Fabulous Diamonds + Guy Blackman + Surf City + Crayon Fields + High Places @ Frankly! Pop Festival 2010
Still feeling messed up from the night before, I stagger through Brisbane’s public transport system half-dead trying to make it to the Brisbane Powerhouse in time to see Fabulous Diamonds play at 1:30pm SHARP (this is a very professional event). I arrive just as they start and someone remarks to me about the cold atmosphere of the place. The sound is clean, inoffensive and at a ridiculously safe volume. The stage and lighting give off a vibe of distant sterility and I wonder how any band could make a lasting impression with their audience in an environment like this. Putting my personal thoughts aside though, this was definitely a fun afternoon out of the house and for the casual gig-goer it would have been fantastic.
FABULOUS DIAMONDS
Melbourne’s Fabulous Diamonds play a nicely contrasted set to their one the night previous, playing today to a laidback afternoon crowd of beverage sippers compared to the self-destructively brutal, yet downright glorious, hedonism of Burst City. A truly great band will easily put on a good performance in both of these scenarios, and Fabulous Diamonds do just that.
GUY BLACKMAN
Melbourne legend Guy Blackman, known mostly for his great record label Chapter Music. Breezy lyric-driven pop.
SURF CITY
I don’t get to see nearly enough NZ bands which sucks because they rule at music. Auckland’s Surf City were an enjoyable highlight for me.
CRAYON FIELDS
Another Melbourne based band, Crayon Fields played technically proficient pop at its most thoughtfully adept.
HIGH PLACES
Somebody a few years ago gave me a burnt CDR of High Places (hailin’ all the way from LA) and I remember putting it on my mp3 player and listening to it on the bus a few times etc, so I was fairly interested to see them live and yeah, it was pretty alright. There’s another American band that’s kind of similar called Reading Rainbow, I like them heaps, check ’em out.