19 replies to this topic

[valvelover]

Well, the good news, it was a mostly entertaining performance from both Taylor and her band. The Agency. My first time at the Brisbane Entertainment Center, let's just say that I don't think it's acoustically a great venue, and it's a mongrel to get to. Why can't Brisbane have a centrally located entertainment venue like Sydney & Melbourne do? Oh, I forgot, Queensland is the backwards state. This was my first time seeing Taylor live as I missed getting tickets to her Fearless tour a few years back. Some notes:

1) her voice is not her strongest suite, but she has a commanding stage presence that is wholly surprising for her age. The first Six or so songs were vocally average, and I'm not too sure if they were due to her voice warming up, or the microphone that she was using, or the sound mixing. Once she moved to the back of the stage for her acoustic set things got a lot better vocally. She did a great job vocalwise of several of her songs though, with favourites ours, our song, mean, you belong with me being well delivered. Enchanted, Fifteen and safe and sound were the outstanding songs of the night for me, and show that this girl can sing, and sing well.

2) Her band, The Agency, is a well oiled unit and didn't miss a beat the entire night. Hats off to Amos, her bassist for being such a goofy guy - after Taylor I'd say he was the crowd favourite (close call between him and Grant her guitarist, and Caitlin her backing vocalist/fiddler).

3) The set was beautiful - one could easily see that a lot of thought and hard work had went into making the stage set. Taylor had a big say in the design, and it shows. I thought the lighting and props were done well too (Fireworks go off at several points in several songs).

2) The gig was spoilt in part by the crowds - excessively loud screaming and squealing from the majority young female audience throughout many of the songs, and a few younger girls (early teens) choosing to sing along with Taylor when no one else was. Let's just say their singing made me look like an Opera singer (and anyone who knows me knows that my singing kills from 50 metres). It was highly annoying, but I put up with it cos of their age and they were having fun. No use being a killjoy. I don't think I've ever heard such a loud crowd - the roars were absolutely deafening, especially so for such a small crowd. I'd hate to hear the crowd going in one of the bigger US stadiums! Hats off to many of the girls for dressing up - there were many young ladies that were radiantly elegant in their dresses. Taylor is well known for being a big lover of dresses and for looking elegant, and it seems to be rubbing off on her young fans, and that is good imho. There's no need for younger ladies to show what they've had for breakfast.

3) My major gripe - the sound. Far louder than it needed to be, and compressed on most of the non acoustic songs. The sound mixer needs a good kick up the *** imho.

4) I'll make a special point for this - Taylor does a crowd walkthrough during the show (between the opening electric set and acoustic set) - she takes the time to hug, kiss, and cuddle the younger fans and I think this is great. Very few artists tend to really try to connect with their fans and this attitude should be lauded imho.

5) Merchandising was reasonably priced, with most T shirts priced at $40. The program, whilst expensive at $25, is absolutely beautiful - kudos to whoever designed this! And yes, they even had larger sized T shirts for the bigger fans, which many bands seem to forget about (I'm an XL/XXL depending on the cut).

I wasn't really able to get anything decent photography wise - my iPhone 4s just couldn't handle the exposure range in either stills or video, which is very disappointing. If I'd been able to use my Canon DSL, I could have gotten some half decent shots imho. Pity.

Overall, I give the concert a 7.5 out of 10.

Dave

[ehtcom]

Thanks for the review Dave.

Sounds similar to our experience (daughter and myself as Chaperone dad) for the Fearless Tour Melbourne 2010.

Wont be going this time around unfortunately.

Cheers, Earle.

[valvelover]

Thanks for the review Dave.

Sounds similar to our experience (daughter and myself as Chaperone dad) for the Fearless Tour Melbourne 2010.

Wont be going this time around unfortunately.

Cheers, Earle.

Here's a song for you then (called Chaperone dad):

8p-lLIGbExA

the full interview here (it's hilarious imho):

tqWqrgWF7Gk

Dave

edit: You can quite clearly see from these clips that the girl can sing, despite the naysayers and many bashers. I guess many people dislike her cos she's a "goody Two shoes" in their eyes (doesn't do drugs, doesn't drink, advocates educating against teen pregnancy, encourages girls to dress nicely etc). Considering that she plays the Guitar (acoustic/electric, 6 string/12 string), Ganjo (Guitar Banjo, i.e. it has a fret - a traditional banjo doesn't have a fretboard), Piano, and Ukulele, writes her own songs (lyrics and music), she can't be too bad imho.

Edited by valvelover, 07 March 2012 - 05:05 PM.

[firefly0071]

Were the tickets reasonably priced?

[valvelover]

I paid $152.55 including GST and postage for a Gold ticket (seated). That seems to be roughly the average these days from what I know. There are cheaper tickets (if you want to stand in the mosh pit).

The only thing that concerned me in the entire night was early on before either act had appeared on stage - Taylor has a habit of sneaking out underneath the stage and taking snapshots of the waiting crowd through cracks in the stage. Well, she got spotted and the mosh pit crowd moved violently forward against the rails, I hope no one got hurt. Once spotted, she hung around for a while, cos I could see people handing their cameras to the security guards and them passing it under the stage and then returning it to the camera owners.

Dave

[ehtcom]

thanks for the vids Dave.
I remember seeing her on Hamish and Andy. Very good

How was the crowd density in the mosh pit?

Cheers, Earle.

[valvelover]

thanks for the vids Dave.
I remember seeing her on Hamish and Andy. Very good

How was the crowd density in the mosh pit?

Cheers, Earle.

Crowd density in the mosh pit was full, but not totally jam packed, probably 90% full. The mosh pit was the place to be, I was up 2/3s on the wall on the Left hand side of the stage, and whilst Taylor did work our section of the crowd a bit, most of her positioning was understandably focused on the front mid section. Next time I'll pay the extra to try and get T party and backstage passes (who can't resist a hug from Taylor?).

I wouldn't put a younger kid in the mosh pit under any circumstances, even with the parents being right next to them. That goes for any concert. Too much can happen, too quickly. There were a fair few younger kids (probably 5 through to 9 or 10) in the seated sections and they had a blast - I remember one young girl dancing away madly to Taylor, including mimicking Taylor flicking her hair around, much to her old sister and mum's humour. I find it good to see younger girls looking up to someone like Taylor - she's a relatively good role model in a genre that promotes sexuality as a rule. I'm pretty sure Taylor's not an absolute angel like she makes out, but she keeps her dirty linen will hidden in the closet out of the public eye.

Dave

[firefly0071]

Going to a concert is a great experience and a bit of a hit on the weekly budget.

I went to a concert of Maelo Ruiz (Columbian salsa singer) on the weekend. Brillant columbian music (I am Chinese in background).

Live performances are great! Reminds me of the importance of music.

[valvelover]

Agreed! I don't get out much (I'm a homebody really), and my last concert was Springsteen 8 or so years ago @ the SCG (absolutely BRILLIANT concert, best I've ever experienced). I have fond memories of seeing the Pirates of Penzance when I was 10 or so, and it was brilliant. I'm not a huge concert goer, probably only been to 4 or so concerts in between those 2 events, but have enjoyed every one of them.

My credit card took a big hit lol - $220 in merchandising last night, plus food on top of that, petrol for car (I rarely drive my parent's car as it's an old and unreliable holden HX). Plus I bought some new clothes on Sunday and yesterday to make myself look good just in case I got to meet Taylor (didn't wanna go looking like a dag lol). I ended up buying 3 programmes - I'll keep 2 of them and probably sell the 3rd one in a few years for profit on the collectibles market ;-)

I'd really love to see the Phantom of the Opera live - that would be totally awesome! Like Taylor, I'm a hopeless romantic, so that sort of show appeals to my inner romance ;-)

Dave

[ehtcom]

Ran the ebay gauntlet and managed to pickup three very good tickets for tonights concert (40% face value, that'll teach scalpers for buying so many)

Really good seats bottom deck almost center front.

Was a great show, my daughter absolutely love it, and I did as well.

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Cheers, Earle.

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[datafone]

Not just a pretty face, defiantly talented

[valvelover]

OH yeah. btw, found this last night, it's her most excellent "monologue song [la la la]". I'd heard of it before but never heard it. Glad I watched it last night, can't get the tune out of my head and keep chuckling to myself at how cheeky she is.

uOtCZwXKUc4

1:26 through to 1:36 are just adorable imho. Some might not approve of her taking the mickey out of others, but let's consider:

1) Joe Jonas dumped her over the phone in a 27 second call. I was taught that that sort of behaviour is incredibly rude. I guess Joe wanted a girl who "wasn't nice".

2) Kanye West stealing her mic at the VMAs was also incredibly rude. Taylor handled that episode with absolute grace. If people think that Kanye didn't do anything wrong, let's just say Pink didn't like it (and in fact had some rather nasty stuff to say about Kanye a few nights later on during a major TV shoe that she appeared on), and Beyonce wasn't impressed either. Nor were a host of other celebrities.

Both got what they deserved. As Taylor says, "if you're gonna act like a douchebag, then I'll write a song about you".

I find it amusing that a lot of younger people like Miley Cyrus (who is good friends with Taylor actually), yet she does drugs, gets drunk in public, leaked naked photos, doesn't write her own music etc. I guess today's youth doesn't like decency, it must be boring ;-) If I had teenage girls, I'd sure as hell be hoping that they liked Taylor over Miley or Rihanna or Lady Gaga (who btw likes Taylor too and has nothing but good to say about her).

Sorry for the diatribe, but being a Taylor hater seems to be quite fashionable these days.

Dave

Edited by valvelover, 13 March 2012 - 08:02 PM.

[FeelTheNoise]

Agree, she's so talented. And it's very refreshing to see that she isn't mixed up in anything illegal and keeps herself clean. Seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. Finally a good role model for young girls!

[valvelover]

Agree, she's so talented. And it's very refreshing to see that she isn't mixed up in anything illegal and keeps herself clean. Seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. Finally a good role model for young girls!

Did you know, she created her own management company? Her mum and dad are on the board (as well as Taylor). Her mum & dad tour the world with her - mum looks after Taylor and the band and crew (she's known as "Momma Swift"), whilst her Dad looks after the merchandising (yes, he was selling merchandise at one of the stalls @ the Brisbane concert!!!). Looks like her younger brother followed her down under too, as there's some shots of him and Taylor @ Bondi beach together. I don't think Taylor is a total angel, she's a young 22 year old, attractive girl, but she keeps her public image clean. As she's been quoted as saying before, if doing something means that it will put out a bad image of her to the public, then it's not worth doing. A few stars could learn about that (let's see, Heather Morris of Glee for her recent nude pictures, Rihanna for her topless twitter pics last week, just to think of a few). Those sorts of artists give bad role model images to our youth imho. If they don't want to be a role model, then don't be famous - it comes with the job, whether you like it or not. It's called social responsibility.

I'm not a prude, but many of today's artists behaviours are disgraceful. If it was my record label that they're on, they'd be getting a serious warning.

Dave

[datafone]

I have to agree that she handled that episode with Kanye West very well indeed!

Ah! Kanye West is a douchebag, in fact, that's being too kind

[FeelTheNoise]

I agree with you a lot of today's artist act like they can do anything. I think they also feel that if they don't do something crazy or wild they won't get any attention. The media can also be blamed as well for reporting on stories of these "role models" doing crazy things and making it front page news. It's all about attention I think, and it is pretty disgraceful. To be the devils advocat. If you had Rihanna on your label, how mad could you really get mad at her? She's bringing you in millions of dollars and you don't want to alienate her and make her want to go to another label. Just sayin...

[valvelover]

well, like a true Taylor Fan, I just spotted a very rare copy of her debut album deluxe limited edition (ultra ultra ultra rare!!!!):

http://cgi.ebay.com....#ht_5376wt_1396

AUD $180 later...yeah I'm crazy...I'm a HUGE fan. This'll be the 3rd copy of her debut album that I have (original, standard deluxe). I have Fearless, Fearless Deluxe and Fearless Platinum, and Speak now and Speak now deluxe :-) edit: Oh and a signed copy of the Speak Now tour :-)

*doing a happy dance at finding this album* - yes, it's expensive, but I'm single and can afford it. And it has some stuff that I don't have and haven't seen. *grins*

Dave

Edited by valvelover, 13 March 2012 - 11:30 PM.

[datafone]

Congrats mate

Regardless of the artist, I can't help but admire the passion of a true fan.

[valvelover]

:-) I'm stoked at nabbing that CD. Now if only the SACD copy of Wagner on esoteric comes along...

Dave

[valvelover]

Ran the ebay gauntlet and managed to pickup three very good tickets for tonights concert (40% face value, that'll teach scalpers for buying so many)

Really good seats bottom deck almost center front.

Was a great show, my daughter absolutely love it, and I did as well.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]42233[/ATTACH]

Cheers, Earle.

Hey Earle,

I'm not sure how I missed this reply! I'm glad you got tickets, and at good prices too and I'm glad you both enjoyed the concert! I'm envious of the NZ fans, cos they got to see her premiere Eyes Open and she was just SUPERB!

I'm now collecting various versions of Taylor Swift CDs too - I have quite a large collection, probably the largest in Brisbane ;-) Not all of my collection has been imaged and uploaded to my flickr account, but here's a small selection of images:



I'm also collecting her USDJ promo CDs (these are like the Holy Grail of Taylor Swift CDs and fetch up to a grand or more apiece for some of them). I've got Teardrops on my guitar, White Horse, Fifteen and Mine still coming in the post. Let's just say that the first 2 were nearly 2 grand for the pair of them ;-) Did I mention that I'm a serious Tay fan? lol!

Earle - does your daughter know about Taylor's unreleased songs? PM me for more details.

Dave