Rock n Roll Lies

Razorlight, The Metro, Sydney

Damn! These guys, finally in Australia! I just couldn't resist snaggin' a couple of tickets.

I've been a bit of a Razorlight fan since early 2004, I saw em playing in the New bands tent at a festival in Ireland, before seeing them at Brixton & Glastonbury... each time, they went nuts. I went nuts. Everyone went nuts.

After my recent ish bloc Party experience, I thought that they may have toned down their energetic act a little, but I was in for a refreshing surprise.

After again sneaking in my camera, under my jacket, we secured an awesome spot just behind the mixing desk, which at the Metro is great, since the sound quite frequently blows out when you're down on the floor or up high on the staggered seating. After analyising the playlist, I was convinced it was gonna be a good show, just enough new stuff mixed in with all the classics.

Johnny Borrell came out, fully dressed as usual, before bursting into song. 2 songs in, he was getting to be his usual sweaty self... shirt buttons undone and his personal take on drama was there for all to see. Theses guys certainly haven't lost anything with age.

As they played: "Fall, Fall, Fall" - a slow ballad - I made my move. I left Lauren up behind the mix-desk and shuffled my way through the flat footed crowd. I managed to walk, right to the front security fence. Just as I got there, the band burst into "Rock n Rolls Lies" I took this as my queue to get snapping. I blasted out a hundred and twenty frames over the course of that song before hiding my camera under my armpit, having a quick mosh for old times sake, and then making a swift exit back to the comfort and safety of my pre-reservered space. A throuroughly, as always, enjoyable Razorlight gig.

INVADERS MUST DIE!

The Prodigy @ The Hordern Pavillion, Sydney

Haha, wow. How am I supposed to give any kind of a review/blog to this gig!? In brief summary, it rocked the whole house. I have never seen an indoor gig go off so much. From the front to the back, the left to the right - it was like EVERY set of feet was jumping to every punk beat the boys from Essex could bang out.


Spitfire, Firestarter, Their Law, Breathe, Voodoo People... all the hits, and some how, I had the energy levels and adrenaline required to " 'ave it large" as I might have said about 12 years when I first saw these guys live. Awesome Awesome Awesome. Except - I think this may be the first gig where I went the entire gig without getting a clear sight of the dudes onstage.

Tennis and chilling in Melbs

The Australian Open, Melbourne 2009

So the morning of the main attraction rolled around. A few months back I'd seen an ad for the Melbourne Open on Ticketek and the rest of this trip spanned from there. I'd never been to see live professional tennis before so I was really looking forward to it. To make it even better, the beenie requiring temperatures at Phillip Island were totally obliterated and the mercury shot into the mid thirties. I would take a hat next time, but for the most part I was pretty comfortable most of the day; sweating aside :P

On a sadder, side note, this heat we experienced was the beginning of a very fatal heat wave that would grip Victoria for the next month or so, and take thousands of home and hundreds of lives. My respects to the emergency services and sympathy's to all involved are well and truly out there.

Lauren and I took a tram ride to the centre of Melbourne before walking along the Yarra to the Rod Laver Arena. We eventually found our gate and once again I was 'forced' into smuggling camera equipment in - due mainly to incompetent door men (my stuff was legit I tell yuz!). I've been out of the sporting loop for a little too long and soon realised that I only knew a handful of pro names - where did Sampras, Kournikova and McEnroe go!? (I jest). We checked out a bunch of games mainly starring home grown talent since the atmosphere was at it's best. I can seriously recommend this as a day out - $30 to watch some awesome quality tennis in the searing heat at a top class sporting facility. It was ace - just remember to stay well hydrated.

The atmosphere was truly awesome, the Aussie home fans getting right behind their home-grown talent, and between the courts, the buzz was that of pure fun. A great mix of people; ages gender and class were there en masse.



When we'd taken as much of the heat as we could, it was time to head off home. Sweaty as the day had made us, a shower was definitely called for before heading out for the evening meal. A tasty piece of meat with the setting sun shining intensely at us was definitely an idyllic way to see today out.

Afterwards, my old Sydney housemate Aaron came along and met us at the Crown Casino where only Louise (Aarons Girlfriend) would come out up - $100 on the WHEEL! Still, everyone was a winner with $10 cocktails... very nice.

For our final day in Melbourne, it was time to take in some of the sights of the shops, side street cafes and a final trip to St Kilda Beach (now it would be quieter). After a coffee & Eggs Benedict brekkie, I managed to do what I do best whilst shopping, and scalp out a bargain or two before we moved on. We checked out some of the infamous street grafitti before wandering through thee Melbourne GPO (General Post Office- which now houses designer shops and not much post office). I purchased a pair of Camper shoes, in the sales naturally - and was recommended to hit a roof top bar by the guy behind the counter. We duly searched the place out and was totally stoked that we did, for we got to see some amazing views of the city whilst sipping back on a coke under the comfort of a sun-shade.

From here, we decided to head back out to St Kilda beach. It was now Tuesday, and the crazy rush of the weekend had now passed. We were able to sit and dine on a La Roche lunch (something I did those years ago when I first visited the joint). Though in fairness, the in house beer was pretty dodgy - the chicken was great though!

We took a bit more of a stroll about the place, sat with a juice on the beach and appreciated the afternoon sunshine as the last day of holiday I would be taking until August... at least then I would be in positive annual leave, for the first time since January 08.

As is now tradition, we would need to hot-foot it to the airport to get on our plane. This trip was no exception, a tram back to the city, and a cab caught at peak rush hour (no easy task whilst carrying all the luggage) and we managed to get to the departure lounge with a few minutes to spare. No thanks to the gnarky Virgin Blue Hostess who checked us in.

Melbourne is awesome. This was to be the longest holiday I'd take for over a year, so it was a little sad to be headed back so soon... though it was helped a little knowing I had a couple of decent gigs in the pipeline.

Penguins

Melbourne, Victoria

Just under 3 years ago, I visited Melbourne as part of my route around Australia backpacking. Back then, I experienced the Commonwealth Games, Wilsons Prom and the Great Ocean Road. So it has been since then, that I figured I'd love to go back and experience some more and last October, I booked some dirt cheap flights to the tune of $60 each way from Sydney to Melbourne.

So last Friday night, Lauren and I arrived at Tullarmarine airport and embarked on our next adventure. Bright n early Saturday, we awoke and headed in via a tram to the centre of the city. We'd both only been once before and so it was cool to re-aquaint ourselves with the surroundings before heading to the car rental place to pick up our rental (toy) car. I bracket toy - as this is all I can really call a Kia Rio (What the?) - it feels like the whole thing is made of plastic. Regardless it drives okay, at least when I'm not stamping my clutch foot down sharply on the brakes at 70kmph :P

Phillip Island is located South East of the city, and is home to the annual Australian MotoGP - which I only really knew from playing way too much MotoGP2 on my old Xbox. We headed to the track for a look before checking out some of the rugged headlands. The temperature was remarkebly cooler than Sydney today, although the Sun would later come out and warm things up - but we'd left 30 degrees behind to get to about 19 degrees...

The evening rolled around after an afternoon dedicated to sealife and ornithology, and it was time to do our Ultimate Penguin tour. Phillip Island is famed for it's wild penguins that return from the Ocean each night. The "Little Penguins" are the smallest of the 11 worldy Penguin breeds and have a funky blue back. We hiked down on to one of the beaches and were placed on our matts to watch as the phenomenon occurred. Sure enough to form, the window of opportunity that allows the penguins a safe trip onto land came by; by night the owls will get 'em, and by day the regular birds of prey will happily feast on Penguin Burgers and Fries.

After 10-15 had wondered past us, we too took a waddle back to the car park, along the way seeing even more of the little critters heading up to 1.5kms in land... that would be painfully annoying with legs that short I'd imagine.

Sunday dawned and after returning the Kia, we set about seeing some shops, checking out the riverside and the casino before jumping on a tram to meet up with my old (well, kinda new-old)housemate Aaron. We took a look at the St Kilda markets before sucking back on cokes at the beach in the warm afternoon sun. Things were certainly warming up.

Azz, showed us back to his place before we slipped off for a walk home via Albert Park - the venue of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Around the lake, along the track and across the golf course we arrived back in our hotel before heading out for dinner at the infamous Lygon Street. We ate Italian and drank white wine until the staff wanted us out and the half way point of our weekend was done.