Is Gotye just somebody we used to know?
Australian pop sensation puts on quite a show, but ticket sales signal his 15 minutes are up
GOTYE When: Friday night Where: Orpheum
“Now and then I think of when we were together/ Like when you said you felt so happy you could die ...” We remember too, Gotye. We remember the first whiff of that song, Somebody That I Used To Know, that went on to permeate the airwaves for the better part of 2012, the one that got 300 million views on YouTube.
We remember the Vogue Theatre show that introduced you to Vancouver fans, the one that sold out in what seemed like a fraction of a second.
It all felt so magical, and for good reason.
“You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness/ Like resignation to the end, always the end ...” Was it meant to last? It’s not like you don’t have the chops and haven’t been around for close to a decade. It’s just that, well, we don’t know each other that well beyond that one song.
Eyes Wide Open? Yeah it’s okay, but it’s just not the same.
If we flocked to the Vogue back in April, we didn’t really buy the ticket for Deer Lake Park.
What was it? Did the song lose its flavour after so many covers and parodies, which you recently mashed into one big “supermix,” perhaps confirming that Somebody had finally jumped the shark?
Was the ticket too pricey at $ 60 a pop, perhaps partly explaining why a show that should have been a great endofsummer outdoor gig with 10,000 people turned into a
general admission concert at the Orpheum ( max capacity: 2,700)?
Across Western Canada, turnouts were weak: an estimated 1,200 in Edmonton in a venue that could have held 5,000, and significantly less in Calgary ...
“But you didn’t have to cut me off/ Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing ...”
No we didn’t have to, and likely shouldn’t have. Maybe we should’ve got to know each other better, and cared about each other more. Maybe we should’ve shared more from your 2011 album Making Mirrors and your previous work mostly known Down Under. Maybe there’s still time?
Because your concert, dear Aussie friend Wally De Backer, was a lush, eye- popping spectacle that showed a deep level of confidence and artistic maturity. You sang your heart out Friday night, and it should have been a much bigger celebration than it was, even though the Orpheum was packed. ( A mixed blessing, really.)
In fact, the concert was quite amazing, blending interactive
visual flair and “indie Sting”like sonics, spectacular instrumental arrangements and tons of percussion.
What Do You Want, the rocking Easy Way Out and the vocoder- heavy State Of The Art featured stunning animated backdrops matching the drum beats and samples triggered via synth pads.
It probably didn’t hurt that so many Aussies were in attendance, upping the energy level quite a bit, especially during Eyes Wide Open, which felt like an urgent environmental cry for help.
What about that musical versatility? Xylophone, winds, keys — is there anything you can’t play?
Of course, it all came down to Somebody, the song everyone had bought the ticket to hear and that had people singing at the top of their lungs.
“No you didn’t have to stoop so low/ Have your friends collect your records and then change your number ...”
Thanks for sharing Jonti and Chairlift with us, by the way.
Jonti, who originally hails from South Africa but calls
Australia home, obviously draws from inspirations including jazz/hip- hop re-constructivist Madlib and the classic pop of the Beach Boys, looping some relaxed stuff with his laptop, synths and guitar.
Not the cleanest sounding set ( there were some volume issues), but enthusiastic nonetheless.
As for Chairlift, the Brooklynbased duo of Caroline Polachek and Patrick Wimberly and their backing band dug into their latest album Something, handing out bassheavy, shoegaze- inflected single Met Before and their signature Bruises, which was featured in an iPod Nano commercial in 2008.
“I guess that I don’t need that though/ Now you’re just somebody that I used to know ...”
Well, who knows? It’s likely we’ll meet again. If not, we’ll always have that song.