What: Pussy Riot and Friends
Where: RCC
Genre: Music
(Review by Sarah List)
Tonight’s show was different than the Riot Days events staged by Pussy Riot on their other dates. Tonight’s theme was a protest show, with a central focus on the troubles in West Papua. There was a good crowd present early, despite the delayed start time. Most people I spoke to were there for Pussy Riot as a curiosity, but weren’t intimately familiar with the work of the band itself.
Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir
Ok so with his brightly coloured suit, and the seeming charisma of a ‘Bible Belt’ televangelist, I was looking forward to a taste of his Earthallujah show. Unfortunately, and despite the enthusiasm of his choir, I found him to be a bit of a one dimensional downer with so many messages about the world being in a bad place. A scan of the reviews sees a range of opinions, so maybe he’s just not my thing. He popped up between each set, as MC and to provide a couple more songs, but it wasn’t really necessary and the event ran quite behind by the time Pussy Riot were on stage.
Cash Savage and the Last Drinks
Next up on the bill were Melbourne darlings Cash Savage and the Last Drinks. They had originally been book to appear in their own gig at the RCC, but with the last minute cancellation, the crowd was appreciative that this opportunity was available instead. Cash gave an impassioned performance with a voice at times of a reminiscent at times of Nick Cave, and the crowd ate it up.
Ecca Vandal
Absolutely blasting to the stage, Ecca Vandal blew out any cobwebs that were remaining in the audience. Demonstrating why she is such a powerful force in Australian music, her performance cut across the RCC arena and she definitely left the stage with a few more fans in her pocket.
Yothu Yindi
My personal highlight of the night was the glorious Yothu Yindi. I had not seen them live before, and was curious to see if they could hold the stage as well without original lead M. Yunupingu (Yolngu people protocols ask that the given name of a deceased person cease to be used). The new members blended seamlessly with the original line-up, and their music was as powerful as ever. The indigenous dancers lit up the stage, and the thunderous performances of Sunset Dreaming and Treaty closed out the show.
Pussy Riot
Finally – it was Pussy Riot’s time to take the stage, but at this point the show was running almost an hour behind time, and the crowd was keen to keep the momentum of Yothu Yindi and dive into the experience of Putin’s least favourite Russian Band. However, instead one of the members was introduced and she was to perform her solo project first. This featured her on saxophone, making apparently random bleeps, and another person dressed like a ninja wailing on a microphone. It really wasn’t interesting or pleasant and at that point some of the crowd decided that they’d waited long enough on a school night and it was time to head out. It wasn’t necessary and was a buzz kill after the energy of Yothu Yindi. When the full band finally emerged I think in general the crowd was pretty fatigued. The curiosity of seeing what Pussy Riot was all about probably wasn’t enough to keep the crowd as engaged as they could, and quite a number of people decided to venture to the gates. I’ve heard from friends that their Riot Days show was worth a ticket, but on this occasion the length of the event, the late running and a couple of weaker acts detracted from the quality of the event overall.
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