Last year’s Splendour in the Grass was amazing. This year’s one includes acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Moby, Interpol, The Finn Brothers, The Living End, Shihad, and Sarah Blasko. Despite tickets for this year only going on sale yesterday, it appears that they have already sold out! Such disappointment! It’s also amazing to see that people are already ebaying them for almost double the price!
Sarah Blasko @ The Rev
With nothing to do this Friday, I somehow managed to nab myself a ticket to see Sarah Blasko at The Rev in the Valley and it was an amazing show. This artist is becoming ever more popular with looks somewhere between a miniature cross of (at least I think so when you see her live) Natalie Imbruglia and Sophie Ellis Bextor but definitely with a style distinctly her own. She has more recently been compared to the likes of Missy Higgins and although her voice and talent could easily be mistaken for Missy at times, Sarah’s own unique style of music contains an enchanting and almost haunting undertone. She was also one of the latest representatives for Australia at the South by Southwest Festival in the US.
The Rev made a perfect spot for this gig, with the intimate surroundings giving Sarah great opportunity to interact with the crowd. It seemed she was genuinely impressed by the Brisbvegas audience based on her comments and the way she responded to everyone’s reactions. What a bargain to see this Indie/Folk US signed artist perform for the measly sum of AU$15! (Especially considering she will be gracing one of the stages at Splendour in the Grass later this year). Fantastic night that went a little later than I expected but well worth staying up for!
Missing the Bike And Too Much Music
Well it’s been almost three weeks since my I was supposed to have my bike back, and almost four weeks since the store has had physical possession of it. At the end of this long waiting period, let me just say that I have not been a very happy customer. I think I tend to be a pretty reasonable customer, being rather understanding of the one or two things that might make something late, but there are only so many times I will let my expectations be crushed.
The current story is that a single part (the headset) that is required has not been sent by the supplier (Avanti) and is apparently on its way from New Zealand. Now I’m not sure on what planet the supplier happens to be living on, but I am under the impression that New Zealand is only a few hours flight away! Since it took a while for me to be accepting of the actual frame I am getting, I’m not entirely enthused by the alternatives that are now being suggested by the bike store. I don’t know about you, but either a) paying more for another frame or b) accepting a lesser frame to get the job done quicker, are on none of my “acceptable scenarios” list. Of course, I’d be willing to upgrade to a better frame if there was no cost involved, especially considering the time that it has taken.
Oh and while I’m really in the mood for ranting tonight, curses to JB Hi-Fi for enchanting my wallet to spill more blood. The chain always offers such great value for all types of music and tends to have a pretty comprehensive range. It’s such a danger when I have to wait for my bus because a store happens to be right next to my bus stop and I’m always bound to find something of interest. Tonight I ended up purchasing four more CDs to add to my collection including:
- The Vines – Highly Evolved
- The Vines – Winning Days
- Infusion – Six Feet Above Yesterday
- Derrick Carter presents Tone Theory Vs Oneiro – Poverty De Luxe
Another Year, Another Big Day Out
The Gold Coast Parklands hosted yet another perfect Big Day Out, welcoming 50 000 people with bright blue skies and a pretty average Queensland summer temperature of about 29 degrees (Celsius). Three main stage areas, two amazing tents and a number of other smaller stages hosted a fantastic lineup of people from 11 in the morning to 11 at night. With huge names like The Chemical Brothers, Beastie Boys, Carl Cox, and the Freestylers (only to name a few), awesome tunes were enjoyed by all. See the image below to find out where I was during the day:
If you care to see how the rest of the day was (be warned it’s a long one) then brace yourself and read on. Read more “Another Year, Another Big Day Out”
A New Year Day @ BBQ Breaks
Well I hope that everyone had a very good New Year’s Eve. Mine was a relatively quiet one, being a good time for reflections on the year just gone, contemplating both the good times and the not-so-great times had. New Year’s Day was spent attending BBQ Breaks held at Friday’s at Eagle Street Pier.
Yesterday’s perfect weather added to the fantastically charged atmosphere and the huge number of artists that played made it an awesome way to continue celebrating the New Year. Just a small sampler of those that played included: Kid Kenobi, Cut La Roc, Deadly Avenger, Kid Kay Ferris, Tipper, Tom Middleton, Soma Rosa and Ian Pooley.
The Playlist Meme
Thought I might give this whole Playlist Meme thing a go. My disclaimer is that I only have the music I’ve managed to put onto my laptop (which is still a pretty good sample of my music collection). Here are the rules:
- Open up the music player on your computer.
- Set it to play your entire music collection.
- Hit the “shuffle” command.
- Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. That’s right, no skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It’s time for total musical honesty. Write it up in your blog or journal and link back to at least a couple of the other sites where you saw this.
- If you get the same artist twice, you may skip the second (or third, or etc.) occurences. You don’t have to, but since randomness could mean you end up with a list of ten song with five artists, you can if you�d like.
| Artist | Song | Album | Pat’s Misc Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Strokes | You Talk Way Too Much | Room On Fire | Bought this CD when I was in LA working for my last company in November last year |
| Starsailor | Music Was Saved | Silence Is Easy | |
| Lamb | Merge | Lamb | |
| Mylo | Drop The Pressure | MOS Clubber’s Guide to Summer 2004 | A big dance anthem for 2004 for sure |
| Ant Miles and Red One | Bring It On | Kosheen Presents Bass ‘n’ Drum Reborn | My first drum & bass album |
| Linkin Park | Part Of Me | Under Attack (B-Sides) | |
| Alicia Keys | Harlem’s Nocture | The Diary of Alicia Keys | |
| Metro Area | Caught Up | Ian Pooley’s nite:life 06 | My first Ian Pooley album |
| Sum 41 | Nothing On My Back | All Killer No Killer | I remember hearing this song being covered when I went skiing for the first time during my exchange to NY in 2001 |
| Xavier Rudd | A 4th World | Solace | Saw Xavier’s awesome solo performance at Splendour this year |
via Sam
Trance With Matt Darey
Just got back from another big DJ act courtesy of The Family. Matt Darey, has been one of the biggest influences to the Trance scene and deservedly so. He has remixed or produced with all of the biggest DJs (including Tiesto, Oakenfold, Sasha, Pete Tong, Ferry Corsten just to name a few) and has produced many hits including Delerium’s Heaven’s Earth (Matt Darey Remix), Liberation and Beautiful.
Yet another brilliant set (and only for just Family’s standard cover charge!) that went far too quickly. Perhaps it’s a Friday thing, but I’m completely exhausted.
Sasha’s Involver Tour @ The Family
Just got home from a big night at The Family watching DJ Sasha mix up a huge, almost four-hour set. This fantastic gig was part of a Global Underground tour promoting his latest album, Involver.
Sasha needs no introduction to most people, on par with people like John Digweed, whom he has collaborated with before in the Northern Exposure series of albums. His set, which began a little bit past midnight, was accompanied by a laser show that was truly spectacular. I was thankful that Family was not as crowded as I thought it might be and the crowd was pretty friendly as usual. A great night/morning that ends with some much needed sleep!