ZinZam

Soundwave 2010 Wrapup

February 25, 2010

I went to Soundwave 2010 last weekend.

Although My Chemical Romance pulling out was disappointing, I was very pleased with the replacement act as Jimmy Eat World. Although they played more from their Futures and Bleed American albums, I have now ordered three other albums, Clarity, Chase This Light, and Static Prevails as they played some tracks from Clarity and Chase This Light that I liked.

Anyway here are my comments I posted on the soundwave forum.

smithy_dll" wrote:

I had a very enjoyable day, I ate lunch on the way there and had dinner on the way home. I was unable to meet up with my friends who turned up later due to the phones, but oh well.

I saw,
Taking Back Sunday, good
Eagles of Death Metal, were ok
Emarosa, didn't stick around too long, stage 5/6 was horrible
Alexisonfire, they were pretty good
Paramore, sounded tight, just like a CD
Placebo, kind of meh as expected,
AFI, didn't stick around too long
All Time Low, felt out of place with all the kids with white wristbands, a little flat sound, but a good energetic set, involved the crowd, Zack kept throwing away picks and collecting bras
Janes Addiction, can't say I'm a huge fan
Jimmy Eat World, Was near the front, amazing
Faith No More, only stayed until they started playing poker face, crowd near the front wasn't as friendly as jimmy eat world.
HIM, couldn't be bothered sticking around, right sound, wrong stage
A Day To Remember, Sat under the tent listening to the set, some random let a kid sit on his shoulders for a song

The tent at the metal stage was very welcome, last year it turned into a mud bath.
But they messed up with stages 5/6 and 3 being so close. The cold water in the chillout room was very welcome.

And now for some (very out of focus) pictures from my phone.

more...

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Upcoming concerts and festivals

August 15, 2009

As I get bored of the current high rotation play list on Triple J, I realise that there are a number of music festivals coming up.

Firstly I owe Richard the cost of a ticket to see Green Day in Brisbane in December. I will need to take a day of leave or two to go see, but that's what I get for living in Maryborough (here's hoping that I won't have to fly from Sydney or Melbourne).

But also this week the lineup for Soundwave 2010 was announced. I saw Soundwave this year in 2009 and it was amazing. I went with Richard, saw some acts I had never heard of, met some people I hadn't seen in a long long time, and generally had fun. So I would love to go again in 2010 considering the following acts are on the lineup:

• AFI
  
• Janes Addiction
  
• My Chemical Romance
  
• Paramore
  
• Alexisonfire
  
• and more...
  

So that's it, plans for the next bit, if I can get tix that is.

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The Cat Empire

February 19, 2008

Now is a great time for Australian Music, after the RIAA completely dismantled the Australian music scene in the 1990s supplanting it with American Pop groups such as N*Sync, the American punk-rock scene, and the replacement of live music in pubs with pokies. But don't take my word for it, the proof is in the pudding with the 50 top ARIA singles charts containing nine Australian singles, and the top 50 ARIA album charts containing fourteen Australian albums. The number of albums especially shows the strength of Australian music.

But it is only in the last 10 years that Australia has cultivated a healthy music scene. With the expansion of the Triple J national youth radio network nation wide in the 90s, and Channel [V] on Foxtel giving special emphasis on Australian music. Both are heavy supporters of Australian music festivals, including the massive festival the Big Day Out which has always had a bias towards Australian acts.

Number 24 on the album charts this week is The Cat Empire with their album So Many Nights. The Cat Empire were in Brisbane on the weekend performing with support acts Blue King Brown, and The Beautiful Girls. I went to this show with my cousin having not thought much of The Cat Empire before, having only heard their older recorded works. I can now attest that The Cat Empire put on a very good live show, I counted 11 pieces in the musical ensemble which they were using at any one time. River stage was packed out which again shows the strength of Australian live music.

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My Chemical Romance

November 29, 2007

Last night I went to the My Chemical Romance concert with Richard and Troy. We were in "first barrier", which is the closest to the front. I wasn't at the front though. Not having been to a show before I didn't know what to expect really. The audience were quite subdued for the support acts, not that they weren't bad, I just people were saving their energy, and the acts didn't try to engage too much.

My Chemical Romance started, and the crowd got really into it, but were still well behaved. It was much more civilised than televised broadcasts of the Big Day Out are made out to be, it was more like any other rock concert. It probably helped that it was a single main act and most of the kids were under 18. There were lots of women there, and Troy said Richard made a much of man friends \seedy

Troy was being a party pooper during the support act and fiercely told me that "we do not clap", which I promptly ignored. After My Chemical Romance started it didn't matter that he wanted to rain on the parade, if he didn't have fun that was his prerogative, but he wasn't going to drag me down with himself anymore. It's so hard to get into anything with such strong clouds of conservatism and cynicism constantly hanging around you.

So that was my first (rock) concert, all-in-all a good time was had and I survived.

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Albums you really get into

June 03, 2007

For a few years I have been listening to real music, and I always buy albums. Alot of people say "why buy the album when you'll only like two songs from it?" Well that is true only if your listening to the back street boys, Madonna, or Britney Spears (in that case you're lucky to like two songs from the album).

This week I bought Linkin Parks new album, pretty much because I would and I already had Hybrid Theory and Meteora (both were gifts). I didn't expect much, but I am really linking this album. Not just a one or two songs thing, but I've just been letting the album play through from start to finish. I always listen to an album from start to finish when I first get it, it really helps you get the album rather than thinking of it as a collection of songs, you appeciate it as a whole worth. This is part of the reason I like buying albums. It's an ok album, nothing spectacular, but probably LPs most polished album yet.
Take for example, the highly successful Green Day, their latest album (2004) was a rock opera. The only way to truly get the message from all the songs was to listen to the whole album in a sitting, an experience you don't get from the top 10 on video hits on a sunday morning, or by buying individual 99c tracks off iTunes.

Of course, the ever changing popularity game has no time to sit back and enjoy an album as they have to get caught up in the latest and greatest single from the artist of the moment as promoted by the record company. And that's part of the appeal of rock music, it's alot more real than sensationalist celebrity of the moment pop music artists.

And of course there are those who move on from boy bands and proove themselves to be legitimate artists, such as Robbie Williams, one of the greatest entertainers today.

As I have now gone off topic I will finish this post. Until next time I post, have a good one.

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