Gushing ahead.

So last night was Joanna Newsom and it felt reminiscent of Radiohead at The Greek Theatre in LA about 18 months ago. That was the night where we spotted the likes of Beck, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, Marilyn Manson, Tobey Maguirre and Leonardo DiCaprio to name a few.

Right now in Sydney is bloody magic and it seems like every gig you go to, rock stars are around every corner. I bet they are loving it as much as we are. So yes, last night was the fabulous and gorgeous, Joanna Newsom live at the Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Her show was exquisite and touching, but I’m not going to give another music review. I’ll leave that to the experts.

I’m here to talk about how my art of almost meeting rockstars continues. So yes, there was a cavalcade of musicians to be spotted last night, not long after we lined up behind this man and one of these men, did we notice that the whole crew were there to check out Ms Newsom’s magical harp playing. I thought I had spotted Regine of the Arcade Fire and I was right, there she was sitting with her hubby 2 rows in front of us.

We had seating “issues” so were unfortunately moved around a fair bit and ended up sitting in the block of seats that were obviously left spare for VIPs. Yes, I may have cursed certain members of The National when they were sitting in seats and we had paid for some but didn’t actually have any. However, as each song finished, more late comers were let in and there was again the possibility than the Canadian and I would be moved. I jokingly quipped to Sean, “We are probably sitting in Bjork and Andrew Bird’s seats.” Who enters immediately? Andrew Bird takes his place 2 rows in front, much to our hilarity.

So of course, I did not think for a minute that Her Royal Bjorkness would actually be in the building until we heard rumours that she had been seen. “Naah, she’s at her hotel resting those vocal chords, like the doctor said”.

The show continues beautifully, although I am once again without Sprout and the Bean (c’mon Joanna!) and finishes in the same fashion. I await at the door of the lobby for Sean to come, to be entranced by the very tall, very manly and very rockstar Win Butler walking right by me with his wife at his side. There they all are, Arcade Fires everywhere you look, brothers from The National meandering through the crowd.

Instantly, to my left I hear hushed cries of “Oh my God” and people pointing towards the door I was mere centimetres from. They point out the door, the door I am practically standing in, so my eyes follow and cannot see anything or anyone in the dark. “Hmm.. could that have been? Nah. She’s home in bed.”

Sean returns and we go home.

So today I find out that Bjork had in fact been at the show and was actually conversing with members of the public in the lobby during the interval.

She walked right by me, dammit!!! I was too busy looking at Arcade Fire band members who were metres away when my favourite solo artist of all time was brushing past my nose!!! Why, oh why does this happen to me?

It’s not as though I would have said anything to her, I mean, she’s Bjork, she may have very well jumped me and torn my clothes. Oh who the hell cares, it would have been worth it!

and now because she has left the planet and because I am on a major Bjork kick, watch this from god knows when with PJ Harvey..it kicks arse!

I have waited for 14 years to see Bjork. As you can imagine, one builds an image, expectation and hope up in their head after all that time. Since the moment we got tickets to the days before and right up until the seconds before she walked on stage, I was extremely worried that she would not live up to my expectations. I was extremely worried that she would do something to make me disappointed, after all the bad press she has received over fighting with photographers to telling fans off for using cameras.

Before when I have seen my other idols( and that’s the only word I can use to describe them) U2 and Radiohead, I have been super excited to the point of being giddy just before the band entered the stage. I was not like that with Bjork. I was almost numb to the whole thing because as I stated in my previous post, Bjork to me was almost not real. Being that she is who she is and that there is no other human being on the planet like her, it was rather a surreal moment when she walked on stage.

Sean and I somehow managed to get right on the rail off to the right hand side. All we did was line up around 3pm. There were only about 40 people there at that point, so it was rather easy. The stage was dressed in flags not representing anything but animals and nature. The crowd went nuts when the flags were brought out as we all knew we were in for a show.

The music began and her little troupe of horn blowers marched onto the stage dressed in what can only be described as clown outfits, with tall red hats extending to a bouncing flag. The crowd went crazy as the little Icelandic princess entered the stage bounding around like a puppy. Its incredible to think that this woman who still seems so child like in a beautiful way, is 42. She blew the roof off with Earth Intruders and then went straight into Hunter and Unravel. For those first 3 songs, I was so overcome that I had tears running down my face. I felt like a complete idiot but I didn’t care. I’ve never felt so overcome and awed at seeing a performer. I guess you can say I was star struck.

Hunter was incredible and feisty with an ending reminiscent of something out of a Spiderman comic, as she shot some white string out of her hands which I ended up grabbing part of, as it flew across the front of the audience. Unravel was as beautiful and haunting as I could have imagined.

I was just so happy to finally be able to hear that voice that is not of this planet, in the flesh. Now, she went and cancelled the Sydney Big Day Out performance due to throat strain yet Sean and I commented how perfect her voice sounded. I did not notice anything wrong with it all and we in fact talked about the fact that her voice hasn’t changed at all. Its beautiful, soft and strong, mischievous and haunting…magic.

Between each few songs, she would delight us with a teeny little “siank you” in that gorgeous accent, never once wasting time on crowd banter.

One of the most perfect moments of the night was the performance of Cover Me. She came over to the right side of the stage, which was right in front of us and cheekily acted out lines of the song, creeping on tip toe out to the edge of the stage and then back again like a pixie. She would have made a great Puck.

I was very lucky to hear three out of the four songs I was desperate to hear, Unravel, Pagan Poetry and Jóga.

Thumping and loud, Army of Me and Miss You were massive and got the crowd screaming for more. This was one show I did not want to end and it flew by so quickly. I see a lot of shows so I am often complacent and have become pretty hard to impress, I look at my watch, wonder how long till I can leave, not Bjork. I wanted it to go on and on and it seemed to end after it had only just begun. I could have watched her all night. I still feel I didn’t get anywhere near enough. I left the show exuberated and wanting so much more, but I was appeased as I knew I’d see her again 2 days later. AHERM.

Bjork executes every song with passion and professionalism. She is very much in her own world of Bjorkness when she performs as she doesn’t interact much with the crowd, until its like she drops her game for a second with a cheeky smile or pulls a face. She pounces around the stage with little dance steps and appears to be constantly thinking about the story which she is sharing with her audience, adding little hand movements and head turns.

She certainly put on a show with lasers and a light display to make the colours bursting on stage all the more fantastic…and I mean fantastic in the real true sense of the word. During the encore, which started with Oceania, her young female brass section stood around her in a semi circle dancing and enjoying every amazing moment. They beamed with happiness…wouldn’t you if you were on stage with Bjork as a young girl? They were absolutely gorgeous.

Bjork did live up to my expectations and even more. She was pure bliss and like nothing I’ve ever seen. My only regret is that cameras weren’t allowed so I have nothing photographic to remember it by. The very lovely and super rock photographer Matt Booy sent me a copy of one of his gorgeous shots he got from the pit, so I thank him so much for that!

If I had to choose one other band I could see again right now out of every band/artist in the world, it would be Bjork. It just wasn’t enough and so to make up for it, I’m on a diet of the Royal Opera House DVD and about to start on the Greatest Hits videos.

Thank YOU, Bjork for one of the most amazing nights of my life. I hope I’m lucky enough to see you again sometime.

So I saw her.

I can’t give a gig review now as I’m too exhausted and don’t have the words to even explain what I felt tonight.

I’ve loved her since I was 17. I’m now 31. She has always had this almost not real thing going on with me. She’s so out there and so not like anyone else on this planet that it didn’t seem real that I was finally going to get to see her in the flesh. And of course when she walked on stage, I burst into tears. It was ridiculous. I sobbed like an idiot all the way through the first 3 songs just because I was so overcome that she was actually there in front of me. I’ve never felt that way about seeing anyone before, not even Bono (I think… ).

She gave the most incredible heart wrenching performances… and oh my god, Army of Me kicked arse!!

NO PHOTOS.

They weren’t too strict about checking for cameras beforehand but once we were in there (on the rail no less) the security quietly informed us that she may call it all off if she sees them. So we didn’t even try and I didn’t really want to be yelled at by Bjork hehe

As usual, The Canadian has a much better review. Go wish him a happy birthday while you’re there!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEAN!!!!!

I’ve already squealed and hollered all over the internet and all over Sydney about how amazing last night was.

Arcade Fire, Sydney, January 22, 2008.

Last night goes down in my gigging history of one of the greatest shows ever. Broken Social Scene (U2 and Radiohead don’t count as I’m biased) at the Metro ‘06 has been held very highly up until this point and last night, the traveling band of merry Canadians (and some Americans) totally blew the lid off that and anything else I’ve ever seen.

I have never experienced a crowd SO into a band and a gig at The Enmore before. The place went nuts and rightly so. People are crazy for this band. A perfect moment occurred illustrating this point just before the show started. The lovely Dan Boud was doing his thing down the front as he does and leant over to see the setlist. He then said to me “Manda, first song…” and the whole front row of people screamed “No!!!” and covered their ears instantly in protest. It was hilarious. I still knew it would be Wake Up from Daniel’s code however, so I knew we were in for an awesome show from that moment.

And sure enough, out they came to the most amazing intensity I’ve ever witnessed at The Enmore, smiling and waving to the crowd. Wake Up certainly did just that to us and the absolute emotion, power, passion and love that this band have for their music, for playing with each other and for performing for us for the first time, left a giant thumping ache in my chest. I actually shed a few tears during Wake Up. It was just THAT good.

Win Butler is a freakin rockstar. Who would have thought that the big, long haired, size 28 booted powerhouse of a man, could be so taunting and able to have the crowd in front of him squealing every time he came near them? He threw himself into the crowd, held our hands and sweated all over us. Between his mic stand and Richard and Will having drumming battles below us, being in the front was well worth the wait.

I fell in love with a girl called Regine last night. She prowls and flits all over the stage like a cat, pulls faces and smiles with a happiness you rarely see at indie gigs. The unit that is the Arcade Fire is infectious. They belt out songs like its the last night of their life and they are going to make damn sure its the best they will ever do.

Will’s disturbingly smashed up drum reads “GO BIG OR GO HOME” and that is them to a T. The energy and passion they obviously bring to every show is nothing but blood, sweat and tears of absolute dedication to the band and their audience. They loved every minute of it as much as we all did.

If you want to read about which songs were played and how they played them, go read Sean’s much better review. All I can say is that the neighbourhood songs went off. Keep the cars running was as insane as I’d hoped every time I jump around my house listening to that song.

I left that place absolutely beaming with utter joy. This is what music is about, this is why live shows are in existence, this is what that magic that you can’t ever really explain to your friends who just don’t get it is, this is why music is written and performed.

I’ve only got a few shots up so far but there will be more. Off to Bjork tonight!

Every time I watch Lost in Translation, I immediately want to jump a plane to Japan. I have been in the Need to go to Japan to find myself phase for quite some time now and the Canadian made me promise to not book plane tickets if he agreed to watch Bob and Charlotte tonight.

So no, I haven’t booked anything yet, but my longing for Japan is stronger and stronger all the time. Seeing Lost in Translation doesn’t really cause a yearning to go hang out in a bar in Tokyo at 3am and it doesn’t really make me want to go to parties with a Japanese Charlie Brown, however it does get me every time.

It’s the quiet scenes in Kyoto, the scene where she learns Ikebana… it’s laughing at myself when Charlotte declares that every girl takes stupid photos of their feet.

I’ve sat on that train, with those headphones over my ears, with that music in my head as I sailed by countryside that was not my own. I’ve had those thoughts about life, on that train…and I want to do it again. That train was never in Japan but I’ve been on that train.

I doubt I’ll find myself in Tokyo, I think I know who I am for the most part, yet I always have this thing deep inside me that wants to experience cultures and things totally new, things that are scary and out of my comfort zone.

Maybe I just want to be in a Sofia Coppola movie. Maybe Thom and I can chat about it someday (You’ll have to ask Sean about that).

Image courtesy google.com