Archive for the ‘Live Reviews’ Category

Live Review – Heart – Rod Laver Arena

I turn 49 on Tuesday. Heart’s debut album Dreamboat Annie turns 35 next February. That makes it older than my wife. It also means that for over two thirds of my life I’ve been a fan of Ann and Nancy Wilson. Now for a good part of that time it wasn’t necessarily all that cool to be a fan of Heart – partly due to the fact that punk and indie-rock and grunge and any number of other genres and... Read the full story

John Grant – The Toff In Town

I really didn’t know a lot about John Grant prior to this show. I’d read somewhere that his 2010 album Queen Of Denmark had been named Album of The Year by Mojo Magazine and thus when I saw his name pop up in the Toff In Town email newsletter, I thought I’d take a punt on a reasonably cheap ticket. I mean, Mojo Album of the Year, right? As punts go this one was better than a few of the horses... Read the full story

Leon Russell & Little Feat – The Palais

As a sideshow from the Bluesfest there probably wasn’t a great deal of flexibility about the date of this show. But there’s no doubt that having the concert on Easter Monday, in the middle of the longest of long weekends probably contributed to the relatively disappointing turnout for this remarkable pairing of legendary artists. Those who weren’t there, missed out. The first half of the Little... Read the full story

Eddie Vedder – The Palais

Eddie Vedder’s first Melbourne concert was both strangely beautiful and beautifully strange. No-one knew exactly what to expect from the show – other than it was going to be solo, largely acoustic and, certainly, a lot different to a Pearl Jam concert. And while it was all of those things, it was also a lot more. The very nature of Pearl Jam as a stadium rock act means that everything about... Read the full story

Joe Pug – The Toff In Town

Joe Pug wound up his second Australian tour with a sold out show at the Toff in Town. The audience consisted of a gathering of the faithful and some curious first-timers and both groups would have left amply gratified. While Pug’s outstanding debut album Messenger casts him as a latter day cross between Steve Earle and Steve Forbert, as a solo live act he comes across more in the Dylan mold. Now,... Read the full story

Roxy Music – Rod Laver Arena

I guess there are two types of Roxy Music fans. There are those who know singles like Same Old Scene, More Than This and Avalon; songs that, although impressive in their construction and performance, are essentially stylish fodder for commercial pop radio and which probably still feature on many ‘gold’ format radio stations. It’s not to say that they aren’t very good songs, because they are,... Read the full story

The National – Palais Theatre

Having discovered The National a lot later than some of their devotees I approached this concert with as much curiosity as anticipation. I’d listened to their latest album High Violet and been impressed, but not excited, if you know what I mean. Everything about the album was admirable – the songs were strong, the production was impeccable, the lyrics were intriguing and the vocals of lead vocalist... Read the full story

Blondie, The Pretenders – The Palais

It is a blindingly obvious thing to say but the one most apparent fact that came out of this show is that both Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde have aged both gracefully and with their credibility intact. The Pretenders and Blondie are alternating the ‘headline’ spot across this Australian tour and tonight Blondie went on first. Debbie Harry looked amazing at 65 and after sorting out a couple of... Read the full story

Seven Songs – Myer Music Bowl

Seven Songs was an ambitious and ultimately successful closing event for the Melbourne Festival. It drew together a group of diverse, revered and challenging music artists and gave them the task of selecting and performing seven songs that fulfilled a well considered set of criteria. Each artist was to perform a their first song, a song to share, a Leonard Cohen song, a song they coveted (ie that they... Read the full story

Pat Benatar, The Bangles – The Palais

Nostalgia or not nostalgia? That seems to be the theme of the concert reviews in this edition of HeyHeyMyMy. Where the success of Paul Weller’s show had nothing to do with nostalgia there was no suggestion of anyone trying to do anything else than mine their legacy in tonight’s show. Pat Benatar is 58 years old, her husband and guitarist Neil ‘Spyder’ Giraldo must be close to mid 60’s. Whatever... Read the full story

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