The Real Sydney Summer Festival {PART TWO} - Hot Chip

OMG how hot was it yesterday SYDNEY???

So Hot was the theme yesterday, the weather hit new levels, the crowd was mighty fine and the action on stage, electric!  The light show was damn trippy and the best damn light show I have ever seen for a show of this style.  GREAT!

Can I just say Hot Chip could not have done a better Greatest Hits so if they tried.  "Over and Over" completely cleared the main bar, there were fist pumps, they was jumping, it was like a madhouse and everyone forgot the heat to get loose, "Boy from School" from their second album the Warning was a nice addition to the set early on.

"Ready for the Floor" & "One Life Stand" were really popular too, it was hard to believe their first release came out in 2004, cray cray hey??

The hits from their new album were also really well received "Flutes", "Night & Day", "How Do You Do?" & "Don't Deny Your Heart", they totally aimed to please!  So amazing, the latest album "In Our Heads" which was self produced totally impressed me late last year, it was a real grower and to hear it live and sound so close to the record with live instruments, amazing.

So the Sydney live music pulse continues to be at a mega level with Sydney's Enmore Theatre again turning it up to 12, let's just hope I get through Summer without passing out and the shows remain at the M.I.A & Hot Chip standard, not too mention Nina Las Vegas sexy DJ set.

Hot Chip + 40 Degrees + Nerdy Dance Tunes = a 4 STAR HOT experience.

Till the next concert or maybe film, laters....

What's On @ the Movies - Les Misérables

- Film released in 2012 (Boxing Day Blockbuster)

So I have for a long time thought musicals don't work on the big screen, however the Sapphires, to an extent Pitch Perfect slightly changed my opinion.  Les Misérables sent me back to my original thinking. It was a good movie but it did lack that something that musicals on screen do seem to that live theatre has.

Live theatre is great when done well and when it's not it's bad so a movie can hide all this "bad stuff" as it's not live and heavily edited.  Les Misérables at the theatres would have had an interval which would have been sublime as this film clocks in at 158 minutes! FML!

Now to the actors, old Rusty has copped a lot of criticism, Adam Lambert (when I first heard his hit, "If I had You", I thought it was Mary J Blige or another similar female vocalist) has pubically criticised the actors on Twitter but really it's a fab cast and with so many people in their it's hard to point people out for being amazing and others for being terrible.  Although it's a long movie it doesn't lag (like the Hobbit - or so I hear) it moves along at a real pace and the actors do well to get through all story lines.

The main thing I was hoping for was this does well so the Miss Saigon movie gets green lit, that is truly my favourite musical and as much as this was sad but I really was not that upset by anyone in the movie.

Okay so our hometown star Hugh Jackman was impressive, Anne Hathaway was good, Amanda Seyfried man she has landed on her feet, Rusty so not that bad he was better in the Man with the Iron Fists thought (great film!), Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter were the disappointments for me & the rest of the cast all good.

So this is getting long and my attention span is short so I will sum it up, tomorrow in Sydney = 43 degrees, a movie on Tuesday costs around $11.00, three hours of cheap air con = good value and a pass mark for Les Misérables 3 death filled stars.

A Second Serving of Pitch Perfect Countdown for the First Time in 2013 - Sun 6 Jan 2013

20 - Frank Ocean - Lost




19 - Flight Facilities - Clair De Lune
18 - Disclosure - Latch



17 - Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen
16 - Birds of Tokyo - This Fire
15 - Flume - Holdin On'
14 - Chiddy Bang - Happening
13 - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Same Love
12 - Adele - Skyfall
11 - Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait
10 - Calvin Harris/Tinie Tempah - Drinking from the Bottle
9 - David Guetta/SIA - She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)
8 - Calvin Harris/Florence Welch - Sweet Nothing
7 - Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love
6 - Rudimental - Not Giving In {Feat. John Newman & Alex Clare}
5 - The Lumineers - Ho Hey
4 - Of Monsters & Men - Little Talks
3 - Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child
2 - Icona Pop - I Love it!
1 - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Thrift Shop

Welcome to 2013 and welcome to Frank Ocean to the countdown, well done old chap. And as the title suggests for today's countdown it was round two of seeing the terrific sing a long music number Pitch Perfect today. What a way to chill in the heat at the lovely cinema with big tunes and the below epic moment:



Anna Kendrick what a superstar!

See you again soon and maybe for a film review on one of Boxing Day's biggest blockbusters!

The Real Sydney Summer Festival {PART ONE} - M.I.A (and a special mention to Nina Las Vegas)

So last night @ Sydney's iconic live music venue the Enmore Theatre it was on for young + old.  On the Eve of Sydney Festival's launch the real Sydney Festivals hit the town, Big Day Out, Future Music, Soundwave and all the really ace sideshows like this one...

So I didn't love M.I.A @ the Metro either last summer or the previous one, but tonight she made me get on the floor J-Lo style!

So I was devo to miss Nina Las Vegas @ 7:30pm but then to my surprise as I arrived Sam & the Womp were finishing (who sounded a little scary) and then the sexy lady Nina Las Vegas (picture unavailable due to my BLOG being unfriendly, GOOGLE!) made her way back to her funky old decks!

Then girl put it down!

I always have this internal discussion with myself re; Triple J and where it's headed, last year was bleak, they featured the worst feature album (Parkway Drive), the Doctor continued to host Drive, Tom & Alex have completely lost my interest and Lewi went from being a fun from time to time weekend guy to a weird middle of the day, don't put me off my lunch.  On the bright side though Nina Las Vegas and her House Party show continued to shine and with that came a great compilation release and her weekly show continued to impress.

Nina was their shining star along with the ever bright Sarah Howells and BTW can Veronica & Lewis always do Drive they are amazing!  What great summer programming, sad it's all over :(

Anyway this is a gig review not my personal opinion of still Australia's and possibly the world's best radio station JJJ.

So Nina did put it down, her hits were big and there were many, from Frank Ocean to some well weekend dubstep lady cover of "Pony" so fab!  Highlights were the crowd loving sick "Thrift Shop" (this blog's number 1 song of 2012) and also a huge highlight was of course "212" being dropped in the mix, AMAZING! Love you Nina!

Then the stage literally looked like Christmas, two tents on stage, light installations everywhere and a podium, oh boy this was going to be big for the UK born M.I.A.

She came on stage with two back up dancers and a killer back up vocalists, all in red and some hot dope outfits!

So she opened up with some killer dance gems and the night just went off instantly, after a very Bollywood intro, the music just kept going and going with tribal beats and killer jams.

M.I.A did own it tonight with big hits "Galang", "Bucky Done Gun", "Paper Planes", "Sunshowers", "Boyz" (complete with around 50 randoms from the crowd on stage) & the big finale "Bad Girls".

The lack of tunes from the "Maya" album was interesting, no "XXXO", oh the sad face, but hey she killed it when she was on that stage!

I can't flaw the show even with technical difficulties, Nina Las Vegas started the party, M.I.A kept it up till close to midders, the room was full of greedy gays, young cool kids, older people following her interesting and varied career since 2005 (she performed with Madonna WTF???) and the usual summer gig suspects.  Some great costumes too in the crowd.

Well here is hoping I get me some Hot Chips next Tuesday.  The live music calendar is really full at the moment, head over HERE or HERE for the best live music this great city has to offer.

See you around for another awesome gig review (hopefully soon....)

M.I.A rates a UK top rating and hard to beat for 2013, 4 stars, you go girl, can't wait for the new disc in March 2013 (fingers crossed)!





Laters....

Australia Day Public Holiday is SOOOOO Close

And we need another public holiday don't we?  How hard was a three day week, who forgot to have money in their accounts to pay direct debts? Maybe me but this short week is now over and tonight I look to M.I.A for a Friday dance off.



So excited BTW

So yeah Australia Day Public Holiday I will list for you the second list of BIG songs for 2012, from 200 to 101 and also announce my personal Australian Album of 2012, what will it be, will it be a debut from a spunky young Sydney producer (a recent SUPER producer):



Or maybe a comeback album from another spunk rat Mistress Higgins or as she is more commonly known Missy Higgins:



Or last up a solid album from Aussie Hip Hop royalty The Hilltop Hoods who are currently surviving their 50th straight day above 45 degrees in the always sunny Radelaide:



Not long till the winner is revealed so stay tuned, stay tuned also for a full review of M.I.A tonight @ the Enmore, it's gonna be DOPE!

It's only Jan 3 but I spotted this bit of new music & I'm in a kinda sharing mood

So Azealia Banks is one of the first artists to release a new tune in 2013 and although it's no 212 or Van Vogue, I think it will grow on me, her album is out this year and already has one of the titles of the year "Broke With Epensive Taste".

Azealia Banks had the EP of the year last year with "1991" according to this
very BLOG so let's check out the new tune "BBD" below:



Also a very dear friend sent off these little treats for some Summer slack reading, Enjoy!

Until tomorrow or the next day Happy Summer Slack & Happy New Year!

@ the Movies 2012 (one final last time) - Liberal Arts

Directed by, starring & a screen play by Josh Radnor you would be thinking man, does this guy do it all, well no Zac Efron (heart stops beating for a tick) also makes a delicious cameo and I can hardly start on young Elizabeth Olsen she is the real deal. Who would think she is related to those weird twins from Full House.


At the heart of this film is romance & indie days at Uni so I think it’s relatively easy to fit this into its 90 minute running time. And Josh does well, playing a uni admin officer really excited (not) by his role and finding a reason to visit his old home town where he finds love. Look it sounds like 999 other films released in 2012 but this film has heart and soul and for me it was so well written an acted a lot of the flaws can be overlooked.

If you are wanting a really easy to watch and fun film I think look no further than this little hidden gem. However it may be hidden now as there was only one session a week when I saw it on New Years. So check y’all guides.

Overall the last film I saw in 2012 Liberal Arts rates a Liberal 3.5 Zac Efron dreamboat stars.