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THE MAN IN BLACK / Tex Perkins / Rachael Tidd / The Tennessee Four
Regal Theatre
Saturday, August 28, 2010
“Hello, I’m Tex Perkins,” the lean, black clad figure said wryly, before launching into a killer take on Walk The Line. The mannerisms, the vocal tics were spot on; even the acoustic guitar was held in Johnny Cash’s distinctive high-port position. It was a spot-on impersonation, and you could be forgiven for thinking that was how the night was going to progress, with Tex Perkins retaining the Cash persona for the duration of the show.
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PARADES / Split Seconds / Seams
Amplifier Bar
Saturday, August 28, 2010
As any music lover will tell you, it doesn’t matter how well you can thrash or shred if it doesn’t sound good - luckily for the Saturday night crowd at Amplifier Bar, rarely did a section of Sydney art-rock quartet Parades’ set sound as if it wasn’t well thought-out and created with the intent to entertain.
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RTR RADIOTHON OPENING PARTY
The Astor Theatre
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Astor is turning into quite the hip venue these days, with its beautiful art deco interior and Beaufort Street frontage. Enough so that it was taken over by the RTR crew for the launch of the yearly Radiothon fund-raising effort. With three separate performance areas, and a surfeit of good will and good tunes, it was a fitting kick-off for RTR’s biggest week of the year.
The crowd was mostly hipsterish. There was an abundance of facial hair, a few too many ironic tee-shirts, a goodly number of Sweatless sneakers and keffiyehs adorning the crowd that thronged around the Candy Bar, easily the most popular performance area, where local DJ talent like Sardi, Ben Elliot and Mama Cass worked the decks.
Cinema Two was host to a more relaxed vibe. Kynan Tan’s exotic and surreal VJ set made a perfect backdrop to the hypnotic soundscapes generated by Gilbert Fawn, Mystic Eyes, Craig McElhinney and Rabbit Island. The small theatre became a shifting tapestry of light and sound, a perfect chill-out zone away from the manic goings-on of the main stage.
The main stage, of course, is where electronic noise terrorist and serial violator of personal space Tomás Ford was holding court. Now, Ford can rock an intimate venue like a king, and his mastery over a crowd is widely acknowledged, but there was something off about seeing him up on the main stage, isolated from his people in the crowd. His set was excellent, which is par for the course, but after years of witnessing him molest the audience at smaller gigs, it was odd feeling the sudden distance between the performer and his fans.
The Brow Horn Orchestra, however, are made for a big stage. The WAMI champs served up a set of compulsive beats and warm brassy horns, complete with backup dancers and crowd interaction. Easily the highlight of the night, they’re one act you should go out of your way to see live.
The evening was topped off by a typically warm and sassy performance from popster darlings Boys Boys Boys! to send us off into the chill night with smiles on our faces. It was a good capper on a killer line-up of local talent, and a more than adequate reminder of why RTR remains an important cultural touchstone.
_TRAVIS JOHNSON |
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DARREN HANLON
Fly By Night Club
Saturday August 21, 2010
We Australians, tend to resist the notion of ‘cultural icons’ and hero worship. If forced to pick an artist that sums up our national psyche, you might hear a few ‘Paul Kellys’, several Nick Caves’ and a couple of ‘Tim Rogers’ but it’s safe to say folk troubadour Darren Hanlon would be unlikely to top anyone’s list.
It’s a testament to Hanlon’s talent, therefore, that he was able to pull a huge crowd of punters to the Fly By Night on Saturday night, as post-election parties loomed elsewhere and storms raged outside.
With his plain spoken, un-affected Australian drawl, it’s almost impossible not to like Hanlon - not only is he modest, unassuming, and endearingly low-key (you won’t find lasers, synth-laced beats or strobe lighting at a Hanlon gig), but he’s also about as talented a musician as you’ll find.
Rolling into one another, tumbling together in a blurry buzz of melody and an emotional mix of youthful enthusiasm and world-weary melancholy, Hanlon’s two-hour performance gave prominence to new tunes from recently released fourth LP I Will Love You At All, playing through the album in its entirety with a slow-growing charm and understated grace that gradually became more powerful as the evening progressed.
The most intoxicating moment of the set came toward the end of epic eight-minute ballad House. As the music swelled to its dramatic climax, Hanlon crooned: “Oh where were the poor little ghosts of the footsteps we’d taken”, creating the kind of musical moment that pulled skin into gooseflesh, before promptly dropping off into its haunting ending. Hanlon has made a career out of these truncated attacks; he knows how to knock his audience over with transcendent harmonies, but also not to linger too long.
Although it’s clear Hanlon isn’t going to start musical revolutions, send critics into a flurry or win over any listeners who aren’t already sold on his breezy folk-pop style, then again, it’s hard to imagine that is the purpose Hanlon sets himself up for – as he exclaimed tonight he has “reached a stage in his career” where he is not creating music to “impact anyone but himself”.
Like much of what he writes about, Darren Hanlon’s music is a simple pleasure. If nothing else, Hanlon has remained a consistent presence, and his live shows still outstanding - as his fans will attest - you don’t simply listen to his music out of obligation, but instead because you are compelled to return to it, again and again.
As tonight’s performance certainly proved, depending on how much time you’re willing to give him, Hanlon might just be the best Australian artist out there today.
_JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD |
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