One of my New Year Resolution’s (not that I normally have any) was to see more live acts. So last night I managed to catch Supergrass perform at the Arena. The support acts included Melbourne-based band Rocket Science and the Sydney-based The City Lights.
Read more “Supergrass is 10!”
Riverconcert
Each year Brisbane has a Riverfestival and this year’s marks the third that I have been around to actually witness. Some of the more interesting events that they do for this event include:
- Riverfire: The kickoff event that stars the Riverfestival including lots of fireworks and an F111 fly by, followed by a spectacular dump and burn that pretty much ends the night.
- The Riverfeast: The city council close down both the Queen Victoria Bridge and (I think) the Goodwill Bridge to make space for a number of the best restaurants in Brisbane. Each restaurant probably hosting around 30-40 people each then runs a killer banquet based around a theme for the night. Although this year’s one got rained out, this event is usual pretty well sold out.
- The Great Brisbane Duck Race: Imagine over 10, 000 yellow rubber ducks floating down the Brisbane River, each vying to beat each other to the end of a 200m stretch pretty much sums up this event. This charity event is run for the Surf Lifesaving Foundation where the winning duck (costing a measly sum of $5) has the chance to a win a new car.
- Riverconcert: A free concert sponsored by Telstra featuring four excellent Australian artists.
This year’s concert was hosted by DJ Sharif Galal and featured one of my favourite artists, Endorphin. Last year featured a number of bigger names including Groove Terminator and Paul Mac.
I saw Endorphin at The Zoo two years ago and his gigs are very impressive considering it’s electronica in nature. The visuals that are projected during his set are complemented by the dancers and the costumes that he has on stage for each song. It’s a bit difficult to explain the awesome nature of his act, so I’ll let the pictures do it this time (click on them for bigger versions):
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Anarchy and a bit of BIFF
BIFF
Last night was the viewing of my first two movies at the Brisbane International Film Festival (otherwise known as BIFF). The first was a Korean film called Samaritan Girl (Samaria) directed by Kim Ki-duk who is infamous for his controversial films. I was literally lost for words at the end of the movie because I had not prepared myself for the depressing and graphic nature of this film. Perhaps it would have helped if I had read more about the plot summary) or had read more about other films Kim Ki-duk has directed.
The other movie I saw (starting at 11pm!) was produced by the famous Japanese anime company Studio Ghibli called Pom Poko. Centred on the story told by the Tanuki (Japanese for Raccoon), it continues the studio’s common ‘human-vs-nature’ theme in the light-hearted and quirky style that is only Studio Ghibli. Having seen two other films produced by this company (Spirited Away and Princess Monoke), I can only whole-heartly recommend any of their movies. UQ’s Schonell Theatre is still showing a special showcase finishing on Ekka Day (Wed Aug 11) featuring some of Hayao Miyazaki’s films.
Anarchy
To top off the night (or shall we say morning?) we headed to Rockafellas to support my mate Aaron Blishen (AKA Anarchy) at his debut DJ gig, Resonate. Anarchy’s entire set was extremely well received by a decent sized crowd (especially considering that it was at a time when the taxi queues were at their peak – i.e. 3:30am) . An awesome selection of tracks was enjoyed by all for another hour and a half as the laser show went off in sync with all of the music. Unfortunately the misty haze created by the smoke machine for all the lasers meant that none of my photos I took turned out. Can’t wait for the next gig!
