Sinister: Melbourne: Reporting Back (take three)

[David Hewitt]

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
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