G'day all. Well, finally, after all this time, the dream's been realised: Belle & Sebastian on home turf. And it just about lived up to what we were all hoping for, I reckon. I'm not sure it was *quite* as amazing as the last time I saw them (Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, May 2002), but that's probably at least partly because that was also the first time I'd seen them, which always tinges one's view somewhat. I'm not good at this whole "reporting back" thing, and I don't have a setlist or anything, so forgive me if my impressions are all a bit jumbled. Firstly, the venue. They played down at the Palais in St Kilda, which is one of my least favourite parts of town, but the venue itself was a beautiful old theatre, which the band themselves, and most of the punters, seemed to really like. Except it was cold in there. Really cold. Perhaps that was to make them feel at home - I'm not sure. They started off a bit wonkily, I'm afraid. Stuart and Chris both owned up to making a lot of mistakes, but I'm sure they weren't the only ones. The first few songs were shaky, and the atmosphere in the room was terrible. Everyone was sitting perfectly still, and it was starting to look like it might be a bit of a long night. Stuart forgot most of the words to I'm Waking Up To Us, and my missus (bless 'er) said "that's alright, Stuart - I don't think your recent songs are that memorable, either." There were a couple of good tunes in the early going, though, including Pastie and Slow Graffiti, which I didn't really expect to hear. A pleasant surprise. The first song they really nailed was Don't Leave The Light On Baby, which seemed to warm the audience up properly for the first time, although they didn't really spring to life until The Boy With The Arab Strap, at which point it seemed the gig really turned a corner, and everything was going to be alright. They played a couple off Tigermilk (My Wandering Days Are Over and I Don't Love Anyone), which were two of the better songs of the night. IDLA was thanks to a group of people down the front who'd made a spiffy banner requesting the song. They were asked up on stage during that song, in order to prance around and wave the banner about a bit. Fair enough. We got a fair bit of stuff off DCW, including: Dear Catastrophe Waitress Step Into My Office, Baby If You Find Yourself Caught In Love Piazza, New York Catcher I'm A Cuckoo Asleep On A Sunbeam Stay Loose I think we also got You Don't Send Me, but I can't quite remember. So that's most of them. I think everyone was a bit surprised that we didn't get Wrapped Up In Books or Your Cover's Blown, actually. I was pleased they didn't attempt Roy Walker, but disappointed not to hear If She Wants Me, which is the best of the new material, I reckon. I think I was expecting a bit more of a Greatest Hits show, as they've not been here before, but (as was rightly pointed out to me by Sinister's very own Lawrence Mikelsen, one of nature's gentlemen) the new stuff sort of suits the way the band plays live these days a bit better anyway. It all made sense on the night. Most of the new songs were delivered really well, with special mention going to Asleep On A Sunbeam. It was an absolute pearler. Off IYFS we got Seeing Other People and Judy And The Dream Of Horses, which I think were the only two. Both were fairly tidy renditions, if memory serves. And off TBWTAS I think we only got Simple Things and The Boy With The Arab Strap. For my money, those were actually the best two songs of the night, with the possible exception of the encore, which I'll get to a bit later. As for FYHCYWLAP, I already mentioned Don't Leave The Light On, Baby, and I think the only other song we got was The Wrong Girl. And it stank. Something just didn't work about it live - it was the worst song of the night by a mile (and I really like the recorded version), and the only genuine stinker. I think the only song they played off of Storytelling was that harmonica thing that Stevie does. They opened with it. I can never remember what it's called. EP songs included Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie, Jonathan David, I'm Waking Up To Us, Slow Graffiti and Legal Man. Oh, and Lazy Line Painter Jane, which was the encore. They were going to play something else, but I think someone over on the other side of the theatre was shouting for LLPJ, and Stuart acquiesced. And he got a bunch of loons up on the stage, including one girl who claimed to be able to sing Monica Queen's parts. Actually I think her friends volunteered her. I couldn't really hear. In any case, it turns out that she/they was/were actually right! She was only a little waif of a thing, but she absolutely nailed it. It's not an easy song to sing (we've all had a crack at it in the shower - admit it), but I reckon she was all over it. Kudos. Then, when the stage invaders were wandering off, Stuart grabbed hold of one of them and gave her a kiss on the cheek, and started talking to her. He then announced that it was the girl from the cover of LLPJ, and seemed surprised to see her. I'm not sure if he was telling the truth or just on the pull. He took her backstage, in any case. Best of luck to him. Oh, and the novelty cover was a bit of a weird one. They took ages to decide, and I don't think they'd heard of many of the classic Oz Rock tunes that people were shouting out. Someone asked for the Stones, though, which set Stevie off, so that's what we got. They made a pretty good fist of Under My Thumb, in the end. I was particularly impressed with how quickly Chris figured out his part, which didn't sound very easy. He was playing a Glockenspiel or a Xylophone or something. One of those ones you hit with little wooden sticks. I can never remember the difference. As for the band: Stuart was actually fairly personable, if a little embarrassing at times. I guess that's part of his charm, though, eh? His voice actually seems to have gotten even better, but his dancing hasn't. Stevie is, like, totally the man. Stage presence, rock moves, and that occasional bit of jittery leg thing that he does to let you know that he's *really* into it. And as far as his voice and his guitar playing goes, I don't think he dropped a stitch all night. No complaints here. When the band implodes, his'll be the side-project to keep an eye on, I reckon. Sarah was on fine form, I reckon. She seems to be able to play any instrument she picks up, and her voice was spot-on. She still looks a little nervous sometimes, like when she fiddles with her water bottle while singing, but there's no need for it. Asleep On A Sunbeam was one of the high points of the night - no question. Richard only ever seems to use about half his kit, and grimaces a lot, but he gets the job done. He was the quiet achiever of the night. Chris really impressed me, actually, and not just because he shaved his moustache off. When he was done, I'm pretty sure those ivories *stayed* tickled. Mick's another one of these annoying sorts who seems to be able to play anything he picks up, including bass guitar and a couple of different sorts of horns. I tried to play the trumpet once, and it's fucking impossible. He also seems like kind of a cool guy. I'd have a beer with him. Oh, and he sometimes has to shake one of those little plastic eggs, and he looks so *serious* about it. He even had to shake a large one in one hand (more like an orange than an egg, really), and a small one in the other hand, and had a different tempo going for each. I reckon that's pretty hard to do. Hats off, Mick. Which leaves Bob. I remember reading something that the band or one of their elected representatives said about replacing Stuart David, and it was something fairly dismissive along the lines of "playing bass isn't exactly rocket science", which made me think that this new Bob character might just be a bit of a monkey, hired for his long locks and tight jeans. Not so. He actually had it going on, I reckon. And not just on the bass. He played the strummy guitar bits on Piazza, and he also plays the noodly guitar wig-out in Stay Loose. Who knew? He's a bit of a dark horse, that one. Oh - one last thing: it's just as well that football (soccer) is Stuart's sport of choice. He and Stevie were trying to be slick at one point, and play a bit of catchie with a tambourine. They both fucked it up royally. And to think, Stuart referred to our national sport, and Melbourne's official religion (the AFL) as "Gay-FL". It's just as well B&S fans are all pasty, twee weaklings. If he'd have said that in any other room in Melbourne that night, the clumsy sod would have had his shit fucked up, I reckon. Bulk love, -Vanilla Flavoured David. PS: Apologies if this posts twice - I posted this a while back, and it seems not to have gone through, so I'm trying again. PPS: Okay, that was ages ago, and I'm going to try it again now, from my old email account. Perhaps it's gmail that sinister's having problems with. Other people seem to be posting and replying to each other in real time. Peter Miller said: "We haven't had much Reporting Back from Australia." Well, I'm trying, dood. I've been trying for the past couple of days. Bloody stupid Internet. Fingers crossed that this one goes through. If you lot get this three times: tough titty. Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+