Vivid dreams

We've recently had an outbreak of culture here in Sydney, largely thanks to the Vivid Festival. Vivid seems fairly well established by now, thanks to a canny mix of leftfield cultural events at the Opera House and a family-friendly lightshow projected over the whole area. The optical events this year were once again spectacular, but we were more interested in a couple of musical occasions.

Last weekend was a visit from the effervescent Janelle Monae. Working with a cracking band full of outrageous personalities, the show ranged from hip-hop to disco to showtunes with aplomb; cover versions included Nat King Cole, The Jackson Five, Prince and a medley of Bond themes. Despite the entertaining choreography and Monae's exciting dance moves, the star was her powerful and versatile voice.

Up with PJ Harvey as gig of the year so far.

(If you don't know Monae's music, check out this great performance).

Last night was a slightly odd affair, going to see a music documentary in the rather too grand SOH Concert Hall. Worthwhile, though, because the doco in question was Shut Up And Play The Hits, a document of the mighty LCD Soundystem's final gig at Madison Square Garden. It's not a perfect movie by any means, but the central interview and the live footage are fascinating and exhilirating respectively. We also had the bonus of a Q&A with the LCD drummer, who is also co-writer of my choice for the best song of the century so far:



SU&PTH was in fact a co-presentation with the Sydney Film Festival 2012, which starts on Wednesday, almost entirely overlapping with the overnight attractions of Euro 2012. June is going to be HUGE!