I spent the entire day yesterday down at MONA FOMA, listening to bands, helping collect money for the QLD Flood Relief and wandering around getting sunburned. The line-up for the evening was what I was most interested in, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentleman, then Neil Gaiman, then Amanda Palmer.
The moment the doors opened to let us into the main stage area, the atmosphere was electric.
Unfortunately, there was no seating available, so we had to suffer through, sitting on a thin mat on top of concrete. It wasn’t ideal and I have the bruises and sore hips to prove it.
Mikelangelo was excellent. Funny too – his voice is like melted honey and you just want to listen to him sing for hours. They were consummate performers and the crowd adored them.
Then there was, of course, Neil Gaiman and his cult following. I love his books and I was looking forward to this.
I’d bailed out of sitting on the floor and headed up to where frogpondsrock and my brother were sitting, up in the tiered seating, we had an excellent view of the stage and during Mikelangelo, excellent sound.
That wasn’t the case with Neil Gaiman. Something happened with the PA system and when he started to speak, we could hear barely anything and what we did catch sounded blurry. I caught every 3rd word, which is a shame, as hearing him read was what I was most looking forward to. I could hear the sound of Neil’s voice and it sounds like it would have been brilliant too.
Instead I took photos, enjoyed the atmosphere and wished that the seating and sound were better.
As Neil finished, the roadies started setting up for Amanda Palmer and the crowd flocked in. Because she was singing, we were hopeful that the sound would be better, and it was, a bit.
Can I just say, that Amanda Palmer is brilliant? Her voice, her stage presence, all brilliant. I adored what I got to see.
Digression: My body is broken. It doesn’t work as well as I’d like and I get to do fun things like dislocate joints, or spend hours throwing up for no reason. This makes things interesting and my body has crappy timing, generally.
I was enjoying the show, and taking photos at the same time, right up until the lady in front of me sprayed perfume and I had a minor body rebellion. I figured it wouldn’t be polite of me to throw up down her back, so I bailed out.
I spent the rest of the gig listening from the flood relief tables and chatting to the lovely Stephen and his wife Mary. I would have loved to have seen the rest, because like I said, she is brilliant. Absolutely fucking fantastic.
So, that is what I did last night. What have you been up to?
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Oh and can I just shout out to Nathan – who is spending the days at home with the kids alone while I attend all these gigs and review them on twitter. Thankyou honey. I rather love you. xx
More photos over at Frogpondsrock
great photos…pity about the seating arrangements XXX
What a brilliant show! Shame about the sound and the seating and who the hell sprays themselves with perfume out in public? Honestly.
I love Amanda Palmer, she is such a class act and great value!
Shame about the PA system and wtf with the perfume?
Great pics, looking forward to reading your Twitter review 😉
Great pics, shame about the glitches but you seem to be enjoying it all anyway 😉 And yes – yay for Nathan!
They didn’t provide seating? Not even a cushion? Shame!
And how rude to spray perfume in a crowd!!
I don’t know any of those performers, I’ve never even heard of them, but I’m so glad you got to see and hear them and have fun as well.
Despite the interruption – so glad you’re having a great time. As far as small children go, a little absence can do wonders for your mental health. Kudos Nathan!
That was a pity about the seating and the perfume and the PA system…
I found Amanda Palmer the other day on youtube! Brilliant!
I’m bummed that I missed this! But I have a bad back and by the sounds of it, the seating wouldn’t have been too great for me either. What a shame about that and the sound issues.
It’s on all this week too, so if you wanted to come down and wander around, I’ll be there most days. Not tomorrow though.
That sounds like a great event. One of my pet peeves is poor sound in concerts like that. So I would have been really annoyed if I were there unable to hear what Neil Gaiman was saying too. You may want to pop in my blog for my latest giveaway.
Oh no! If it wasn’t for the lavender, I may have left early too due to the smelly man in front of me. I’m sad you missed Amanda singing ‘Map of Tasmania’. It was so wonderfully hilarious, crude, shocking and damn catchy! I keep humming it in inappororiate places. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqJvXxiJYFU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Oh yeah, these two are so “classy.”
Naked sharpie pics sexted to fiancee released on the internet? Check!
Engagement with a sharpie? Check! (Yeah! There’s a photographer there, strangely!)
Engagement breakfast? Check! (I think the photographer sleeps with them).
Hairy, naked strip show on the only red carpet these morons will ever see? Check!
Pictures of bathroom at the awards show? Check! (classy)
Boring description of upper level seating at Oscars (where the tag-along writer of optioned material is seated so he won’t bother anyone) while twittering? Check!
Mock Marriage ceremony on the street? Check!
Sex life of your fiancee detailed in Spin article? Check!
Scientology “wedding” in Chabon’s back room. Check!
Fiancee having private break down moment about doomed career detailed in Spin article?
Check and publish!
I think the only aspect of their relationship they’ve edited was the disgusting Caberet artwork of Gaiman giving Palmer head. Maybe at their annual Scientology board meeting, er, I mean intimate talk they decided to keep that one all to themselves.
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