Fat Boy Slim

I had one of the best new years eves, ever, on Bondi Beach in Sydney, with 20,000 others, dancing to the amazing mixes of Fat Boy Slim. He has played in Brighton to crowds over 200,000. And then... came New York City. Cosmopolitan mecca full of sophisticates - and no one has heard of him. He's a DJ who produces his own music, he has a great best of album - with the fabulous title of Why Try Harder. He's cool and quirky and all things good. He charged face value tix of $120 for nye and suddenly he's charging $50 and not selling out...

He came out to Manhattan (he's English and UK based) to play in.. Terminal 5 - where we saw Tom Jones. It holds about 3,000 people. It must have been one of his smallest venues in years. I dragged two friends with us (dancing! house music! Excellent!) and literally counted down the days...

Firstly, I love Terminal 5. The roof terrace was opened and it's all so civilized. Just dirty enough to be rock and roll, but totally safe and with clean toilets (important to us over 35 crowd) It is a 3 story venue, with a huge dance floor and cantilevered balconies overlooking. There are places to sit, space to dance, 3 enormous bars, to buy the expensive but not ludicrously so drinks.

Then the master came out. There was that beat that enters your heart and take it over, the flashing lights and video clips that pull you in, the music, it gives you this trance like effect, no drugs needed.




The crowd was warm from the get go, and 10 minutes into the set were were jumping up and down. We danced till our feet hurt and then, all of sudden, it was 2 hours later and the whole thing just closed down - just before midnight, so working people could go home and get up the next day. I love New York! Sydney crowds don't even arrive before midnight and won't so much as rock their hips before 1 am. To find excellent music, a great venue, to start dancing at 10 and be in bed by 1 am... all too good to be true. I wish he was playing every week. I'd be there. I promise...

(this was a late write up, we went on June 24th. So wish he was playing again...)

Jonesing for Tom

We had the best time last night - we went and saw a 68 yo sing, and he sounded just fabulous, voice and form fit and flying. Yes, we went and saw Tom Jones, and it was so tongue in cheek and fun, and the songs were terrific, and he sold each one with perfect grace and sincerity and a great voice! He also danced, wiggled and even growled once or twice for us, and we laughed and cheered and sang along with him. (this clip is from a recent tv show, the clips taken on people's phones just have too crap quality, he's more mesmerizing than this in a live venue) I can't believe how many of his lyrics I know! No wonder I can't remember any one's name, all my brain's filing cabinets are taken up with lyrics to obscure songs!

He was performing at Terminal 5. I'd never been there before but knew I was going to the right place when I looked up the reviews. they were uniformly negative, because, as one reviewer put it - 'the crowd is so old, most people were over 35!' It's not a theatre - it's a club venue, mainly standing room though a few sofas and stools on the upper floors. For once I wasn't the oldest person in the room, in fact I was perfectly placed. The crowd was just there to have a good time, everyone relaxed and happy. The space was crowded, but pleasantly so - enough for a great energy, but not too packed, you could move and dance easily. (a couple of thousand? I'm really bad a judging crowds, esp standing ones)

And Tom - well he's been doing this forever. Many of those songs were well over 30 years old (His first hit, It's not Unusual, was released in 1965!!) He's not doing this to pay the mortgage. He's doing it because he loves it. He gave such terrific energy, and he got it all back. The audience was beaming, and he loved it too. It was a pleasure to watch someone with a terrific voice but also great showmanship just shining with joy.

As he sang It's not Unusual, the man in his mid forties next to us ripped off his shirt, tore of his undershirt and threw it at the stage and then proceeded to dance bare chested, tats writhing as he jumped about (our friend beside us said, well that's a little unusual...) Most of us weren't quite that exuberant but we were all dancing and yes, I did see quite a few bits of coloured fabric thrown at the stage.

It was just such sheer fun! A night of real delight. He's really much better than live than in his albums. I'm now on the hunt for a live recording to see if the magic translates there...