2000/2004

2000

I can only recall 2 major events in 2000. The First was Culture Club and the Village People and Psuedo Echo. It was Saturday 26 February at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. It was a strange mix of crowd and an interesting concert. Psuedo Echo were indeed the standout of the group - truly!! That did not mean the others were bad, just Pseudo Echo were really good...really!! It was like their music was ahead of its time and time had caught up, cannot explain it anymore than that, but there you have it. The Village People were the dodgy part of the concert, they sounded ok, looked ok and were just a little bit too old and too sad, having said that it was The Village People (well possibly only some of them!) and we did do the YMCA!!!! Culture Club were good, but I was disappointed, they should have been better. George's voice was excellent, but this is a man who really does have a better than excellent voice, so that was a shame and it seemed the band just did not have their stuff together, it was worth seeing, but a shame it could have been better!!!

The second was The Cure, Saturday 14 October, also Sydney Entertainment Centre. This was the second time I had seen The Cure and this was a shockingly bad concert, possibly the worst I have even been to. I really like The Cure and adore Robert Smith, but I suppose I gravitate more to their popier tunes, and as much as I appreciate their more goth/let's slit our wrists and cut our throats tunes, I would prefer the 'healthy' mix of both, which is what I got at their previous concert. This concert, was goth, goth, goth all the way...in fact it was too much goth for the goths. Each song, drearily melded into the next, you really could not tell which one started and which one ended, I was bored out of my freakin' mind! I looked around and noticed a lot of empty seats (that had not been empty earlier) and a hell of a lot of goths ASLEEP!!!! I even went for a walk part way through the concert (something I would NEVER do) and noticed lots of goths in the foyer, chatting and drinking....very bizarre. They did not play a single hit, expect for A Forest. I have no idea what was going on, none of them seemed too happy to even be on stage, I know Smith co-wrote a lot of the songs and some original members were no longer in the band, possibly he was not allowed to sing them, I dunno, after 2 hours and no end in sight, we left, no idea how long it went on afterwards and what we missed out on, all I can say it was a real shame!

2001

2001 was another quietish year. Caught Henry Rollins in April at the Civic, it was one of his spoken word tours and baring the odd bit of misogny (expected anyway) he was pretty good.

Saw the legendary Russell Morris at Wests in June, he was great, very entertaining and sounded good too. Sweet, sweet love still stands in my mind today, love that song!

In August I was in the US, and whilst I had a fabulous and entertaining time, the things I write about in this blog were few and far between. I saw a mini concert of Melissa Etheridge - quite excellent - as part of the Today Shows summer concerts. Had a tour of 30 Rock and saw the Saturday Night Live stage amongst other cool things....to this day I still remember the perky guide that led the tour, I swear to god a female version of Kenneth on the show 30 Rock - that Tina Fey she knows her stuff!!!! I stalked Lauren Bacall and Woody Allen (I knew where they lived) but no sightings...although I did meet a Woody impersonator in a bank, that was funny. I saw Robert Sean Leonard (Dead Poet's Society and House) in The Music Man - come on I am a Librarian touring America, what else would I see???? It was excellent, and I had fabulous seats, front row, middle upstairs. I hung around the stagedoor of The Producers a lot, but to no avail, tickets could not be gotten for love nor money. I attended church in Harlem, if we had cool, swingin' churches like that over here, I might just be able to find god!!!!

I toured Graceland, that was like a religion in fact, incredibly cool - one of the best days of my life (and I was not that much of an Elvis fan before). I sucked in all the talent at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, watched Shamu NOT kill anyone at Sea World in Florida, had my photo taken with Eyore at Disney World, saw Hitchcock in 3D at Universal Studios and also spent time with astronauts at Cape Canavaral. That only tips the iceberg of the trip, but pretty much sums up the entertainment aspects that I would write about here on my blog!

And I think I saw U2 in November, I have seen them about 3 or 4 times now and each blends into the other, which sounds bad, but is not. They are THE best band to see live, no other comes close - no matter how bad your seats are, you feel like Bono is singing directly to you.

2002

Mary and I enjoyed The Vagina Monologues at the Civic in April, we laughed A LOT and only blushed a little bit!

Diana and I saw Alex Lloyd and a young Eskimo Joe at Newcastle Workers Club (or whatever it was called that year). Alex was amazing (ha!) and Eskimo Joe excellent, you could tell they were going to be stars.

Bell Shakespeare hit town as usual in June, Richard III and I think my favourite production by the company, we had close seats and I am still working out how the blood appeared on an early victim!!! Excellent stuff!!!

Oasis came to Newcastle in October- unbelievable. I loved, loved, loved them, still do, but let's face it they shat on themselves didn't they? It was a great night and I loved every minute of it, truly a night to remember. Favourite songs, She's electric, Champagne Supernova!

2003

Saw a good little play at the Pan Theatre in town early Feb, a David Brown play on Lenny Bruce. Our seats were close so it was ultra intense. It was a long time ago, but I was very impressed, although Brown's plays are usually very good!

Karen and I took Dad (or he took us?) to see The Rolling Stones in Feb also - the Basketball Stadium (unsure of exact name) at Olympic Park. It was a blast, Dad is a huge fan and subsequently we are too. We prefer the earlier bluesy songs and they delivered. It was a range of songs from old to the more 'modern' ones. Keith was soooo Keef and Mick had energy that was boundless, I also thought Charlie was very refined and cool. I truly cannot remember many songs, but I recall hearing some old dude really getting into some album track (from Sticky Fingers, not a hit, cannot remember the title) and thinking boy, he must be enjoying himself, and it was Dad, that was pretty funny. The Stones can sometimes be a cliche but they really were great, and give a great show, to deliver what they did at their age is phenomenal, I know we all had a good time, and I know Dad especially did!

Amanda and I attended the Grand Prix in March - my second, we had a ball in Melbourne and enjoyed the race, cannot remember who won, probably Schmumi!

Saw The Violent Femmes again in April at Newcastle Workers Club, as always they were fantastic, always a good night out!

And on the basis of their performance with Culture Club, we saw Pseudo Echo at Club Phoenix at Mayfield, what crack up, they were really good!!!

On Friday 12 September I finally saw Lou Reed, in Newcastle at the Civic no less!! The first time I lined up for tickets and was first in line - I was impressed with myself that day!!! Lou was incredibly cool and sung everything and anything, it was on the back of his Raven stuff, so a lot of Poe to be had, but that was ok. He had a Tai Chi master on stage with him, which was a little disconcerting at times - we were close, but he sung great. Perfect Day (and Sweet Jane) was my highlight. He also had Antony from Antony and the Johnsons as a back up singer, he had the most sublime voice, as we all now know!

A few weeks later a group of us trotted over to the University and saw a performance of The Breakfast Club, the play - it was excellent, most enjoyable.

Last performance of the year was reserved for the funky cool of Prince. Friday 24 October at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and he rocked the joint, think I was on my feet for much of the night, he played everything and was loving every minute of it. This was the second time I saw him and he was as good, if not better, LOVED his purple guitar.

2004

I finally saw David Bowie on Friday 20 February at Sydney Entertainment Centre. I have been a fan of Bowie's for a long time. My first experience of him was the Ashes to Ashes filmclip on Countdown and it kinda scared me - I don't like clowns, they scare me! The first vinyl I bought with my own money was Let's Dance. Now I went with Nolene (and Vince) who is a first grade fan and seen him a zillion times!, so I was in the minor league, but I still had a marvellous time. He was the consumate performer, gorgeous, entertaining and delivered - what more can you ask!!!!

Karen and I saw Swan Lake early August, it was fabulous, it was the St Petersburg Ballet of course, and I was amazed. Our grandmother took us to a lot of similar things when we were very little, and this was our first time back at the Ballet, it was lovely!!

Late September saw me back at my old stomping ground, The Cambridge. I dragged Amanda and Rachel, who quelle horreur, had never been, I think they were a little concerned about the venue. We scored the hot seats (that back in the day we rarely got), top table at the front upper section - woo-hoo!! There was a local dude first, name escapes me, but he was great. Then the gorgeous Dave McCormack, I loved Custard, but had never seen them, Dave was funny, cute (VERY cute), entertaining and talented, he had the audience in the palm of his hand, singing all his ditties and just being Dave. He also did this pisstake of A-Ha's Take on me, which was very funny, but was one of those you had to be there moments! The main act of the night (although I would say Dave was more enjoyable!) was Tim Freedman, this was a retrospective night, just him, his stories and a grand piano - it was great, but after Dave, a little serious!

Early October brought me a first, Ultra Swing Lounge. I have mentioned them many times previous, but this first time WAS the best. The three leads are magnificent swing singers, and not only did they sing in the style, they had a Ratpack attitude to go with it, jokes, martinis and charisma. There were stories, songs, dancing and a Swinging Big Swing Band. I remember they started singing in front of a red curtain (you had no idea what to expect), and then you heard the big band (not so big sounding at that point) and then the curtains pulled back (went up??) and the band stood up and nearly deafened us, it was exhilarating and fantastic. They were all authentic and great, and somehow each time I have seen them, they have never lived up to that very first moment, the band always good, never quite packed the punch they packed that night! Nevertheless, do not miss out on this experience if you have never seen them, it is still worth it.

Later in the month the family attended Star City and were thoroughly entertained by Ben Elton's We Will Rock You. The singers, the songs, sets etc were fantastic, although I recall Dad being disappointed Ben was not there!!!

Mary and I headed off to Melbourne in November for a shopping/girly weekend, but also to see The Producers - ok it was not Broderick and Lane in NY, but it was pretty stunning nonetheless. The sets were amazing and the songs fabulous. I adore Mel Brooks, he is a true genius and has a damn good sense of humour, baudiness and all! Tom Burlinson and Reg Livermore were the leads with a cameo by Bert Newton who was hilarious. The humour is great, but really it is the songs, Springtime for Hitler is one of those bizarre little ditties you just cannot get out of your head!

I was not back long and Vince, Nolene and I headed off to The State Theatre to see Elvis Costello. A long time fan I was excited to see him, he was great and although we had seats towards the back of the theatre, his charisma reached and touched you all the same. It's great to see musicians you have respected for years and have them deliver.