Essential Festival Sydney

I’m back in Sydney and jumping back into the live music scene with the Essential Festival that was held on ANZAC Day at the Gaelic Club this weekend.

Embarrassingly I’m not a huge fan of Aussie homegrown music, with most of my obsessions targeted towards international acts. I was only keen to cover this gig because of Ratatat, who are an amazing band from New York, but was pleasantly surprised and blown away by the quality of the Aussie bands preceding them.

Despite not having many punters around due to their early set time, the Paper Scissors were full of energy and fun catchy pop songs.

Grafton Primary were also great danceable fun but Bluejuice absolutely stole the show with raw energy and amazing onstage presence. Bluejuice, you have a new fan – I LOVE YOU GUYS.

Ratatat were also great, but to my annoyance their lighting show consisted of killing the stage lights and playing some random projector display in the background. I didn’t have a flash on me so after a few minutes of trying to get a decent shot, I realised there was no point and closed my eyes and enjoyed the music instead.

The headliners were Regurgitator but I didn’t stick around long for them – they’ve got some ace songs up their sleeves but I’ve never been a fan of their onstage act and the surprisingly rough crowd they attract.

All in all, Essential Festival was a good night of great Aussie acts. And if you haven’t checked out Bluejuice live yet, do yourself a favour and buy yourself a ticket. They’re incredible!

To check out more photos from the Essential Festival click here.

The Hampdens in Sydney

This is another post about a gig I went to the other week, with the Hampdens playing at the Vanguard in anticipation of the release of their album in May.

I remember hearing a bit of their music a few years back and really liked their vibe. The sound wasn’t too great on the night but they did play a nice set with some catchy pop tunes. I’m looking forward to giving their new album a spin once it comes out.

Iron & Wine in Sydney

I caught Iron & Wine the other week at Manning Bar – that place has been getting a lot of really good acts lately. Sam Beam played a beautiful set and his beard had me mesmerised.

For more shots from the show, check out my Flickr stream.

Here’s a clip of one of Iron & Wine’s singles, Naked As We Came.

Jens Lekman in Sydney

Jens Lekman played a beautiful, charming and very witty set at Manning Bar a few weeks ago. I’ve had a thing for Swedish indie pop for a while and his songs are no exception.

It was also my first time taking photos at a gig from the pit, which was very fun and exciting. It made getting the shot I wanted a lot easier as I could move around freely instead of being crushed by other eager punters keen to be in prime position for the show.

Jens is also a very funny guy, telling us little anecdotes and stories on the way to keep us entertained.

To find out more about Mr Jens Lekman here’s Pitchfork’s interesting enough interview. He lives in Australia now, so hopefully that means we’ll be seeing a lot more of him!