so much farkin' culture, eh?

The Sydney festival has been kicking for a week or so now. There are always lots of cool things to see and do (some of them free) and I am making sure to take advantage of them.

I saw Lykke Li a few weeks back and she was fantastic. Unfortunately for her, she played on the first "school night" of the year so the crowd was flat and particularly unresponsive during songs (although they screamed and cheered after songs). She also had a DJ as a warm up act which I don't think did her any favours. She also started her set at 10:30pm which was way past most people's bed times. (mine anyway)

Still, I was blown away by her performance and her material transferred to a live show extremely well.

The following Saturday morning I got up at 4am and drove to Balmoral beach with Reed and Justin to see the Dawn Chorus. The Sydney Philharmonic Choir (100 voices) sang to the sunrise. The beach was packed and it was quite an eerie experience. I'd never woken up before dawn to specifically watch the sunrise before, although I've stayed up all night many a time. The choir was great, but I think listening to the birds was just as enjoyable, if not moreso (they've had a lot more practice singing to the sunrise).



Last Wednesday I went to Darling Harbour and saw Run Lola Run at the open air cinema. The Bays were playing a live, improvised soundtrack to the film. It was exceptional and the sound was great. I hope this format returns to the Sydney Festival next year.



Last night was the event I was really waiting for. The Black Kids were playing at my favourite live music venue, The Gaelic Club, and they were supported by Van She. I was accompanied by Greg, Jackie, Scott and Angela. As soon as I walked through the door and had greeted my friends Van She started their set with "The Cat and the Eye".

I saw Van She on the night of my birthday but I was pretty smashed so I couldn't remember most of it. The sound in the Gaelic was perfect and I was so impressed with their live performance. Their set was only about 45 minutes, but it was jam packed. The highlight was "Strangers", they played it more like their own Van She Tech remix. Very fun.

When The Black Kids took the stage they received an incredibly warm response from the crowd. Their first track was Rock Wichoo which set the crowd off. I haven't seen a sydney crowd jump around so much in ages. Everyone was singing and dancing and screaming. It was kick-arse. I don't know how many times I heard myself or others say, "I love this song".



They played their whole album and finished with I'm not going to teach your boyfriend how to dance, which was such a joyous experience. For their encore they played Jonathan Richman's I was dancing in a lesbian bar followed by Hurricane Jane which completely went off as well.

After buying a tshirt and walking outside into the fresh air, I was greeted by fellow revellers, all of them wearing ear to ear smiles.

Big Day Out is this Friday so I'll get to go and see the Black Kids again, as well as Infusion, Prodigy, Hot Chip, TV on the Radio, Ting Tings, Holy Ghost, Simian Mobile Disco, Stereogamous, Seymour Buttz, Wow, I heart Hiroshima etc etc... YAY!