Summertime shaking

One summer Saturday evening, Jay, Smell and I decided to trek on out to the Coogee Bay Hotel to see some local talent...The Potbelleez.

We got there a little early, had a bite to eat (food was quite tasty), then had a few beverages while we waited for the ‘night club’ (Selinas) to open up (which was an hour later than expected – which meant all the other start times were pushed back about an hour too).

Jay and I had previously seen The Potbelleez at Homebake in previous years (in the Big Top) and based on that experience, we were very much looking forward the night ahead.

Selinas filled up and when The Potbelleez got on stage they were greeted by enormous support from the crowd.   

Hello...

To start off, they performed their latest song Hello and from that point on, the crowd shuffled to the front of the club and started dancing – and did not stop until the end. In the middle of their gig, The Potbelleez took a little break from singing and did a bit of a DJ set which saw some audience members get up on the speakers and do some podium dancing. The atmosphere was fun and friendly and when The Potbelleez came back on stage for their encore, they finished off with their hit Don’t Hold Back and another one of their latest hits – Shake It.

Don't Hold Back

What is good about The Potbelleez is they mix up amazing dance music that gets you up and moving, which is then coupled with great singing. Lyrics are sung so quickly yet they are so clear, you can understand everything being said. 

We had a great night of entertainment dancing up a storm. The Potbelleez did not disappoint and I’m looking forward to the release of their second album in the new year – bring on 2011!

Looking Through a Glass Onion

Tis been the sill season of late and my updates may have slipped behind a little – but never fear, I am back again.  

Well this month has been an interesting one – and it represented the 30^th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. In celebrating his life, there were many tributes and concerts paying homage to the musical genius. One of the performances held in Sydney was Looking Through a Glass Onion with John Waters.

Looking Through a Glass Onion has been performed many times over and first started in at Sydney’s Tilbury Hotel in 1992. This time round we were lucky enough to see the performance at Sydney Opera House’s Playhouse.

First off the venue was fantastic – small and intimate, perfect for the performance. John Waters appeared on stage with his Liverpudlian accent and proceeded to chat, sing, discuss poetry and media interviews as John Lennon would have done from his early Beatles days through to his last days with Yoko Ono.

There is a reason this show has been going for so long – John Waters is amazing, he pays homage to John Lennon’s life in the most respectful way. He sang numerous classics including Revolution, A Day in the Life, Come together, Strawberry Fields, Starting Over and Imagine.

Via John Waters’ singing (which was close to the real deal), we were engaged in the life of John Lennon – and there may have been moments when I even thought to myself, well Yoko, might not have been so bad after all J

So the next time John Waters is performing in a Beatles tribute – I’m there!

Making it up

About a year ago, a few of us checked out one the best impromptu performers around, Mr Wayne Brady at the State Theatre where he had us in hysterics from the start. When we saw he would be visiting our great land again, bringing back his Making S%!t Up show, there was no buts about going and expectations were high.

It was a Monday night – the last Monday of spring for 2010, and we didn’t let the fact that it was a school night stop us from seeing Wayne...

When we arrived, some of Wayne’s crew were in the lobby asking audience members to suggest song titles that could be used later in the show. We submitted some very lame suggestions, but nevertheless we gave it a shot.

We went inside, took our seats and it wasn’t long till the support act, a guy named David Williams came on to warm up the crowd. He was...ok. It took a little while for him to get some chuckles out of the audience, but he got there in the end (via penis jokes of course). Let’s just say we weren’t that disappointed when he exited, stage left. 

Entrance song

After David finished up, Wayne’s partner in crime on stage came out and commenced with some audience participation, asking for random words that Wayne could use when he first came on stage in his introduction song/rap. Words which made the cut included gluteus maximus, pavlova and bogan – and you would be pleased to hear that Wayne used all these and more very aptly in his entrance song!

Once on stage, Wayne enlightened the crowd that he would be needing audience participation throughout the evening and promptly asked for five volunteers to be used as ‘props’. What this meant was every time an object was referred to, the volunteered audience members needed to turn into said object, whether a boat, door or helicopter. In doing so, the volunteers assisted with telling story on how to provide exemplary customer service – this was because we heard from an audience member, Leah, who works at Sydney Water in customer service and, well, really doesn’t like her job very much at all.  

Now I should let you know at this point, that I did put my hand up to volunteer myself a few times during the evening, but just missed out. Never mind, maybe next time.

Other elements of the show included some different volunteers getting up on stage and moving Wayne and his performing partner around on stage (the lady in red got VERY close to him at some points! She enjoyed it, Wayne didn’t...I think).

We then heard from David the mechanic and saw a day in his life performed in the style of Shakespeare, Scar Face, The Matrix and The Sound of Music (to name a few).

Prop time

Then it was the IT guy who loves to dance (we got up a demo from him too!) From this, Wayne was inspired and showed us ‘forward/reverse’ (which also included slow motion and frame by frame) the adventures of the IT guy who longed to dance, who sneaks out of the office, only to be discovered by his boss and later shot.

Next up it was singing time, and the song titles suggested by the audience members before the show were sung in the style of the Rolling Stones, Prince, 80s classics and children's lullabies. One guy in the audience in particular was singled out - Wayne went up and serenaded him (on the upper levels mind you) because his song title somewhat resembled ‘I don’t want to be here, my wife dragged me here’.

Throughout the show, Wayne had the audience in constant laughter – the improv work he does is amazing and entertaining, it generates a fantastic atmosphere where the audience want to be involved, whether by shouting out words or titles or by volunteering to go up on stage (and make a fool of themselves).  

Although he followed the same format as previously, the impromptu nature of the show meant that the material was completely different as he really did make shit up.

Hopefully Wayne will bring back to Australia his Making S%!t Up show, and if he does, I’ll definitely be buying tickets again (and trying to get up on stage!) 

Festival time – the beginning of summer

There was plenty of excitement when Jay and I decided it was time for a visit to see our friend CK who crossed to the dark side a few years ago and made the move to Canberra. We made the trek down on Friday evening, and popped into the always...interesting...Mooseheads. It was relatively quiet considering it was a Friday night and we thought everyone must be getting a good night’s sleep before the big day the following day.

Saturday 27 November was show day – lunch was devoured, a beverage or two were had, and off we went to the East and West Lawns in Canberra to attend our very first Foreshore. Sunscreen was lathered on, clouds were looming, ponchos were packed in bags, but we were lucky enough to escape the rainfall (phew!)

We arrived at the gates not long after 2pm along with a rather large crowd of people – all thinking the same thing; let’s arrive just before Calvin Harris. I have to say Canberra organisation and security at the front gates left very little to be desired. They took quite a long time to herd the people in and I was more than just annoyed when I got to the front and had my small bag inspected upon which I was told to throw out my deodorant, hand sanitizer gel, sunscreen (cause clearly they want me to burn), muesli bar and eclipse mints (cause you know if people are sneaking illegal stuff in, it is clearly going to be handbags for all and sundry to see).

Anyway, while we were waiting to go in, the sounds of Calvin Harris came flooding over the fences. All those queuing waiting to get in emitted sounds of disappointment – but just for a moment. Dancing commenced not long afterwards whilst waiting to get in. We finally got inside, made our way to the main stage (kicks stage) and commenced our dancing for the day. Calvin was going off – he played all the classics including ready for the weekend. My expectations were high after seeing Calvin and the 2010 Big Day Out, and he did not disappoint!

Our dilemma then was that DJ God Tiesto  (as my little cuz puts it) was commencing his set at the hi top stage before Calvin finished his set. We went for a happy medium and left Calvin a little early to have some decent time with Tiesto. At the hi top stage, Tiesto had the crowd pumping and they were going nuts. Awesome atmosphere, awesome start to the day.

(And just to note, these guys were playing early in Canberra as they were heading to Sydney to play at Stereosonic for the evening.)

After Tiesto we stayed at the hi top stage to watch the Stafford Brothers and Yolanda Be Cool (who was running a tad late) – but we didn’t complain as the Stafford brothers played an extended version of their set.

At this point we snuck off for a bite to eat and was very disappointed with the lackluster food available (especially for someone like me who has a few dietary requirements and is somewhat limited – really people if I could eat a meat pie, burger or pizza without being sick, trust me I would). So it was kangaroo skewers, garden salad and plain crisps for me (and seriously that was all I could eat that was available!)  So much for having plenty of food available for people who are gluten intolerant (it said it on the website!) I was just glad we ate early because a couple of hours later, there was no food of that variety left at all. In fact food of any variety was extremely limited, and queues to feed the mouths involved a 30 minute wait as staff were scared to confront the famished crowds and offer them the scraps of the day. This resulted in many young male species leaning over the hot food counter to grab the remaining noodle boxes of food without being noticed – they felt it was compensation for their wait. The good news though was there were no queues for the bar, which didn’t run out of alcohol for the evening – now that is great planning and responsible service of alcohol!

That was my vent; now back to the music...

We stayed at the hi top stage for a little of Yolanda Be Cool and were then tempted by the lure of Miami Horror back at the kicks stage - where we remained for the rest of the evening. Miami Horror were great and included a classic in their line up - Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al which was very well received.

After Miami Horror was the fabulous Art vs Science – magic fountain and Parlez Vous Francais got the crowd very excited.Shuffling was done and I think I may have pulled it off - which was tres exciting. 

Up next were Cut Copy and the night then ended on a great note with The Temper Trap – including their hits Fader and Love Lost.

So next year, if I have the choice again between Foreshore and Stereosonic, I think my vote is Stereosonic. The music was great and the vibe was good at Foreshore, but sorry Canberra peeps, Sydney really does know how to put on a good show – they just have a finesse which, well, yours don’t.