Eddie Kowalczyk's Australian Tour, August 2009 Options

[dangum]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a great performance!

[dangum]

Any Perth fans who want to meet up for a few pre-show drinks, a few of us will be meeting up at the Basement on Broadway at 6pm Wednesday. Everybody is welcome!

The Basement
88 Broadway, Nedlands
http://www.thebob.com.au/
Google Map

[dangum]

Here are some videos that have been uploaded to YouTube from the August 10 (Brisbane) show - nice and close too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W-rjI6f1PU - Blowin' in the Wind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPIGkfQJJnQ - Zion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhZTXW0MjaI - They Stood Up for Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMFHUP634jI - Lightning Crashes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsSM46tgEPs - Selling the Drama

[+Ed+]

I absolutely love Zion

[dangum]

I anybody needs a ticket to the Melbourne (15th August) show, send me a PM. I will put you in contact with a fan who is selling a front row ticket at face value.

[Wambangalang]

last nights show was sweet, i was actually impressed with the quality of ed's voice.

Why is there always a moron in the crowd?

[Merica]

That sentence makes no sense to me... I honestly have no idea what you're trying to say.

Australia is nice to Live. Australia is nice about Live. Thus, Australia is nice TO and ABOUT Live.

[dangum]

Why is there always a moron in the crowd?

Do you mean that guy who walked up to Ed in a song break and told him his guitar was reflecting light into his wife's eyes?

[Wambangalang]

you mean the guy who walked down and told ed to stop reflecting the light from his guitar into his fiance's eyes....im fairly sure he was sincerely joking with that but it didnt come across that way, ed seemed to react in a way that would suggest it was an hostile encounter...but it was funny.

no im talking about the fucktard who kept shouting "we luv yooo edieeeeee" in a european accent

then again....he may very well have been european...

[crazy1]

you mean the guy who walked down and told ed to stop reflecting the light from his guitar into his fiance's eyes....im fairly sure he was sincerely joking with that but it didnt come across that way, ed seemed to react in a way that would suggest it was an hostile encounter...but it was funny.

no im talking about the fucktard who kept shouting "we luv yooo edieeeeee" in a european accent

then again....he may very well have been european...

There always seems to be an asshole in every crowd. When Ed played a solo show in NYC at the winery there was some guy yelling "Take your shirt off!" My friend and I were told to keep it down by the manager because we were talking, but he did not say anything to that guy!! Funny!

[dangum]

im fairly sure he was sincerely joking with that but it didnt come across that way, ed seemed to react in a way that would suggest it was an hostile encounter...but it was funny.

I thought Ed handled it really well. He kind of cracked a joke (can't remember what he specifically said) and he didn't seem to be perturbed by the request. The audience on the other hand weren't as sympathetic.

Here is the set list for the second Perth show.

August 13, 2009
Octagon Theatre

1. Get Ready
2. I Alone
3. Supernatural [Vic Chesnutt]
4. The Distance
5. Overcome
6. Face and Ghost
7. Pain Lies on the Riverside
8. Mirror Song
9. They Stood Up for Love
10. The Dolphin's Cry
11. Nobody Knows
12. Blowin' in the Wind [Bob Dylan]
13. Heaven
Encore
14. Sweet Release
15. Sofia
16. Lightning Crashes
17. Dance with You

[Merica]

Sweet Release? Cool!

[dangum]

Herald Sun newspaper (Melbourne)
13 August 2009
Give us the bald facts, Ed.
Sam Kelton

Having fronted one of the most successful mainstream rock bands of the '90s, Live's Ed Kowalczyk is looking forward to going it alone.

His bald head in synonymous with such tunes as Lightning Crashes, I Alone and The Dolphin's Cry, but a recent name change to Eddie Kowalczyk for his Australian solo tour isn't enough confuse fans of his band's work.

"Well, Sasha Fierce was taken, and so was P. Diddy," Kowalczyk says with a laugh.

"Edward is what people call me when I'm in trouble, and Eddie is what people call me when they really like me. These shows feel like an Eddie show - I'm among friends."

Kowalczyk describes these shows, in which only himself and a guitar are on stage, as "naked but with clothes on".

Containing plenty of old tunes, many familiar to Australian fans, the show will be a much quieter affair than Kowalczyk is used to when fronting Live.

"I really appreciate the ability and the space this is providing for me to get into the song, in a way," he says.

"It's great to be able to have a conversation with people in the midst of a set that can frame the emotion and the spirituality behind the songs in a very intimate way. That's kind of impossible when you have 115-120 decibels coming through the PA and you might be 100m away."

"This just does away with that and gets to the heart and essence of the music."

What is dawning on the rocker, now 38, during these shows, is just how relevant the music remains for the fans and himself.

"I've been doing only one new song. Between the covers, I'm pulling out some gems and I'm having a wonderful time reconnecting with them at this stripped-down level," Kowalczyk says.

"Even the old hits like Lightning Crashes I'm doing in a totally different way. I have new spaces to work in without the band on stage, so there are spots that I can sing in. I'm actually reinventing those songs in real time on stage."

"It feels like a really fresh set and the people's response has been terrific."

The shows started out as rehearsals for the singer to flex his creative muscle in preparation for writing his coming solo album, but Kowalczyk found that fans around the world had heard of the shows and wanted in.

What happened next became a highly sought after show for which the likeable frontman tuned down, letting himself and older fans tune in.

"It was like I was doing Storytellers every night. It was so therapeutic for me, and a wonderful breath of fresh air for those songs," he says.

"I had such a good time doing it I wanted to do it more and more. Before I knew it I'm coming down to Australia."

*Eddie Kowalczyk, Forum, Sat (sold out), Sunday $59.90, Ticketek*

[Credit: Thanks to jonesy for rescuing the newspaper from the bin and supplying me with scans of the article]

[iateyourcookie]

Melbourne - 15/08/2009


Get Ready
Selling The Drama
The Distance
Nobody Knows
I Alone
Face & Ghost
Turn My Head
The Dolphin's Cry
Zion
Pain Lies By The Riverside
Overcome
They Stood Up For Love
Heaven

(encore)
Sweet Release
All Over You
Lightning Crashes
Dance With You

(2nd encore)
Sophia
Beauty Of Grey
Blowing In The Wind


Might post an actual review later. Heading back out for drinks now.

This post has been edited by iateyourcookie: Aug 15 2009, 9:08 am

[dangum]

The West Australian Newspaper
August 14, 2009

Nakedly alluring stripped-down show

Eddie Kowalczyk
Octagon Theatre
Wednesday, August 12
Review: Ara Jansen

It's a brave thing to leave big rock for small rock, even if it is temporarily.

Ed Kowalczyk, the singer with multi-million-selling American rock band Live, has gone solo for some creative rejuvenation.

Performing under the moniker Eddie K, the singer mined the catalogue of the band he helped form decades ago for his highly successful outing.

Known for their powerful, highly charges and often spiritual shows, stripping the songs offered another dimension to Kowalczyk's lyrics and left his beautiful and unusual voice nakedly alluring; all this only serving to amplify his passionate writings and modern peacenik ways.

You can't help but wonder if part of the success of the show was that we've heard the songs with their full band power, both live and recorded. That's probably why the sole new inclusion in the set, Zion, didn't go the distance when compared to Live's classic tracks.

Playing acoustic guitar, something Kowalczyk hasn't done live for a long time, offered steady accompaniment rather than major embellishment.

He didn't need much more since most of the audience, running from Gen Ys to boomers, sang every word.

Kowalczyk opened with Turn My Head and in 90 minutes muscled through gems such as I Alone and a magnificent rendition of The Dolphin's Cry.

They Stood Up for Love came with a sexy bluesy edge and really did stand to attention while Selling the Drama had the singer's voice soaring. Throw in All Over You , the sombre Overcome and Lightning Crashes and it really was a fans' night out.

Sprinkled in was a liberal dose of Mirror Song, Face and Ghost, The Distance, Love Shines, The Beauty of Grey, Pain Lies on the Riverside and Sofia which completed an enchanting evening.

The lone cover was Dylan's Blowin' in the Wind, tagged by the singer as being a big influence when he was growing up.

Kowalczyk played in straight with his treatments, the songs retaining their recognised form.

It was moments where he let go, and a wide satisfied smile crept across his face, that we saw other possibilities which never quite came to the surface.

This was a show for the fans rather than the casually curious but that might have been exactly what gave the songs their power.