And as we wrap one up

Another one starts

Festival wrap time! I went to a grand total of fourteen sixteen events during this Festivale that is of Sydney, and am cataloging for bragging/catalogue purposes. Also, because I did it last year as well. Featuring cameos from other events that I also went that weren't Sydney Festival, but were awesome anyway!

Thursday, January 15th:
After an enjoyable (if tardy) birthday observance the day before, kicked off teh Festival by going to Darling Harbour to see Run Lola Run with The Bays. My god these were popular; Darling Harbour was packed out for all of these performances, and to be fair, they are quite awesome, as free events go. This particular showing was entertaing, if not edifying; the movie is solid, the music was good. While I don't think it really elevated the movie into something fantastic, The Bays (who incidentally, and interestingly, do only improvised music) gave a energetic, thumping performance that fit into the movie quite well. Night downside: the delay in the beginning due to the inclement weather, which then proceeded to be further inclement and rain on us. This really doesn't help when you have a bony ass and you're sitting on hard concrete for several hours.

Friday, January 16th:
Hoo boy, did this kick ever so much ass. Darling Harbour again, except this time with Bruce-fucking-Lee in Enter The Dragon, with an absolutely fantastic soundtrack by Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz. Initially, it looked to be a repeat of the previous night, what with the sky looking dangerous and all, but it turned out to be amazing. The movie itself is incredibly fun, with the cheesy stereotypes and deliciously great choreographing, but having a sitar and flute, along with other electronic aids really helped put this over the top. Great movie, great music, good weather = fun night out.

Saturday, January 17th:
Two event day! First up was Jazz in the Domain, which I feel was better than last years, by the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. This isn't due to artisitic differences or nuthin', it just seems this year they managed to find the freaking volume knob. Jazz in the Domain is always popular, ridiculously so, and I could not hear the music at all last year over the din of the crowd. So, upside this year. Again, massive crowds, good music (and much chest and booty-shaking) and that matronly Macedonian singer. Good times.

Second event: My first secret show of the Festival! It turns out, the secret show was Ben Walsh doing a sneak preview of the performance that he was planning to give at Darling Harbour! So I got to see the world premiere of the performance, and 15 or so performers who jammed themselves into the tiny and lovely Bosco theatre. Instruments included: Guitar (acoustic and electric), violin, cello, piano accordion, clarinet, french horn, keyboard, sitar, tablas, drums (obviously), live mixing, voice and a guy doing some scratching. It was an impressive lineup.

The actual affair had a few hiccups: they chose to use the dubbed version of the movie, it was difficult to hear the dialogue over the music at times, and there was some painful feedback issues. Still, it was a good night: the movie is a weird, psychedelic, surrealist take on power and rebellion and politics. Or something. It's supposed to be a parable of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. I shit you not. The music was impressive, rather than transformative, but there were a few charming touches in there that made it a lot better. Especially that scene with the egg hatching and that thing licking it.

Sunday, January 18th:
St. Vincent! Or the ever-lovely and multi-talented Annie Clark, playing songs off her album that was named after Arrested Development. FTW. She also played a great cover of Dig a Pony. The Speigeltent is a beautiful, beautiful place, and I want it to never ever leave.

Also, these are going to get shorter, because I am tired, and there's a lot, lot more to write about. I'm only at event four, for chrissakes.

Monday, January 19th:
NO FESTIVAL EVENT WAS GONE TO. However! I did go to my first Kino Sydney, which I had been putting off for many many months. And now I regret that. Kino is a wonderful, wonderful institution that I hope stays around for many many years. Liquor, food, and acrobats: three things you can never get enough of. This finished around 11ish, which leads into...

Tuesday, January 20th:
...going to Sam's new place to sleep for three hours and then get up stupidly early to get Bon Iver tickets! 3.30am is not a time I wish to wake at. But wake I did, and then proceeded to sit in Martin Place for 4 hours in order to get tickets for Bon Iver, which we (being me and Sam and Bob) did. It was quite fun, as we played DS and listened to music and read. It was great, in that way sadomasochistic rituals are.

The event itself: ROCKED. Definitely one of the best gigs of this year, and possibly the best gig this year that i've seen so far. I know, it's early, but I've seen a lot of gigs already this year, and this was amazing. Again, the Spiegeltent is a magical magical place, and Justin Vernon added to this magic with his wonderful voice. He was funny, he was charming, he was magnificent. Recommended.

Wednesday, January 21st:
Second secret show! Carl Einar-Hackner, of La Clique did a solo show at the Bosco theatre. It was basically a solo show of all the material he does for La Clique, so if you saw that you'll know what I'm talking about. Having not seen La Clique before this, this was quite enjoyable. The banana/bandana thing is extremely hilarious. In addition, I got to see Vulgargrad, a seven-piece Melbourian band that sports a contrabass balalaika, and whose frontman is the guy who sang Roxanne in Moulin Rouge. Fun! Also, he sounds like swallowed a driveways worth of gravel. It is awesome.

Thursday, January 22nd:
I do not trust buses and their ability to convey me places on time. I was 15? 20? mins late to Camille because of said bus not coming for 20 mins. That was irritating. What was not irritating though, was the show, despite the three encores, which was kind of silly. Also, I thought of a better venue: The Opera House Concert Hall. Or The Studio even.

In addition: More Vulgargrad!

Friday, January 23rd:
I went to Daniel's house, returned some shirts, played some dota, then proceeded to Marrickville for some early morning getting up for...

Saturday, January 24th:
...a much longer day than I had anticipated. We got up at 4.40 to go see the Dawn Chorus at Clifton Heights in Vaucluse. You would not believe the number of people apparently willing to do this. Fun quote from choir performer: "This is the strangest concert experience i've ever had." Awesome.

Then, I am contacted to fill a seat in the Sydney Theatre. For 8 hours. Huzzah for endurance theatre! War Of The Roses was very good (Blanchett especially; she completely dominates the first act of the first part), if a little tiring at times. The spitting blood thing gets a little old, and Falstaff gets a BJ now? Shakes be a freaky old dude. I also got to go to Arras, which was delicious and astonishing, in their ability to push the boundaries of salad and cucumber capabilities.

Technically, this is a three event day, because War Of The Roses is a two-parter. I am Festivalling it up. Unfortunately, I missed out on going to Symphony in the Domain, but that is an acceptable tradeoff.

Sunday, January 25th:
Chabbseses! Wherein beer was consumed, matters were discussed, and salad was made and eaten using the Tetsuya's vinaigrette. Which was fun. Then, Reggie Watts, and his unique brand of off-the-wall and singer-songwriter humour. It was good. "Fuck shit stack" indeed.

Monday, January 26th:
On this day of Australia, there were no good Festival Events to partake of. Instead, fun was had going to Oliver's house and watching Ausploitation movies. It is a strange and somewhat baffling genre, which never the less is quite entertaining. Patrick was the best film of that particular marathon, which really speaks volumes for the quality of these celluloid misfits.

Tuesday, January 27th:
Thanks to the absurd dedication of some of my friends (like staying in Martin Place from 1am), I was obtained a ticket to Glen Hansard and The Frames. He/they were lovely and fiddled and fingered and plucked as appropriate to make lovely music. And I should emphasise lovely, in that very Britannia way that lovely indicates. Falling Slowly lived up to and gently met expectations.

Wednesday, January 28th:
No event was gone to. Which was probably a good things, as by some accounts, Four Tet was shit.

Thursday, January 29th:
No event was gone to, however we did end up getting up stupidly early for...

Friday, January 30th:
...buying tickets to La Clique! A 4.30am start ensures success in this endevour, and La Clique is really quite amazing. Funny and cute and oh so ridiculously sexy at times. Any show that opens very quickly into frontal nudity has my ticket.

And a second two event night, with Meow Meow rounding out the festival. By turns cabaret, by turns viciously funny, by turns audience participation (with cameos by the twins from La Clique, the man who played the queen in La Clique, and as always, The Bunny) with a wonderful cover of fake plastic trees thrown in. I was contemplating seeing her a second time on the Saturday, but I was much too tired, and it was unnecessary.

So there you go. My sixteen event festival, in list form:

1. Run Lola Run, with The Bays

2. Enter the Dragon, with Karsh Kale and Midival Punditz

3. Jazz in the Domain, with Gypsy Kings and Queens

4. Fantastic Planet, with Ben Walsh and the Orkestra of the Underground

5. St Vincent at the Spiegeltent

6. Bon Iver at the Spiegeltent

7. Carl-Einar Hacker at the Bosco Theater

8. Camille at Angel Place Recital Hall

9. Vulgargrad at the Spiegeltent

10. Dawn Chorus at Clifton Heights, Vaucluse

11. War of the Roses, Part One at the Sydney Theatre

(Arras should definitely be bracketed here, it was quite great)

12. War of the Roses, Part Two at the Sydney Theatre

13. Reggie Watts at the Bosco Theatre

14. Glen Hansard and The Frames at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall

15. La Clique at the Spiegeltent

16. Meow Meow at the Bosco Theatre

Now, you may all be suitably jealous and/or overawed at the paragon of culture that I clearly am.

EDIT: Because I'm an Arts student and clearly cannot count, I seem to have overlooked certain events I attended. A recount shows that I actually made sixteen Festival events and not fourteen as I previously surmised. This just makes me more awesome I guess. Also, this has been written in two parts, so the wildly inconsistent writing style is due to me taking a loooong break from this and coming back to in a very different frame of writing mindset.