Splendour In The Grass Line Up Announced

After much speculation the line-up for the 2011 Spendour In The Grass festival has been announced and it contain quite a few artsits that will be of interest to readers of this website. Probably most prominent among those will be the appearances of Coldplay and Janes Addiction, along with the return of Pulp and appearances from interesting newer artists like James Blake, The Hives, The Mars Volta and Regina Spektor.

Australian highlights include The Middle East, The Living End, Liam Finn, The Vines and Jebadiah, several of whom are now reaching the stage of being described as ‘veterans’. Strange huh?

Splendour In The Grass is held at Woodfordia site in Woodford, Queensland
Friday 29th July to Sunday 31st July

Tickets will cost $390 (inc gst) Event + $120 (inc gst) Camping + booking fees, which gains entry to the festival for 3 days, from Friday 29 July to Sunday 31 July

Tickets go on sale at 9am AEST on Thursday 5 May.

The full line-up announced is:

Coldplay (Only Australian Show)

Kanye West (Only Australian Show)

Jane’s Addiction

The Hives

Pulp

The Living End

The Mars Volta

Regina Spektor (Only Show For 2011)

Bliss N Eso

Pnau

Mogwai (Only Australian Show)

Dj Shadow

Glasvegas

The Grates

Devendra Banhart

Modest Mouse

The Middle East

Kaiser Chiefs

James Blake

Kele

The Vines

Elbow

Eskimo Joe

Noah And The Whale

Children Collide

Thievery Corporation

Cut Copy

Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan

Bluejuice

The Kills

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears (Featuring The Relatives)

Architecture In Helsinki

Foster

The People

The Panics

Friendly Fires

Jebediah

The Vaccines

Gomez

Boy And Bear

Gotye
Does It Offend You Yeah?

Cloud Control

Mona

Sparkadia

Warpaint

Muscles (Live)

Fitz And The Tantrums

The Jezebels

Drapht

British Sea Power

Tim & Jean

Leader Cheetah

Grouplove

Seeker Lover Keeper (Holly Throsby, Sally Seltmann, Sarah Blasko)

Yelle

Kimbra

Phrase

Oh Mercy

Dananananaykroyd

The Black Seeds

Marques Toliver

The Holidays

Ghoul

Liam Finn

The Herd

Young The Giant

Guineafowl

Hungry Kids Of Hungary

Jinja Safari

Wild Beasts

Illy

Cut Off Your Hands

Gareth Liddiard

Alpine

World’s End Press

Mosman Alder

Lanie Lane

Coldplay Concert Review

I wasn’t going to the second Melbourne Coldplay concert expecting to worship at the altar. In fact it’s probably fair to say that at best I was hoping to get through the experience without getting too bored and restless and dampening the enthusiasm of my lovely companion. I can be noble like that.

See, I have a confession to make – I don’t own a Coldplay album. Obviously I’ve heard their big songs on the radio and I’ve liked them enough not to change the station. But for some reason my feelings have never gone beyond ‘respectful’ and ‘mildly entertained’. It’s like I knew I ‘should’ like them more but something was getting in the way. It was probably the fact that most of their albums came out in the last decade when I struggled to like any new music. Well, not a lot anyway.

I say this, not because you should care less (both of you reading this) but in order to provide some context for the next statement.

What a bloody great concert!

Coldplay have pretty much mastered the arena show. They provide a visual feast that allows them to far exceed the inherent performance qualities of their melodically pleasing but somewhat reserved songs. The attention to detail is astounding. They come on stage in costumes that look like Ragamuffin Pirates blended with Sgt Peppers, blended with Revolutionary Civil War Soldiers. The overall effect is like Dexys Midnight Runner’s at a formal dinner. And it works – we feel like there is a show being presented.

Their instruments, from Will Champions drums to Johnny Buckland’s guitars to Chris Martin’s keyboards and even microphone are all customised with slashes of colour. It’s a small thing but it makes a big statement about their intentions.

Their use of the big screens is the best I’ve seen – the higher resolution picture quality available these days is used to full effect so that the screens become a device of intimacy and not apology. And yet there’s also a very small screen that is used to good effect.

Then there’s the props – huge yellow balls bounce around the arena for Yellow, autumn leaves/butterfly shaped confetti drops en masse later in the show for Lovers In Japan and they make use of two runways and three stages – one being located in the heart of the audience (about 5 metres from our seats as luck would have it – see Amy’s photo for proof!)

They manage to achieve what so many bands have failed to do before them – they make an arena show more intimate than a concert hall show and they do it with a catalogue of songs more suited to a smaller canvas.

Give the Production Designer a good seat on the tour bus!

For a more casual acquaintance of their music like me the show started off with a run of hits that left me wondering what I would do with myself for the next hour. Clocks, In My Place and Yellow all featured in the first few songs. The latter found Chris Martin asking the audience to sing along in the (tongue in cheek) hope that they would release the version as a single and be “bigger than U2”. This reference to the recent war of words in the British press with Bono was genuinely funny and delivered with a big smile. Martin asked the journalists in the audience not to report that comment but fortunately I’m no longer a journalist, just another wanker with a website!

The audiences finest moment vocally though was in Fix You when their massed vocal sounded great – again proving the theory that  audience sing-a-longs sound much better when there is a majority of female voices in the audience.

Chris Martin isn’t the greatest singer in rock music, but he works with what he’s got cleverly. He actually has some jazz stylings in his vocals that work really well, although one doubts he would have married a film star had he been a jazz singer. That’s a cross he seems able to bear.

He is a great performer though – he’s a frontman for a band, but he’s still very much a band member and team player. When the band adjourned to the “audience stage” for an acoustic set including Speed Of Sound and Green Eyes as well as Death Will Never Conquer sung by Will) they looks like they are playing on a tiny corner stage at a little London pub. Somehow 16000 Aussies managed to get in. And he’s not afraid to have a laugh at his own expense which surely endears him to Australian audiences.

Other highlights of the set included the title track of Viva La Vida, the cleverly re-jigged Talk and the encore song The Scientist which even I have to admit is a superbly crafted combination of words and music.

Coldplay’s performance certainly won me over in a big way.  I still wont be playing their albums as frequently as I play my old World Party records (while wistfully wondering how big they would have been if Karl Wallinger had been handed the performance charisma bestowed on Chris Martin), but Coldplay have certainly leapt up my personal rankings many places.

They hardly need another fan but, like it or not, they have one!

Sound Relief – Benefit Concerts Announced

Australia’s music community have banded together for two stadium benefit concerts scheduled to run simultaneously in both Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday March 14, 2009 under the unified banner of SOUND RELIEF.

There are some remarkable performances announced. Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors and Midnight Oil are reforming for the Melbourne show while Icehouse are reforming to play in Sydney. Jet and Wolfmother are playing both shows, crossing paths in mid-air as they fly between cities. Jack Johnson is flying in to play.

The concert is also remarkable in that it sees the reunion of Michael Chugg and Michael Gudinski.

Michael Gudinski, Managing Director of The Frontier Touring Company said;
“The Sound Relief concerts are for the survivors of the bushfires. The sad reality is that rebuilding their lives and communities will be a lengthy and costly process. It has been phenomenal seeing everyone pull together in this horrific time. Without doubt these concerts will be once in a lifetime events that will live on in the memories of everyone who attends.”

Michael Chugg, Managing Director of Chugg Entertainment said;
“Around the world, some of the words that are used to describe Australians include “big hearted”, “generous”, “battlers and “troopers”. These concerts will honour all of those characteristics of the Australian people, both those who have suffered so much through this terrible tragedy, but also saluting the heroes who fought against the fires, and the courageous people whose fight is just beginning. With the help of the Australian Music Community, these concerts hope to bring people together, not just on the hallowed turf of the MCG and SCG, but around the country as we share the joy of live music. We will remember those who have lost so much, and celebrate the heroes of this devastating story.”

Both concerts will be held in their city’s most iconic venue; in Melbourne at the MCG and in Sydney at the SCG.

Some of Australia’s most legendary artists will be joined by leading International and Domestic chart-toppers. In city by city alphabetical order the line-ups are:
MELBOURNE
Augie March
Bliss N Eso with Paris Wells
Gabriella Cilmi
Hunters & Collectors
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson with Troy Cassar-Daley
Jack Johnson
Jet
Kings of Leon
Liam Finn
Midnight Oil
Paul Kelly
Split Enz
Wolfmother

SYDNEY
Coldplay (ACOUSTIC)
Eskimo Joe
Hoodoo Gurus
Icehouse
Jet
Josh Pyke
Little Birdy
The Presets
Wolfmother
You Am I
+ more acts to be announced

The concerts will be a celebration of multiple music genres, with artists playing short sets packed with hits. Concert goers are encouraged to attend the concerts from start to finish as major artists will be spread across the bill right from the very start of the day.

Coldplay and Kings Of Leon, who both have sold out concerts on March 14 in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, have kindly donated time from their busy schedules to perform 3-4 songs in the early afternoon.

Tickets will be sold for $75 and will go on sale from Ticketek 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au on Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 9am. GA Standing on the field and reserved seating in the stands will be available for both concerts.

100% of the profits from the Melbourne concert will be donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

For the Sydney concert 50% of the profits will be donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal and 50% will be donated to The Premier’s Disaster Relief Fund Appeal in QLD to aid the victims of the Queensland floods.

Particular thanks is extended to the Victorian Premier’s Department, Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria for their magnanimous decision to move the Sheffield Shield final out of the MCG, in turn freeing this iconic venue to be used for the Melbourne Sound Relief concert on March 14.

Tickets to Sound Relief go on sale from Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au on

STOP PRESS : Midnight Oil will do two warm up shows in Canberra on March 13 and 14 at the Royal Theatre. Someone was cheeky enough to suggest that this will be the most useful thing that Peter Garrett has done in the nations capital in several years.

Coldplay Tour Announced

As predicted here Coldplay will return to Australia for the first time in two years next February as part of their Viva La Vida tour.

The album Viva La Vida has been one of the few albums in the last couple of years to sell in the kind of numbers that albums used to do and has topped the charts in Britain, Australia and the United States.

It’s fair to say that the tour is likely to be one of the bigger events in a summer already looking very heavy with major concerts.

The initial dates that have been announced cover Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, so it seems Adelaide fans will be forced to make the journey east or west. The dates are well spaced so don’t be surprised if additional dates are added once the first shows are sold out.

Perth – Burswood Dome – February 27

Melbourne – Rod Laver Arena – March 3 and 4.

Brisbane – Entertainment Centre – March 8 and 9,

Sydney -  Acer Arena – March 11 and 12.

Coldplay has not toured Australia since June 2006, when they sold out a total of ten arenas shows and played to more than 100,000 people.

A pre-sale for all shows will start at 9am local times on November 27.

Tickets go on sale to the general public via Ticketek on December 4.