Rather than turn up at work every day this week regretting not wearing earplugs, or having that last overpriced beer the night before and attempt some kind of review, I figured I'd wait until the end of the week for a mass-BDO-sideshow-review!
It's not just a review of three shows, however, two of these shows are artists that I came desperately late to and now I wonder why. LCD Soundsystem and Dizzee Rascal now have me hooked.Let's start with Dizzee, on Tuesday night at the Prince of Wales in Melbourne.
Inexplicably, this show was not sold out, despite a blistering Big Day Out performance the day before to thousands of fans, the Prince just wasn't getting to capacity.
This didn't deter Rascal though, who's set opened with 'I Luv U', complete with synched up videos on the screens.
His exciting set spanned his three albums and the crowd loved every minute of it. Even obvious songs, such as the first single off 'Maths + English', 'Sirens' didn't spur the usual over the top screams a single often commands. The audience was already mesmerised to their full capacity!
This show, which truly was a musical journey, had one bizarre inclusion. A DJ medley of indie rock, including Arctic Monkeys, Nirvana, The White Stripes and the Kaiser Chiefs, which was essentially just the songs played by one armed DJ Semantex (who's scratching solo has to be seen to be believed), with Dizzee saying "Yo" over the top of it.
So Dizzee was great, but this little inclusion leaves it just shy of show of the week.
Kate Nash, on Wednesday night at the Northcote Social Club, was cute. She's adorable and you just want to wrap her up and take you home with you.
Her live show reflects her album. She's somewhere between Lily Allen (sans attitude), Regina Spektor and Patience from The Grates.
Her small band are tight and tread the line between musical perfection and musical emotion perfectly.
The crowd gave a good indication of who Kate is reaching. A majority of the audience looked like they were barely scraping the 18 year age limit imposed by the licensing laws. There were a few older cool kids there who won't let go and there were a few old industry types who came to see what all the fuss was about.
As great as this show was for the people that love her, at 25 years old I'm older than the kids, younger than the old industry types and definitely not cool or well dressed, so this show wasn't my pick of the week either.
HOWEVER, after a week of concert going and staggering out of bed the next day, after sitting on my couch at home, thinking "The Forum is all the way in the city and my bed is right there..." after my motorbike not starting and being forced to tram it in and after generally being exhausted, LCD Soundsystem still managed to leave me hyper and mesmerised.
From when the band opened with the prolific 'Us v Them' until their closer 'New York, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down' this New York based dance-punk group was the thing in Melbourne to see this week.
Thankfully they pushed their novelty tune 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' out of the way early (it was second). That left us to enjoy pretty much everything you could've asked for.
A highlight was the catchy 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'. The nine minute opus left the audience reaching for the heavens in a euphoric orgy of sound.
So what do you think, is January 31 too early to call gig of the year? Well, yes, but it certainly was a corker.
Stay tuned to Undercover for future festival coverage, including Good Vibrations, V Festival, South by Southwest and the East Coast Blues and Roots.
