Flugtag meets Air

This past weekend was perfect for me. We took it easy on Saturday morning (due to a stressful week) and then decided we need some "home" food. A trip to Bondi Junction later lead us to make Tex-Mex (namely Fajitas). We spent most of the afternoon preparing the tex-mex meal (something we are getting quite good at) and invited our neighbors (Will and Suzanna) to join us. I cooked the chicken fajitas on our new grill, which I am enjoying more and more every time I use it. The fajitas turned out very nice considering we just made up the marinade. Overall, it was great evening with good food and fun conversation. We ended the night we a viewing of Flight of the Conchords (our pick) and Fawlty Towers (neighbors pick).

On Sunday afternoon, Jess graciously put up with my ongoing want to see a RedBull Flugtag in person. As luck would have it, Sydney is the host for the first Australian Flugtag. The event took place directly across from the opera house, at Mrs. Maquaries Point (for those of you keeping score at home). I am not sure why I am drawn to this event...I guess it is because for some strange reason, I really think I (with the help of many others) can put something together that would fly (any takers?).

Anyway, the Sydney crowd of more than 60,000 exceeded RedBull's forecast by more than triple which cause a few issues getting around. We managed to squeeze our way to front gate (on happenstance no less) and were lucky enough to get into the viewing area (thanks to some folks who gave us their passes). Although we were on the back side of the launch ramp, we were at least able to hear and see most of the action (unlike most of the crowd). The world record distance is 60m and and the closest contest was a disappointed 20m. Regardless of the turnout, we had a good time watching the ridiculousness that is Flugtag...I have a feeling this won't be my last one.



Later that evening we celebrated my birthday (a little early I know) by going to see Air at the Opera House. I have been a fan of Air for awhile and this was a great opportunity to 1) See them live and 2) See a show at the iconic Opera House. We arrived a little early to get a drink in the bar and take in the views of the harbor from the decks of the venue. Surprisingly, the Opera House is quite small inside, with seating in the main concert hall for only ~2500 people. The architecture inside is almost as impressive as the outside with concrete and wood finishes throughout.

The show was excellent, although the lighting was a little "in your face". The set consisted mostly of "hits" rather than new material, which was fine with me. The pinnacle of the show was the last song....La Femme d'Argent (no doubt the most popular song of the night). I can't really describe the live performance, but I found a clip online that hopefully shows some of the song's intensity. Enjoy!

Sydney Fest - Part 2

Monday Jan. 21st – Clogs & The National

I have been very excited to see The National, however with Jess’ trip to India this week it meant that I had to go alone – which is never as fun…still I was looking forward to the show.

This performance took place in the heart of Sydney at The City Recital Hall, which is only a quick train ride, 2 stops away, from our apartment. Tucked away between two major streets, the recital hall sits patiently waiting for patrons to fill its halls. It sits patiently because it is a classy venue that does not want to boast about what lies inside. Opened recently, the City Recital hall is the first purpose built concert venue erected since the famous Opera House in 1973. The closest venue I can compare it to is The Hobby Center in Houston, but even that doesn’t do this building justice. Built mainly for orchestras and classical music, this performance was a little different.

The opener band was the The Clogs, whom I had never heard until this performance. The Clogs are a little difficult to describe, but at the core is a 4-piece band, mostly instrumental orchestra/jazz fusion, with winds, strings & percussion. Each member is multi-talented on various instruments, which makes for a fun show to watch. I was surprised to learn that two of the members of The Clogs are also in The National, which explains a lot of the composition heard in The National’s music. Reading the description of the band in the program made me think of Sigur Ros – which is close, but that isn’t quite right either. I really liked listening to The Clogs, although at times it sounded like museum music, which went really well with the venue.

The National went on at about 10 o’clock and played a great set with music from all of their albums. Since I only recently started listening to The National (I really only know the new album), I was surprised to find out that band includes twin brothers (one of the brothers in also in The Clogs – Confused yet?). I thought the best songs were the ones with the full ensemble, which also features brass and wind instruments. On a side note: the brass section of the band was the same that played for Sufjan Stevens a few nights ago. The band was very happy to be playing in the upscale venue, but it was clear the hall wasn’t intended for a rock band (although the acoustics were great). Also, it has been awhile since I have seen a band where the lead singer doesn’t play any instruments – this isn’t a bad thing, it is just something I noticed. Overall, the band was really good live (they played about and hour and a half), but the venue didn’t quite do The National’s performance justice - in my opinion.

I was sad that Jess couldn’t make it (even though she may have fallen asleep during come of The Clogs music), but I still managed to have a good time. The Sydney festival ends this weekend (which also happens to be Australia Day), and I had a great time checking out a few different performances.

Sydney Fest – Part 1

For Christmas my beautiful wife gave me tickets to a couple of music shows happening at The Sydney Festival. Basically the festival is a month long event featuring art, music, food, etc… taking place throughout the city. We figured that this is great opportunity, for us newbies, to see a little more around Sydney than just the typical tourist destinations.

Saturday Jan. 13th – Sufjan Stevens
The performance took place at The State Theatre in downtown Sydney. At street level, the theatre doesn’t look too impressive, save for the large neon sign outside – however once inside you are immediately taken back to a different era (namely the late 1920’s when the theatre was built). The main entrance foyer is quite lavish, with art deco accents in every corner and a very large and ornate spiralling staircase on the right to the upper balcony and on the left down to the main floor level. In the center of the main theatre hangs a huge crystal chandelier, which the theatre boasts to be the second largest in the world (weighing over 4 tonnes) – although I can’t find anything to prove that claim.

I found out the hard way that theatre management won’t let you take pictures inside. Here is the one picture I was able to take (of the entrance foyer) before being told the “rules of attendance”.


While I have only recently started listening to Sufjan (pronounced /’suːfjɑːn/) Stevens (thanks to Matt), but what I had heard I really like. I guess Sufjan’s music is best described as folk rock, but seeing him live really made him seem more like a composer of an orchestra whose music fits the folk rock form. While Sufjan stuck mostly to playing piano and guitar, he had a backing ensemble featuring a brass and wind sections. The theatre had excellent acoustics and really helped the music come alive. In addition to a musician, Sufjan is also a (amature?) videographer and his work was featured behind the band during the set. Some of the videos told a story while others showed images that went along with the music.

The whole performance was about 2 hours long and featured mostly songs off of his albums Michigan and Illinois. One standout performance was a 5 minute extraction from his over 1-hr commissioned piece about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and featured a hula-hoop dancer on stage.

Overall Jess and I had a great time listening and watching Sufjan’s performance and exploring The State.

Next up: The National & Clogs at The City Recital Hall.