Last night on wednesday 6th March a large proportion
of the Sydney trainspotter/idm community went down
to the Hordern Pavillion to see Plaid perform live
with Bjork.
At 8:00pm long time Australian industrial dance act,
Severed Heads came on and played for 1/2 an hour.
At 8:30 when SH finished the house lights came on and
over the p.a. I started to hear Nort Route remix from
ART 1 EP. They played the whole of ART 1. By the time
Atypic - Blah came on maybe the 2 XLR8's and the alcoholic
ciders I'd drunk were taking effect and I couldn't resist
the urge to dance even though the 5000 or so other people
milling about weren't.
8:50 and the lights go down again and Plaid come on. The crowd
cheers and pushes forward a bit to see Andy and Ed. They crowd
are greeted with the sparse whooshy electronics of the opening
track. Some of the crowd still think Bjork is about to come on.
About 2 minutes into the track and no beat yet and no vocals
and Plaid strip back a few layers and the crowd kind of doesn't
seem to know what to do. The track is a bit of a tease really
but when it ends the crowd applauds appreciatively.
Next track is an FX-ish interlude. It doesn't appear to be going
anywhere when a roadie comes out to help with what appear to be
equipment troubles. The two dominating pieces of equipment in Plaid's
set up appear to be a Yamaha Pro Mix and a Waldorf Wave. Apparently
I heard later that the problem was with the Waldorf. The next track
sounds a bit like an un-jungle version of Angry Dolphin from the
Plaid ep on Clear. A few people (mostly women) and myself start
grooving. The next three tracks I didn't really recognize.
Plaid's beats were minimal and broken - very difficult to dance
to but the percussion and basslines keep me on track as I fall
deeper into their sound. Strange time signatures, warm melodies
and bleeps envelop my body and I am transported to Planet Plaid.
On the down side I closed my eyes for a while and nearly fall
over. The sound wasn't that good either. Plaid's sonic subtleties
seem lost in the reverberant Pavillion.
Ninety percent aren't dancing but seem to be enjoying the
experience anyway. I suppose because I seem to be the most into
the music in my vicinity, some attractive girl comes over from
her friends to ask me who the band is. Mmmm.
The last track is a jungly version of a track like Juaqq or
Virtual. The fast percussion doesn't seem to be adding much
as there is little of the characteristic jungly subsonic
bassline. Plaid finish at 9:20 after playing 1/2 an hour
of the strangest music most of the massive audience may have
ever heard in their lives. An empowering experience for
Sydney's true believers.
After a short time Bjork's band come on, and Bjork starts
singing from off stage. The crowd go moderately crazy when
she takes the stage. The tracks I can remember were:
Human Behaviour
Army of Me
Venus as a boy
Hyperballad
Big Time Sensuality
Shove Piggy Shove
Violently Happy
It's oh so quiet
Bjork appears to feed mostly off the energy of her own music
but seems to relish the crowds enthusiasm too. Plaid staid
on with her so I see them as part of her band providing most
of the backing whilst the live drummer comes in over the top
and the prominent addition of a guy playing piano accordian.
Very unusual combination. The crowd mostly got into the
more thumping up-tempo tracks that got everyone dancing.
The highlights of her set for me were Venus as a Boy and
Shove Piggy Shove. I must confess being moved to tears when
hearing the intro to Venus as this track has powerful memories
for me of my Bjork-like Eurasian ex-girlfriend. I feel
surrounded by the warmth of Bjork's love and emotions. The
quirky, close-miked percussive sounds of this track in
retrospect are very Plaid-esque too.
Many of you may have heard Shove Piggy Shove from LFO's
Advance CD. This is my favourite track on the album and
already wins my "Alberto Balsam" award for 1996 already.
Hearing Bjork sing over a dancier version of this track
was fantastic.
Bjork encored with It's oh so quiet, leaving us with a
breathy sshhhh at the end of the night. Overall, a very
worthwhile experience.
Florian
dachut@syds01.isc.gov.au