Well that was quite possibly the most enjoyable $15 I've spent in a long, long while...Stu called me on Friday to ask if I wanted to come along with him to see
Kate Miller-Heidke (and Band) at The Gov as part of her "Little Eve Tour 07"...
Now I couldn't honestly tell you the last time I went out to see a live band in a venue... certainly not this century anyway. So I figured "what the hell!"... tickets were only $15, which isn't much in the grand scheme of the universe, and it got me out of the house.
We had dinner first, which took forever to come out (they're not usually open on Sundays... but really, you would think that they would have been a little more on their toes. On the upside, the calamari we both had was REALLY nice.
It did mean that we were not exactly at the front of the line as people started going in... and hence, didn't end up getting a seat anywhere. Annoying, but not life threatening.
Then there was the support act... Dead Letter Chorus... or as Stu and I liked to call them "Four Brokebacks and a Sunday School Teacher"... sad but true. They weren't bad... and either they got better as they went on, or else I just got used to them, but they did seem to improve. On the short list of complaints concerning them (not counting the whole "you're not who we came here to see" thing)... the lead singer needed to pull up his (admittedly very, very, very tight) pants (hello black Calvin Klein underpants!) and just not try and make banter... ever (or speak at all actually)... and the guitarist needed to take his medication at a DIFFERENT time than he took it tonight... oh, and just tell the drummer that he's really into him and wants to go steady or something.
Finally though, it was time for the main event!
Now, the only song that I really know of Kate Miller-Heidke is the song Words (she was also on the Arias, but then, I didn't watch the Arias), which is a little bit Kate Bush (I've been playing it on endless loop while I've been writing this)... but then KMH trained as an opera vocalist, so the Bush comparison isn't that far out of left field. And man, oh man, oh man... does she ever make use of her operatic abilities.
In a word... WOW!
She came out on stage kind of looking like 50's Pinup Barbie... with overly quaffed blonde hair, a short, bright yellow dress with lots of petticoat action going on (think "tutu inspired")... and black tights and "wrestling sneakers". Very cool actually.
Not knowing her catalogue of songs, I'm not sure of everything that she and the band (more on them in a second) played, but it was all highly enjoyable... after flicking through the lyrics on the website I think one of the songs was "Space They Cannot Touch", I know she did "Ducks Don't Need Satellites", "Apartment" (or "Shoebox", or maybe both), "Don't Let Go" (which has really pretty lyrics) and "Mama"... and of course "Words"... oh, and "Dreams" which I REALLY, REALLY liked ("I love you, but you don't even know my name"... hello, my theme song).
I do know that she played some songs that had to have been easily identifiable crowd favourites, because people starting screaming and clapping from the very beginning of those songs (and not wanting to be left out, I did likewise... actually I did a LOT of screaming and clapping to be honest).
The "Kate Miller-Heidke Band" was pretty groovy... and much more stylish than the warm up act... there was Sallie Campbell (violin, keyboard, vocals... and who doesn't love a nice bit of electric violin!), Keir Nuttal (guitar), Ben McCarthy (bass) and Steve Pope (drums... who was quite cute in that "emo just finished work at McDonalds" kind of way).
And Kate REALLY knew how to work a crowd (which was doubly obvious after the attempts of the Dead Letter boys trying to make with the funnies and failing)... including "Ding dong, the witch is dead" as a comment on the change of goverment due to the election... and a couple of other bits and pieces that she said in the intros to other songs (which I can't really remember right now, plus, you kinda had to be there). Yes, she did look a little like some sort of demented marionette as she was playing the piano (or, in one other song while she was letting the guitarist do his thing, marching up and down like some sort of toy soldier), but it just fits her, as her website calls it, "slightly loopy folk/pop".
We were also treated to what has got to be the BEST version of John Farmham's "You're the Voice" ever in recorded memory. The vocal gymnastics that woman can do are just amazing! Sadly she didn't do the version of Britney's "Toxic" that Stu was raving about the other day.
Then there was her "Australian Idol" song... which was highly appropriate since tonight was the finale (wait... what do you mean "Natalie won"?)... which pretty much had the whole audience rolling around with laughter (the song, not the fact that Natalie won... I only found that out because Mrs Stu send him an SMS)...
You should go on Australian IdolHehehehe...
You're much prettier than her - she looks like a pudding
'You'll win it no worries love' said my uncle
And I just turned and looked at him like he was something that I stood in.
And then, before we knew it, it was all over... *pout*... we screamed and hollered and they came out to do one encore song, which was very slow and cruisy and kind of settled the audience down a bit... and that was it.
A very nice evening out indeed!
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