January 7, 2009

So that’s it. 2008, done. Christmas and New Years, concluded. Liver function, restored. Gut capacity, increased. Tan, decidedly non existent after our summer has failed to fucking show up. Clearly Mother Nature did not get the memo about the whole sunshine thing.
I feel at this time of year it’s especially important to reflect on the year passed and all the lessons we have learnt, so it doesn’t feel like the monumental piss up it invariably was.
In 2008, I learned:
I Must Be More Organised- Festivals and indeed live shows in general were once frivolous things. Big Day Out tickets were always available around Christmas, even in the days preceding the event and it all seemed distinctly fancy free. Now if you want to go to Falls for New Year’s Eve you’ve gotta have your shit together in June, be wary of ballot dates so that you may go in the draw to have the chance to perhaps buy tickets if you can afford it. All before the second line-up of acts has even been announced.
iTunes is, um, awesome- 2008 introduced me to iTunes. To say I am late on the bandwagon would be an epic understatement, but perhaps it was my subconscious trying to save me from what will undoubtedly, ultimately be my financial ruin.
I Must Have Hope- When Rage Against The Machine broke up, it seemed set in stone. I was never going to see them. They were a lost cause. Then they reformed for some US shows and there seemed a glimmer of hope, which soon expanded into a heavenly beam of light when they announced an Australian tour and at once, I believed. Gorilla Biscuits fans would have felt similarly when the band came to the Arty 17 years after they officially disbanded. Never lose hope ya’ll.
Parkway Drive will soon be playing arenas- When the Byron Bay touring machine rolled into Melbourne a week or so ago the city was positively awash with Parkway Tshirts. The underage crowd ruled the streets, strutting their highly stylized stuff with adorable faux indifference. Parkway have done inconceivably, ridiculously, phenomenally well considering their music is distinctly metalcore, a genre which does not often endear itself to the masses in which this band seems to have done. Kudos Parkway. Hip hop promoters- do not trust them.