What if I say I will never surrender?

It was recently announced that the Foo Fighters will be back in New Zealand in December, along with support act Tenacious D, so I thought this would be a good chance to talk about the first time I got to see the Foo Fighters live. I am a relatively new FF fan, I have always known about but never really bad them a great amount of attention, however after the devastating Christchurch earthquakes, the Foo Fighters announced an impromptu concert in Auckland to raise money for charity. It was being held in a small venue, The Auckland Town Hall, and there was only a couple of thousand tickets on sale with all the proceeds going to Christchurch, so I thought it would be the perfect time to go see them live. It was a special and unique event, I am very lucky to say that I was a part of it and it was for such a good cause. So I got of Uni early and lined up super early in the day, the people in the line were extremely cool and hopefully I will get to hang out with them all again in December. We finally got let in and I claimed my territory on the barrier, front row centre. The 2 opening acts were local and really good, first was the Transistors and second was a band I have ranted about before, Cairo Knife Fight. Eventually, the Foo Fighters emerged and went straight into their new album, Wasting Light, which hadn't even been released yet. They played the entire album in order, which was a really amazing thing to hear because New Zealand doesn't often get to hear things before the rest of the world. After the finished the album with Walk, Dave exploded straight into All My Life and then it was just an array of their greatest hits. They played an amazing set list consisting of over 30 songs and they barely even paused the entire night. It was 3 hours of continuous hard rock and playful rambling from Dave. I can't wait to see them again at the end of the year, Wasting Light has quickly become my favourite FF album as a whole, it is the most complete record they have ever released. I was not able to take photos that night, but this is the set list from the show and stuck on it is Chris Shiflett's guitar pick.

Foo Fighters. 23/03/2011/ Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand.

Aurora was played instead of Enough Space.

New Zealand Music Month 2011 - Part II

This is part II of my New Zealand Music Month tribute, it will be dedicated to all the slightly lesser known bands that are currently out there being awesome. I limited my first post about NZMM to only four bands because they are my absolute favourite New Zealand bands, but there are so many more that the rest of the world needs to know about.



LISA CRAWLEY

She is a charming songstress from Auckland who plays a beautiful mix of indie pop music. She is backed by her band, The Conversations, who feature a wide variety of instruments including trombone. Lisa is an extremely talented songwriter and vocalist with mesmerizing skilled on the piano, guitar, glockenspiel and many other instruments. She currently has 2 EP's out called Shoot The Night and Hello, Goodbye and Everything In Between, and she has also opened for Jools Holland and John Mayer. Currently recording her first full length album.

Best Songs: Brother, Back To You, These Friends Of Mine, Birds

TAINTED

A death/thrash metal band from Christchurch, these guys are one of our most brutal and technically proficient exports. I first saw them open for Iron Maiden back in 2009 and since then they have opened for such legendary acts as Metallica, Trivium, Unearth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Chimaira and Arch Enemy. They have become one of the best live acts in New Zealand metal with their dynamic energy and brutal sound which landed them a place in the line up for Big Day Out 2010. With 2 outstanding albums under their belt (The Awakening and Carved and Created) they are still a strong force to be dealt with on the NZ metal scene, leaving most NZ cities bruised, battered and desperate for more.

Best Songs: Beneath The Veneer, Say What You Mean, Tyranny, Scars

CAIRO KNIFE FIGHT

The most dynamic and explosive two-piece to come out of New Zealand ever. They play a unique style of rock that has numerous twists and turns that develop and evolve as their songs unfurl. Their live performance can only be described as hectic and intense, with Nick Gaffaney on drums, keyboard bass and vocals simultaneously, while sometimes operating the loop pedal to keep things interesting. He is supported on stage by the charismatic Aaron Tokona, whose infectiously rhythmic guitar playing is electric and yet, somehow sexual. These two set up their equipment to face each other on the stage so that they can build off of each other as the songs develop and grow. Always starting a gig on a suspense filled note, with long droning sounds of feedback and building to a destructive climax of rock brilliance. With a fantastic eponymous EP out now, they have opened for legendary bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters and Them Crooked Vultures.

Best Songs: Big Face, The Happy Couple, This Is Love, All I Ever Wanted

OTHER HONOURABLE MENTIONS:


BEASTWARS
The Mint Chicks
Die! Die! Die!
The Dauntless
Cobra Khan
Nathan King
Ladyhawke
Goldenhorse/Kirsten Morrell
Liam Finn
Antagonist AD
Oilbarrons
The Transistors

+

Flight of the Conchords
Shihad
Split Enz

Check out New Zealand Music Month - Part I

This is the story of the birds and the bees

The month of May has not been kind to my creative inspiration. The weight of university has been pulling on my coattails for some time now and it is becoming quite a struggle to find the motivation for my own personal artwork. Hopefully in June when all of my assignments are handed in and I have a few weeks of personal time then I can really get back into updating this blog with my own drawings, paintings and other work. But until then, I think I will just use this baron period of artistic block to work through my backlog of concert photos and memorabilia. Live music has always been a passion and when there is a good concert to look forward to, it becomes the focus of all my obsessive quirks. I have seen a great number of amazing concerts over the last few years (all of which can be found on my Last.FM account), unfortunately there are not too many shows in the future that I can get excited about. I mean, I will be seeing Gary Numan in 4 days, but after that there is just a lot of empty space. I will just have to pray that some fucking amazing bands will announce in the near future, such as Alter Bridge, The Kills, The Black Dahlia Murder or Foo Fighters.

For now, I will just tell you about Katy Perry's California Dreams Tour. She played 2 shows in Auckland, New Zealand about a week and half ago and I was lucky enough to get pre-sale tickets (which was made especially easy due to the password being 'Firework') to the first show on Saturday night. The smell of candy floss was in the air and the stage had an extremely over-the-top candyland theme with a very well-dressed live band. The lights went dark and on the video screens began a tale of girl living in a world that repressed her happiness and freedom until something magical happened and just like in the Wizard of Oz, she was swept away to a whimsical world of candy with her cat, Kitty Purry. The band started to play and out came Katy in a dazzling costume, she opened with Teenage Dream and didn't look back from that point on. She played all of her hits and had a really solid set list, although I have never been a fan of California Gurls. Her numerous costume changes were always impressive, especially during Hot 'n' Cold, where she must have changed her out fit approximately 15 times. I think Katy's voice was really strong live, I loved hearing it free from any electronic altering or mixing. There was a part in the show where she slowed things down and it dragged on for quite a while, but the pyrotechnic display during Firework really made up for that. The only real problem I had with the show was that her audience (consisting mainly of tweenage girls) seemed to be more interested in staring at their phones, updating facebook and texting their friends than actually paying attention to the stage and Katy Perry's brilliant performance.

Katy Perry. 7 May 2011. Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.

Katy Perry California Dreams Tour 2011

Katy Perry aka Kitty Purry

Not Like The Movies

Peacock

Teenage Dream

Katy Perry vs. The Bunny

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

Elephants broken & screaming

It's going to be fucking hard for me to write about this, because I don't think I know enough adjectives for "fucking amazing" to keep this interesting. I have been a fan of Led Zeppelin ever since I was young, they were my gateway band into rock music and over the last few years I have been getting  into Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters. So when I found out that Dave, Josh and John were forming a new band, it blew my fucking mind. I had no idea what to expect from the band, but I bought tickets to their show in New Zealand even though the album wouldn't come out for another few months. I just had immense faith that whatever they did, it would be fucking amazing. And I was right, the album was released in December of '09 and my obsession exploded exactly 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the first song. Now my life had focused like a laser towards January 30th, when they would play at Vector Arena. It was the first (of many) concerts where I lined up all day and I managed to get front row. Cairo Knife Fight were a fucking awesome opening band and they really destroyed their set (literally), then it was time for TCV. Its safe to say that night changed my life forever and whatever I type about it just couldn't possible do it justice, so I'll just leave you with some photos from that night.

Them Crooked Vultures. 30/01/2010. Vector Arena, Auckland, New Zealand 

Josh Homme & Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl

John Paul Jones

Josh Homme

Dave Grohl

Josh Homme, Dave Grohl & John Paul Jones

Them Crooked Vultures

Signed and vandalised by Josh Homme