Music - Semantically driven

What’s the one musical event you wish you’d been at?

May 20, 2013 by Jen

Red Hot Chili Peppers ticket

You know how people go to a great event and they don’t stop talking about it 20 years later. You wish you could have been there but you weren’t so it doesn’t matter how many stories they tell about this fantastic event you missed out on, you weren’t there and you just smile and nod and wish they’d shut up about it because of course you would have loved to have been there.

What event would this be for you?

For me, it was the 1993 Big Day Out in Adelaide. It was the first Big Day Out here, and it was held at Adelaide University. It was a stinking hot day in early February as days in Adelaide are bound to be at this time of year.

Iggy Pop played and he was awesome. You should have seen him. Well I couldn’t because I wasn’t there.

I had a really good excuse as to why I wasn’t there. I wasn’t in the country. I was in England – freezing – in winter.

While you were getting squirted with firehoses at the Big Day Out before Iggy Pop came on, I was commuting for an hour or two to work in the dark.

There’s been some other good bands play at Big Day Outs in Adelaide, but they’re still not as good as the first one. Because the first one was at Adelaide University and all the rest have been at the Adelaide Show Grounds. Totally different venue. Totally different feel.

So when people are still posting photos on Facebook from that day, or talking about it at parties, I just try to think of all the great gigs I went to in England.

I could tell you about the time I went to the Reading Festival in 1993. Or when I saw Red Hot Chili Peppers and Henry Rollins on the one night at Brixton Academy for the princely sum of £10.50. One of my favourite shows was Pop Will Eat Itself at the Town and Country.

Smashing Pumpkins ticket

Here’s some more:

Smashing Pumpkins at the Astoria – 14 February 1992
The Jesus and Mary Chain (Rollercoaster tour) with Blur, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr at Brixton Academy – 7 April 1992 (£12.50)
Fugazi at Brixton Academy – 9 May 1992 (£5)
Sonic Youth at Brixton Academy – 15 December 1992 (£9.50)
Jesus Jones – 1 April 1993 at the Astoria (£8.50)
Madonna – Girlie Show at Wembley Stadium- 25 September 1993 (£22.50).

Ok, so missing out on that inaugural Big Day Out in Adelaide perhaps wasn’t so bad after all. And it’s a pity those prices are now long gone.

Some ukulele is good for the soul

August 13, 2011 by Jen

Saturday, 6 August 2011, Day 256/365.

In the spirit of dragging my son to places he probably would rather not be, I took him to a ukulele gathering last Saturday afternoon at a pub.

Ususally they meet on a Tuesday night and I’ve been to quite a few of those sessions in the past but lately they start that little bit later which doesn’t really work for my son – see I do consider him!

When we walked in the first person I really saw was one of his school buddies so he was absolutely fine for the afternoon chatting and playing his DS with him.

After an initial ‘I feel left out period’ I had a fine time too. It was quite a casual afternoon of playing the uke, and then getting up to perform in front of everyone else. This is quite nerve wracking at the best of times, let alone when you’re standing up trying to play the ukulele that wants to keep slipping down your front. I haven’t got a strap for it and I haven’t got the chest to hold it up like some women have. Maybe I need a velcro system?

It’s a very supportive group which I love. A group of beginners were there and overall everyone did a really good job of putting themselves out there.

One song I performed with a small group was Opportunity by Pete Murray – a song I’d never heard before. I absolutely love the song now. It was on at the supermarket when I went today and I sang along to it. My supermarket plays the best music and sometimes I sneak in a little boogie as I’m doing my shopping.

I don’t know what it is, but a few hours of singing and playing the ukulele makes me feel very happy. I recommend it.

Womadelaide music

March 23, 2009 by Jen

After lamenting not having a weekend pass to Womadelaide a couple of weekends ago, I ended up going on the Sunday and it was a pretty good day. The dust levels weren’t too bad and the weather was pretty good. I thought I’d share some of the music that I heard over the weekend. These videos aren’t actually from Womad but they’ll give you a taste of the type of music that Womad has. And if you listen to any of the below, close your eyes and imagine you’re in a beautiful park and the music loud and completely surrounds and goes through you. Well try anyway.

Rokia Traore appeared last on Stage 1 and I’m so glad I hung around for this. JJ was playing a friend’s DS so he was happy and this woman was so worth it. Her voice is amazing and her dancing just made me feel so unfit. This song is quite slow, but she did a real mix.

I love ska and Ska Cubano were great and they just make you want to get up and dance.

Chemical Brothers fans will recognise this one from Speed Caravan. When I heard it I was on my way back from the loos and I started walking just that bit faster while swaying my hips. Cool version of Galvanize. Unfortunately this one has no visuals, but it was the best sounding one I could find.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performed also. I missed him but apparently he was awesome. A friend has since lent me his CD to listen to which I haven’t yet had the chance but I can’t wait.

Sa Dingding had one of the the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard. She even sang a song in a made up language. Her dancers were great too and they incorporated fans into their dance routine.

The below clip will give you an idea of what else goes on at Womad in addition to what’s on stage.

One night at Womadelaide

March 7, 2009 by Jen

Regular, long time readers of this website probably know that I love Womadelaide and usually get there in one form or another every year. Here’s the proof from 2008 and if you’re really keen you can get to other years’ wrap-ups from that post.

The last couple of times I’ve been to Womadelaide, it’s been really dusty which plays havoc with my sinuses and has made the experience a lot less enjoyable.

Get a load of the amount of dust from this photo from last year. People were walking around with kerchiefs over their face to try and keep the dust out.

For this reason I’d decided some time ago to only go on the Friday night, but of course it’s rained this week and it’s a bit cooler so the dust probably won’t be a problem this weekend. Aaarrrggghh!

I went along last night and had a total blast. Sorry Jeanie, you’ll have to live vicariously through me. We walked into Botanic Park to be greeted by Strange Fruit. I have to include a photo as it will give you some idea of what they do. Unfortunately you can’t see them in motion, see their facial expressions or hear the music. It’s really clever and I absolutely loved it and this was only the beginning of the evening.

photo credit: rogiro

While watching Strange Fruit I bumped into a friend who was covering the event and she recommended seeing ‘The Black Jesus Experience‘. So we did. They ‘…fuse an exciting blend of traditional Ethiopian song with Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop.

Other standouts from the evening were Tony Allen – afrobeats, Speed Caravan – Cairo meets Chemical Brothers (my description this time), Natacha Atlas, and Sa Dingding who has an absolutely amazing voice and some great dancers.

Womad is normally very friendly and the atmosphere is warm and embracing. With the odd waft of sweet pot smoke, huge lineups for organic donuts from Byron Bay (why you’d bother is beyond me) and recyclable food containers etc it’s the type of festival it’s great to take kids to and you’re pretty sure they’ll be absolutely safe there. When JJ was two or three I did lose him for 15 minutes or so which made me panic because I didn’t know where to start looking for him but I didn’t fear for his safety.

But then there’s odd little incidents that just make you shudder. Sa Dingding – mentioned above – was very popular and she’s more of a sit down show so we were sitting down near the edge of where people were standing up. Nearby was a group of young men being a bit rowdy and the punters near us weren’t happy with it at all. One woman asked them politely to move away if they wanted to talk. They carried on however. Then another woman said ‘why don’t you French people just fuck off.’ I just felt really embarrassed she’d said this. For a start we’re at a World Music and Dance festival, and secondly it’s very racist. I actually don’t think they were French, but Algerian, and they were probably performing at Womad. I just hope they didn’t understand her. It didn’t stop them talking, and after a little while they moved away and all was back to normal.

This was the only occurrence of something a bit seedy that happened all evening.

I wish now that I’d bought a weekend pass. I’d go and see Paprika Balkanicus, Kaki King, Bedouimn Jerry Can Band, Ska Cubano, Neil Finn perhaps, and stumble across other great acts.