John Mayall – Melkweg, 13 December 2012.

Pre show I thought about the last time I had seen John play live. It had been at a Blues Festival in Perth. He had been one of the earlier acts of the day and I had not really thought much of him. To put this into context, 11 hours later I would be watching Bob Dylan and then Ray Charles round out the evening. That was five years ago though and thing can change. At the very least my opinion about seeing a performer play at a single venue rather that a festival is very different.

Yeasayer – Paradiso, 5 December 2012

I will come right out and say it - Yeasayer are the new embodiment of Rock n’ Roll.

For anyone who has been paying attention to the music scene for long enough, you will have noticed a continual theme. The death of Rock n’ Roll is always imminent.

Dan Mangan – Melkweg, 3 December, 2012 (Old room)

Occasionally it is nice to catch a performer before they are big, or should I say famous. They are usually still playing with huge amounts of passion and they also usually really want to entertain. After all it is the living they have chosen to do, no matter what happens next.

Garbage - Paradiso, 20 November 2012

I’m only happy when it’s the nineties…..unless we are talking about homework and then I am not happy at all.

So when I signed up to go and see Garbage I had my reservations. Not as many as I might have expected mid you, but there were still some. A good friend of mine had seen them about 4 months earlier and when given the opportunity jumped at the chance to get tickets to this show as well, so I knew they must have produced the goods last time.

Beach House – Paradiso, 19 November 2012

The Beach House lights were on, but I wished I was at home.

Having previously missed two shows from Beach House (and probably more that I wasn’t even aware of) I made it a point to catch them the third time around. After all don’t they say once, twice, third time’s a charm?

Jeff Lang – Paradiso, 15 November 2012.

I was really surprised when I saw that Jeff Lang had been announced to play at Paradiso, less surprised to see that it would be in the small room and for only 8 Euro.

Grizzly Bear - Paradiso, 5 November 2012

Would this show be as powerful as the almighty Grizzly, attacking an unsuspecting punter, or would I just have to grin and Bear it?

All puns aside, it was actually more like a Night at the Opera.