Take Me Down to the Cities of the Future

Random Concert of the Month:

Infected Mushroom – Live in Sydney 13^th April 2007

On a whim I decided to attend Infected Mushroom this Friday past. I didn't even realise they were playing until Tuesday so it was a bit of a last minute escapade, but I liked the album of theirs I had on my computer until a few months ago (although I'm buggered if I can remember what it was called) and I was keen to see what kind of show they'd put on.

9pm

11pm

1am

The ticket said 8.00pm so I dutifully showed up at 8.30, the kind of timing that has served me well at rock concerts for many years, only to find that the band weren't actually playing until 1.30. I should have expected this, because it's a rave, not a rock concert, but it meant I had five hours to kill and I had neither the energy nor the inclination to fill those hours up with an alcohol fuelled bender (the standard solution to being at a party with nothing to do). Fortunately I randomly ran into people I knew, and there were some pretty good DJs playing, but it was still too long to wait (during this time I was asked no less than half a dozen times if I was selling acid, which appeared to be in high demand and short supply). Given that most of the was spent dancing I was getting pretty tired by the time the band walked on stage.

Infected Mushroom try to put on the appearance of being a live band, with not only an MC but acoustic drums, keyboards and guitar. I appreciated the attempt but they're still not fooling me, I could tell most of the music was still pre recorded. The guitarist was a real show off, kicking their set off with a series of wanky little solos and playing with his teeth. I've tried that. It kind of hurts.

Infected Mushroom

Having a live band play dance music is a really cool idea, but I don't think Infected Mushroom really use the format to its full potential. In fact, a lot of it seems to be just for show. The vibe was a little too cock rock, or at least a hippy raver's cheesy idea of cock rock, there was no crowd surfing but plenty of girls sitting on guys shoulders and waving their arms, which looked kind of weird in an indoor venue. Part of the reason I like these guys (and this genre of music) on record is because it's moodier and more evocative than your standard pill popping clubber's trance or house, but this concert wasn't like that at all. It was all wave your hands in the air bouncing up and down fun times. It was still fun and worth going to, but it didn't deliver quite what I wanted.