You have to Love Sydney this time of year! Entertainers are flying in left, right and centre. I've already seen Grizzly Bear and have tickets to see The Pixies, Echo & The Bunnymen, Jane's Addiction, Them Crooked Vultures, AC/DC and Wolfmother in nthe next 6 weeks or so...
And what's not to like when you are an international superstar who can fly the planet First Class and get paid for coming instead of the other way around. I really don;t understand why more don't pop into the Whitsundays on the way home, but there you are...
Anyway, I was reading this article in The Herald ("Don't bust a gut, Sydney adores you...") the other day about how Sydney generally is so thrilled anyone of any importance even turns up, that they really don't demand great performances and deliver standing ovations regardless of how good the show is. Like some fawning puppy dog, we'll be grateful for the smallest musical mercy apparently.
Now I wasn't at a lot of the gigs they mentioned. It did single out Leonard Cohen as one exception, and also Neil Young (although I heard he was a monster on his last performance here, growling at the crowd for not dancing enough.)
Anyway, I caught Velvet Underground's John Cale at the weekend at the Enmore in Newtown. A great show for the most part. His own material is just fairly professional, but formulaic rock n'roll I feel, enjoyable but forgettable at the same time (but thats just me). Obviously the VU stuff was sensational, and exciting to have that personal connection to some of the most important music ever produced.
So I was going to write this blog about how good his show was in contrast to this article I read...and then he never came out for an encore. Just went off - "see ya Sydney," and that was it. No Encore is like a two-fingered salute to me - total disrespect. What did the crowd do? Aside from a few boos, shuffled off home meekly.
So lets - as a collective audience - start demanding more from our stars, we deserve better Sydney!