Tag Archives: Big Star

52 Best Live Shows of 2023

2023 was a pretty good year of gigging for me as we emerged from a few quieter COVID years. I notched up over 60 gigs for the year across 2 continents and 3 cities. The best gigs ticked off a few bucket list artists (John Scofield, The Smithereens, Marshall Crenshaw, Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter and Bright Eyes) and venues (including The Blue Note and The Bitter End in New York and City Winery in Boston) as well as old favourites who showed they still had what it takes (3 consecutive nights of Billy Bragg, plus Pavement, Jackson Browne and Tommy Emmanuel) .

So here’s my favourite 52 shows – one for every week of the year!

Photo: John Scofield Trio – The Blue Note NYC

John Scofield Trio – The Blue Note NYC

The Smithereens feat. Marshall Crenshaw – City Winery Boston

Pavement (support Floodlights) – Enmore Theatre/Anita’s Thirroul

Jackson Browne – According to Stadium

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit (support Allison Russell) – Enmore Theatre

Billy Bragg – One Step Forward Two Steps Back Tour (3 nights)

Ed Kuepper and Jim White – City Recital Hall

Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter – City Winery Boston

Bright Eyes – Enmore Theatre

Fontaines DC – NSW Roundhouse

Photo: Weyes Blood – Sydney Opera House

Cat Power Sings Dylan – Sydney Opera House

Weyes Blood – Sydney Opera House

Bonnie Raitt (support Mavis Staples)

The Black Crowes – Enmore Theatre

Marlon Williams – Enmore Theatre

The Cowboy Junkies – Enmore Theatre

Lucinda Williams – Enmore Theatre

Marcus King – Enmore Theatre

Buddy Guy (support Christone Kingfish Ingram)

Eric Gales – City Winery Boston

Photo: Lloyd Cole – City Recital Hall, Sydney

Tommy Emmanuel- Sydney Opera House

Lloyd Cole – City Recital Hall

Jimmy Webb – City Recital Hall

The Teskey Brothers (support Emma Donovan) – Aware Super Theatre

Arlo Parks – Sydney Opera House

Alvvays – NSW Roundhouse

The Necks – Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House

Brodsky Quartet – Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House

Cecile McLorin Salvant – City Recital Hall, Sydney

Hoodoo Gurus (support Spy v Spy) – The Barracks Manly

Photo: Marshall Crenshaw fronting The Smithereens
City Winery Boston

Ed Kuepper – City Recital Hall

Floodlights – Carriageworks, Redfern

Tim Finn – Sydney Opera House

Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real – The Bowery NYC

Beck (support Robert Forster)

Sarah Lee Guthrie & the Mammals – City Winery Boston

Amanda Brown (support The SnarskiLindyCircusBand) – City Recital Hall

Don Walker – The Factory

Emma Donovan – City Recital Hall

Camp Cope – Sydney Opera House

Photo: Camp Cope is Dead (Final Gig)
Sydney Opera House

Thundercat – Sydney Opera House

Ed Kuepper & Jim White – The Brass Monkey, Cronulla

Foo Fighters (support The Chats) – Accor Stadium, Sydney

Ben Kweller – Racket, NYC

The Cars Show feat. Greg Hawkes and Eddie Japan – City Winery Boston

Ray Beadle & Redd Volkearts – Live at Studio 301, Sydney

Those Pretty Wrongs – The Great Club, Marrickville

Sister Hazel – City Winery Boston

Chris Shifflet – The Great Club, Marrickville

The Soul Movers (support The On & Ons) – The Brass Monkey, Cronulla

Harry Styles (support Wet Leg) – Accor Stadium, Sydney

Sting – Aware Super Theatre, Sydney

Photo: Lukas Nelson &The Promise of the Real
The Bowery NYC

Third/Sister Lovers – Big Star

Third/Sister Lovers is a dissolute masterpiece which seemingly documents the fragile psychological state into which Alex Chilton descended in the wake of Chris Bell’s departure and the commercial failure of Big Star’s magnificent first two albums. It’s a wild cocktail of drugs, drink, love, indulgence, despair, madness, spontaneity, introspection and cathartic release all orchestrated by producer Jim Dickinson who had the vision and foresight to indulge Chilton and embrace that gamut of emotions rather than rein it in.

Together, Chilton, original drummer Jody Stephens, Chilton’s then lover/muse/drug buddy Lesa Aldridge, Dickinson, a clutch of top session musicians (including Steve Cropper on one track) and a string orchestra led by violinist Noel Gilbert make a glorious, impertinent sound – with engineer John Fry seemingly trying (in vain?) to prevent it all falling apart. For that is the genius of this album – it goes exhilaratingly close to the edge, constantly threatening to collapse into an over-indulgent mess but somehow manages to stay true. What stops it from teetering over that precipice is the strength of the songs; Chilton’s glorious melodies which form the soft heart of the album; the playing of all involved and Dickinson’s unerring production.

The sheer range and consistency of the brilliance at play is breathtaking: the (im)perfect pop of ‘Kizza Me’, ‘Thank You Friends’ and ‘You Can’t Have Me’ (centred by Stephen’s brilliant drumming); the desperation of ‘Big Black Car’; the woozy romance of ‘Stroke It Noel’, ‘For You’ (with it’s rousing, but still slightly skewed, string embellishments), ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Dream Lover’; the waltz ‘Take Care’ and the positively jaunty ‘O’Dana’.

Even the covers are inspired: Velvet Underground’s ‘Femme Fatale’ (the only track to retain Aldridge’s backing vocals); The Kinks’ ’Til the End of the Day’ and the standard ‘Nature Boy’. Only the Jerry Lee-Lewis cover ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ feels like a mis-step – though that track did not appear on the first three versions of the album.

Then there’s the twin peaks (or should that be valleys?) of the morbid ‘Holocaust’ and the audacious ‘Kanga Roo’ featuring Dickinson’s inspiredly deranged drumming, Mellotron and guitar feedback squalls. The power of those two songs is enhanced by their placement together on both the original PVC release (tracks 12 and 13) and my 1992 Rykodisk version (tracks 7 and 8).

Much has been written about this album but its allure is perhaps best summed up by musician Chris Stamey (dBs):

“Art holds up a mirror in which we see ourselves. Sometimes the more wrinkled the surface, the more interesting the angles: you can see around the corners, find aspects of your soul that would otherwise remain hidden.”