Sorry Verlie, I'm in love with another woman.........

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Ok, so that blog title has got you all interested...........Not quite true of course, I am in love, albeit completely unrequited love, with a woman I've never met.

If my opinions/thoughts/musings on music, and live music in particular don't interest you, then you might as well stop reading now, because thats all this blog is about. Our first live gig in Australia.

The lady in question is Julia Stone, one half of Brother/Sister duo Angus & Julia Stone. The big single from their new album gets a lot of airplay on the radio station we have on sometimes in the hostel. "Big Jet Plane" I'm not sure if it's a hit in the UK, if it isn't then it soon will be. We were sitting round the hostel one night and our german friend, Carina said she loved the song. I tried to annoy her by saying it was just a euphemism for having sex (the lyrics go "I wanna take you for a ride on my big jet plane") She's a bit naive, not only did I have to explain it, I also had to explain what a Euphemism is....bloody Germans. Anyway I'd got to quite liking it myslef, Julia Stone has a voice, thats kind of a bit Bjork, a bit Dolores from the Cranberries and a bit Lisa Hannigan (she sings with Damien Rice a lot) The song is a very simple stummed acoustic guitar, a little bit of percussion and some strings. There's loads of versions on youtube. This one is my favourite though I'm a sucker for a bit of harmonica aswell so this song is perfect!! I love the line "she smells of daises, she smells of Daises" so much that if Verlie and I ever have a daughter, we'll call her Daisy....

So I downloaded the album on the strength of the single and I was not dissapointed, It's amazing, and Big Jet Plane is, for me an instant classic. The album is called Down The Way, go and buy it now, when you've finished reading this of course. They are touring europe and are playing Royal Festival Hall London on 9th Dec, get yourselves down there.....

So then I heard they were gigging in Fremantle about half an hour outside Perth, so we booked two tickets to our first live gig in Australia at Fremantle Arts Centre. $59 a ticket, which sounds steep, but when you've got 5 min wonders like Florence and the Machine charging $99 a ticket, then it's pretty reasonable.

We drove to Fremantle, with the now obligatory stopover at the Little Creatures brewery for a pale ale and chilli nacho's, and on to the venue from there.
I had an email from the venue, with a few do's and don'ts, what's allowed, and what's not, which is a great idea I think, unless the email isn't very specifc, in which case you are just going to annoy me. I'll give you an idea, under whats not allowed was "professional type cameras" what the flip does that mean? Long lenses I'd assumed, wrongly as it turned out, becasue what they actually mean is Digital SLR camers. We arrived at the venue to be told that we had just bagged one of the last parking spaces available, and at $4 parking was pretty reasonable. We walked up to the entrance gate, had an arguement with a security guard about what constitues a "professional type camera" and then walked back to the car again grumbling.........with Verlie's digital SLR camera. So we eventually got into the venue, which to be honest was very disspointing. It's just a marquee, thats been opened up at one end to some grass/twigs. The email had also said that "large picnic rugs" were also a no no. Well what's large?? give me some dimensions at least........I'd left a huge fluffy rug that we could have taken, back at the hostel, becasue it was quite big, but there were people there with rugs big enough to seat half of Western Australia, so we had to sit on the ground, which was uncomfortable, even with my generously sized arse. There were broken twigs and bark everywhere, it got down the crack of my arse, and in my crocs, it was the most physically uncomfortable gig ever. our view was obscured by trees and the sound wasn't that great. The venue had the feel of someone going, "this marquee isn't big enough, how can I get more people in, I know I take one side of it out, and let people sit on the twiggy grassy bit up there"

The support act was touted by the Drum Media (local free music paper written by people who know nothing about music) as the new Leonard Cohen, which I didn't know until Verlie told me, and I couldn't stop laughing for several reasons. 1, she's quite clearly a woman, and therefore not eligible to be the new leonard cohen. I'd say more like the new Joan Baez or Joni Mitchell 2, She's got a fairly high falsetto voice, nothing AT ALL like Laughing Leonards dark broody vocals. 3, she's not jewish.

And so Angus and Julia came onto the stage and I stopped picking the twig out of my crocs, and just sat/stood there mesmerised. As you will see from the video i linked, she's not a classic beauty. So what is it about her that makes me go a bit funny?
First and foremost, she's a talented woman, and that's always attractive. The night we saw her, she played trumpet, harmonica, electric/acoustic guitar and sang, I'm sure she's one of those annoying people who can play any instrument they chose to pick up. Her voice is amazing, I can't think of any other superlatives than that, thats all I need. The way she moves, the way she walks, the way she dances around the stage. At one point, there was some sort of scuffle breaking out in the crowd down the front, between songs, she mentioned there had been a bit of a "Kerfuffle" down the front and made the two guys hug each other. She's a babe, if she were a president she'd be called Babereham Lincoln...
As most of you know (and I know Verlie will not be offended by this) my taste in women is not what you'd call conventional, give me the little ginger girl out of American Pie over Cheryl Cole, ANY day of the week, but I hope This video gives you some idea of what I'm on about

Nexg gig U2 at Subiaco Oval...........$17 "handling fee" thanks Ticketmaster you robbing bastards.

I'm off now to write an email to Fremantle Arts centre about how their non specific emails nearly spoilt my night.....idiots.......

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Photos

Angus & Julia Stone Gig
The Real Love of my life

Comments

[linda]

Hi Mark, Had a listen to Julia Stone. I'll still stick with the 60's. I am off to a gig next Sunday at Cliffs Pavilion. PJ Proby.Searchers.Gerry & Pacemakers. You can laugh. Love the markets at Fremantle. Calm down and don't get too stressed with the Aussies..x