Review – “Wave Aid” at the Sydney Cricket Ground
28Jan05
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It seems that Johnsie and The Right Honourable Member for Kingsford
Smith were not the only ones dragged out of musical retirement for
this special occasion. Certain music
writers, having not put critical finger to keyboard since December 2002
deemed this event worthy of some web space. I mean yes, I made the trek to
The devastation that swept
The Music Community of Australia has been no
exception, with the likes of Powderfinger, The Finn Brothers, The John Butler Trio and Nick Cave putting
their hands up when the idea was first mooted. And it was about 50,000 fans of
that same community who phoned, clicked or queued to snap up the prized bits of
cardboard inside an hour when the tickets eventually went on sale – it wasn’t
easy either: it took me the best part of that hour, from right-on 9am, to
actually get into the website before I got the “best available” reserved
seating in the Doug Walters stand when the day came.
We arrived with a surprisingly minimal delay with The Waifs were in London Still for what appeared to be one of the first tunes for the afternoon. The relative ignorance of who is good and who is not was more openly displayed later on during the show, so the reaction to their set was not surprisingly minimal. For mine, Donna, Josh and Vikki did a bang-up job, showing to those who bothered to pay attention that their repertoire was more than the jangly alterna-pop one might have expected from the saturation airplay on the National Network of the aforementioned song about the English capital. (back to top)
Next up was Missy Higgins. A Triplej Unearthed winner in 2001, Ms Higgins has gone great guns
with hit singles both on the alternative and the pop charts from her debut “The
Sound of White” album. Her short set featured all those hits, earning a
“great” review from my stage-side companion. I must agree – her down-to-earthedness has earned her kudos around the place, which
was confirmed on a recent radio interview when she remarked that she wasn’t
going to let all this attention go to her head because one day it will all be
gone. I hope, Missy,
that that day is not too soon! (back to
top)
One of the major reasons for my attendance today took to the stage whilst
some of the punters thought it prudent to commence a cricket game on the outer
(refer previous comment about ignorance). Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds du jour
(featuring Kim
Salmon) put on a fine show, crucified by a sound guy who probably
should have been on the outer with the other ignoramii.
The set was only scheduled to last only 20min, but for one who has been a music
fan and supporter for so long, this is actually my first experience
of the man live. Launching the set with an upbeat version of Henry
Lee from his “Murder Ballads” the performance included Red Right
Hand and The Ship Song (my personal favourite since covered in the
early 1990s by Dennis Walter covered it). Ever the consummate performer,
Mr Cave appeared
not to be fazed by the lack of attention. When I first saw the programme I
actually questioned his being on so early. A bigger fan than I, and one more
attuned to today’s music scene suggested that, as he is not that well known, it
would suit him better. FMD – I’d want to move to
Next up was,
as described by the introducer of the set, Country comes to the City. For me,
it was time to find the bar, concession stands and perhaps the lavvy. I’m sorry
Kasey,
but I truly enjoyed The Captain when it was first released, and still
have the single, but when Not Pretty Enough made it big on the MIX
stations and was (and I believe is still) completely, totally and utterly flogged,
I turned. That turning was brought to the point of no return when you murdered True
Colours at the ARIAs. With the exception of that one country
foot-a-tapper toward the end of your set, I would have to agree with the “a bit
whiny” post-concert comment from the fellow punter with whom we walked back to
the railway station. (back to top)
Fed, watered, beered and T-shirted we returned to see Kamahl seek
affirmation about how good Ms
Chambers is and then, from the next MC, how nervous Pete Murray was for this
particular show. Mr Murray strolled
out with the
one set on the beach and yes, he was fairly shitting his
Pete’s exit heralded the so-called business end of the
night. These two, known as well for their work in collectives as for their own
creativity, never claimed to be Australian. And rightly so – be proud of your
heritage, even when someone claims you, falsely, as their own!
Neil (After Hours, Split Enz, Mullanes,
Crowded
House,) and Tim (Still Water, Split Enz, Crowded House, ALT) Finn probably didn’t even need many of those
parenthesised links, and the few short minutes they held concert are testament
to that: Don’t Dream It’s Over, I Got You and the Hunners fave Throw Your Arms
Around Me all had the whole place
singing. As Richard
(you can have him NZ, we
don’t want him) Wilkins
(known as Richard
Wilde in the early
80s when he and his mullet came across the ditch to try a musical career)
suggested as their intro-MC, “together and alone, with 50,000 back-up singers”.
It was such a shame they couldn’t stay for more, as the crowd wanted. (back to top)
Formed especially for the aforementioned multi-network TV telethon earlier in January,
The Wrights took to the stage to perform the Vanda Young epic from 1975, penned to give
their old mate Stevie a leg-up in the bizz. The Wrights
for the telethon only performed Part 1 of
the twelve-minute rhapsody I first heard on 2SM
on the wireless in my mum’s Mini Minor. But here and now they were going the
whole shebang – the whole nine yards – playing all twelve minutes worth – and
what a shebang it was!! Especially for those of us who were there the first
time! Featuring members of Jet,
The Living End, Spiderbait
to name only those I can remember, the song started as we first saw it on the
telly a couple of weeks ago, with Nic (Jet)
Cester up front. We were then dazzled by Bernard
(Powderfinger)
Fanning’s
take on the slower part 2. Surprised, too, coz we weren’t expecting him until
later – sneaky bastard! Part 3 was attempted by Phil
(Grinspoon) Jamison
–
nothing against Phil but there are
better who could have done it. That was the live debut of the whole single
which will be released in the not too distant future (get it – it’s excellent,
despite Phil .. hopefully it will
have the full original on it too … and it’s all for The Cause). (back to top)
Seven down, four to go, and
the sun was still blazing. Looking around there were
more than several burnt exposed-bits, and during the build up there were more
exposed-bits than I have seen in all my concert-going days! Thank you, Mr
Graphics Man (by the way, did those girls get their $100?)!! The sun casually
set while Mr Butler and his rhythm
aces took to the stage as, I will admit, I expected. John opened solo and
was then joined mid-tune by his mates on acoustic-bass and drums. The set,
which seemed not to go for as long as hoped, included some remarkable solo work
from Michael
and Shannon,
as well as the singles Mama and Zebra. (back to top)
My silverchair experiences date back to being told at the 1996 ARIAs to piss off because the boys were partying (all I wanted “Hi, this is silverchair and you’re listening to…” for my community radio show but, to be fair, other people’s people said the same thing more harshly at that and the following year’s awards show), to being a band manager who wanted my clients to open a gig for them. I liked the singles and the album tracks I experienced on the Js and elsewhere, but never actually saw them until tonight, and I was really looking forward to it. How disappointed was I? Not that you would probably expect anything more but it seemed to be the Daniel-Johns-wearing-a-new-beard-and-hat-with-no-shirt show, oh, and there were two other guys up there with him. Chris and Ben must be completely ticked at this but I suppose you can’t no to “D’ya wanna get back up there with Johnsie for the Tsunami?” We ended up watching the punters trying to break through from the back part of the oval to the front part, and the not-being-paid security guards crash tackling the escapees until the whole barrier came down and a hundred or more people came through. I really can’t say anything good about the chair…sigh… (back to top)
Another
band who
I should have seen more than the once in my time both in and out of this
writing game were Powderfinger. I go on record here as saying that “Internationalist” was their White
Album, in that they will be dragged kicking and screaming from the
alternative waves to the mainstream. But I wasn’t saying that when I saw them
on Homebake
in 1998. Back then they were five guys from Brisneyland, some of us had
heard of them before that point and they sounded good but they lacked
stage-presence. One of my bugbears at the time was a band that sang to
themselves and/or their shoes, which these guys (except Bernard)
were doing back then. Now, a little more than six years later, they have had
their multi-coloured album comparisons and know how to do what they do. Even
the slower moments were excellent, and the older couple (of women) next to us,
whom we thought were there for the less lively acts, were getting right into
this one. Rock and Roll!! (back to top)
Every band tonight had a celeb come on and hype them up, but this next, and final act, needed no more hype than they had been given by all the other MCs thus far. This lights dimmed, torches strobed across the stage, and then up the lights came again. Rob, Martin, Bones and James were on stage (admittedly Mr Moginie had put on several pounds), soon to be joined by the only Labor MP singing in a rock and roll outfit that night, Peter Garrett. Midnight Oil took to the task at hand as they have been doing since the days The Farm took that now legendary name in Australian rock music. Pete did the now-famous flail-dance as they launched into Read About It, and the whole place bounced. The seemingly short set powered through Power and the Passion, King of the Mountain, Say your Prayers, Beds are Burning and closed with New Country. Everyone was singing along .. we all knew them, we all grew up with them; some of us even voted for him! But it was a rare treat for those of us who don’t get out any more, and also for those of us who have been to every gig since they were the house band at the Royal Antler pre-Bird Noises. (back to top)
There was no encore tonight,
to the severe disdain of everyone who had come to see this particular act. This
was because we were already 15min overdue from all the other acts taking one, or two, more minutes, or the roadies or MC-celebs delaying or whatever for whatever reason. The
Centennial Park / Paddington residents have won a curfew for events at that
area, and we were all commanded to be grateful to them for the extra fifteen
minutes, and not to piss in their gardens. Except for the lack-of-sound, and
the bad delay - bounce from our perspective, whoever came up with this idea
should be congratulated. But next time, could you do us all just one
small favour? The few occasions where the man has been let loose on a family
occasion, he has let fly with seeming disregard for the audience population.
One simple solution – don’t let Chuggsie anywhere
near an MC’s mic!
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