April - was the month of concerts & movies
I went to these gigs:
Pet Shop Boys at the Hordern Pavillion - Hey it was Good Friday, nothing else was open. Lots of gay men young and old, and a few women in their 30s. Obviously rejects from the 80s. Lots of hits and memories, quite few new songs which I didn’t know but the costumes, dancers and visuals made up for it. See photos here.
John Mayer at the Sydney Entertainment Centre - a last minute freebie from my bro and seated 12 rows from the front. He was very “pleasant” or shall I say, “Middle of the Road”, but he was on Chappelle’s Show once, so he must be cool. Everyone around me was loving it and knew all the words to the songs. I know the one he did with Herbie Hancock (Stiched Up)and the one “about his body being a temple” (It’s actually called “Your Body is a Wonderland”) which he didn’t sing. When he did one of his fancy guitar solos - the audience went wild. I just don’t get the glory of the guitar solo! I guess I was brought up on DJs and turntable tricks as an impressive live performance. Ben Kweller was the support, he was good in a twangy guitar/country/blues/white boy kind of way.
The jazz legend Herbie Hancock - at the State Theatre. The night it pissed down with rain and I was ankle deep in water, but anyhoo it was fantastic to see Herbie live in concert. He was definitely one of the musicians I needed to see before I die (or he died). He started with a classical piece which was really ambient and slowwwww. It lasted about 25 minutes and I was hoping the whole show wouldn’t be like that. He came out and spoke to the audience numerous times which was great. He has a personality, a sense of humour and a strap—on keyboard. He played some awesome tracks with his wonderful guitarists and drummer. The only lowlight was the version of I Just Called to Say I love You, which he did on the Possibilities album. It’s such a cheesy song, he could have picked any other Stevie Wonder tune.
The flicks I saw this month were:
Rock the Bells (5 stars) - a freebie from FBi radio about a hip hop festival in LA which tried to get the whole Wu Tang Clan back together live on stage. This docu had intense suspense and drama. As someone who has put on events before, I was cringing and crying when things went wrong. I really felt for this guy and it was brave of him to show his naivety/greediness/failings on film. I won’t tell you what happens at the end.
Sunshine (3.5 stars) - because we had vouchers that were about to expire and Dave got to pick. As if you could fly that close to the sun!!!
Running with Scissors (4 stars) because I loved the book (but the book is better).