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Best show EVAH
Oct. 1st, 2007 11:48 pmLast night I went to a show featuring Shapeshifter, a kiwi group, and it was just fantastic... once it started. I had a moment or two of concern when I thought that perhaps I was disgruntled about a midnight start time for the main act because I'm getting middle-aged. But no, I remember hating any shows that started after 9pm when I was in my 20s as well.
I had spent most of the weekend hanging out with the CDL and the Bear doing doggie stuff, which was fun. But I ran off early yesterday afternoon because I wanted to be up in Sydney for the show - I didn't want to miss anything (I tried ringing the venue to get a start time for the main act, but the buggers didn't answer their phone).
After driving up to Sydney way too fast, checking into my accommodation, and stuffing some dinner down my throat, I was at the venue by 9pm (doors opened at 8:30). Some nice roots reggae on the soundsystem. That was ok. Then an act came on - two white chicks doing ragga, which was ok if you're not like me and bored to tears by ragga after about two songs. They did a couple of sets. My feet were killing me, by this time. It must be said for drugs (of which I had none, alas) is that not only do they enhance musical experiences and stop you from being bored by boring ragga, they also generally stop you feeling conscious of the aching-feet problem. *sigh*. Then a D/J came on at 11, and did a full bloody hour of fairly generic DnB, although he did some good mixing, and it was a nice pulsating sound.
When he was finishing up, I wandered around a bit more, and found an upstairs area where I could sit and rest my feet, just in time for Shapeshifter to start... and of course I couldn't see them without standing. I have to confess that I couldn't get up at all for the first song, but once they started up with one of my faves (Long White Cloud), I got my second wind and I got up and started stomping with rest of them. Fucking awesome bass - sometimes you get that thing where you want to hump the speakers with the throb of the bass, but really, you didn't need the goddamn speakers to get that going with the sound they had - I could feel it vibrating my hair.
Shapeshifter are four geek guys with synths, drums, guitar (and a sax!) and they use Dallas Tamaira (aka Joe Dukie) as their vocalist most of the time. Their music is breakbeat - heavily DnB and dub influenced, but with big soul and funk flavours. It's a combination I love. They were awesomely tight live, and it's cute seeing rhythmic geek boys noodling around the stage with their synths. The lyrics for their songs are pretty good too, for electronica - lots of nature imagery.
A selection of YouTubey goodness - Long White Cloud, Bring Change, When I Return (featuring Ladi6, one of NZ's best female vocalists - it's a very "poly" song for me), and Electric Dream (this was one of my least favourite of theirs, but it was fucking awesome live). Of course, none of these compressed tracks give you the true bass feel, alas.
While the venue was just average in general, it was a good crowd, I wasn't the oldest person there, everyone went off with dancing and cheering (someone was even throwing a glowstick around in an ironic gesture - no-one was wielding them seriously), and the bogan-boy element was quite low. Not so many of the natty-dredded kind as there would be in NZ, but there were a few and it felt very homelike. Also, I didn't have to queue more than two minutes for the loos. :-)
So, it was well worth the wait till midnight (although starting earlier would have been way better), and the 3 hour drive to and from Syd, and the 6 hours sleep. And hey, I got to dance and wave my hands in the air for the first time in about 5 years. Yay that!
It was also nice getting home and having dinner and drinks with the CDL and her Bear. The perfect end to a perfect weekend. :-D
I had spent most of the weekend hanging out with the CDL and the Bear doing doggie stuff, which was fun. But I ran off early yesterday afternoon because I wanted to be up in Sydney for the show - I didn't want to miss anything (I tried ringing the venue to get a start time for the main act, but the buggers didn't answer their phone).
After driving up to Sydney way too fast, checking into my accommodation, and stuffing some dinner down my throat, I was at the venue by 9pm (doors opened at 8:30). Some nice roots reggae on the soundsystem. That was ok. Then an act came on - two white chicks doing ragga, which was ok if you're not like me and bored to tears by ragga after about two songs. They did a couple of sets. My feet were killing me, by this time. It must be said for drugs (of which I had none, alas) is that not only do they enhance musical experiences and stop you from being bored by boring ragga, they also generally stop you feeling conscious of the aching-feet problem. *sigh*. Then a D/J came on at 11, and did a full bloody hour of fairly generic DnB, although he did some good mixing, and it was a nice pulsating sound.
When he was finishing up, I wandered around a bit more, and found an upstairs area where I could sit and rest my feet, just in time for Shapeshifter to start... and of course I couldn't see them without standing. I have to confess that I couldn't get up at all for the first song, but once they started up with one of my faves (Long White Cloud), I got my second wind and I got up and started stomping with rest of them. Fucking awesome bass - sometimes you get that thing where you want to hump the speakers with the throb of the bass, but really, you didn't need the goddamn speakers to get that going with the sound they had - I could feel it vibrating my hair.
Shapeshifter are four geek guys with synths, drums, guitar (and a sax!) and they use Dallas Tamaira (aka Joe Dukie) as their vocalist most of the time. Their music is breakbeat - heavily DnB and dub influenced, but with big soul and funk flavours. It's a combination I love. They were awesomely tight live, and it's cute seeing rhythmic geek boys noodling around the stage with their synths. The lyrics for their songs are pretty good too, for electronica - lots of nature imagery.
A selection of YouTubey goodness - Long White Cloud, Bring Change, When I Return (featuring Ladi6, one of NZ's best female vocalists - it's a very "poly" song for me), and Electric Dream (this was one of my least favourite of theirs, but it was fucking awesome live). Of course, none of these compressed tracks give you the true bass feel, alas.
While the venue was just average in general, it was a good crowd, I wasn't the oldest person there, everyone went off with dancing and cheering (someone was even throwing a glowstick around in an ironic gesture - no-one was wielding them seriously), and the bogan-boy element was quite low. Not so many of the natty-dredded kind as there would be in NZ, but there were a few and it felt very homelike. Also, I didn't have to queue more than two minutes for the loos. :-)
So, it was well worth the wait till midnight (although starting earlier would have been way better), and the 3 hour drive to and from Syd, and the 6 hours sleep. And hey, I got to dance and wave my hands in the air for the first time in about 5 years. Yay that!
It was also nice getting home and having dinner and drinks with the CDL and her Bear. The perfect end to a perfect weekend. :-D
