The JD Set (29/5/2009)

Once again, the Prince of Wales dissapointed me with it's lack of tap beer and expensive bottled drinks. But, being the fact it was a free gig were there there for softened the blow somewhat. The gig tonight was to promote some up and coming bands, with classic Aus band You Am I headlining. Sounded like fun on a Friday, so after arriving early to secure entry (we could have arrived two hours later and we still would have made it in), we eagerly awaited the first band we had never heard of.

The Glass Ceiling

This was a perfect electro-pop band. They had 'the' in their name, wore skinny jeans, were from Sydney, had songs about the 80's, and the lead singer looked like Jules from the Presets. Sounding kind of like a poppier Placebo, they weren't too bad, and considering they were all pretty young looking. I enjoyed it, but can't remember any of their songs, and the music playing in my Itunes (right now Slipknot) is just that little bit better than listening to the songs on their myspace . But here's a video incase you're not lame like me.

The Glass Ceiling

Ah... they're from Adelaide... that explains it. This band were also decent, but nothing to keep me interested longer than the 45 minutes alloted to them. The singer had wayyyyy too much energy and enthusiasm for a crowd that wasn't really returning any of the love... but I guess that's hardly a bad thing, can't blame a man for trying. They're a band that you could describe as having 'Angular Riffs'. Don't ask me what the hell that means... just watch the video.

You Am I

After being a quasi-fan for ages, this was amazingly the first time I'd seen You Am I in a proper live venue. And..... I was somewhat dissapointed. The show was rockin, Tim Rogers is a perfect rock star, admitting that he'd given up everything in his life for his tunes, for this band, almost as a warning to the youngins that had preceded him in the night. While You Am I have a lot of respect from Australian music lovers, they never really achieved the worldwide success which some had expected of them when they first hit it big in Grunge city USA in the early 90's. And while I respect the band wholly, I know shit all of their songs, and that is why I didn't enjoy the gig as much as I had hoped. To be honest... I knew about 5 songs they played. Out of the 7 You Am I songs I can name. But the ones they played they played the hell out of, but not enough for me to want to go out and buy an album. I'm lame for wanting to hear the hits, but everyone has a moment of weakness right?

I'm pretty certain the above review is an uncohesive mess, so much so that I don't want to read it to check. But here is a video of Heavy Heart live, a song I desperately wanted to hear... and am pretty certain the only time I'll ever see it live was when they played it on Hey Hey it's Saturday 10 years ago.

And because it's cold outside and there's nothing better to do than watch videos on the net... here are my three other fave You Am I tracks. (You Am I fans probably hate me right about now).

Purple Sneakers

Berlin Chair - Acapella

Rumble - Awesome Tune