Flashback show! I’m going start to write about much older shows/gigs I’ve attend and this one is a great palace the begin with.
On Saturday 26th of October 2013 ATP had the annual Release The Bats show in St. Kilda, Melbourne. Kim Deal, Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson all played together for this show from a tour celebrating 20 years since releasing Last Splash! The first time I seen them was back in 1994 @ The Big Day Out plus Cannonball was the first song I when crowd-surfing too which was my first ever festival too and one of my first few gigs I attend. So this gig almost 20 years later was going to be a special show for me too. I would say loved this band much more than anyone else who played BDO that year.
This show was now couple of years ago but remands strong in my memory. It’s that classic line-up of The Breeders all back to play the album Last Splash, yet another album I need to write a Classic Album post about, starting with the a cover of Shocker in Gloomtown, the Guided by Voices cover then going from the start to finish playing all the tracks on that album in full then they did finished of with Iris from the album Pod and Safari from that EP released a year before Last Slash. Got to see them about a week later again in Perth @ The Astor Theatre for the last show of that Aussie tour so I almost overdosed on The Breeders, got the t-shirt with the Aussie map on it, the big white canvas bag, the huge LSXX reissue. I love this band so much, I did wish I when to the ATP curated by The Breeders back in May 2009 in England, out of all the ATP things I wish I saw that one and the same year Nick Cave & The Seeds did one here in Australia too, Dirty Three one in England back in 2007 would have been good. So they, the ATP fest looks like they’re never coming back here.
So going back to the start of the day, it all kicked off by getting arm-bands outside the The Palais Theatre, a white one and a lucky drawn of a different colour, I got pink one which was means I had to go up-stairs which did piss me off at the time because want was so great about the ATP fest early that year which I’ll write about in a post soon, was you could just go anywhere all day but I didn’t mind in the end because it was a great view from the balcony and I got a seat in the front row too! After that I when off to the Prince Bandroom because they had an early band playing there and nothing was at Palais yet, I don’t know locals was thinking at the time because alot of the bands playing here was Melbourne bands but I didn’t mind because almost all I’ve not seen before because they don’t really tour over to Perth.
White Walls was pretty cool but must have been hard opening the whole day, after got all my The Breeders stuff plus ATP t-shirt too and head back to Palais to see The UV Race. They totally kill it, would have a one of surprises of the day. I would say The UV Race has to be the best band on early when Twerps came on next they were just a bit boring really, at the time a very hyped band but I just didn’t get it? Why wasn’t Pitchfork rating The UV Race as the best thing since sliced bread? Because they don’t really know what they’re talking about, that’s why! Before I travel back home I had to find all of The UV Race albums but didn’t bother to do the same with Twerps. I should have gone and seen Hoss and/or The Spinning Rooms but I didn’t. I guess that’s the only down fall with festivals like these because I would like to see all of the bands on the bill but that’s a very rare thing really other festivals don’t have such a great line-up or even half as good line-up as this. It would have been the best to have it all over two days really so I could see everything, that’s only wishful thinking but it’s a good idea, right?
So it’s four o’clockish by now up and this next up was another of the main reasons to come and see this gig, this bit was under the title Pop Crimes, then in smaller print: The Songs of Rowland S. Howard. It was so wroth it too first half his old band These Immortal Souls and second half was his solo band of his last two albums Teenage Snuff Film and Pop Crimes with guest singers like Jonnine Standish from HTRK that’s her above, Conrad Standish former Devastations and now half of the duo Standish/Carlyon, former Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party, The Boys Next Door member Mick Harvey, his brother Harry Howard. They didn’t do any The Young Charlatans, The Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party. All tracks from those two solo albums and These Immortal Souls albums which was pretty prefect, wouldn’t have changed that in anyway. I missed seeing him live in his lifetime unfortunately so this was the closest thing, they have done some more shows now like this one since to keep his music alive, the two disc Six Strings That Drew Blood is a great comp of all his stuff. So very sad he was only 50 years old when he passed away.
Television performing Marquee Moon from start to finish and I’m guessing this is what most people was here to see because The Palais Theatre was the most crowded of the whole day for this set and was pretty fuckin’ wicked. Tom Verlaine and the boys was just got down to business, no fuckin’ about, talkin’ to the crowd, they just hammer the songs out. It’s another one of those prefect albums, I came home to listen to it more than before and I even got the 33 1/3 book on my last trip to Melbourne. Yet another album I could write about for my Classic Albums but this is getting a bit silly now, every album I name drop here I say that about so I guess I’m going to be very busy writing.
Scientists was next and this line-up of them was the last one before breaking up in the mid-80’s, my fave line-up of this band, the one who did Human Jukebox song/album together. They’re now back to the very earliest line-up, well in the last couple of years so it was great seeing this show because it was pretty much the last time with these guys and girl. It was Leanne Cowie on Drums, Boris Sujdovic on Bass, Tony Thewlis and off-course Kim Salmon on guitars, Kim sing too and main member in all the different line-ups. They play all those older Scientists tracks too so I was just in heaven at this stage of the gig, I totally love this band and they rock it so hard.
Then it was Fuck Buttons turn, which after a day of guitar bands was the ice on the cake. I never really check them out at all before but afterwards I got all the albums too, It was another surprise of the day. To have some totally different at that time made it even better and they really trash it too and that’s Andrew Hung below from Fuck Buttons wearing a cool Kate Bush t-shirt on the night. Then this is where I came in, right? The Breeders, what more can I say about them? I love them so much more than Pixies or Frank Black’s solo stuff, sorry Frank but Kim is just cooler than you but she would be better than well just about anything from the 90’s!
Well one band who was going play but cancelled which I did love just as much but maybe not now was The Jesus Lizard, those god dam motherfuckers for not showing up, I was very disappointed about that to say the least. I hope the reason was good because at time not much of one was given. Forest Swords also canned his part of the show too even closer to the date. Must be a promoter worst nightmare, two of the main acts doing that. They had to down scale the whole thing because it original was supposed to take palace @ Altone like the one earlier in the year. Halloween never been a big thing here in Australia too so maybe they fucked it up themselves. So soon after the first one too which was a big success but this one could never be as great as that, well that’s if you don’t count the bigger stuff-up of the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds one in 2009 which it has been said before having them at a ski resort and on an island in the middle of Sydney harbour was too much for most Aussies punters plus line-up curated by you know who had so much old snuff on the line-up it just totally missed the younger crowd and the old crowd didn’t seem to want to travel everywhere to see these shows so was fuck-up all round. One out of three isn’t bad to get right for English promoters that don’t seem to know anything about Australia but it seem like too much of a gable for them to come back again. It did sell-out once it move to St. Kilda but don’t blame me I had my ticket from the very start and like I ready have wrote before and say again I totally love it. Maybe it’s that Nick Cave effect again you know it’s named after one of his songs but I have wished for more Aussie ATP shows but it hasn’t happen so far, is it going to ever happen again? I don’t know!
Camille Rose Garcia has done the amazing artwork for this event shown on the poster/flyer above, I’ve scan my own ticket stub from the a event and that’s below too. I have notice the very same artwork is used now for the new ATP’s 2016 Release The Bats in London and Manchester which has John Carpenter playing at. After when to Luna Park for a ride before it closed once The Breeders finished, got wasted on St. Kilda Beach later that night so it was a really great day and night! Palais was a great venue too, glad I go to see it in there. I been told they’re pulling it all down but they’re going to restorative it now which great. I didn’t get back to see the other bands at the Prince Bandroom so I totally missed Total Control, Lighting Bolt and Sleep which I would love see have seen but you can’t see everything sometimes. I totally loved seeing The UV Race, Rowland S. Howard thingy, Television, Scientists, Fuck Buttons, The Breeders and it was all in just one day/night too!
PS I’ve using two cool photos from the day taken by Ian Laidlaw the rest can be found here, thank you!
a1000mistakes 
Nice…
I’m jelly…
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