musopantz

As I continually attempt to blog at least once a week, I now present to you the first festival of the new year… Summadayze!

After taking a two-and-a-half week off taking photos - the previous show was Animal Collective at Club Capitol, an incredibly dark show because their lighting system had screwed up - it was time to get back into it for 2010. What better way to start by shooting a lively dance festival along the foreshore.

The Presets are playing on-stage… somewhere

Spanning both the Supreme Court Gardens and The Esplanade reserves along Riverside Drive, Summadayze has grown to be a huge dance festival and the first lively event to kick you in the pants after New Years. I’m not sure how traffic manages when they have to close off Barrack St. to join the two parks, but I must say it’s a huge trek to get from one side to the other!

Infected Mushroom - blinded by the lights of the crowd

After a crazy day of DJs, it was refreshing to see a few live bands in the mix. Absolute highlight of my night was Israeli electronic group Infected Mushroom who, coupled with the roaring of the crowd, put on a performance that completely blew me away. Guitarist Erez Netz (pictured) rips it up on the guitars while Amit Duvdevani shouts and incites the crowd with great raucous!

Kim from The Presets & Jo from Technotronic

Remember “Pump Up The Jam”? Technotronic are back! Well… not really. There were many punters keen to relive their “early-90s popular house” days and for about 30 minutes they did. That’s how long Technotronic’s set was, spanning a whole four songs including the aforementioned plus “Get Up! (Before The Night Is Over)” and two other songs that I’m sure were from their first album. The Presets put on an ‘alright’ show, but their evening slot just showed that the full Presets experience needed some trippy lighting.

Carl Cox headlined making you dance your pants off

It was a great way to start the year. I took it easy and wandered around soaking it in. I’d like to think that the photos from Summadayze really shows what I’m capable of. There are immediate favourite photos of the year from this set, especially the photo of the festival rides.

Check out the rest of the Summadayze photos in my Flickr photostream.

Gig Date: Friday 24th July, 2009

The very first date on their Australian tour, UK electro band Friendly Fires played right here in Perth at the Amplifier Bar. It was their first stop before heading straight to Byron Bay for the Splendour In The Grass festival over the weekend. Though they had only an hour set performing, all their songs pumped up the crowd into some steamy dancing times.

Remind me to never go to the latest and greatest bands kids are into these days! Knowing that this was a sold-out show, myself and Courtney held our spots in the front row waiting for Friendly Fires to come on. I suddenly felt so very old being surrounded by kids freshly turned 18. It was freakin’ me out! I’m too old for this! That doesn’t stop the photos looking swish though!

Plenty more photos on my Flickr photostream, so check them out!

Also, pick up a copy of Drum Media Perth this Thursday for the full review.

Gig date: Saturday 18th July, 2009

Brisbane indie-rockers Yves Klein Blue popped into the City Beach Surf Shop in the Perth CBD for a quick in-store gig. Their song “Polka” is currently the song played during a TV ad for the Mitsubishi Lancer, though they have a whole bunch of other pleasant pop-rock songs too! They were to play that night at the Amplifier Bar too. I’m not sure of the history of the surf shop doing in-stores, but I’d really like to find out more about them! My sister tells me that the store usually has a DJ where the band played, though I didn’t know that until I arrived. I’m also told that the shop sells concert tickets, so I’m guessing that’s how they get bands to come into the shop. The lenses I had brought weren’t enough to get some closeup shots.

Thanks to my tardiness, I got there 10 minutes late and they had only played a 20-minute set. That’s alright though. I was surprised at the acoustics in the shop though there weren’t many shoppers who took notice of the performance. The building was formerly a part of the old Commonwealth Bank until they sub-divided the floor space. I don’t remember when that was done, but I do remember how it was before!

Here we have lead singer Michael Tomlinson spotting me travelling down an escalator. Funnily enough, he spotted me later that night at Amplifier Bar bopping away to their pop-rock tunes. Thanks mate!

I didn’t get a lot of shots though- staff were a bit dumbfounded when I rocked up to take photos. One shop assistant came up to me and asked me to stop taking photos. Fair enough, I was in a private space and clothing stores are privy to “knockoff artists” who copy clothing and logo designs from well-known brands. I guess I should have asked before I took photos.

I was with my friend Courtney while she took photos of Yves Klein Blue that night at the Amplifier Bar. Her photos should be up pretty soon on her Flickr photostream and Fasterlouder. Keep a look out for them!