crazy penis live

friday january 7th – hi-fi bar

what a night!  Laura and i just rocked up at ten and got tickets at the door.  it was a bit disconcerting as there were some fashion-victim posers in front of us, but the posers were in the minority for the night.

beginning with you started something, the guys went absolutely crazy.  six piece band, keys, guitar, bass, drums percussion and of-course danielle moore on vocals who was an absolutel nut!  the entire band had plenty of energy and were bounding around like mad, but danielle had so much charisma.  never a dull moment for her on stage, plus a change into a dress for the second half of the set.

highlights were the time is right, 13th movement, i think i like you, magical progression, the rite place.  of-course there’s a better place a la willy wonka got the crowd going three quarters through the night, as this pretty much was the only track the general audience would know – so of-course they all rushed to the front for this one song, but it wasn’t the best.  the 13th movement instrumental actually was one of the best performances for the night, unfortunately without danielle, but she was off changing into her dress 😀  as well as 13th movement the guys also played soulmutation early on, pretty much taking care of the instrumentals in the first half of the concert, though i can’t be sure now if i remember them playing mid-lounge crisis.  it was all a haze, but in there somewhere were also give it up, beautiful people (of-course), and mind wide open.  mind wide open they played in the first half, beautiful people would have been about half-way from memory, and i think give it up was one of the earlier ones as-well.  danielle did announce a new song but i forgot the name – it was a great track though.  also they performed a track called kicks – don’t know if it’s theirs or not, but it was great.

the crowd was fantastic.  we were quite surprised.  there were posers here and there, which can’t be avoided these days, but they were so out of place.  doubled by the fact that they couldn’t dance to save their lives.  almost all of the crowd were just great people, casually dressed, dancing.  there probably weren’t as many really keen dancers there as i would have liked, but it didn’t stop Laura or myself, and there were plenty of people really getten’ down and having fun.  there of-course had to be one pill-popper who flailed around and jumped up and down like he was at a rave.  yeah.  he had no friends fast and a nice big circle where no-one dared hazard to stand.  pill-monster aside, everyone loved the housey funky disco sound and had a great time.  danielle’s charisma really lit-up the crowd, and the band honestly enjoyed themselves.

we weren’t all packed in there like sardines either a la planet funk last year.  by the middle of the gig there were probably four-hundred people there, standing and dancing very comfortably, room to move, room to walk around.  they could have easily jammed in another two hundred or so, but then we would have been like sardines, so it was a great night – full, no empty dead-spots in the entire building, but just right – like a perfectly planned party.

i only have one disappointment – they didn’t play keep on!  my favourite crazy penis track!  but it may have been a bit too chilled, and as the crowd really was getting into the disco-funk vibe, it can be forgiven.

the support band who played at 11 was great too, more house and breaks, no drummer, two guys on keys, samplers/drum machines, mixer, a percussionist, keys, bass, a rapper who was slightly out of the band’s mood, but still alright, and a great female vocalist.  they were a local band called mr jigga, and as per usual, it took until after their second track to get the crowd going, but they were great.  they finished at midnight, and crazy penis were on stage at 12:30, playing right through until 2.  after such a fantastic night, Laura and i headed out to lygon street for 2am pizza except we didn’t get pizza, only pasta and risotto.  got home at 3:15 am.

i miss dancing this much.  a few years ago myself and a few others used to hang around fitzroy at the evelyn and the night cat, but i’ve sort-of grown out of hanging around with people who mostly sit around and drink.  the most dancing i do now is at gigs – two tribes last year, chemical brothers, groove armada and michael franti the year before that – but i’m thinking i should make an effort to get out to some daytime gigs.  it’s bad though, there aren’t so many groovey funky bands like crazy penis around much anymore.  the scene in melbourne for the moment has gone all 80s rehashed rock band style a la jet, who suck ass.  anyway, it keeps the discerning crowd and our tastes slightly underground(ish), and the pop-junkies distracted by the crap that populates film, media and readily available manufactured culture.

what a night!  condolences to chibi-r who had to work!!!  next time – and hopefully they’ll come again with a brass section – or even an orchestra!  strings!  ganbarre!!!!!! – maybe not…