This weekend is the big Splendour in the Grass festival held in the camping fields of Byron Bay. Although I managed to miss out getting tickets because they all sold out on the first day, I was not terribly disappointed as the line up is not as it has been in the last few years. One of the side benefits of Splendour though, even if you do miss out on the actual festival itself, is the sideshows that a number of the artists do. So last night I went out to go see the Doves perform at The Arena.

With doors opening at 8, I was surprised when the support act, Neon, came on in shortly after and churned out a decent set that lasted for at least an hour. Having seen them more recently support Motorace, before that Jebediah, and then Muse last year, I am definitely impressed by how much exposure and popularity they seem to be gaining. The Doves, on the other hand, have not had much airplay in Australia for a while, even with their latest album, Some Cities released earlier this year.

It didn’t take long for the stage to be set for the main act and it was in no time at all, dazzling beams of light welcomed the full four person band to the stage. Describing the style of the Doves’ music is pretty difficult. Take your traditional brit pop rock, weave in the synthetic sounds of an electronic keyboard, throw in a little drum and bass and you still have something that doesn’t quite capture it. But don’t let this unusual mix stop you from watching an otherwise professional performance. You can easily distinguish the quality of the Doves performance from many traditional Australian bands, with every song carefully selected to move the audience, and accompanied by a co-ordinated yet effective light show that stunned the crowd. Another great performance to have seen at The Arena!

Last night I managed to catch Lior play yet another gig, this time at The SoundLounge down on the Gold Coast. It was my first time to have gone to anything at The SoundLounge, a really intimate venue nestled within the Currumbin RSL (of all places!). As tacky as it sounds, it was a really amazing venue. A maximum of about three hundred people would have fit in there, and is perfect for a mellow evening accompanied by some fantastic music. Last night almost everyone was sprawled across the ground, encouraged by the small collections of comfortable bean bags, and solid looking, yet difficult to balance on cube cushions surrounding several knee-high level tables. After playing The Metro as his last gig, Lior appreciated his ability to be able to see his audience and interact with them in a more personal manner.

The last time I saw Lior, I missed the support act, the Dave Mann Collective perform, and after watching them (although this time it was just Dave Mann on his own) perform, I was terribly disappointed that I did miss seeing them last time. His style of music reminded me of people like Jack Johnson, the John Butler Trio and Xavier Rudd although his voice had a lot more force to it.

After Dave Mann performed, it was Lior’s turn and once again stunned the crowd with his amazing vocal range. The crowd lapped up his unique style of music that is best described as a Middle Eastern influenced roots style. As good as his CD is (and it really is good!), Lior and his band are guaranteed to give you and even better experience seeing them live, combining both the improvisation and such variation to their normal songs. Lior performed almost all of his songs from his current album, Autumn Flow and even performed his own variation of Neil Young’s Needle And The Damage Done that he composed for Triple J a couple of weeks back. An awesome performance!

The Kua Rating: 9 out of 10!

I knew that I would be in for another late night when I saw the tickets for tonight’s concert said doors open at 8:30pm (especially considering what time it is right now!). . The Zoo played host tonight’s acts consisting of Motor Ace and awesome support band Neon (wow, their website took a while to google). Even though Neon are mainly supporting many other bands at the moment (I also caught them at Jebediah a couple of weeks back), they have great music and know how to get the crowd rocking.

It has been a while since we had heard much from Motor Ace. Their last album was produced two years ago and the band has been through a lot since then, having dissolved, getting back together and somehow managing to find enough inspiration and effort for their latest album, Animal. When Motor Ace finally got on stage (almost at midnight mind you!), the crowd was more than ready for them. The crowd’s hunger was soon appeased with some songs from their first album, Five Star Laundry, followed by some songs from their latest album and then a select few from Shoot This. It was obvious this crowd had been following the band for sometime, with pretty much everyone I saw knowing most of the words to all of the songs played from previous albums. Another bargain act that is completely worth seeing for the measly $22 they were charging. I’d also keep a look out for their new album (its songs sounded were more reminiscent of their first album more so than their second though).

So I just got back from a brilliant performance by Jebediah at The Rev in Brisbane. Tonight was the 10th Anniversary Tour of the band sometimes referred to as Jebs. I remember their first CD (Slightly Odway) when I was back in high school and it was totally impressive to see this band still full of the same energy that is apparent in everyone of their albums. The Rev’s intimate size made for perfect place to host this band’s crazy grunge rock for the night, allowing for maximum exposure to the complete Jebs experience.

I turned up to the event a little bit late after grabbing something to eat after training, so I missed the first support act, Red Jezebel, who a couple of people I spoke to tonight said were pretty good. I arrived just in time to catch the second act, Neon, who also managed to shake The Rev with their classic rock riffs and tunes.

The Jebs came on about 11pm and kick-started the crowd with one of their more upbeat songs. The energy the band put into their performance was amplified and returned by the crowd, evident by the mass of arms waving and the large number of fans jumping around. Their song selection was fantastic covering most of their albums, a few B-sides and even a couple of covers songs that were lapped up by the frenzied crowd. The encore topped it all off with a couple of The Jebs’ probably most well known songs, Harpoon and Leaving Home. Although I think everyone was disappointed that the night didn’t continue past its 12:40am finish time, I think Jebediah probably made the right decision as the crowd was starting to get a little angry with excessive moshing and crowd surfing.

Tonight (or rather last night) Sydney based songwriter and artist, Lior came to perform at The Zoo. After I got back from my big three weeks abroad I was looking for gigs to attend. I hadn’t heard of Lior before but after reading a few reviews and listening to a couple of his songs from his site, I thought I’d hunt down his album. There were a few places online that seemed to have it, but a stop in at the local JB Hi-Fi seemed to do the trick. The sales person who was serving me said she really liked his stuff and it was a good album. She mentioned that she’d also just missed his last concert but managed to hang around outside enough to say that he was a good performer as well.

Tonight I can attest that his performance is really worthwhile actually visiting. Lior performed a few new songs and the ones that he played off his Autumn Flow album were superbly improvised and varied, making it just an amazing show to see. It was made even better considering that tickets were only $16.10! Tonight was such an amazing crowd as well, with the tickets for tonight’s gig completely sold out! So good that I think I’m going to go see him perform down on the Gold Coast as well.