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Stiff Little Fingers

Metro Theatre

Sydney, Australia

February 21, 2020

There is a chance that I need to revisit The Clash’s early oeuvre, however, in my humble opinion Stiff Little Finger’s “Inflammable Material” is, as far as an early, snotty political punk record is concerned, a near perfect release as it had, apart from being fuelled by dissatisfaction with the status quo, more grit and urgency. This might in no small part be due to the fact that in the late seventies of Belfast, politics and Northern Ireland’s conflicts affected everyone’s life in the most tangible and often threatening way.

Fast forward forty-one years, and SLF are holding court to celebrate one of the eponymous and more important albums that have paved the way for how punk rock evolved, embedded in a melange of songs that illustrate the highlights of their other nine albums.

Whilst Stiff Little Fingers with their in-your-face bangers do not really have any hits as such, they have mastered the art of delivering their enthusiastic audience what they want and have calibrated their setlist accordingly, including banter to embed the respective salves in relevant context.

Needless to say that the evening culminated in a frenetically celebrated rendition of “Alternative Ulster”.

The evening was testament to the fact that not only the album “Inflammable material” has firmly established itself on the firmament of punk rock and alternative music at large as a timeless masterpiece and temple for a myriad of other punk bands, but that Stiff Little Fingers as band have retained relevance and are a whole lot of fun to experience in a live environment.

Thus Let Us Drink Beer - Sauce Brewing Co

Now, not sure if what originally start as a microbrewery in the inner-west of Sydney can still be classified as such, as it has evolved to one of the more prominent representatives of the local craft beer scene.

Starting out from a gypsy-style stovetop operation, Sauce is now a full production brewery that also doubles as a brewpub with an exquisite beer garden, where visitors are proffered tasting paddles and takeaways.

Claiming that Sauce Brewing is all about being “hop forward” would be an understatement par excellence, which is why specifically their IPAs have registered on my radar. Don’t get me wrong – Sauce has a strong core range ranging from pilseners via pale ales to mid-strength brews, but their India Pale Ale endeavours take things to the next level.

Let’s start off with their standard IPA, i.e. Extra-Hop Sauce, which is heavily informed by what are the merits of American West-coast IPAs: A lean-bodyness whose foundation comprised of three American hop varieties result in a fruity yet malty  tropical flavour profile that has its resinous  and bitter nuances, which add a bit of a bite.

Now, let’s step things up a bit, shall we?

I was having a nice dram of Laphroaig Quarter Cask when I first cracked a can of Sabarillo – Juicy IPA in a bid to find an appropriate equivalent for a boilermaker on a hot day. As the hybrid name suggest, this one is melange of Sabro and Amarillo hops, i.e. a double-dry-hopped juicy IPA. The coconut flavours and highlights that are reminiscent of pineapples make it difficult to not be reminded of a piña colada with an added dimension of stone fruits, however, the grainy malts that inform the foundation along with the ever present hops radiating their dank  goodness, this is one of the nicer IPAs I have recently had the pleasure of acquainting myself with.

While the name Sauce – an Australian slang term for alcohol – along with the name and graphic design of their emissions not exactly indicating outrageous creativity when it comes to nomenclature, Sauce’s beers have yet to underwhelm and I urge anyone remotely into brews to check their range out themselves.

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photo from company website

Fire Fight Australia

ANZ Stadium

Sydney, Australia

February 16, 2020

It has been thirty-five years since the eponymous Live Aid festival was organised by Bob Geldorf to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine – the impressive array of artists that participated made it one of more memorable festivals in the aeons of rock and pop.

Fast forward to 2020 with Bushfires having destroyed countless homes, claiming  lives and razing over ten million hectares of bushland, the “Live Aid Down Under”, i.e. FIRE FIGHT AUSTRALIA invoked the spirit of Live Aid in assembling international and local music icons to share one stage for Australia during its time of need to raise money for NATIONAL BUSHFIRE RELIEF in a bid to provide key organisations providing vital “Rescue”, “Relief and Recovery”, “Rehabilitation” and “Rebuilding” assistance in affected areas.

The eclectic line-up was of a calibre seldomly seen on stages on this earthround with the cream of the crop of artists currently touring terra australis, including Queen + Adam Lambert, k.d. lang, Michael Bublé, Alice Cooper and Ronan Keating alongside a diverse potpourri of Australian artists like 5 Seconds of Summer, Amy Shark, Baker Boy, Conrad Sewell, Daryl Braithwaite, Delta Goodrem, Grinspoon, Guy Sebastian, Hilltop Hoods, Icehouse, Illy, Jessica Mauboy, John Farnham, Lee Kernaghan, Olivia Newton-John, Peking Duk, Pete Murray, Tina Arena and William Barton.

More than seventy-five thousand people packed the ANZ stadium in Sydney and over one million watched from home as rock royalty Queen re-enacted for the first time what is widely considered as one of the greatest live performances of all time to a sold out Wembley Stadium in London for Live Aid. The Sydney version included Freddie Mercury making an appearance with his iconic "ay-oh" recall sequence and stage banter, which the audience frenetically engaged in. The show was my first exposure to the new singer, i.e. Adam Lambert, who delivered in spades at least as far as vocal delivery was concerned. Needless to say that Queen was more than a worthy headliner, whose performance clearly crowned the festival. Pun intended.

Witnessing Alice Cooper and his worthy constituents, i.e. his tight band with Nita Strauss in charge of lead guitar, incarnate on stage is never not an experience and today was not an exception: With a short but to the point performance, Cooper delivered a best-of set that was not only a local highlight but heralded the second half of the day with a bang.

A nice change of pace came courtesy of local hip hop stalwarts Hilltop Hoods, who seemed to feel very comfortable serenading a stadium sized audience, as well as k.d. lang, who, dressed in all white delivered a breath taking and subtle rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “hallelujah”.

The finale of this great day could not have been more Australia with John Farnham teaming up with Birri Gubba man Mitch Tambo, who shared vocal duties on “You are the voice” in Gamilaraay and a traditional, aboriginal dance.

Just when one thought things had already been dialled up to eleven, Queen guitarist Brian May joined Farnham, who was later on joined by local favourite Olivia Newton-John.

A grande festival put together in very limited time, which helped to raise close to ten million dollars for a great cause.

Click here if you’d like to donate from the US.

Otto Dix – The Evil Eye

Prestel Publishing

Ah, Weimar!

An intriguing period that specifically in the Rhineland region has spawned artistic conglomerates that revolutionised what art was thought to be. Having started out with producing straight forward portraits, evolving via flirts with Dadaism and Otto Dix has become a luminary spearhead

While Otto Dix’s oeuvre has had many exciting phases, The Evil Eye zeroes in on the monographic early years of his career in which he persevered to evolve from expressionism and Dadaist elements to what became known as “Neue Sachlichkeit” by portraying the features of his contemporaries channelled through his very own lens.

The Evil Eye covers both watercolours, drawings and etchings which seem to be focused on Dix’s experiences from the trenches from World War I, i.e. battle wounds and the mayhem of war, as well as artworks that shed light on his impressionistic side and the commissioned works, which are tamer by comparison yet still exhibit Dix’s flair for realism.

Needless to say that Dix is not limited to the aforementioned two ends of the spectrum but also explores cartoon-ish works and mixed media pieces, which serve to accentuate and give anatomic details a dimension of depth.

If you are remotely familiar with Otto Dix, you would not be surprised that taboo topics play a prominent role in how he surgically portrayed what he perceived to be the truth and essence of his time.

The fact that the tome includes watercolour painting that he did for his children or which alternatively alluded to biblical extracts, portray Dix as an artist with many facets and one with a point of view through which viewing the atrocities and aftermath of the first World War as well as what the Republic of Weimar had to offer, adds another dimension.

A book that is essential for both Dix aficionados as well as the uninitiated.

Yves Zurstrassen – Free

Mercator Fonds

A name like Yves Zurstrassen, at least the correct pronunciation might not roll easily off your Anglo-Saxon tongue and it might be an artist that has not crossed your path so far.

I have to admit that I was not too terribly familiar with his oeuvre either and was therefore quite delighted to be able to acquaint myself intimately with how he traverses from the expressionistic abstract to lyrical abstraction or the other way around. The common denominator of Zurstrassen’s art his idiosyncratic approach to go far beyond temporality by playing with principles of collages, differently textured papers, the removal of paint, cut-outs and meticulous layering of colours and shades.

In essence, it really has to be seen to understand and fully appreciate how the layering of pigments interact with the underlying canvases and his calibration of application and withdrawals create a musicality that is accentuated by the often floral and wavy patterns he applies – a feat that is reminiscent at times of Matisse and Stuart Davies.

In many aspects, the way Zurstrassen channels his alchemy reminds one of the painted equivalent to jazz.

Zurstrassen is an artist who has created his own realm, independent from mainstream constraints, labels and categorical confines and given that, the tome could hardly have been titled better than “Free”.