Wilco with Glenn Richards (16/04/07, The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley)

After a great deal of contemplation I bit the bullet and went along to this gig. What a fantastic experience! It was definitely worth being broke over, in my true indie ways “music over food”.

Glenn RichardsThis was a great treat to see Glenn Richards (from Augie March) perform a solo acoustic set. Glenn was pretty nervous as he hadn’t played a live show in a while especially solo in front of so many people for quite sometime. Glenn performed most of the Augie March hits, and a song which he wrote a number of years ago and had been trying to get it on the last few albums (and hopes it will make it on the next one). After Glenn Richards performed Mother Greer he was glad for it to be over as he told the audience his fingers where doing one thing and his head another. Glenn ended the set abruptly by stopping mid song (approx. 30 seconds left) just before the vocals were about to go up, and said something to the affect, “yeah that’ll do … See ya, you have been great”, and walks off stage. Mixing was up to the usual high standard I expect from The Tivoli.

Performance 8
Technical 9


Wilco

Wilco’s Indie/Alternative/Acoustic Rock sound has just as much variety as that description allows for. And, this gig did not disappoint, as Wilco performed a set that spanned over their entire discography. What a rare treat for Brisbane, for Wilco to kick off their massive world tour, for the then soon to be released “Sky Blue Sky” album. Jeff Tweedy apologised upfront if they were a bit rusty as this was their first live show in quite a while. The first thing you notice about a Wilco gig is that you get two shows in one. You naturally get Wilco at their best (live) and a Jeff Tweedy comedy commentary which runs throughout the set. Apparently we were all pirates, but that may have had something to do with the fact that half the audience was singing along word for word to the officially unreleased tracks on “Sky Blue Sky”. Jeff Tweedy made a comment, “As some of you may or may not know our album was leaked onto the internet”. Here is the huge set list which includes the not one but two encores and lasted for over 2 hours.

You are my face
Break your heart
Muzzle of bees
Handshake drugs
Shot in the arm
Impossible Germany
Sky blue sky
Airline to heaven
Ashes
War on war
At least
Jesus
Theologians
Walken
I’m the man

Have it here
Humming bird
California starts
The late greats
Kingpin

HMD
Spiders
Passenger side

One side highlight was when Jeff Tweedy shot down this guy in the crowd who stated he was from San Francisco and Jeff told him that they came here to get away from that [I assume loud Americans]. The mixing and lighting was both excellent. I really hope Wilco return to Australia soon.

Performance 9.5
Technical 9

Gomez with The White Buffalo, and The Panda Band (11/04/07, The Tivoli, Fortitude Valley)

The Panda Band

I was completely ignorant to The Panda Band and there music before this gig. The Panda Banda are an interesting mix of Indie, Pop and Rock. Although their live shows lean a lot more towards the Indie Rock side of things, because lets face it we would all love to be rock stars. The Panda Band had a great energy on stage and you could genuinely see that all these guys get along really well with each other. The set in my opinion was fairly unpolished and raw, which would I normal get right into, (especially since so much of today’s music is over-produced/edited removing all the imperfections and emotion into an over-worked generic mix). For some reason I just didn’t really get into The Panda Band. It may have had something to do with the mixing especially towards the beginning of the set. There was simply too much vocal, which somewhat got sorted out by a slightly inexperienced or partially deaf sound tech by pushing everything else up, instead of bringing the vocal down. I have said it before and I will say it again, louder is NOT always better. I do believe that The Panda Band will be become one of the many great Aussie indie bands, but holding no more than a fistful of major mainstream (commercial) hits. (Prove me wrong boys, by all means)

Performance 7
Technical 7


The White Buffalo

The thing I like about going to Gomez gigs is that I am usually exposed to new artists and music that I wouldn’t have normally discovered on my own. The White Buffalo performs solo acoustic rock with a twist of country, heavily driven by his outstanding vocals. I wouldn’t ordinarily listen to this kind of music but I did quite enjoy it. The White Buffalo has a huge presents in the room, both in stature and musically (it’s almost a commanding presents). He purely gets an extra 0.5 on his performance as he said motherfuckers during his between song banter. Technically, the sound was pretty good though out the set, not much was done in the way of lighting, but anything else would have distracted from the overall performance.

Performance 7.5
Technical 9


Gomez

What more can I say about Gomez that hasn’t already been said. You don’t ever want a Gomez gig to end, because you are having too much fun and so are they. I always leave a Gomez gig with a huge smile on my face that probably looks totally ridiculous. All your problems melt away when these guys perform and you leave the gig left wondering what had you so worried or annoyed to begin with. I quite often listen to Gomez after a difficult day a work.

Here's the setlist, in somewhat jumbled order.

Revolutionary Kind
Hamoa Beach
Love is Better Than A Warm Trombone
These 3 Sins
See the World
Here Comes the Breeze
Cry on Demand
Notice
We Haven't Turned Around
Girlshapedlovedrug
Detroit Swing 66
Charley Patton Songs
Get Myself Arrested
Blue Moon Rising
Hangover
Devil Will Ride

Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol
Rnb
How We Operate

My personal highlights were Detroit Swing 66 probably one of my first favorite Gomez songs, and first time I have seen it performed live. Get Myself Arrested and Hangover as always, the crowd loves these ones everyone sings along. The huge jams in Girlshapedlovedrug, Charlie Patton Songs and an excellent extended version How We Operate with a cappella intro. My only slight disappointment was that Gomez didn’t perform In Our Gun, which would be my overall favourite Gomez song and is awesome performed live.

The lighting was fantastic throughout the set and the mixing was up to the usual high standard that I have come to expect from The Tivoli. These guys have so much fun and it is just as fun to watch, if you haven’t seen Gomez live yet, you must. Gomez is a band that just keeps on getting better and better.

Performance 10
Technical 9.5