Posted December 28, 200618 yr http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?Men...ontentID=17274# Forget the mining boom, WA experienced a sonic touring boom as an explosion of national and international acts zoomed through town during 2006. Whether they were global superstars, supercool alternative artists, hip-hop top Doggs or veteran performers giving it one more whirl, no music fan’s wallet was left unturned. There were too many gigs to mention them all but here Simon Collins gives a breakdown of the best, worst and oddest of the year. FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US A year packed with more festivals than ever kicked off with the second instalment of the Southbound festival in Busselton, starring an eclectic bunch of bands (The Shins, the Dandy Warhols, Ozomatli, Ian Brown), and ended two days ago with Mandurah’s Rollercoaster event, featuring Grinspoon, the Butterfly Effect and Gyroscope. In between there were the institutions: the national Big Day Out roadshow was a tie between Iggy Pop’s Stooges, the White Stripes and the white-hot Wolfmother, while Silverchair returned triumphant at the local Rock-It endof-summer event in March. We were all too busy to notice there was no start-of-summer Rock-It. West Coast Blues and Roots scored perfect weather in Fremantle last April, with fans loving the laid-back vibe and sets from Damien Marley, Bernard Fanning, the Black Keys, Jamie Cullum and Jackson Browne. The late James Brown joined the young and funky dance acts in February for Good Vibrations; the highest profile event among a bevy of dance festivals held in and around Perth this year, including Summadayze, Parklife, Innercity, Earthcore, Ministry of Sound and Two Tribes. The older crowds took it easy at the A Day on the Green packaged concerts, and the brand expanded to cover those punters floating between the Big Day Out and ADotG with Escape to the Park featuring Augie March and Sarah Blasko. Pop kids saw the Veronicas, Evermore and End of Fashion at Live N’ Local, country fans got another City Muster and the Margaret River surf crowd enjoyed the odd mix of Ben Lee and Pendulum at Mainbreak. COOL FOR CATS Our coolest venue this year only stayed open for three weeks. The Perth International Arts Festival’s contemporary music venue, the Beck’s Verandah, hosted a brilliant array of alternative acts, highlighted by the Raveonettes. Other winning performances came from Broken Social Scene, Kathleen Edwards, Tegan and Sara, and Datarock, plus the return of Oz punk rock icons Radio Birdman. Other visitors that might fly under the mainstream radar but played great shows in 2006 included the Dresden Dolls, Sigur Ros, AFI, Beth Orton, Death Cab for Cutie, Dinosaur Jr, Alkaline Trio, Lagwagon and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, the highenergy crowd pleasers of Hard-Fi and the sharp Strokes — despite singer Julian Casablancas’ sore throat and the dud Challenge Stadium — delivered great gigs. With AC/DC covers and lurid jumpsuits, the Darkness were just plain ol’ good fun. The coolest ticket was the Arctic Monkeys, who played their first Australian show at Metro City on July 30 and, based on crowd reaction alone, it was the best gig all year. The band and punters both went right off. HIP TO BE SQUARE Nostalgic music lovers looking for hits and memories were treated to tours from Stevie Nicks and John Farnham, Smokie, Donny Osmond, Wayne Newton, Simple Minds, Deep Purple and Status Quo, Richard Marx and even Greek god Demis Roussos. Billy Joel and Sir Elton John rocked massive crowds at the Burswood Dome within a few weeks of each other, INXS dragged out their post-Michael career with Rock Star winner JD Fortune at Challenge in September, and Bob Geldof dropped into the Concert Hall in April. Human Nature brought their Motown covers revue here twice. And history did repeat as a reformed Split Enz wowed Perth and even UK punk vets Buzzcocks got in on the act. The Countdown Spectacular was an unashamedly daggy event inspired by the ABC-TV program of the late 1970s and early 80s. Hosted by the bewildered and bewildering Molly, Sherbet led a roster of has-beens that included Hush, Chantoozies, Models and Leo Sayer to provide the most fun you can have with your hat on. HIP-HOP Australia, and especially Perth, has never been fertile touring territory for American hip-hop acts — besides we get plenty of quality shows from Aussie artists, like the Herd, Hilltop Hoods and our own Downsyde. Yet 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and De La Soul got past immigration officials and bucked the trend of poor performances from the overseas hiphop fraternity. The most anticipated visit didn’t eventuate as Public Enemy cancelled their appearance at Blues and Roots. ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES Ben Folds returned to perform with the WA Symphony Orchestra, this time for three nights at the Concert Hall. While pop pianist Folds went hand in glove with WASO, Australian rock legends Tim Rogers and Tex Perkins seemed less at ease fronting the penguin-suited ensemble. No matter, both returned later in the year to rock more familiar pub crowds with You Am I and Beasts of Bourbon, respectively. THE BIG GIGS The most anticipated tour of 2005 became the most awaited event of 2006 when Kylie Minogue was forced to postpone her concerts after being diagnosed with breast cancer in May last year. Fans clutched their tickets tightly for 18 months until the recovering pop star — dripping in diamantes and flourishing feathers — played three shows at the Dome earlier this month. The tears and cheers were not confined to the fans. Pearl Jam rocked Subiaco Oval, Chris Isaak entertained two sold-out Kings Park crowds, Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas played solo at Challenge and Ben Harper braved the elements at the Supreme Court Gardens in May. Coldplay played their first show here in six years to more than 16,000 fans at Dome in July, after some gentle cajoling from an online petition. The biggest gig by far in 2006 came from a boy band refugee that doesn’t write his own songs, sometimes forgets the words and reckons rebellion is having a smoke on stage. And Robbie Williams’ Australian tour, which kicked off at Subi Oval on November 30, was not only the biggest of the year, it holds the record as the highest grossing concert tour in Aussie history. Bad boy Robbie filled the home of the West Coast Eagles twice over, something even promoter Michael Chugg thought was a fantasy. I would’ve rather seen U2 or the Rolling Stones — both bands skipped Perth this year — but I’m not sure we could’ve squeezed them in ... Either way, get your breath back over the holidays — the gigs will be rolling on even before you’ve finished singing Auld Lang Syne. :arrr: :arrr: :arrr: Think I'll be venturing into the 'Have Your Say' section at the bottom. What an idiotic, ill-informed journalist. :angry:
December 28, 200618 yr what an idiot...obviously the writer isnt a fan and is just to stupid to do some background research
December 28, 200618 yr Author Robbie better give back all those millions of pounds in Royalties then! :o
December 28, 200618 yr Robbie better give back all those millions of pounds in Royalties then! :o lol cause ofcourse some random person in Perth knows the truth when know body else does :lol:
December 28, 200618 yr What a complete and utter load of $h!t this article is :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I mean if they are going to slag him off, at least tell the bloody truth and get your facts stright :rolleyes: Robbie is one of the very few pop stars who actually DOES write his own material <_< Bloody jealous snobby journalists :rolleyes:
December 29, 200618 yr Bloody jealous snobby journalists :rolleyes: thats it! their just jealous because they have no real talents
December 29, 200618 yr Even I get tired to defend Robbie all the time by saying he DOES write his own songs <_< Imagine how Rob must feel !!! -_-
December 30, 200618 yr His songs are mostly all about his life, who else could have written them?? Idiot! :angry:
