When the Music's Over (turn out my lights...)

For some serendipitous reason, the start of 2018 was an amazing year for music.

Specifically, it was amazing year for ME to see LIVE music - a lot of my absolute favourite bands of all time, including Manchester Orchestra, the Foo Fighters and (of course) Biffy Clyro, came to Melbourne in that short period, and I had A Really Nice Time (TM).

Natasha was then diagnosed in August 2018, and our live music experience understandably dropped off somewhat. And then, as noted in my last post, Natasha tragically passed away last November. That was a Very Bad Time.

Now I don't know if it's serendipity or something else, but some of my remaining favourite bands have now started touring, and I'm really getting back into it (it's actually one of the few things really helping me get through this). I've already got tickets to see Tool, Baroness, the Pixies and Faith No More (which happens to be the first band I ever saw, way back in 1990).

So I thought I might share just some of the videos of my amazing 6 months of music from back in 2018 (actually from late December 2017 through to May 2018), and if I remember I might post some of my soon-to-be amazing 2020 live music, too, once I've got them under my belt.

Natasha appears in some.

And you should watch them all*.

Mick Thomas at the Caravan Club, 24 December 2017, playing "Step In, Step Out" 

Fatboy Slim at St Kilda Foreshore, 20 January 2018

Weezer at Etihad Stadium, 30 January 2018, playing "Say it Ain't So"

BONUS: Weezer at Etihad Stadium, 30 January 2018, playing The Pixies' "Where is my mind"

Foo Fighters at Etihad Stadium, 30 January 2018, playing "The Pretender"

BONUS: Rivers Cuomo and Foo Fighters playing KISS's "Detroit Rock City"

Manchester Orchestra at 170 Russell, 2 February 2018, playing "Pale Black Eye"

Mogwai at Golden Plains Festival, 10 March 2018

The Avalanches at Golden Plains Festival, 10 March 2018, playing "Frontier Psychiatry"

Rocket Science at Golden Plains Festival, 11 March 2018, playing "Burn in Hell"

Mastodon at Download Festival, 24 March 2018, playing "Steambreather"

Prophets of Rage at Download Festival, 24 March 2018, playing "Killing in the Name"

NoFX at Download Festival, 24 March 2018, playing "Bottles to the Ground"

The Dean Ween Band at the Palais, 15 April 2018, playing Ween's song "The Mollusk" (with special guest Les Claypool)

Primus at the Palais, 15 April 2018, playing "Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers"

Biffy Clyro at the Forum, 27 April 2018, playing "9/15ths"

Biffy Clyro at the Forum, 27 April 2018, playing "Many of Horror"

Augie March at the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, 4 May 2018, playing "Just Passing Through"

Grant Lee Phillips at Memo Music Hall, 11 May 2018, playing "Fuzzy"

The Mavis's at the Prince of Wales, 11 May 2018, playing "Cry"

* Or don't. I won't know.

Meredith Mud Festival

I heart the Meredith Music Festival. I heart it very much. It is truly the best festival in our great land, and possibly the world. The music, the people, the place, the cans (no glass) are all RIGHT.
Unfortunately, I haven't been for a few years - coincidentally, I also had children a few years ago. But my wife and I planned to finally return to Meredith this year. We were successful in the online ballot. We purchased our tickets. The kids would be dropped off in Geelong (at their grandparents' place, not just randomly dropped off in a regional city on the way). We were going to make a glorious comeback.
And then it all got too hard and we sold our tickets on eBay on Thursday, just in time for some lucky punters to head down on Friday night.
Soaking, soaking Friday night.
Turns out we dodged a very wet bullet: Too big for its gumboots? Meredith festival gets a muddy mosh-pit
It absolutely poured for the entire weekend. In the meantime, we were indoors, doing high-fives. We were going to head out to the Collingwood Children's Farm for the Farmer's Market, but had to cancel due to the downpour, which was a bit of a letdown. But, on the other hand, we weren't caked in mud, and didn't lose our shoes.
That said, apparently Nick had fun at Meredith.
I don't know who Nick is.
This guy also has some good photos.
Nonetheless, not really too many regrets.
What I DO regret, is missing Ween at Golden Plains earlier this year. Although I saw them at the Forum the previous night, Ween in the Supernatural Ampitheatre just seems RIGHT. Here's a bit of them, for your total viewing pleasure:

Incidentally, when I was searching for reviews about this latest 2008 MMF, I came across this one. It wasn't until I was half-way through, when I saw the reference to the Dirty Three, that I thought: "Hang on. I was at that Meredith..." The review was for the 2004 MMF, which also featured a bit of storm action, the last one I went to. I obviously didn't recognise most of the bands, despite being there and (probably) watching them.
And isn't that really what Meredith is all about?
Next year, Aunty, next year.