Róisín Murphy is, without a doubt, one of the greatest pop stars of our time. A career that’s spanned over 13 years, Murphy’s unique blend of stage presence, vocal ability and entertainment have always fascinated me. Due to a lapse in judgment, I missed the last time (which would be their actual last time) Moloko toured through Australia for the Good Vibrations festival in 2004, and never forgave myself for it. So when it was announced that our little Raisin would be bringing her multitude of hats down under this year, I was incredibly ecstatic and adamant I would not miss out again.

The meeting of Murphy and 1,000 minds was held at the iconic Billboard Nightclub (though, these days, it would rather you called it Billboard: The Venue,) an old stomping ground of mine which I was eventually, at one point, a staff member of. Over those years I had accumulated a barrel of memories and good times, but never have I had so much fun on that dancefloor as I did with Róisín hovering over me.

First of all, there was no support act, which I found not only brilliant, but very Róisín. Just a DJ playing some songs who was relegated off to the side, audience completely blinded to where he was actually playing from. Double brilliant. After about an hour of waiting around, louder music began beaming from the speakers and I immediately recognised the instrumental house-groove from the “Live At Ancienne Belgique” CD — she was opening with “Cry Baby.”

A coat-rack was made visible to the side of the stage, containing a plethora of hats and various jackets and costumes. I knew there’d be plenty of outfits, but I had no idea she would be changing on the side of the stage! The full-house roared as Murphy’s back up singers (who my best friend Ben & I named ‘Jamelia‘ and ‘Jade Macrae‘ because — no shit — they looked exactly like them) emerged shortly after the band (who were all INCREDIBLY HOT — MY GOD — so many beautiful boys playing instruments!) before Murphy, finally, pranced onto the stage donning a stunning purple hat, a black tailored suit with a white tank top underneath. Knowing full well that her white number was see-through, Róisín enraptured even more hysterical screams from the audience as she began flashing a nipple here and there. Never have I been more excited to see a ladies nipple! Attention was quickly diverted to her pink gloves (remember Rachel’s Gloves™? The same pair, which does pose an interesting question — one that I plan on investigating at some point — as to whether there is indeed a curse behind those gloves? Remember, they were also worn by that Louise slapper. Not very well, mind, but nonetheless, worn,) and her out-of-this-world heels.

“Oh, this is super heel.”

The setlist stuck firmly to the “Live At Ancienne Belgique” format; following “Cry Baby” was “You Know Me Better” (I’m quite hard pressed to pick any handful of ‘best performances’ of the night, but this was definitely one of them,) “Checkin’ On Me,” and “Dear Miami” (outstanding stuff.) “Primitive” followed and, being one of my favourite tracks from the “Overpowered” album, I was one excited punter. Murphy stalked about the stage, singing into the ears of each member of her band as prowled she about, animalistic, just like the song. Eventually, by the second chorus, she found her way in front of me and we both began to spit lyrics passionately at each other. Her gaze stuck with me for the duration of that powerful chorus, before breaking it with the bulging of her eyes. She seemed very pleased with my reaction which is maybe why this behavior occurred another 6 or 7 times throughout the evening.  It was around this time she also said that Melbourne was ” a lot more friendlier than Sydney.”  You can just imagine the fierce roar that followed.

The recreation of “Sow Into You” was gorgeous and delighted the fans to no end. “Footprints” followed, and The Raisin and I shared another intense-glare moment. “Movie Star” saw another fabulous costume and hat change and, more importantly, the introduction of a chair as dance-routine prop. !!!!

“Scarlet ribbons for my chair.”

“Scarlet Ribbon” and her Handsome Boy Modeling School collaboration “The Truth” followed, with Murphy TOTALLY rocking that rap. Crowd = lapping that shit up. Recreating the Moloko classic “Forever More” (one of my very favourite Moloko songs) was an incredibly brave move, and one that completely paid off. Without a doubt, the new Róisín-live-version of that track is THE definitive version. Clocking in at just over 10 minutes, it could have easily gone for 15 and I still would have wished for it to go longer. As she held hands with her back-up singers, singing together and looking lovingly into the audience, reminiscing back on it now, this was probably THE most emotionally satisfying moment of the show. Breathtaking stuff, I would kill to witness that again.

“Checkin’ On Me Arse there Jamelia?”

Next up was her “Let Me Know/Reach” fusion, which — with its unashamedly funky-diva-of-house approach, tore the roof down. Following that was “Overpowered,” another absolute highlight of the show. One of the roadies emerged in the pit below the stage with a giant wind-machine (!), before Murphy eventually returned to the stage in a black, frilly number that totally kicked butt as it swayed, being blown about by so much wind. The strobe light effects throughout “Overpowered” were killer; almost fatal, even. As the 9+ minute version of this acid-303-powerhouse of a song began climaxing, Murphy, already dancing about crazy-like to the strobe lights, turned her incredible white hat/plate into a MOON MASK.

“I am not a doctor.”

Fucking. Amazing. I don’t think I’ve screamed so much in delight in all my life.

Returning for an encore with “Tell Everybody” (another gaze-moment,) and “Ramalama (Bang Bang)” — my absolute FAVOURITE track from her “Ruby Blue” album — capped off a truly invigorating evening in fine form. The night went from strength to strength, as I managed to secure a meeting with Murphy afterwards. We spoke just as she was leaving the venue at around 2:15am, and she was wonderful to myself and Ben. She was too tired to take any photos (for a split second I was annoyed, but realised just how very Róisín it was and totally lapped it up for what it was; her being a hot pop star,) but chatted with us, asked us our names, said she loved seeing us up the front singing along to the songs and, just before leaving, said; “come on then, giss’ a kiss!”

Róisín Murphy kissed my cheek, and I hers. So many levels of ace.

I have always loved this woman, have always dug her musical output, but nothing could prepare me for that show, not even having heard the actual set dozens of times on CD before. This was a proper performance; she could have easily gotten up on that stage and just sung song after song, and, don’t get me wrong, I would have been happy with that. But this was so much more than just a live concert. It was a show; a theatrical performance. Madonna on a budget! I’ve been to a heap of shows before in my years as a music fan, but there has been no show as glittering or outstanding as Róisín’s at Billboard last Friday. It truly was the greatest concert I have ever been to. A world of pop music without Róisín Murphy in it is the type of popworld I do not wish to imagine; we NEED Murphy to keep going, because it’s evident she has so much more creativity to offer.

I was also impressed with the amount of dancing that went on… the girl can move, and she did it so very often!

There are plenty more photos aside from the ones below to come. I took a stack on my friend Clare’s camera (including a very hot nipple shot) after mine temporarily decided to die several minutes into the show, so once I get them I’ll pop them up. In the meantime, this should do you fine. There’s also a rather hilarious review of this very show over on last.fm, in which user AppleKabukiSuri compared the Murphy show with the Jesus And Mary Chain one from the night before. A very good read.

Please credit the website if you use any of those piccies.

Oh, and big shout out to the Murphy-crew for the evening; Ben, Clare, Jo, Krissy (with her tit out,) and Sera - what a night!

It’s common knowledge that I have a soft (or, hem hem, hard) spot for Calvin Harris; I’ve often said he’s husband material. Musically and aesthetically, I simply adore him. Whilst he’s not everybody’s cup of tea (and I do understand why this is the case,) the more I listen to his debut album “I Created Disco,” the more I find to love about it. Watching him live with his incredibly talented band over the weekend has now only heightened my appreciation of his work. Luckily for me, I got to see Harris do his thing twice over two magical days.

First up, Calvin’s Good Vibrations Festival side-show at Melbourne’s HiFi bar on the Friday. Supporting the fly-eye guru were Aussie funsters Gameboy/Gamegirl who - quite alarmingly - my friend Catherine and I were later mistaken for by some random drunken whores who had been standing next to us while Gameboy/Gamegirl were actually performing…

So Calvin and his band were scheduled to come on at 10pm and - surprisingly - they were on time; on the dot in fact. That hasn’t happened to me at a pop concert for quite some time! Opening with the mesmerizing instrumental “Certified” (my third favourite moment from “I Created Disco,) Calvin played about on his geniusly set up Amiga computer, which several people have pointed out to me looked a LOT like an Etch-A-Sketch. Thrashing himself around, jumping up and down as he began “Disco Heat” (my second favourite moment from the album,) Calvin - who I should point out was smack bang in front of me during the whole show on that stage - with his long hair flying about, spread an incredible amount of his own sweat onto all of those in the front row, in particular myself. And due to the height of the stage at the HiFi bar, Calvin’s crotch was at level with my face for the entire show. It was all a little bit exciting really, and I’ll leave the sexual hysterics at that.

“Colours” and “Acceptable In The 80’s” followed, to much fanfare, followed by “Merrymaking At My Place,” “Neon Rocks” and “The Industry” followed, all sounding incredibly beefy accompanied by a proper live band. Calvin took time between almost each song to chat with the crowd and thanked us for coming countless amounts of times, and - at one point - he laughed when I asked him to “tell me another one of your festive funnies!” Calvin’s rather charming guitar player also thanked the crowd a few times in his own way; quite the show pony he was, parading about stage with that instrument like he was an undisputed rock-god… it totally worked too and he pulled it off impeccably… I almost began paying him a little more attention than I was Calvin.

“The Girls” and “Vegas” followed, with Harris announcing he refused to partake in encores because he felt they took away from the magic of a live show (I agree, and applaud him for not succumbing to the tiresome encore procedure.) I was a bit annoyed that my favourite track from his album, “Electro Man,” was left off the set list, but the finale certainly didn’t disappoint. Finishing up with “I Created Disco” was a fine choice, particularly seeing as the live version has an additional 4 minutes to the version on the album. You know how, right at the end of the album version, it sounds like the track is going to pick up even further and go somewhere else? Then, shockingly, it just ends? Well the live version does what the album version should have and gives it a BONZA ending; totally reinvents the track and turns it into a seriously special musical moment. Can we have a studio version of this please? Or at the very least a good quality live recording of it? I am dying to hear those hearty extra few minutes again.

At the end of the show Calvin came out to say hello to the couple of punters who’d been waiting to get things signed and what-not. He and I chatted for a bit about Popjustice and how great the show was, he signed my copy of his album and posed for a photo, and we bid adieu.

The next day I saw Calvin play AGAIN at the Good Vibrations Music Festival, which was held at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Right up the front for an almost identical set to the HiFar bar show, it was still super special, especially hearing the extended “I Created Disco” all over again. He jumped about enthusiastically and - on several occasions - jumped off the stage and ran through the front row. Fun, fun, fun.

Unfortunately for me, I missed seeing Kanye West’s closing set at the festival; I had a slight altercation with a hill and a cement step which saw me twisting my ankle and had me leaving for bandages and ice at home in place of live Daft Punk collaborations. Oh well, at least I got to see hubby play before it all went pear shaped.

Took a stack of photos, I’ve included thumbnails of the best few, but you can view the galleries in full over on facebook if you’re interested: HiFi Bar gallery here (best set of the two,) and Good Vibes gallery here.

Just over a week ago I was lucky enough to live out the long-time dream of watching one of the greatest Rock & Roll bands of Australian history performing live. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Divinyls reformed earlier this year, and their first stop on their reunion tour was Geelong’s Wool Exchange Nightclub. For those unaware, Chrissy Amphlett - Divinyls frontwoman/general Goddess - was born and grew up right here in Geelong, my hometown and place of birth. So to have Amphlett - who was able to get out of this town and really make something of herself - performing only a few minutes drive away from where I lived was quite cathartic, though it’s probably something only someone from Geelong would be able to understand (Emma! Yes, would you agree?! PS: I love you!)

My friends Ben, Michelle, Libby and I were the first people at the venue and were lucky enough to hear the majority of the bands soundcheck whilst we waited outside. The band, originally scheduled to come on at 9pm - finally graced the stage at 9:45pm, to many screams, screams, and more screams. Opening with Science Fiction, Chrissy walked onto the stage donning a sexy black number, a top hat and black sunglasses; the girl was HAWT. A subdued and glorious version of Pleasure & Pain followed, as did Only Lonely, Good Die Young, and new single Don’t Wanna Do This. Chrissy cheekily interacted with the crowd, swaying from side to side, sounding very posh as she announced “I’m from here… I’m from Geelong… did you know that?” Of course, getting the response she wanted, the crowd screamed as loud as they could.

I should point out that Mark McEntee, Chrissy’s long-time musical partner in crime, was unintentionally hilarious, vague, and still bares everything the fans love about him. He can still play a seriously tight kick-arse guitar, proving he’s not lost any of the cool he had all those years ago. Just sayin’.

One of the best moments of the evening was the performance of I’m Jealous, one of the most gorgeous and heartbreaking Divinyls songs of all time. Not surprisingly, I managed to record some of that very performance on my trust phone video camera. Let’s take a peek…

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Sleeping Beauty, Make Out Alright and Aint Gonna Eat Out My Heart all took the walls down, but nowhere near as much as Boys In Town. No full recording of that performance, but let’s take a look at the original video clip, so as to understand why people regard this track as one of the biggest Australian Rock Classics of all time. It is also a song about Geelong, FYI.

Please note there is no “The” in the name Divinyls, contrary to what Rage at the ABC/people from Australian Idol/Future Entertainment’s HOT BBQ promoters would have you believe.

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After a rapturous round of cheers following the bands goodnight, the guys returned to the stage for the encore, with drummer, New Yorker Charley (Chrissy’s husband) emerging with a Geelong Football Club Jumper. The crowd fucking lost it, as Chrissy told the audience her hubby had been a supporter for many years, “even when they were at the bottom of the ladder.” Finally, the crowd were given I Touch Myself (definitely their most successful track, and whilst it is still an absolute gem, it’s far from being their best,) and Bless My Soul (It’s Rock & Roll) as the finale. During I Touch Myself, Chrissy extended out her arm and played with the hands of the people in the front row, one of those people being ME. Chrissy Amphlett - Rock Royalty - Touched My Self!!

Chrissy gave each of us in the front area enough fabulous glares, making enough eye contact for us to have been more than overjoyed by the evening. Days later, Chrissy announced during an interview on A Current Affair that she has been battling Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, which upset me to a great deal. It’s of no surprise though that, amidst her illness, Chrissy is out, touring, performing night after night and being the true rock star she is. I guess performing again is doing her more a world of good then we could have ever thought.

I was pretty upset that Elsie, my favourite Divinyls song, was left off the setlist, as was Siren, another of my faves. Because I would like to share Elsie with you, you can download an MP3 of it below. It’s a truly gut-wrenching, heartbreaking song filled with honest, raw emotion, with an epic ending I would have probably cried over hearing live. So maybe it was lucky they left it off then, hey?…

Divinyls - Elsie (MP3 | 320 kbps | Sharebee)

If you have a fleeting passion for Divinyls or Chrissy, I urge you to purchase a copy of her autobiography, Pleasure & Pain: My Life as soon as possible. It is quite possibly the greatest music autobiography you will ever read.

Here are some pics from the show, and below that, some more YouTube Divinyls classics. If you’re into the more poppier stuff, give Science Fiction and the Gina Riley cover a go…

PLEASURE & PAIN (VIDEO CLIP)

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SIREN (VIDEO CLIP)

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BACK TO THE WALL (VIDEO CLIP)

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SCIENCE FICTION (VIDEO CLIP)

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GINA RILEY (KIM FROM KATH & KIM) HOMAGE TO I TOUCH MYSELF

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Ahoy! I haven’t really been online at all these past few days. All of the time and energy I had lying around these past seven days went into the completion of an insanely long essay I had due. On top of that, I had my last two exams for the year, and began a brand new additional job. ARGH! With all that now out of the way, I can finally open up my web browser for more than just study purposes, and write some stuffs.

On Saturday work sent me off to the Stereosonic Music Festival, a mega-sized (I was told roughly about 40,000 attendees) dance festival held at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds. The likes of Armand Van Helden, Trentemoller, TV Rock, Booka Shade, Fedde Le Grand, Riot In Belgium, Bumblebees and many more played live sets or spun some records over seven areas. Sydney’s Van She (the subject of my very first ePROFILE) were also on the bill for the event. Aside from last months Sneaky Sound System show (it doesn’t really count because I could barely see them due to the shitty venue… OH, P.S. - Sneaky gig review coming later this week,) I haven’t seen these boys play a proper live set since March last year. Tres excitement was I.

A few hiccups (Van She scheduled to play at 6pm. Sound issues see Van She play at 6:25pm) meant that their set was cut down from the planned 1 hour to 35 minutes. Pretty disappointing, but thankfully they delivered what was probably their best live show that I’ve caught to date, and all in such a limited frame of time. It was all rather impressive.

At about 6:15pm Nick (Vocals/Guitar) and Matt (Bass) climbed themselves atop of the stage speakers and - whilst tech-minded crew members tinkered about with sound boards and such - sat on them up in the sky, playing on their respective instruments until everything was sorted. Because that’s the kind of good blokes the boys from Van She are.

The show kicked off with Sex City, before launching into a seriously FIERCE performance of the new single Cat & The Eye. As the song finished I began thinking how it was probably the best live performance of a song I’d heard and seen all year. Making things just that little bit prettier; the sun was in a prime position, I was right in between the loud speakers up the front, and a gorgeous breeze began flowing through the area. So very lush! An absolute STACK of new songs from the upcoming album were played (all of them completely flooring me in brilliance,) with the absolute pop classic Kelly closing their set.

Took some ace pictures (see end of post) and managed to snap Nick’s incredibly gorg slide down the speakers in the bunch. There was a bit of playful rock star jumping around played by all as well which added to the already entertaining show.

The most surprising (and most personally gratifying) moment was when Nick went and dedicated a song in my honour. It actually completely blew me away and kind of made me a bit speechless for a while after. It’s not every day a band or artist you really admire and respect dedicates a song to you in a performance, and I was pretty bloody stoked! In hindsight, I’ve had a few sterling highlights musically this year, but I don’t think anything really beats that. Pretty spesh…

Am catching the boys again for the HOT BBQ Music Festival, this coming New Years Day, January 2008 at Birrarung Marr in Melbourne. You should come, we can have an ale and a boogie together. In the meantime, why not download the ‘She’s 2005 self-titled E.P. from iTunes, and keep an eye out on December 18th for the digital release of the new single Cat & The Eye.

PART II ON ITS WAY: I spoke to Tomek, the bands drummer, not too long ago on the phone for the radio show. I’ll be posting the full audio file of that chat later in the week.

Yes, it’s a new site! Details on why/etcetera here…

Two months after her first show in Melbourne, within the walls of the ultra intimate and trendy Miss Libertines, Super-Swede Robyn came back to our city of lights for a bigger show at Roxanne’s, a trendy new nightspot down a CBD alleyway that used to play an integral part in the cities rave culture. How things have changed. The set was not much different to the one heard at Miss Libertines back in September (review here,) but we did get a very nice acoustic version of Be Mine!, which I managed to video record onto my phone. Hilariously, the picture quality is actually completely amazing, (has there ever been a phone as stunning as the N95?) so here is the YouTube video of (very nearly almost) the full song…

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And a short YouTube clip of Keep This Fire Burning.

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She did a fantastic job for someone who had just stepped off an incredibly long flight on a plane, and was apologetic through the show for not feeling 100% and being a little tired. Was a great gig, but the first one back in September was better, which I’m putting down to the charming intimacy of the venue and also to the fact she was full of much more energy then and raring to go.

Had a fantastic chat up the front with some Robyn fans to my left, and discussed the brilliance of Girls Aloud with some others to my right.

ROBYN @ ROXANNE’S, MELBOURNE
SETLIST 15/11/2007

INTRO
COBRASTYLE
CRASH & BURN GIRL
WHO’S THAT GIRL
BUM LIKE YOU
HANDLE ME
KEEP THIS FIRE BURNING
KONICHIWA BITCHES
BE MINE!
WITH EVERY HEARTBEAT
SHOW ME LOVE
JACK YOU OFF
BE MINE! (ACOUSTIC)

Here are some happy snaps. Clicky for zoom…