I'm pretty jealous of my Sydney friends at the moment. The Sydney Festival starts tomorrow and there are quite a few great acts on the events listings. Manu Chao, Mike Patton, The Whitest Boy Alive and Lambchop are playing shows in the next few weeks. So jealous!!!!
The Sydney Festival always seems to pull some great acts. I saw two of the best concerts ever at the Festival. In 2005 when the Leonard Cohen tribute show "Came So Far For Beauty" played at the Opera House. Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, Antony, Beth Orton and others sang Cohen tunes. Truly amazing. And in 2008 when Bjork played a show in the Opera House forecourt.
Anyway, back to Manu Chao. In 2001, I travelled around Europe for a summer with some friends. We'd bought an old van in London and after catching a ferry to Bilbao,we drove for three months through Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. It was a fantastic way to spend a summer. And the soundtrack to our journey was Manu Chao's Proxima Estacion: Esperanza. It was all over the radio and I just fell in love with his mish-mash sound.
And Mike Patton. Well he's a dude. As a teenager, I fanatically loved him in Faith No More. Kinda got into him with Mr Bungle. Totally loved his work on Bjork's Medulla album. It's kinda crazy to think he's gone from growling and screaming metal then to crooning Italian pop music on Mondo Cane now. I must admit I downloaded that album last year but still need to give it a proper listen. I'm still stuck in my love for the '90s-era Patton. King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime is still one of my favourite albums of all time. But mostly I just love his propensity for DRAMA. He always brings some bravado and crazy eyes. Love it.
Vocally, he has serious range. From this...
...To this (which will be his Sydney Festival persona):
And I love this clip from a few years back where he rips into Wolfmother. "Can I get an Amen?"
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