Australia Day for me started out like any other. Wake up, go for a wave, get some beer, go to a friends place and listen to the radio. Sometime during the day i was offered a free ticket to go see the D3, someone who i was heaps keen to see but it sold out. The D3, playing Ocean Songs in full, as it was part of Sydney Festival's collaboration with the ATP Dont Look Back series. My expectations were pretty fucking high, as i had seen them before but had to leave cause it was a full on assault on the senses and i couldn't handle it. Wimp.
I arrive just as The Laughing Clowns are winding up. I hear lots of noodling while im walking in though, something Ed Kuepper probably doesnt get to do much of now he is a full time member of the Bad Seeds. After a brief intermission, the D3 strole out to a big Sydney welcome. Warren Ellis is cracking jokes about Supertramp covers and the like, instanly making everyone love him a little bit more then they already do. For such a "serious" band, the fact that they can still joke around with the audience means a whole lot.
The suit jacket comes off, and they open with Sirena. Within seconds, the mood for the night is set. Everybody is hanging on to every note played. The songs dont roll out in order, which i find works better then playing the album front to back, as it makes for more of a spontaneous sounding show. Sea Above, Sky Below is played halfway through the set, and sounds as amazing as everyone knows it will. Ellis plays with his back to the crowd, which is a strange juxtaposition to how welcoming and open he is in between songs. The relationship the band have with each other is crucial, everyone is sync at all times, but in a way thats more than simply being tight. It's hypnotising to be in front of. Jim White isnt your avarage drummer, he isn't there to keep time as such. For me, its my favorite thing about the D3, its unlike any band i have heard. And there is definitely no sound quite like Ellis' violin. there is more emotion in the sounds then any voice could project.
Distant Shore, Deep Waters, Authentic Celestial Music, and the EPIC Everythings Fucked show up, which is great. They play all the songs off Ocean Songs of course, but find time to fit in plenty of other tracks and just enough witty banter to make this much more then just a run through of an album. If Ellis decides to try his hand at public speaking ala Henry Rollins, i would be front of the line for tickets. The lights are simple (a plain white sheet saturated in changing colours), but suit the mood and the band pefectly. When the band is this good, you dont want anything taking the focus away for what your really there to see.
I couldnt fault this show at all, its definitely not one i will be forgetting anytime soon. It made me think that amongst all the bullshit that happens on Australia Day, there is still something out there that can make me genuinely proud to be Australian. Whether its Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds dropping jaws round the globe to thousands of people, or The Drones sweating it out in every venue that will have them, there is an uncompromising side to a lot of the best Australian bands that many other bands just dont have, the will to do things on there own terms and no one elses. And thats a whole lot more Australian then draping a fucking flag round your neck for one day a year.
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