All Tomorrows Parties, Brisbane, 15-01-09.

With posters like those above how could I not witness the
fantastic lineup put together by Nick and his Seeds.
And what a line up, we got a decidedly smaller version
up here however I don't mind cause the clowns are still
to come and everyone I want to see otherwise was on
the bill. So on to the gig.
Its was a Thursday afternoon / evening show which
is a pain to get to so we arrived with about 4 songs
left of Robert Forster and band missing the first 2 acts.
I could hear him as we walked the Km or so through
the botanical gardens to the riverside stage.
Pandanus was playing as an excellent Brisbane backdrop.
Rob and co were brilliant as usual and I even got a few
photos of him looking out from back stage later.


Rob Forster



Spiritualized were next and they didn't disappoint,
not Australian I know, but an amazing wall of sound.
Complete with a couple of female backing singers,
it took on a gospel sound which made them an
unsurprising choice for the bad seeds. Very nice
band to watch as the sun set on what was a perfect
Brisbane day.


Jason Pierce


Spiritualized


We moved up front stage for the rest of the night,
the Saints up next. Now I make no secret that this
was the biggest reason for me being here.
I watched the rather simple set up for the
band and Ed personal come out to check out
his Quad marshal amps, Vg 8, strat set up,
much to the crowds enjoyment.

Eds Strat

Setting up before show

Billed as the Saints playing the entire
"I'm Stranded" album in the end that didn't
exactly happen. They was in fine form however,
I think I preferred the pig city performance, it
had a more historic feel to it, however it was
bloody good. Chris and Ed seemed totally at
ease, I don't believe all this animosity crap.






Ed let it rip with his legendary guitar sound.
While Chris had the crowd eating out of his hand.
He was well behaved too, seemed to be really
enjoying himself. Ivor Hay on drums and
Archie Larizza on bass complete the line up
as an invincible percussion section.

Ed and Ivor



There was plenty tracks from Stranded and
a few others with some notable omissions.
The set list was

Swing for the crime
This perfect day
Erotic neurotic
A minor aversion
Kissin cousins
One way street
Messin' with the kid
Nights in venice


Chris and Archie


They didn't play I'm Stranded
The Prisoner or Know your Product,
which is guaranteed to piss off many punters.
A point made by Andrew in his review here

but to deny a Brisbane crowd a song with which
they identified so strongly is absolutely unforgivable.
They leave the stage post-_Venice_ and it takes
a few moments to realise that there’ll be no encore.

Their set seemed to be cut short however the
whole thing was running late.
Andy a reader here has this inside information
on what happened

Was working with The Saints on this tour - the stuff
up in Bris with Stranded was because the band took
a bit long before returning to do an encore
(which was to be Stranded) and the sound crew had
started knocking the PA down...
the guys had every intention of playing it.

So they took too long smoking cigs backstage.

Chuck has recorded, he had some troubles
with the saints, but has an excellent recording
of Robert Forster and says

at this stage I'm prepared for 6 volume entire
festival collection to represent this fine day :)

I have obtained a recording of the
band at Mt Buller which I will post soon.


Eds wonderful shoes

Next the Bad Seeds in all there glory and I'm
right at the front.
With 2 drum kits, extra lights and a 7 piece band
it took a bit to set up and they were scrambling.
From the moment they hit the stage it was
like the wildest wild you could go on. This is
one of the greatest bands in the world, they
are all the highest quality musicians and
nick runs a tight ship.

Thomas Wydler


Martyn Paul Casey

Conway Savage
Jim Sclavunos

Warren Ellis who as Chuck emailed about by the time I got home,

"shits all over Hendrix for sonic genius... "


Warren Ellis


Was incredible, these days he plays apart
from violin, these little 4 string electric
guitars and I think hes taken over the
Blixa mantle, something I never believed
possible.

Mick Harvey


They ripped through their rather large
back catalog playing songs like Dig, Lazarus,
Dig, Tupelo, The Weeping Song, Red Right Hand
Love Letter, The Mercy Seat, Deanna, Papa Won't
Leave You Henry, More News From Nowhere,
The Ship Song, Get Ready For Love, Red Right Hand,
Lyre Of Orpheus and of course Stagger Lee to finish.


What an incredible band and what an incredible
in your face performance,
at least from where I was and what an incredible
night. I've culled the photos from almost 900
(there was a lot of blurry ones) to some 50.
And Chuck has a recording for us.

just listening to nick cave dat :)
sounds nice ill be busy tomorrow
but will spend a few days from weekend
on sweetening these tapes for the stripey sound :)


Any one else who saw any of the performances
please let us know in the comments what it was like.
And if the photos make you insanely jealous let me
know too. If your interested there's additional photos
on my myspace photo section

Nick Cave in full flight