Hard News by Russell Brown

The last U2 gig at Mt Smart was also in the round - the No Line on the Horizon tour I guess that would be. They had a big claw thing holding everything up, and had the same cylindrical screen - not sure if Adele's could spread apart or not. Same round catwalks as well. Works pretty well for a screen and lights-heavy production at Mt Smart.

By all accounts it was a great gig - and the transit to and from seemed very smooth for the most part as well, given the numbers.

LED shows were a very expensive thing in the mid 2000s - I remember an awesome art piece at Burning Man with a cube of thousands of ping-pong balls with LEDs inside them forming 3D patterns.

Nowadays, with Neopixels, it's easier and cheaper to do.

As for Bono, pay yer feckin taxes, then I'll listen.

As for Bono, pay yer feckin taxes, then I’ll listen.

Fair enough. But that show did actually earn my respect. It wasn't just big and flashy, it was creatively cohesive.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard an Adele song (and the same goes for lots of contemporary artists as I have practically no mainstream radio/tv exposure – i.e. I’d never heard of Florence and machine before colleagues started talking about them, and I’ve never heard them either) but its been impossible to miss coverage of her tour, and clearly she’s HUGE so to say … too busy catching up on stuff from the 70’s that I’ve never heard :)

Anyhow, folks have been weaving in local footage into their AV shows for years. I think Coldcut may have been among the earliest to do this in the late 1990’s

On a different note I saw one of the more popular ‘grail’ albums of the aussie scene has been reissued – Sue Barker, an Adelaide based jazz soul singer from the 70’s, doing covers of Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield etc. Its a good un, and given OG’s have been going for $300+ now available at a much more reasonable price. Continues bit of a trend here, and makes me wonder about certain NZ albums like Dr Tree & the 1860 band, or Fiji’s Mantis for that matter – perhaps there are difficult licensing considerations, perhaps a shallow market, still, would be good to see some thing’s re-emerge.

The last U2 gig at Mt Smart was also in the round

Yep, turns out I was there.

Quite an impressive stage, with bridges into the audience and such like. Jay Z was a highlight for me. Although U2 baging out I Will Follow and some other tunes from my yoof was still a fun night.

Later on the lights really took over, and the tribute to the recent tragedy at Pike River, during which they played ISHFWILF and One Tree Hill, was suitably poignant, with the names projected on the screen.

The only other stadium sized concert in the round I’ve seen was Prince at Allphones Arena in May 2012. But now I’m just showing off. :-) RIP.

Corker track that Funny Girl. Looking forward to Morningside album, apparently being issued too on vinyl :-)

I just found out* that looo-o-o-ng-time Chchch & NZ folk Music (amongst others) stalwart Phil Garland died on March 15.
R.I.P.
Rosa Shiels has a fine piece at audioculture.

I’m sure I have memories of him at The Victorian Coffee Lounge some foggy Winter’s night, the toasted cheese and onion sandwiches were ambrosia, the hot chocolate – nectar!
The quasi-crepuscular gloom, a candlelit-shadowed room…
Also Bedford Row, and most free concerts for a while there…

* http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/90800958/father-of-nz-folk-music-farewelled-in-chch

Is that compere our current John Campbell or an earlier incarnation?

I suspect it was this John Campbell – http://www.johnnycampbell.co.nz/main.html

- all good ten-year-olds should've been in bed before this concert started...
:- )

Continues bit of a trend here, and makes me wonder about certain NZ albums like Dr Tree & the 1860 band, or Fiji’s Mantis for that matter

Mantis’s album got a reissue here in 2015.

There’s a good Audioculutre article too.

Mantis’s album got a reissue here in 2015.

Ah, thanks! I had completely missed that

Neil Diamond in the mid 1990s was in the round at Mt Smart. From memory the stage revolved slowly. Great concert too, notwithstanding an overload of boomer dancing.

Would be great if someone could announce these concerts before they happen. I love Nick Cave and this is the first I hear about him having been here in January. I get mail fro NZTX or what they are called but they didn't bother to announce that concert. Does anyone here have a reliable source for concert dates? Im not going to be a bloody Herald every day on the slim chance that there is something is announced in there. Yep, a tip would be appreciated. I don't want it for free. I can offer a tip in return. Stay at school and don't do drugs. Something I've never heeded but it may be of use to someone. :-)

yeah, it's been boom times for Kiwi (vinyl) reissues of late - with more on the way - but I'd really like to add that Sue Barker to the pile too. cheers for the heads up.

Im not going to be a bloody Herald every day on the slim chance that there is something is announced in there.

I'm the opposite. I'm sick of visiting Stuff and the Herald -- two of NZ's major news sites -- and finding their lead story is bloody Adele. Again. Maybe entire newsrooms went to the shows and thought them important enough to dominate the news for several days.

When you live in London there are plenty of top acts performing every week. But (barring disasters) they'd never make front page news in a month of Sundays. Maybe a mention on the entertainment pages, if you're lucky.

Our major news organisations really do go out of their way to appear distinctly regional these days.

I'm sick of visiting Stuff and the Herald -- two of NZ's major news sites -- and finding their lead story is bloody Adele. Again.

Maybe Fairfax would have been better to have sat on their fatwa against Facebook until the Adele thing had blown over. That and the five minute mass hate on horrid, horrid Justin Bieber

Just out, a bit of midweek listening, from 'the Jimi Hendrix of no technique' - THIS IS MEMORIAL DEVICE NZ: A SPECIAL PODCAST BY BRUCE RUSSELL (XPRESSWAY/THE DEAD C ET AL) – PART 1.

It's a special podcast put together drawing parallels between the fictitious Lanarkshire (Scotland) music scene brought to life by David Keenan in his publication This Is Memorial Device and the NZ post-punk scene of the 1980s - in which of course Bruce himself was a key player.

And, one for the diaries, Sunday 9 April, Spooky Boogie is hosting Vinylism, Lyttelton's One and Only Vinyl Fair of the year.

The Clean's first EP Boodle Boodle Boodle has won the 2017 Taite Classic NZ Record award!

It's nice that the story links to the Tally Ho Clip - even though it's not on the EP.