One of Australia’s greatest rock exports of the 1990s, The Poor are returning to WA to wow audiences with their brand of no bullshit rock’n’roll (to quote them). Best known for their #1 most added song to American radio More Wine Waiter Please, The Poor will play The Pace Road Tavern on Friday, December 3, and The Charles Hotel on Saturday, December 4. Tickets available now through BOCS and from the venues.
One of Perth’s favourite cult songwriters, Rob Snarksi, is set to play two intimate shows at the Velvet Lounge on Friday, November 26, and Mojo’s on Sunday, November 28. The Blackeyed Susans’ singer has enjoyed a successful career that stretches back to the early ’90s when he won his first WAMi. Special guests at the Velvet Lounge will be Felicity Groom and The Jayco Brothers, while support at Mojo’s will be provided by Jill & Alsy (The Triffids) and Adrian Hoffman (The Morning Night). Tickets are $15 and available only at the door (no pre-sale).
Forget about Santa roasting his chestnuts and emptying his sacks, the crazies at X-Press and The Rosemount Hotel are teaming-up to stage the best Xmas party ever – A Not So Silent Night. The show’s line-up is bulging with some of the best local and national bands around; including Sugar Army, Cabins (NSW), Young Revelry, Coerce (SA), Grim Fandango, The Ghost Hotel, The Tim McMillain Band (VIC), Goodnight Tiger and The Caballeros. The yuletide bash is on Saturday, December 11, at The Rosemount Hotel. Doors open 4pm until late and tickets ($25) are available from Planet Video, Mills Records, Star Perth and heatseeker.com.au.
Pop darling Joppy will debut his new album Plastic Disease For The Lonely at The Norfolk Basement on Saturday, October 23. The Melbourne artist has recently played shows in UK, USA and Europe, both on his own and fronting rock outfit The Happy Endings. Highlights of the tour included sharing the main stage of European Positivus Festival with Moby, Ting Tings, James Blunt and Pete Doherty, as well as a set at the famous Viper Room in Los Angeles. Joppy mixes catchy melodies with some snarlin’ guitar. Tickets are available now from Moshtix.
The month-long Beach To Bush Festival is a celebration of the City Of Wanneroo’s unique lifestyle and heritage. There’re plenty of fun events on the cards, including a concert from Australian Idol singing sensation Jessica Mauboy; a concert that will be family friendly with a bouncy castle and free face painting before the show, and free to all. Enjoy a day of competitions and activities with your dog at Dog’s Breakfast at Alexander Heights Park, and check out the cabaret shows at the Amphitheatre, complete with singing, dancing, comedy, mimes and circus acrobats. Hit up the City’s website at wanneroo.wa.gov.au for all the details. The festival kicks off on Sunday, October 30, with the Jessica Mauboy concert taking place on Saturday, November 20.
The quiet town of York will be infiltrated by a slew of talented musicians come Friday, October 22, for the launch of the York Jazz Soul Funk Festival. Set to take over The Imperial Hotel in York, the launch will feature performances from a range of WA’s finest jazz soloists and bands, including the likes of Boom Bap Pow, Prita and Razor Jack DJ. As if that wasn’t already enough, the beautiful babes at Sugar Blue Burlesque will be there on the night to tease and tantalise their way into your heart. Doors open at 7pm, tickets are $30 and are available from (08) 9641 1255.
The founder of one of Perth’s first punk bands, The Cheap Nasties, before moving onto grunge project The Scientists, Kim Salmon is not only a legend around these parts but a master musician on the international circuit. After departing from the lo-fi psychedelic antics of the Scientists, Salmon moved on to a solo career in 1998 with his backing band The Business, where he sported a suit and some soulful, power pop harmonies. Fresh from performing at All Tomorrows Parties in New York alongside Mudhoney and The Stooges, Salmon will perform two shows in Perth, accompanied by a full band, playing at The Norfolk Basement on Friday, December 17, and then at The Bakery on Saturday, December 18. Tickets available from heatseaker.com.au, Mills and Planet for $20 plus booking fee.
To Leonard Cohen, one time Columbia Records chief Walter Yetnikoff critiqued: “Look, Leonard, we know you’re great, but we don’t know if you’re any good.” Cohen would go on to redeem himself tenfold with some of the greatest albums of his career, but Yetnikoff’s words seem appropriate for that other Canadian songsmith Rufus Wainwright.
Perth Concert Hall resembled a tomb as a less-than-capacity audience patiently watched Wainwright parade onto stage clad in a rather overzealous frock, complete with a five-metre train. We were instructed not to applaud for the first half of the set as Wainwright worked through the movements of his latest album All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu – a lamentation on his beloved mother’s passing (hence the frock).
Accompanied only by a grand piano and some rather distracting visuals of the human eye, Wainwright indulged us in vignettes of his family life, and the lead-up to the death of his mother – sometimes moving, but more often gruelling. While dazzling with his musical aptitude and supreme vocal range, Wainwright again reinforced the greatest critique of his career: he’s an amazing musician, but a rather uninspiring songwriter.
When the funeral procession was done the audience was invited to breathe again, as the celebrated New York resident returned to tickle the ivories through some of his death-free and more flamboyant material – including Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk and Poses, plus his beloved acquisition Hallelujah (penned by the aforementioned Cohen).
A slightly voyeuristic look into the bleak human soul, it was a night with Rufus Wainwright none will forget – but probably for all the wrong reasons.
_JULIAN TOMPKIN
The streets of Northbridge will be warming up this November when the Northbridge Festival returns for another year to entice punters into the heart of the city for food, culture and a whole lot more. Running from Sunday, November 14, to Sunday, November 21, the festival will take in all corners of Northbridge for live performances, markets plus film screenings and best of all, most of the action is totally free!
