It's mid January, and if you're not relaxing on some fine sunny shore, The Sydney Festival can be your saving grace! Mark and I purchased tickets way back and have been lucky enough to see some great performances so far, if only we had the moneybags to attend a few more gigs!
First we went to The Spiegeltent to see La Clique. Oh, how lucky we were! The whole season sold out at two shows a day, with tickets selling on Ebay for three times what they are worth!
The Spiegeltent itself is a wonder to visit, wood and stained glass all around, almost if you have stepped into an old-fashioned jewellery box. And the delights once inside...
This picture speaks for itself. This is the wonderful David O'Mer. His bathtub act, well... it's just one of the sexiest things...
Watch his performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lrg4wV-Uqo
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=7280970
This is Yulia, she does wonderful things with hoops!
Then last Saturday the 12th January 2008 we went to The State Theatre to see Sufjan Stevens. I'm not an expert at writing reviews, but I know I enjoyed the show, particularly in these unique surroundings.
There were lots of visuals and Sufjan arrived on stage with a 10 piece? band, which nicely rounded out the sound with brass and woodwind. The crowd was very well-behaved, which I think confused him at times!
However, I did become increasingly annoyed at the people sitting around me taking pictures of the show! When you turn a camera on in the dark, it becomes very distracting! It gives the area that mobile phone-like glow: and when a quiet song is being played and the artist (YES, Artist) is attempting to connect somewhat with the audience, it becomes infuriating! Stop it, stop it! Just enjoy the moment, and forget about the shaky, over-exposed shots you are taking that your friends aren't even interested in seeing anyway. grrr.
Sufjan was also supported by a new York act called My Brightest Diamond which I really enjoyed. A voice like Jeff Buckley, loose stage moves, and she sits at a piano like Tori Amos! She also plays in Sufjan's band so that's a bit of trivia for you...
Next is Joanna Newsom in two weeks at The Sydney Opera House... another treat!