Concert review: Bob Evans

The Cambridge Hotel

Thursday 9 May 2013

Where ever we’ve been, we’re back! Schnitzel and the Moose, large as ever. Let’s kick our triumphant return to the blogosphere off with a review of last night’s Bob Evans concert. We’re going to try something a little different this time, with each of use turning in our own take on the evening and then sticking them together end on end. Let us know what you think!

SCHNITZEL:

Yesterday was a shitty day. Work was long and arduous, it took ages to get a taxi home, my daughter wasn't keen on eating her dinner and my last minute organising had left Mrs Schnitzel in somewhat of a frazzled state. Shitty, shitty, SHITTY.

The day was quickly retconned, through, through an intensive process of pre-concert dinner and drinks (at Raj's Corner and the Terrace Bar, respectively); more drinks at the Cambridge Hotel and a good set from support act Tiger Town. Excellent. By the time Bob Evans came on stage, I was very merry indeed. By the end of the night, all the shitty was gone and all that remained was some of my favourite tunes, beers, whole-of-crowd sing-alongs, a swooning wife and an autographed tea towel.

Bob played to a room of around 100 people (which I quite enjoyed because it made the whole night quite intimate, but really, Newcastle; get your shit together!) and ran through a bunch of tunes in a Suburban Songbook heavy set list. Each of his albums were represented, and he was bang on with his guitar playing, his voice (note perfect) and his good natured jibes towards the people sitting outside having a ciggie and bad mouthing him on Twitter (#bobevansisarudecunt). Playing sans the band; Bob owned the stage, looked and sounded like he was having a great time and put out a full, rich sound… all the while posing for photos and swigging from a bottle of authentic Hunter Valley red wine.

There were many highlights for me: ‘Sadness and whiskey’ (which is totally why I drank so much whisky at the Terrace Bar before the show), ‘Me and my friend’, ‘Brother, O brother’, ‘Pasha Bulker’, ‘Go’, ‘Sitting in the waiting room’, his opening cover of the Divinyl’s ‘I touch myself’ and his I’m-going-to-walk-through-the-crowd-before-standing-right-next-to-you-to-sing rendition of ‘Don’t you think it’s time’. It was a top night and a top performance. And as far as slow burn birthday presents go, Mrs Schnitzel was very damn happy.

4/5

MOOSE:

My day was considerably different! I work in radio, and due to a reshuffle of the ‘drive’ program I ended up with the opportunity to interview the man himself. The chat was great, we recorded some IDs for an upcoming album feature we will be doing and it couldn’t have gone better. I edited it all up then met Schnitzel for dinner.

Dinner and drinks later and I had a large group of people I love that had turned out to see the show, and it was a great gig. Again due to some sort of reshuffle, Bob played a solo set. As Schnitzel said, it was heavy on Suburban Songbook and full of lovely little moments. My favourite of which came during requests – ‘For today’, the opener to his first record (2003’s Suburban Kid), as well as ‘Wonderful you’, an incredibly sweet song.

It’s just good to see someone give it their all, and play with a lot of honesty and passion while making such a full sound all on their own. It just proved what a great performer and genuinely nice guy Kevin Mitchell is, and seems to have been all along.

“Aren’t you that guy from that ‘Black Parades’ band?” – a farewell to My Chemical Romance

Fans and foes are alternatively mourning and rejoicing following My Chemical Romance's announcement last Friday that "like all great things, it has come time for it to end". The band that drew comparisons to everyone from Marilyn Manson to Queen, that (back in the day) modeled their sound on Morrissey joining the Misfits, and that gave every man and his dog an easy (if not misguided) definition of 'emo' have called it quits just shy of 12 years.

Concert review: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

All Phones Arena

Monday 18 March 2013

Wow. Just… fucking… WOW.

This is my third go at writing this review. I keep getting a few pars in and deleting everything I've written because none of it has gone close to either accurately recording and commenting on the facts of last night's gig or adequately explaining the way it made me feel.

Album review: 'Familiar stranger' - Bob Evans

Schnitzel: It's been a long time between drinks for Bob Evans fans since Goodnight, Bull Creek! (2009) drew his wonderful "suburban trilogy" to a close. Moose and I (along with Mrs Moose and Mrs Schnitzel) were keenly awaiting this new record (something which shouldn't surprise you as I included the first single, 'Don't wanna grow up anymore', on my top ten for 2012, and Moose bumped it from his at the last minute because I'd already included it), making do with The Double Life - EP in the meantime. We're all going to see Bob (AKA Kevin Mitchell) in May (happy birthday Mrs Schnitzel), and can happily say that this album has only gotten us more excited.

Concert review: Guns and Roses

Newcastle Entertainment Centre

Wednesday 13 March 2013

SCHNITZEL: It was the concert that almost didn't happen… if you take me not attending as it 'not happening'. After a late (as in after Sunday's Neil Young and Crazy Horse concert) and fortuitous turn of events (a friend not being able to attend anymore), I was gifted a ticket to see Guns and Roses at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. I'd been interested in seeing them when tickets first went on sale, but money and the need to prioritise concerts meant that I was giving it a miss. But when a ticket was just sitting there, about to go to waste… who am I to say no? So, I got excited, I ran through the discography in preparation, I left work early so I could feed and bath my daughter before heading out… and then… DISASTER!

Concert review: Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Sydney Entertainment Centre

Sunday 10 March 2013

Expectations were high as my party-of-six converged on the Sydney Entertainment Centre last night to behold the spectacle that is Neil Young and Crazy Horse. We had heard mixed reviews of the shows from this tour so far, and each of us had different songs we were hoping to hear, others we knew there was a snowball's chance in hell we'd hear and some we knew we'd hear.

In the end, the best and worst of our collective expectations were met.

Festival review: Soundwave 2013

Sydney Olympic Park
Sunday 24 February 2013

For all the cancellations, set clashes, public twitter wars and general bravado some would call bullshit...you've got to hand it to AJ Maddah, because Sydney Soundwave 2013 was one of the best festivals I have ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot of festivals. In my usually timely manner I'm going to review this festival one week late, but that's the Moose you’ve come to know and love, so who am I to let you down?

The sweet life: You Am I at the Cambridge Hotel

Like an idiot, I had recently convinced myself that I can't be super excited by gigs anymore, and that while I love live music and bands and shows, I just can't muster up the same enthusiasm as I used to.

Turns out I just hadn't seen You Am I in a while.

Triple J's Hottest 100: how did we do?

And so Australia/Hottest 100 Day passes for another year. We hope you had a wonderful day doing whatever it is you did, and that you enjoyed the countdown as much as we did.

Schnitzel and the Moose's Triple J Hottest 100 predictions

Prepare your brains… it’s almost Australia Day, and that means it’s almost Hottest 100 Day! It’s always super exciting, and we have a long history of making reasonably accurate predictions (not in any public or recorded forum, but over beers, and it our opinion, that’s more legitimate) on the top songs as voted by Triple J listeners.

If you haven't voted, it's now
too late and you're probably
dead/about to die.

So, without further ado, here they are… in no particular order, Schnitzel and the Moose’s predictions for tomorrow’s Hottest 100! Also, because we’re fans of hedging our bets, we’ve also got a list of honourable mentions.

Give us your predictions in the comments!

NB: Absolutely no mathematics were used in the formulation of these predictions.

The top 10

- Thrift shop – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

- My gun – The Rubens

- Little talks – Of Monsters and Men

- Sweet Nothing – Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch

- Bangarang – Skrillex

- Feels like we’re Only Going Backwards – Tame Impala

- Elephant – Tame Impala

- I got burned – The Bamboos feat. Tim Rogers

- Breezeblocks – Alt J

- Need your love – The Temper Trap

Honourable mentions

- Lost – Frank Ocean

- Spiritus – Lisa Mitchell

- Ready for the weekend – Icona Pop

- My man – Oh Mercy

- Trembling hands – The Temper Trap

- I will wait – Mumford and Sons

- Angels – The xx

- Coming down – Ball Park Music

- Youth in trouble – The Presets

- Take a walk – Passion Pit

- All the rowboats – Regina Spektor

SCHNITZEL AND THE MOOSE

Schnitzel’s note: and, really, Sydney Morning Herald? “…Triple J outsmarted”? C’mon! It’s not like the station is the janitor of the music world and is now screaming “I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that meddling Nick Drewe!” Shame on your laziness and tabloidism. Go say five “Hunter S. Thompsons" and beg Woodward and Bernstein for forgiveness.

Concert review: Weezer

Sydney Entertainment Centre
19 January 2013
Support acts: Ball Park Music, Cloud Control

Schnitzel: After months of intensifying excitement, Moose and I finally jumped in our rental car on Saturday and made the journey down to Sydney. Our destination was the Entertainment Centre, and our purpose was seeing the long-Australia-absent Weezer run through their greatest hits and then play the seminal 'blue album' from start to finish (a concert that had previously existed, dare I say it, "only in dreams". You're welcome). On our journey, we ran through our favourite Weezer songs (with Moose patiently trying to figure out what key I was singing in so he could join in without his ears bleeding) and the excitement just kept building. There was a sense we were going to see something really special… some of the masters of power pop performing their crowning achievements for an audience kept waiting for 16 years.

You wanted arts and crafts, how's this for arts and crafts? - a retrospective review of Weezer

Since forming in 1992, Weezer have played their own special brand of rock and blended gorgeous harmonies with self-deprecating, introspective and funny lyrics to produce credible and catchy-as-hell pop tunes everyone (that's everyone) can enjoy. We are lucky enough to be catching one of their 'blue album' shows on the 'Memories' tour tomorrow night, and have been slowly making our way through the band's discography in preparation. Be sure to check back for our full review of the gig early next week, but in the meantime, take a trip down memory lane as we pick apart  Weezer's studio efforts from the last 21 years.

Triple J's Hottest 100 - have you voted yet?

Congratulations if you have... but if you haven't, why the hell not?

A night with Evan Dando: free gigs and fanboys at the Cherry Bar

At around 9.30 pm last Monday, I was lounging around in a hotel pool enjoying a brief holiday in Melbourne when I missed three phone calls – three urgent phone calls telling me about a free impromptu gig by Evan Dando of the Lemonheads just 10 minutes down the road. What else could I do but dry myself, throw on some clothes and jump on a tram to the Cherry Bar.

Review: 'Where are we now?' promotional single - David Bowie

Massive news David Bowie fans! Today, the newly 66 year old rock legend released his first new music since 2003's Reality and announced a new LP for release in March. I'm (more than likely) getting ahead of myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if a world tour announcement wasn't too far away either (I live in hope…).

Schnitzel and the Moose review (some) of the (good) holiday blockbusters

A short break from work for Christmas and New Year gave us the opportunity to get out and see some of the slew of customary holiday blockbusters. And, because we feel entitled to offer our opinions on film as well as music, here you go - our thoughts on Les Misérables, Wreck-it Ralph and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey!

Concert review: Morrissey

Enmore Theatre, Friday 21 December 2012

Sydney Opera House, Saturday 22 December 2012

Schnitzel: It's not often that you go to see a show and walk out stunned into near silence by what you have just seen (and I say nearly, because come on, the post-gig debrief is compulsory). It's also not often that you are routinely turning to your fellow revelers during the course of the gig and screaming with joy as your hear the opening notes of a song you really didn't expect to hear. But that's exactly how we were both feeling after seeing Morrissey just before Christmas.