My Younger and More Vulnerable Years: Concerning Gotye

It's a great sign when, over two weeks later, you're still in awe of a live show. Here's a rundown of the phenomenal Gotye performance I feel lucky to have been a part of.

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When you first hear about Gotye, you figure that it's just Wally de Backer messing around with random instruments in a studio for months on end, ending up with a completely solo album that orbits around him and his fantastic musicianship. That's what I thought, until I walked into the phenomenal venue that is Le Bataclan Paris and saw the stage. That's when the suspicions began - an absolutely packed area, with at least 4 keyboards, two drum kits, various slide/electric/acoustic guitars, and these huge upright pad things that looked like Mickey Mouse ears. It looked like a tad more than a one-man-show. We watched excitedly as two very badly dressed sound people tuned some guitars, and then gaped as the very same soundmen came out and proceeded to perform the opening slot.

I'll sideline to talk a bit about THE CHAP - three men (definitely counting drummer Keith Duncan) who could possible make you fall in love with them despite their insane outfits (think sky blue running shorts that are three sizes too small, and purple socks) and general we-don't-get-dates-often look about them. They had energy that made you wanna scream, dance and laugh all at once. Opening slots at big name gigs like Gotye often get a lax response - after all, we didn't buy tickets to see you - but The Chap did a really great job of genuinely entertaining and distracting the restless crowd with their forceful, immediately impacting songs. Punk guitars, close harmonies, and an iPhone used to render the crowd in hysterics with 8-bit Mario-Brothers-Esque riffs (screeches and wubs provided by the short-short-clad Berit Immig) meant the Chap were definitely interesting and fun, as some of their lyrics read (other lyrics included frontman Johannes von Weizsäcker screaming "FACEBOOK!" and "This is a generic pop song and you're gonna like it!" into the mic). Ending with a massive instrumental on the cello and iPhone, The Chap left us breathless and smiling. Oh yeah, and then we stuck around to see Gotye.

Behold, Wally de Backer eases onto stage, along with 4 other amazing musicians that, by the end of the night, would be our favourite people too. The Bataclan's raised stage / balcony layout really made for amazing crowd acoustics, a surge of applause and screaming being forcefully shoved at the band onstage. It's definitely different to massive, open-air crowds, and I'm beginning to like these small-venue gigs that Europe has to offer. As the ingeniously collaborative band began the hit single Eyes Wide Open, the room filled with a beautiful mix of clear vocals, ethereal samples by all-around talented Tim (it's hard to find the full names on the internet, so I'll just call him Tim), supportive and funky bass by Wally's long-term friend and bassist Lucas Taranto, guitars and slide by Ben (who looks exactly like Shaun Jacobs of ::hblt::, to be perfectly honest - considering I haven't spoken to Shaun in a while I was convinced he had joined Gotye's touring band until the man was introduced as Ben), and drums by this guy Michael Ellis. While Mike provided a beautiful beat that carried a lot of what Gotye played that night, he often had to battle for his position as the drummer against Wally himself. I think Wally was born a drummer, and is really just pretending to be good at everything else. He's got amaze skills, and wasn't afraid that night to rock a 5 minute drum solo when the opportunity provided itself.

Gotye's got this amazing mix of music, ranging across the genres in a way that makes him unfairly accessible to almost anyone. Owing to the fact that the set that night was basically the whole of the Making Mirrors album, the songs ranged from the bordering-on-cheesy anthem I Feel Better (a great sing-a-long crowd song), to the blurry distortion of Easy Way Out, to the soft hipster break-up song that is Somebody That I Used To Know (I'll come back to that one). There’s the reggae inspired State of the Art, which has Wally describing his electric organ buttons through a vocal synthesizer that puts him somewhere between Darth Vader and those terrible voice-distortion kits that bad guys use in spy movies. His music is also highly involved, as he plays off both his incredibly talented band members and the entire crowd before him. Songs like Save Me ache for a crowd to join in, losing themselves in the music through very participation. In the end, when the nursery-rhyme reminiscent xylophone introduced STIUTK (I just really didn’t feel like typing it out again), the fact that Kimbra wasn’t there didn’t even matter: the crowd knew their cue, and their lyrics, and the heart that was needed to shout her verse for her. Speaking of that song, there’s also a great mix of emotions on Making Mirrors. While STIUTK is incredibly famous, it fits into an angsty reminiscent category of songs on this album, right alongside the beautiful Smoke and Mirrors, which dramatically builds into a self-reflective moment: “You’re a fraud and you know it / And every night and day you take the stage … Such highs and lows / You put on quite a show”. To add to this vein, Wally (to my absolute mirth) added Heart’s a Mess to the set, making the evening an emotional as well as enjoyable experience. After what was possibly the longest encore-applause I’ve ever participated in, the band returned with the Motown throwback Learnalilgivinanlovin' and I Feel Better to put us in a bright, sunshiny mood before leaving the stage to thunderous thanks from a satisfied 2000-odd fans.

One of the coolest nights of my life. Music makes life so much more beautiful, and that night was proof enough for me.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Concerning Gotye

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