They mixed it up a bit by singing each others songs at times, and providing harmonies throughout. It was beautiful. 

It was a family affair with Dan Kelly on guitar, Elroy Finn on drums and Zoe Hauptmann on bass. Dan Kelly did so well to play those long guitar riffs Paul Kelly's songs are famous for. Neil and Paul alternated on the guitar and piano.

Audience singalongs were encouraged - Better Be Home Soon's long chorus was cause for some friendly ribbing by Paul Kelly - "Who needs a chorus anyway?, he said, quipping that the next song features the word gravy a lot. 

Neil Finn remarked, on a number of times, how many words he had to learn - and Paul told him that at least he only had to learn four chords. The lyrics, both by Neil and Paul, were a reminder of just what great wordsmiths they are. Complicated, alliterative, rambling, poignant. 

The banter on stage was as enjoyable as the music - the pair placing bets on who would "fuck up first" - Neil apologising for leaving out a line, but adding that he sang one that shouldn't have been there. 

Both men were very rock and roll, arms swinging, heads banging, thermos sipping - clearly enjoying playing music - which is one of the reasons I've enjoyed seeing Crowded House play so many times. And finally I saw a full length Paul Kelly show. I have a book of Neil Finn's lyrics - I read it when I want to immerse myself in beautiful words and imagery - and I also have Paul Kelly's book which this show has encouraged me to read.

I took two sneaky photos, but the no photo rule meant I could really sit back and enjoy the show - watching and singing along in awe. 

Thanks for playing, Neil and Paul - it was a privilege. You are two of my wordsmith heroes.

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!