Meet You Down The Front - Part One

I've decided to start reviewing/remembering as many performances by bands, dj's etc that I have seen in my 34 years on this earth. They won't be in any chronological order and will appear whenever my synapses allow the memory fog to lift (wherever and whenever that may be). Let's begin shall we.....

1. Dire Straits (1986) - OK, let's get the skeletons out of the cupboard. The year was 1986, Dire Straits were probably the biggest band in the world at the time largely thanks to the release of two items - the CD player and the album they released called "Brothers In Arms". These two bedfellows were the absolute pinnacle of bliss for hi-fi salesmen the world over and the stand-alone guitar break in Money For Nothin' was the key point where the guy in the store would crank the big volume knob with a deft flick of the wrist stage right. Your hair would blow back like that yuppie guy seated in the armchair poster seen on many a loungeroom wall throughout the 80's. Hi-Fi guy would have his eyebrows ascending and be urging your amazement with a few rising "Huh? Huhs" and you would be absolutely impressed by the cd's crystaline digital compression (and you can't scratch them, don't you know?).
I do remember once going with my Dad and my high school pal (electronics boffin, Ian) to buy a new set of speakers. We had armed ourselves in advance with a woofer punishing 7" single of Harold Faltermeyer's electro pop masterpiece "Axel F" from the Beverly Hills Cop film soundtrack; sure to put any Japanese devised amplification to the ultimate test. But I digress.
I first heard Dire Straits via my old man's copy of the self titled album that the band issued in the UK in 1978 (it was like punk never happened) but that was the only contact I'd had until a couple of schoolmates - the afore mentioned Ian and another guy called Phil (who was into ropey jazz of the 80's persuasion) - got right into Dire Straits and took me along for the ride. But hey, I wasn't the only Australian swept up in the anarchy, madness and pure sexuality that was created by a middle-aged balding guy with a signature headband who mumbled all of his songs and spend a lot of time fiddling around at the "business" end of the Stratocaster fretboard. Along with the band of 4 others guys, the names of whom NOBODY could tell you - even with a gun to their head, Mark Knopfler managed to play the cavernous dome of reverb and poor vision that is the Sydney Entertainment Center for 20 nights IN A ROW. Holy shit.
They were bigger than vegemite and pretty much the whole of Australia saw them. For a kid (me) who'd been listening solidly to punk, ska and uk/sydney indie bands who could hardly play their instuments since I was in year 7, this was a new world. I probably played the air guitar to Money For Nothin' along with 5,000 other male guitar worshipping dags, and I recall the lighting being pretty dramatic also, with dry ice and the lot. It was my first time at the Ent Cent...but not my last, as we shall discover in future reviews. All in all it was a popular phenomenom that I was a part of and although it didn't change my life in any way, I have fond memories of the night itself with my friends from school all hittin' the big city together (pretty heady stuff for a buch of Camden lads). We did not, unfortunately, get any "chicks for free" as promisedby Mr.Knopfler & Co.


















2. New Order (1986) - Now we're talking. An absolutely memorable experience for me. Seeing this legendary band at the height of their powers at the Enmore theatre was the coolest thing I had EVER witnessed in my 15 years of living. Joined again by Ian (see Dire Straits review above) as well as two other cohorts, Paul & Dick, I can clearly recall being a) the only people dropped off by our parents and b) the only people not wearing black. We probably looked like the freaks.
The support act was The Deadly Hume (who's rock tree later branched out to Ratcat, Nick Barker etc) and they had a rather large live spider in a class container with a light shining underneath it, giving the spider's shadow a huge wall sized projection. I remember thinking that was cool.
New Order came on with minimal fuss but maximum sound. It was the Brotherhood album they were touring, but we were also treated to a nice selection of older tunes. Of course, hearing " Blue Monday/The Beach" live was really, really exciting.
A few things that stand out in my mind were the way Stephen Morris did drum with the sound and precision of an actual drum machine, the way Gillian Morris was so shy that she couldn't bear to look up from her single fingered keyboard lines, the way Hooky slung his bass guitar almost to floor level and played it like a leaden beast and the way "Barney" Sumner would sing with his eyes closed for every song, not caring when he strained his limited voacals to hit the high notes entirely off key. Oh yeah, I also remember turning around at one point to see a guy standing on the railing of the Enmore's top balcony dancing in only his underpants. That, and a vague recollection of one of my mates losing a shoe or somebody slicing their foot open on a bottle are coming to me as well, but I'll have to get verification on that one.
Incidently, it would be another 17 (!) years until I saw New Order again, when in 2003, Ange and I had been to see David Byrne (review to appear in the future) at the State Theatre, and driving home, we passed by the Horden where New Order were performing. We stopped the car, bum-rushed the gates and caught the encore of "Blue Monday" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart"!

Stay tuned for the next edition of Meet You Down The Front when we'll relive shows by Mudhoney, DJ Q-bert and Jesus Jones!