Category: Consume

Movies, books, art, the like.

Flight of the Conchords @ Hammersmith Apollo

Kiwi Splendour – Jemaine & Bret in action (more pics)

From the very first moment that Bret & Jemaine, better known as Flight of the Conchords, took to the packed, ecstatic crowd at Hammersmith Apollo we knew we were in for a treat. Sporting home-made cardboard box heads the expectation was for We are Robots, but instead they launched straight into Too Many Dicks (On the Dancefloor), giving Arj Baker – Dave from the show & tonight’s support – the chance to show his rap chops. The crowd lapped it up and every other classic song the Kiwi duo rolled out, whether they were pitch perfect or slightly off with hilarious recovery. One surprise though was quite how potent Jemaine is. That man can deliver an accent, and a sexy pose, like no-one else in comedy today – with the possible exception of Matt Berry. Even Bret’s talented musical delivery & banter seemed sometimes to be playing second fiddle to the ‘llama faced’ god.

All the crowd pleasers had been delivered by the end of the almost two hour set, no mean feat when you’re two guys on stage all the time. We Are Robots (with Jemaine’s amazing Schwartzenegger impersonation), Hurt Feelings, Woo Song, Business Time, Carol Brown (with Bret as all the exes) and a finale of epic mock-rock God proportions with Bowie and finally Sugalumps. Boy, did they give us sugalumps. Especially the lucky front row who received Bret in full effect as he clambered into the crowd. In between the fan friendly songs the guys took time to regale us with stories from their tour, involving the hilarity of muffins and elevators delivered with deadpan perfection.

A perfect night, with the only downside being the ridiculous difficulty in getting tickets when they first went on sale. I believe the gig sold out in three minutes, not helped by a ‘maximum’ of six tickets per person. Six! By the 5th gig the Conchords announced the guys had sensibly started asking for photo ID and will-call picket for everyone, but this was for Wembley Arena rather than the relative intimacy of Hammersmith. Something really needs to be done about the touts scalping their profits, not only the ones outside, but the corporate off-shoots of companies such as TicketMaster who encourage people to tout and re-sale tickets to profit from real fans. ID pickup is likely the best solution and it really can work, as I saw earlier in the month at Thom Yorke’s Atoms for Peace gig in New York. That aside, the extra money spent was worthwhile (see, I’m part of the problem…) I just wish it had gone to the men who deserved it.

The Conchords gave us an amazing night and showed us that New Zealand isn’t all Hobbits. There are Elves and Maoris as well. Sexy ones at that.

A Very Neon New Year to Everyone


Space Invader Neon @ Lazarides Grifters Show
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

As the last few hours of 2009 draw to a close we can reflect on the year that’s been. Or we can do the same as every newspaper across the world has done and reflect on the decade that’s been – the ‘noughties’.

2009 for me has been dominated by an increasingly joyous obsession with Space Invader graffiti, combined with my first full year of work in London since ’97 and the opportunity to do some European travel. Prague, Paris and Barcelona all featured – as did happy return trips to New York and Toronto. My carbon footprint has been quite heavy this year, apologies to the world on that. There have also been a number of weddings – so further congratulations to Aimi and Gary, Paul and Victoria and Chris and Cecilia on that front. Not to mention the great increase in quality time spent with my family now we’re on the right side of the world again.

2009 was also a great year for gigs – from perennial faves TV on the Radio, Daedelus, PJ Harvey and the amazing Blur reunion gig at Southend. We thought that Blur wouldn’t be beaten, but then a last minute intimate Pearl Jam gig at Shepherd Bush snuck in there to give them a good run for their money, as well as unexpectedly superb Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Pixies gigs. Wow. 2010 has a lot to live up to there.

As to the decade. Well you can read this blog if you want, which started in earnest on February 27th, 2000 with this unauspicious first post. Yes, this blog is almost turning ten! It’s seen a lot of good times with friends around the world, and a lot of tragedy with the events of 9/11 and the election of George Wanker Bush amongst others. Although the Internet has revolutionised our world, it hasn’t helped us to overcome the fears and governmental idiocy that have been introduced at the same time – or at least not yet..

Decade highlights for me have to be the arrival of four nieces and nephews, getting to travel round the world and learning to scuba dive, living in New York and Montreal, making some great friends, and spending half that decade with the ever lovely M.

So for everyone, everywhere – here’s to a happy, healthy 2010 and the decade beyond. Go for your dreams and don’t listen to the naysayers. Skol!

Meeting my Idols #2: Terry Gilliam


Terry Gilliam in Q&A @ The Curzon Mayfair
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

Last night we had the joy of seeing Terry Gilliam’s latest film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, followed by a Q&A with the great director himself. All very exciting stuff.

The film is awesome, a fantastical myth making tale along the lines of Baron Munchausen, with great performances from all the actors. The way in which Heath Ledger’s untimely departure from halfway through filming is handled extremely well and, if anything, adds to the film – as in some scenes Heath’s English accent veers a little antipodean or is smothered in excessive use of the word ‘mate’.

Lily Cole is visually stunning and hypnotising as Parnassus’ daughter, unaware of her imminent fate as the trade made in a bet between Parnassus and the Devil – played excellently by Christopher Plummer and Tom Wait respectively. Why are Gilliam’s casting choices always so spot on?

After the fun of the film we got to spend a while in Q&A with Terry Gilliam. He was at ease, happy to go into stories, and full of interesting anecdotes. The only annoyance was the apparent inability for some audience members to not ask questions regarding Heath’s death and family, all of which had been answered by Terry in many of his recent interviews or were just deeply inappropriate.

Post Q&A Terry was thronged by fans outside in the bar, some more greedy with his time than others, but thankfully he found a few seconds on the way out the day to sign my favourite Brazil DVD. Huzah! Fanboy #2 goal achieved (#1 being meeting Eddie Izzard back in ’98 of course).

PJ Harvey & John Parish @ Shepherds Bush Empire


PJ Harvey & John Parish @ Shepherds Bush Empire
Originally uploaded by ultrahi.

The every amazing Polly Jean with her co-conspirator John Parish rocked Shepherds Bush Academy last night for the second of two gigs. Wonderful stuff indeed. How such an amazing range of sound comes from her small frame is somewhat beyond me, but I’m sure glad it does. From the opening epic rock of Black Hearted Love, to the very end, every moment was wonderful and tight – we even got a few minutes of PJ banter as one of the band’s laptops gave us a crackly acapella moment.

It’s been a long time since my last PJ gig at Glasto over ten years ago, and before that was at the Que club in Brum (supported by Tricky) and this gig just shows she’s going from strength to strength. Thanks to Polly and John for a splendid night, to Rich and Andrew for coming along to enjoy, and to Sooz for Facebooking her original comment when she missed the first round of tickets! Now let’s see if I can get some Blur preview gig tickets this morning…

“Oh, the squirrel-manity!”

There’s one thing you can guarantee about an Eddie Izzard gig… that there will be a wide selection of animals exclaiming about some issue affecting their lives, oh and a healthy dose of history. Guess what – he still delivers all that, and much more, but what’s missing is his usual choice of sparkly clothing. For some reason, Mr Izzard is now cutting a suave figure in jeans, white shirt and a long backed jacket for his Stripped tour in London. This shouldn’t come as such a surprise, since last time we saw him in Montreal he was wearing much the same, but tonight was a much, much better show. Tighter, more laughs, and more cute animals complaining about over-crowding on the ark.

Stripped is standard Eddie fare, ramblingly hilarious discursions on how the world can be put to rights, how cool iPhones are and how giraffes hide. What’s good to see is that after so long punting the LA stand-up scene, he seems very happy to be back on home ground. The jokes seem more relevant to a UK audience, although at times the American references passed most of the audience by. That said, the audience didn’t seem to mind – and that audience included random celebrity attendees Lenny Henry & Dawn French.

So another big thanks to Mr Izzard for another splendid night, and to those of you who don’t have tickets – get your arses down to the returns queue like we did and keep your fingers crossed! It’s worth the wait.

The Next Doctor?

Well it’s now official that David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who. Sad news indeed as he created such a great take on the character, one that has introduced the Doctor to a new generation and even convinced a few die hards that Tom Baker’s run could at least be equalled. Unfortunately although Tennant’s Doctor is as compelling as Baker’s, his run on the show is nowhere near as epic – Baker did seven series, man and scarf.

So now it’s a big thanks to David for all the good times, and onto the usual flurry of speculation as to who will be next. I don’t envy them, they have some hard shoes to fill. David gave as a dark, somewhat tortured Doctor, so you have to think another direction would be good – lighter, but not too comedic. I’d still love to see Eddie Izzard give it a go, but suspect that won’t happen. Perhaps they could get Mitchell and/or Webb to try, that’d be an interesting twist to follow on from the Two Doctors storyline at the end of the last series. All these folk would be fun to watch, but I suspect we need someone with a few more actorly chops, and a bit of Shakespearean experience as the ‘Sci Fi Shakespeare’ angle is always a winner.

Stephen Fry’s Love Letter to America

This Sunday, for those of us in jolly old Britland, Stephen Fry is embarking on the first episode of his love letter to America – which should be a jolly good watch and probably a lot better than the watered down distress visited on us by Little Britain USA (sorry, Matt and David – it’s not your best work). In a wonderfully long blog post Stephen explains where his fascination with America came from, the near chance that he could have grown up in America had his father but taken a different career decision. Having found this out at age ten the young Stephen, or ‘Steve’ when effecting an American accent, would imagine how his life could have been had this choice been made differently. Now the adult ‘Steve’ Fry gets his chance to share his effusive joy and wonder about the country that might have been his but isn’t thankfully for all us Brits who consider him one of our brightest treasures.

Who? Doctor Who?

Well that was one of the best Doctor Who episodes in a while. Explosions. Multiple cameos. Emotional wrenching turmoil. The usual. Plus Davros is back again, splendid stuff.

Oh, and a resolution to last week’s cliffhanger where the Doctor was shot by a dalek that I promise you won’t expect. Big ups to Russell T Davis and the rest of the team.

Letting the Days Go By

I’m in a total Talking Heads fest right now. It’s funny really, as I was never a big fan of their hits back when they came out, now after some water under the bridge I’ve realised quite how outstanding they were and how much they’ve influenced modern bands. That and lead singer David Byrne was one of my more regular celeb spots back in New York, striding purposefully around the East Village with his spiky gray hair.