Sorry for the late review but here it is. Last Saturday night I saw the incomparable Angel Olsen at the Giant Dwarf Theatre in Redfern. A venue that was a first for me. It's pretty great, small and intimate and with great character. Ms Olsen is more than pretty great. She is very great. This show was the second show of back to back sold out nights. Unlike her last tour this show was sans band. Just Angel and her nearly forty year old Gibson electric. I don't know if it was deliberate but she didn't play anything from her last album, the superb 'My Woman'. Maybe she felt they are songs better suited with a full band. But not to matter it was a great show, with a lot of deep cuts from her burgeoning career. Ms Olsen has a very impressive voice, full of range and great emotional depth. Her brand of country tinged rock is wounded and sometimes stark. But contains an overflow of humanity. She was also very charming, sometimes breaking into giggles and always enjoying her glass of red wine. She did a mean Australian accent and gave forth stories of her youth and her experiences of life. It was a great crowd, one that was very engaged and respectful. Certainly befitting such a great talent.

Set List
Since You Broke My Heart (Everly Brothers cover)
Sans
Drunk and With Dreams
Some Things Cosmic
You Are Song
Free
Iota
All Mirrors
Unfucktheworld
Tiniest Seed
If It's Alive, It Will
California

White Fire

Fierce. Intelligent. Passionate. Forthright. Angry. Talented. These are all adjectives I think can easily describe the Melbourne three piece Camp Cope. Friday night was their biggest Sydney show yet. A sold out Metro Theatre crowd sang along loudly to every word with passion and sheer joy. This band has sure come a long way in a short period of time. Their recently released second album has met with great acclaim and rightly so. It's a personal, passionate album that is important and timely and connecting with many fans. And it rocks. So does the band live. Georgia is a vocalist who reaches deep down inside for every line of her songs and Kelly's bass lines are the rock each song is based upon. There has been a lot of discussion lately on inequality in the music scene. Some healthy, some far from it. I don't think it's a black and white issue. But there is certainly a lot of ground to make up and Camp Cope are fighting the good fight. And they are hugely talented!

Set List
Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams
How To Socialise & Make Friends
Keep Growing
The Face of God
Done
Stove Lighter
Anna
UFO Lighter
Lost (Season One)
The Opener

Fashion and hype can be a terrible thing. Especially in the music world. The thought that an artist can be 'past their time' because of current trends is a useless and irrelevant idea. Grizzly Bear could fall into this trap. Around a decade ago they were the darlings of the music world. 'Veckatimest' was luminescent and follow up 'Shields' glowed as well. But then the band stood aside for a while. Last year they returned with 'Painted Ruins' and generally speaking it was very well received but there were choruses of 'we've moved on'. Well I believe true quality lasts. And in years to come Grizzly Bear will be revered and others hyped up will be in the dustbins of history.

So it was with great excitement that they returned to the Sydney Opera House last Monday night. It was a stark reminder of their greatness. Their sublime musicianship. Their incomparable harmonies and melodies. All five musicians displaying craft and intelligence. 'Painted Ruins' was well shown with 'Three Rings' being a certain standout. But it was a well rounded evening with the band reaching back to 'Knife' and 'On a Neck, On a Spit' and also giving us well received classics such as 'Two Weeks' and 'Sleeping Ute'. It was a rapturous crowd bedazzled by the beauty unfolding before us. By the time they closed the night with the simply glorious 'Sun in Your Eyes' it was a very grateful audience indeed.

Set List
Four Cypresses

Losing All Sense
Cut-Out
Yet Again
Fine for Now
Ready, Able
Sleeping Ute
Mourning Sound
Glass Hillside
Two Weeks
On a Neck, On a Spit
Foreground
Knife
Three Rings
While You Wait for the Others

Shift
Sun in Your Eyes