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Vampire Weekend; 21st November 2009, Oxford Art Factory

Over the past two weeks I’ve been lucky enough to be apart of the “Vampire Weekend PR Package”. That is: listen to the new album Contra (out January, review under embargo), interview drummer Chris Thomson (interview under embargo) and see the band at one of only two gigs they’ll play in Sydney during their promotional tour (not under embargo).

I’ve heard mixed reviews about their live show, but I have to say it was surprisingly great (much like Britney before it). Considering my biggest complaint I’ve ever had with Vampire Weekend has been their habit of hawking off world music traditions in ways only pretty frat boys can do, they handle that fact quite well live. Most of the attention is placed on Ezra, the signature “prettiest face” and leader of the group, and his knack for pulling out “sweet solos” on his Epiphone.

Some would argue that they should be a but more inventive live, but I think their white boy stylings are becoming almost counter-culture: people pay upwards of $80 to see boring dudes in cardigans play with ProTools live on-stage. At least these guys have a dress sense and are a bit groovy with the average rock set-up.

On the topic of groove, the new stuff sounds great. New songs Cousins practically is an Ivete Sangalo song, though. All the originals became huge singalongs. I doubt they’ll play venues this small next time. Hordern, here they come.

Witch Hats, Ghost of Television; Goodgod Smallclub, 20th November 2009

So I guess I went into this way more tired than I was expecting, having spent the morning doing my final university exam for the year. Which is a shame as I was really looking forward to this gig.

Ghost of Television were first up and just before they went on-stage I had to get the bad news that this Thursday’s album launch may well be their last gig their last gig will be in early February. They’re excellent live, deafening and noisy and completely unabashed. Buzzrd (which before this gig I only ever knew as the most played track on my friend Lucy’s last.fm) was mind-blowing. See them and fork out the $20 for their LP.

Witch Hats were a good 20 times better than the last time I saw them (At the Metro, supporting the Drones, shit sound, all over the place, etc.). Their much tighter and a hell of a lot more professional; I could bring up the “they could/should be able to break the semi-mainstream” but that’s bullshit these days. Was their EP launch as well, which has been sitting on my desk for a good few months now and was the catalyst for my re-instilled faith in their music. Alas, Ghost of TV had already won the night, so a good half of it was spent wondering if I could make the last train home.

As you could probably guess, I missed The Stabs, which is a crying shame: one of the highlights of this year’s ATP as well as one of the year’s best albums in Dead Wood. Till 2010, then.

The Period Piece: Britney Spears, Acer Arena, 17th November 2009

I seem to have created my own unintentional tradition: At the end of every year since 2005 I’ve found myself chanting endlessly at someone-or-thing inside a stadium-related venue. This year I found myself in the vacuous Acer Arena for teen heartthrob turned trainwreck turned “comeback queen” Britney Spears.

First, let’s get the frivolities out of the way:

• She sings about 3 out of 15 songs live, one of which is heavily autotuned
  • On that note, on said song (If You Seek Amy) she’s off tempo with a backing track. Not a band, but just a CD. Seriously.
• She kind of dances. And by “kind of” I really mean not at all. “Moving strategically” is the best term for it.
• There was no Oops… I Did It Again, Crazy, Lucky, My Perogative or Stronger. Gimme More is used as a dance interlude. In fact a large fraction of the show is spent doing magic tricks to no-name Circus tracks.
• All that said, it felt like most summer blockbusters: intellectually boring yet visually stimulating and entertaining constantly.
• My view of pop divas will be biased due to automatic comparison to the brilliance of Grace Jones live.

I guess if you got this far you are quite persistent, a big fan or some type of self-harming freak. At the end of the day, no one wants to here about the original mass produced superstar, whose manufactured spawn include everything from punk-chick P!nk to the Disney pop of Miley Cyrus.

I guess the big difference between Britney and her contemporaries is that her gap between initial success and contemporary comeback has been so large that it’s stunted her growth in the live arena. In the meantime, everyone from fellow musical classmates Beyonce and Justin Timberlake to performance artist Lady Gaga to veterans Madonna and Kylie Minogue are re-learning their skills in a world that demands ever-expensive live shows to be worth our penalty hours. Hell, even the evidently fragile Michael Jackson, who openly mimed his last major tour, was preparing to sing fifty shows straight live.

All this, and Britney is still performing the show she would have brought out in 1998, technological advancements notwithstanding. She’s yet to actually grow up professionally as a performer or a singer. What doesn’t alleviate my fears is just how many unconditionally adoring fans she has: this arena was packed to the rafters with costumed cougars and positive-slogan-donning teenage girls. Who needs progress when you can draw in the fans in through sheer presence?

She once sang about being “Not a girl, not yet a woman.” I wonder if she ever will be that “woman”.

Birds of Tokyo, Enmore Theatre, 14th November 2009

So in a sign that I care not for my indie cred, I went over and saw a bunch of AussieRockers(TM) try to belt out their tunes in “Acoustic orchestral mode”. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot.

It came with all the bells and whistles of a usual theatre-like show: there were programs on every seat, bells chiming ten minutes before showtime, that annoying crooner from Augie March supporting. It all felt like serious business.

But I was still wary we’d end up with another “Let’s just ride on the everlasting wave of S&M and not put any effort whatsoever into making our songs sound like they have added orchestrations because people will just pay to hear some strings in the background of our usual stuff”. No, it seems like these blokes have a few more braincells than that.

What we did get were inventive interpolations, alluding at everyone from dark instrumentalists The Dirty Three to wailer Jeff Buckley. The standout? Singer Ian Kenny has a brilliant vocal range that’s being wasted on basic rock and roll. Someone write him a rock opera.

Check out my full review on FasterLouder