Kylie X 2008 – Vector Arena, Auckland, Monday 8 December [Review by Darlene Brown]

http://www.kylie.com/

Don’t laugh, but I went to see Kylie Minogue. I did get a freebie – but I will admit I was intrigued to see what a 24 million dollar show might look like…

I went to her second show, and had heard a lot of the audience from the first night made an effort to dress up; however I arrived to girls and their BFF’s (with accompanying boyfriend/husband brigade looking guiltily uncomfortable) and loads of gay guys.

Vector was at capacity, and our tickets may well have been situated atop Mt Everest they were was so high up. The show started with Kylie dressed Cleopatra-like, and went through several different costume changes – Cheerleader, Sailor (with accompanying Love Boat Theme and Barry Manilow cover), Gentleman, Sparkly…more Sparkly…but the annoying thing was that between each change, the show literally stopped! In terms of the stage, it was dressed with a giant visual backdrop projecting Madonna-esque images of Kylie relating to the different songs/sets, and was littered with androgynous dancers and a backing band.

Songs covered were from the new album “X” and pretty much all of her singles – there were two encores of which the last contained an accapella version of Locomotion and a normal version of I Should Be So Lucky…which in all honestly was the only song that nearly everybody got up to dance to (but not me).The crowd overall was pretty calm considering the nature of her music, but managed to get excited every time Kylie said “New Zealand”. Kylie did manage to chat with the audience during the show; she turned up the lights, looked out at the crowd and praised a few fans who had made an effort to dress up which would have definitely made their year.

Overall, my thoughts on the concert was that it was all a bit too High School Musical for my taste. In fact, I really disliked it! I thought it lacked emotion, grit, and Kylie came off as a poor mans Madonna. I went with an open mind, a little excited to see what kind of show a popstar of Kylie’s fame would produce; and left really disappointed! One friend who is a huge Kylie fan had a blast – and obviously the woman has sold millions of records. But without the effects and costumes, the show would have been a dead bore – and as my colleague the next day put it: “millions of people can be wrong, right?”

Buy: Kylie Minogue

Kanye West @ Vector Arena, Auckland. [Review by Darlene Brown]

 

Seeing Kanye West play in Auckland December 1st was really a last minute decision: 
“Should we buy a 2 for 1 ticket, and can I borrow the money?” 
flatmate says: “yes”. 
“How much was it?” 
“$70”. 
“DAMN.” 

Considering I only had four of his songs on Hungry Hungry iPod I wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice…

I turned up to Vector on the night, and was really surprised at the amount of young (dare I say it – white) people that were there! Although this year all I’ve seen at Vector is grey haired concert after adult contemporary concert so it’s been a while since I have seen a large gathering of youth. Also surprising was the security measures at the gate. I opened my bag for inspection and the woman picked up my pain killers and demanded to know “what pills are these?” I said nothing as I watched her turn the packet over to display “Signature Range” on the foil. This wasn’t enough: “what PILLS are these??” to which I gingerly responded “aspirin”.

Anyway, I got in to see Nas’ band playing (is that the correct use of an apostrophe here?). To be honest I don’t know ANY of his songs, but he was phenomenal and I would definitely go to see him perform on his own. His guitarist wore a Ramones t shirt. We missed Scribe opening, but I’m sure he was crapping his pants with excitement to be there.

After Nas, the lights went up and we paced the stadium waiting, watching and wishing I wore my $3 Kanye glasses after all…until finally it went dark. The stage was illuminated with bars of neon, flashing lights and blade-runner style costumes (all designed by Daft Punk apparently). Kanye showed up looking very small, but stylish and took us on a retrospective journey through the hits. “Through the Wire” was the second song (my fave of all his tracks) and basically he just went through his singles in order after that. I even thought “wow he could totally release a best of!”. He didn’t play “American Boy” though; and the crowd went crazy over the song “Homecoming” featuring Chris Martin which I found bizarre! “Flashing Lights” and “Good Life” were personal favourites to dance to, along with this track where he pitch shifted his voice to sound like a demon rapping from Hell (“Get ’em High”).

Kanye West – Live at Vector Arena, Auckland, NZ – Dec 08

People I’ve talked to have mentioned Kanye’s ego hindering their enjoyability of the show, but aren’t all rappers a bit up themselves? There was one point after “Touch the Sky” where he kept repeating “I hope you’re having a good night, I hope you’re having a good night…fuck it, I hope you’re having the time of your life!” which was a bit presumptuous… Anyway, it didn’t bother me, and in terms of an overall concert I would say it was average to good. I’m glad I got to see him perform but still not sure about that seventy bucks…

Buy music by Kanye West

Eye, Adam Willets, Grunge Genesis + Richard Neave [Event]

 

Christchurch’s BORDERLINE BALLROOM put on some of the most interesting sound based events in town! Why not check out their latest offering:

EYE
ADAM WILLETTS
GRUNGE GENESIS + RICHARD NEAVE
Saturday 6th Dec, 
Neibelheim (under SoFA Gallery, South Quad of the Arts Centre), Christchurch
8pm, $5

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EYE (DUN)
Eye are a Dunedin rock/electronic group who use a combination of guitars, drums, sampled sounds and shortwave radio to explore the extremities of both quiet and loud noise They formed in late 2003 as a trio of Peter Porteous (Empirical, Lapdog, Electricity), Nathan Thompson (Sandoz Lab Technicians, Sleep, Renderizors) and Peter Stapleton (Rain, Flies Inside the Sun, Sleep, A Handful of Dust, Terminals). Turntablist Ryan Cockburn, who also performs solo as Spit, was also a regular member throughout 2004 and 2005 and although now living in Melbourne still makes occasional live appearances with the group. So far Eye have released a split 10″ LP (with 3 Forks) and a CDR ‘Black Ice’ on the Dunedin label Unitedfairymoons and a second CDR ‘Meridian’ plus a 7″ single ‘Interlock’/ ‘Memory Slip’ on the Auckland CMR label. They have just completed a new CD ‘Winterwork’ scheduled for release in 2009. Eye last played in Christchurch at the Physics Room in 2005.

ADAM WILLETTS (CHCH)
Adam Willetts is a musician and artist whose practice shifts casually between hi-tech and handcrafted as he explores relationships and interfaces between people, technology and popular culture. His use of DIY electronics, radio, computers and game controllers creates dynamic and surprising live performances that carefully balance elements of fragile beauty with violent eruptions of static, electromagnetic interference and feedback. Adam has been performing and exhibiting throughout New Zealand and internationally since the late 1990s featuring at numerous festivals and exhibitions including Lines of Flight 2006 (Dunedin), TASIE 2006 (Beijing), S3D 2007 (Auckland), and Cloudland at ISEA 2008 (Singapore).

GRUNGE GENESIS + RICHARD NEAVE (CHCH)
Anyone who has seen that Youtube clip with the maggot crawling/extracted out of that woman’s head will know that the most horrifying aesthetic frisson always contains a humorous hint of incredible hypodermic detail – just enough to turn any creeping horripilation into a bit of a comic tickle. Horror and comedy occur as awkwardly proximate sidekicks. Horror’s so willing to descend into the depths of bathos rather than contracted ineluctable despair, while Comedy is eager to sink its teeth into that very Achilles’ Heel. The limits of the Sublime come forth in a similar way when we listen to the sounds issued by Crèche Grunge Genesis. Not a desertion of some archaic nineties apparel halcyon but a re-figuring of its formative promise via the albeit somewhat musty attire of its fin de siècle musical incline, Grunge Genesis will capsize the crescendo-oriented reason of Ravel’s Bolero by becoming tentatively yet radically anti-Terpischorean in its retreating crawl back from Pukers Baroque to Peter Gabriel-sanctioned World Music™ quiescence.

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this event is one leg of of a 2 WEEKEND, 2 CITY “radicalcartography” of Southern Sound… […forays into electromagnetic spectrum elucidation… expanded-field radiophony… noise-folk tradition… the social-geographics of soundculture reimagined as a poetics of city-drift… flat-earth frequencies for the google era… etc etc… featuring: EYE, ADAM WILLETTS, DIRT ROOM + TIM COSTER, GRUNGE GENESIS + RICHARD NEAVE, RADIO CEGESTE with NIGEL BUNN, A’SIDES for BETAVILLE, THE AUTO HARPIES, THE AESTHETICS, VOODOO GANGSTER…]

more on that soon + elsewhere…

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Let’s go to Canaan Downs! New Years Eve ain’t too far away!

Tom Cosm performing at Canaan Downs Festival this New Years Eve

Apex Beat and I and a whole bunch of kids from Starlifter.TV are getting ready for a rad new years eve up the hill at the Canaan Downs Festival. If you know of The Gathering that’s good because this party takes place at the same place. We had a great time there last year and we can’t wait until next time. It’s a party based around the community, friends, family, fun and love. Come party with us yo! Apex Beat and I are playing on New Years Eve in the 3rd Resistance zone so if you find yourself there come and say hi!

Some of party peeps that are playing are:
Tom Cosm
Ed Muzik
Sam Hunt
Charlie ASH
An Emerald City
Dimmer
Antix / Fiord
Little Bushman
Solaa
Invader Tron
Camo MC
Sticky Fingaz
Insomniac
Psymon Barnett
Firefly
Tiny Paper Daggers
The Undercurrents
Turnstyle
Cubensis
Cowboy Machine

For more details visit these places online:
General info: http://www.canaandowns.com/festival
Full Line Up: http://canaandownsfestival.wordpress.com/category/the-zones/
Videos and guff: http://www.youtube.com/user/canaandownsfestival

Peace,
Dr H
xox