Burleigh Brewing Co - 28 70's Style Pale Ale

Number 32 of the Local Taphouses Top 100 Australian Craft Beers.

This is a very similar to the Hassle Hop but a bit smoother and not quite as sharp.   As far as Pale Ales go this is an unspectacular one. 

6/10

Burleigh Brewing Co - Hassle Hop Pale Ale

Number 38 of the Local Taphouses Top 100 Australian Craft Beers. 

This is an interesting beer.  It's fruity and creamy with a really pleasant vanilla note to it.  I really enjoyed this one.  It's not too exciting but it is a really solid beer thats enjoyable start to finish.

7/10

Young Henry's "Brew Am I" American Pale Ale

To celebrate 20 years of You Am I Young Henry's released Brew Am I.  It's quite an investment at $28. So is it any good?

The beer is fruity and smooth.  It has a tart opening note.  With stone fruit in the background.  I think that it would be a good food beer.  With something light like fish or cheese.  It's not an everyday beer but it is an enjoyable drop.

7/10

Flight Of The Conchords – The Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney 6th July 2012

When I first moved to Wellington, many years ago, I would see Peter Jackson walking around in shorts and Jandals.  I was a fan of Peter Jacksons Bad Taste and it was a very surreal experience.  A kiwi I had seen on TV and who had actually managed to break out of New Zealand.  I had a similar experience with Flight of the Conchords.  I remember seeing bits and pieces on TV and in Magazine and then I would see Jemaine Clement walking around but I never saw Flight of the Conchords, live until now.

The Sydney Entertainment Centre was packed and everyone was ready to have a good time.  The night began with a short stand up set by Arj Barker.  Arj is interesting in that he has a tendency to telegraph jokes but still manages to pull them off.  There were a number of laughs and it got everyone ready for when he introduced The Flight Of The Conhords. 

They came out with a bang opening their set with “Too Many Dicks on the Dancefloor”.  Decked out in homemade helmets and silvers jumpsuits they moved and sang along with sampled backing rocking the room in quite an unexpected way.  They used the same suits for the following tune “Robots” before changing into their regular stage gear.  The main setup for the show was the two Conchords on acoustic guitar and vocals with backing coming from an interesting looking gent called Nigel who played cello but also played Keyboards and drums when needed.

The problem with live comedy songs are that you know the punch lines and allot don’t have any replay value.  But FOTC’s songs are different as they are really good songs.  With a little tweaking of the lyrics here the songs sounded fresh in a live setting.  Of the existing material The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room), Hurt Feelings, I'm Not Crying and a super funky Business Time were the highlights.

FOTC played three new songs during their set.  “Fuck On The Ceiling” which was ok but fell quite short. 

“The Summer of 1353” was the best of the three.  An English folk song about “Wooing a Lady” and all the things that need to be done to get ready to do this.  The song was great and had really strong melodies and backing, in particular Jemaine’s guitar.  I Really want to hear a fully realised studio version of this track.

“Back On The Road” was a song that tied together allot of the stories mentioned in the between song banter.  It even included the punch line to a joke setup midway through the set regarding a fish and a groupie.  Clever stuff.

It was a great night when everyone was out for a good laugh and a good time which Flight Of The Conchords delivered.

I like the fact that a kiwi comedy duo has managed to get so much success.  But also know their limits in particular when they turned down a third season of their HBO series.  Lets hope that they can get their rumoured Movie together and give us some more new tunes to enjoy.

Flight Of The Conchords Setlist:

Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor

Robots

The Most Beautiful Girl (in the Room)

Fuck on the Ceiling

Think About It

Jenny

Bus Driver's Song

Hurt Feelings

The Summer of 1353

Carol Brown

I'm Not Crying

Inner City Pressure

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

Song for Epileptic Dogs

Business Time

Bowie

Demon Woman

Back On The Road

Albi the Racist Dragon

We're Both in Love With a Sexy Lady

Sugalumps

Eddie Spaghetti – The Sandringham Hotel, Sydney 29th June 2012

I saw the Supersuckers nearly 4 years ago at the Annandale Hotel and it is still one of best shows I have been to.  Allot of that had to do with front man Eddie Spaghetti who has 100% belief that his band are that absolute shit. 

This was still present at Eddie's solo acoustic show at the Sando in Newtown on a chilly Friday night.  The way the show worked was interesting in that beyond opener “I Gotta Get Drunk” and possibly closer “Born With A Tail” the setlist was made up on the spot via audience requests.  It was a really fun way of building a set in a small club setting and got everyone involved in the show.  It also gave those in attendance the chance to hear what they really wanted to hear.  The setlist ended up leaning heavily toward the more Country material of the Supersuckers “Must’ve Been High” album and Eddie's Solo tunes. 

Many times the audience was brought in to provide backing vocals or even shared lead vocals as in the case of “Hungover Together”.  “Hungover Together” was requested but Eddie said he would only play it if someone did Kim Deal's part and one female members of the audience did just that.  She did a great job even making up lyrics when she forgot the last set of lyrics.  Both "Killer Weed" and "Non-Addictive Marijuana" included extended chorus sections which had the audience singing along with Eddie. 

Other highlights on the night for me were "Barricade" (with Eddie asking the audience to “pretend I’m Eddie Van Halen in 1984” during the bridge, the just plain cool “Sleepy Vampire” (a highlight during the Supersuckers show I saw), Ween's “Piss Up A Rope” and the infectious “Pretty Fucked Up”. 

This show was a hell of a lot of fun and I think everybody in attendance had a blast.  I know I sure did.  Cha cha cha!

Eddie Spaghetti Setlist:

I Gotta Get Drunk

Double Wide

Barricade

Hungover Together

Roadworn And Weary

Misery And Gin

Little Ol' Wine Drinker Me

Dead In The Water

Sleepy Vampire

Mudhead

One Cigarette Away

Killer Weed

Non-Addictive Marijuana

Creepy Jackalope Eye

Jesus Never Lived on Mars

Breaking the Law

Bloody Mary Morning

Piss Up A Rope

Carry Me Home

Pretty Fucked

Born With A Tail

Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & Sufjan Stevens – “Planetarium” Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Sydney 29th May 2012

Planetarium is a new piece by Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly & Sufjan Stevens commissioned for the 2012 Vivid Festival.  The piece is based on the planets in the Solar System plus The Sun, The Moon and the recently exiled Pluto.  The core three is joined by a live Drummer, String Quartet and Seven Trombones under the glow of a glowing orb representing the subject planet. 

The first half of the program featured The Orava String Quartet playing pieces written by Dessner, Muhly & Stevens.  Nico’s Diacritical Marks composition comprised of 8 fairly short pieces and to be blunt was uninteresting.  The players really didn’t seem comfortable with the material and there seems to be no real passion in their playing.  Sufjan’s Run Rabbit Run on the other hand flowed allot better and had the kind of melodic highs found in Sufjan’s music.  The three pieces flowed really nicely and were an interesting listen.  Brynce’s Aheym was very heavy in comparison to the others compositions.  Kind of like Heavy Metal on strings.  Probably not as successful as Sufjan but still an interesting piece of music.

After a short interval the group formed on the stage with Sufjan in the centre, Nico to the Left and Bryce to the right.  The sound of Planetarium is very much in the Space Rock zone.  The backing is quite lush and at times quite electronic but allot of the colour of the piece comes from Sufjan’s vocals.  For the most part his vocals are affected by vocoders, autotuners and other effects adding a other worldly feel.  It is quite exciting to hear vocals played live as an instrument.  The more dynamic and heavier tunes were the most interesting tracks with the epic Mars and Mercury as the highlights.  Pluto may have been booted from the Solar System but the groups tribute was heartbreaking.  A slow and haunting tune that reflected the loneliness of being at the edge of the universe.  Each tune seemed fitting to the planet that were their inspired by and as a piece Planetarium was a major success.  Lets hope that we get the a recording of this very soon.  

    

The Orava String Quartet Setlist:

Diacritical Marks (in eight movements) by Nico Muhly

Run Rabbit Run i: Year of the Boar by Sufjan Steven

Run Rabbit Run ii: Year of the Horse by Sufjan Steven

Run Rabbit Run iii: Year of our Lord by Sufjan Steven

Aheym by Bryce Dessner

Planetarium Setlist:

Neptune

Jupiter

Venus

Uranus

Mars

The Sun

Pluto

The Moon

Saturn

Earth

Mercury

Encore:

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Tim Rogers – The Stable, Griffin Theatre, Sydney 03rd May 2012

This show was an encore of sorts to a performance of  “The Story of Mary Maclane by Herself”, a play Tim is currently acting in and providing music to.  I had been keen to check the play out and when this and two other solo shows were announced the 3^rd of May shows were picked. 

Tim arrived on the Stable stage in a relaxed version of his costume from the nights play.  Tonight’s set was focusing on new tracks from Tim’s soon to be released solo album “Bring Me Scissors You Lazy Bastard” (this may not be the final title).  Armed with a two acoustics the new songs were quite laidback and restrained, almost Alt Country.  Two songs from Tim’s Saligia show “Walking Past the Bars” and “Sins of the Father” have been reworked and are sounding better than they did in their previous incarnations.  “I Didn't Plan To Be Here Either” was first up and sounded like it would fit comfortably on Tim’s "Spit Polish" album.   “Part-time Dad’s” as a quirky number that has a fantastic chorus with a Nick Drake or Rodriguez feel to it.  Nice tune with some trademark comedic lyrical twists.  “Spark and Fold” reminded me of “Get Drunk, Ring Your Friends” of the "Dress Me Slowly" bonus disc.  It’s an upbeat tune that waits quite a while to bring out the chorus which again was fantastic.  “FJ Holden” is a quiet number and an ode to Tim’s father who owned an FJ Holden back in the day.  The lyrics are very personal in places in particular one line “I never planned to be a divorced Dad too”.  A really sweet song.  “Wish You Were Here” is a song that Tim wrote for the film of the same name and is sung by Megan Washington on the soundtrack.  Although it’s not on the new record Tim gave it a spin.  The song is very stripped back and slow.  A nice tune but Tim struggled vocally on this one.  “All Or Nothing This Time” is a slow bluesy tune.  The song has a slow build and includes the fantastic line “We both burst like geyers”.  The final of the new songs “Driving At Night” is the first single from the new album and is the most different of the songs.  The song has a Rolling Stones feel to it and is a mid paced rocker.  The melody reminded me of the title track from Tim’s previous album “The Luxury of Hysteria”.  I’m looking forward to hearing this one on the album.  A really fun tune.

 The rest of the set was a selection of older tunes.  “Older Guys”, “Weeds” and “Trigger Finger” were all great but the highlight was “The Loneliest Folk In The World”.  This was a request from the audience and was a song that Tim’s hadn’t played in a while so he wasn’t sure he could remember it all.  He started off well but the more he got into the song he struggled with the lyrics.  But luckily the gent who had requested it was there to feed him the lines which was fantastic.  It was like a collective achievement when he actually finished the song.  A real show of class from Mr Rogers. 

In a venue that only holds 100 people this was a real treat for a Tim Rogers fan like myself.  Keep it up Timmy.

Tim Rogers Setlist:

I Didn't Plan To Be Here Either

Walking Past the Bars

Part-time Dads

Spark and Fold*

FJ Holden

Sins Of The Father

Wish You Were Here*

Older Guys

Dinosaurs

Paragon Cafe

Weeds

All Or Nothing This Time*

Driving At Night

The Loneliest Folk In The World

Time And Distance

Trigger Finger

* Unsure of song title