29/01/2005 @ Hyde Park Barracks
Ollo
Matthew Herbert
First gig of the year, once again starting off with a show at the Hyde Park Barracks as part of the Sydney Festival. The whole of Sydney town is out tonight, with Beth Orton and Nick Cave at the Opera House, a Wave Aid benefit gig at the cricket grounds, and kids in the blackest clothes they could get their grubby hands on get to rock out to masked rockers Slipknot. It was a strange mix of characters at the train station.
By the time I rocked up, some Mad Racket dj was playing middle-of-the-road house music and the dance floor wasn't so hot. For a supposedly sold out gig, it wasn't that packed.
I don't really know who the dj was, (Caldwell?) But what I was really more interested in was Ollo. Heard a fair bit about them, but haven't actually heard much of them. Two fellers behind banks of machinery, one of them with a monkey mask. Plays some smooth and groovy house music, reminds me of Crazy Penis. This really brought back memories of the last time I was here, seeing Hermitude put in a quality set only to be ignored by the oh-so-trendy people that rock up but don't pay attention to the music. Can't these people just go to a freaking bar instead? Oh what? This is all one big bar sponsored by an alcoholic beverage company? Oh, right.
Apparently some people were upset with some of the screen projections that flashed up some left wing politics. Firstly, something's very wrong with this generation, no doubt about it. Secondly, it was barely two minutes out of a one-hour gig. What's wrong with people these days? I was there, but I only found out about the politics after checking some reviews at inthemix.com.au . In a world of image, I choose to use my ears. And I thought the monkey get-up was quite amusing. The music was fantastic, more dance-able than what I had been expecting, shame the crowd wasn't there save for two or three dancefloor pioneers. I tried to get with it as best I could.
I had found that lately I had been straying further and further back into the crowd at gigs, let the kids get all excited upfront. But tonight, I was back to my old ways, and before I knew it I was up front and I found out the while one is there, one can't really see all the judging faces behind and one is freed to just get messy on the dancefloor. Swing and sway, everything will be alright.
Oh, and I finally caught Sydney songstress Inga Liljestrom, lending her beautiful vocals and presence on stage. Shame it was for just one song. Now I�m even more fascinated than ever.Then, Matthew Herbert. Such a shame that this isn't the fully live show, even more of a shame when I remember I could have caught him live once but missed it for some stupid reason. It cuts me to the bone.
Somehow I had gotten the impression that this guy is a total arsehole and I wouldn't be enjoying his set tonight. I still don't know whether he's an arsehole, but I don't think I would mind so much if he was because he mixed up an awesome set. I managed to hang around for bit under two hours and it was quality all the way. It was rougher and tougher than what I had expected, or what was on his "Let's all make Mistakes" mix disc. Come to think of it, I loved that disc! Why did I ever start to think so negatively before a show?When Mr. Herbert tuned up all the shiny, trendy people came into the tent. It was packed a bit too tight where I was. He seem to be very popular amongst the supermodel demographic. Or he's just loved by everyone, and I was just discovering for the first time that house music does a much better job of attracting the ladies than drum'n bass ever could. Apparently, especially Herbert�s blend of glitch/leftfield house with chunks of techno thrown in.
nice one.