Music
News: The Polyphonic Spree Leads the SoCo Carnivale Parade
Southern Comfort presents a unique homage to its birthplace, New Orleans, with a fancy dress party inspired by the spirit of New Orleans Carnivale. So summon your creative juices this summer, start making your outfits and get ready for SoCo Carnivale!
SoCo Carnivale is a confetti-drenched, royal encounter of bee-bop, honky tonk and Cajun thunder that blows like a 50 billion watt circuit cable straight into your side of town this February featuring the mammoth orchestral party collective known simply as The Polyphonic Spree. Also joining this fancy dress French jazz parade is The New Orleans Bingo! Show, direct from New Orleans Mardi Gras. For over half a decade now, The Polyphonic Spree have been cutting a singular swath through the pop culture landscape, spreading a positive energy that makes people scratch their heads and ask questions while presenting music that's colourful to the ears. The robes may be gone for now but a purposeful and exhilarating experience is here to stay. Tim DeLaughter and his touring party of eighteen take the party wherever they go; in February they will be bringing it to Australia and you are invited to join the parade.
Adding 100% authenticity to the Big Easy feel will be The New Orleans Bingo! Show, a curious spectacle, a thrilling phenomenon and one of the very finest entertainments on the theatrical stage. The New Orleans Bingo! Show is a multimedia stage experience that includes original black and white silent films, dancers, ingénues, audience interaction, bingo games, slapstick comedy and shady characters who remind you that every stage door opens into a dark alley. Ringleader – or ringmaster – Clint Maedgen, a Louisiana native and sixteen-year New Orleans resident, describes the show as “a wild nightmare hidden in a heart-shaped box of chocolates. I last saw it riding a fiery stallion, headed down that golden highway of dreams.”
All in all it is set to be one rollicking night of fancy dress, great music and some weird and wonderful characters popping into a venue near you.
Tour dates are:
Friday 19th February Brisbane Powerhouse Brisbane QLD Saturday 20th February Playground Weekender Sydney NSW Friday 26th February Fremantle Arts Centre Fremantle WA Saturday 27th February The Forum Theatre Melbourne VIC
Womadelaide 2010 The Armada, Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, Ethiopiques, Babylon Circus and Ojos de Brujo live @ Botanic Park, Adelaide, SA (5-8 March 2010)
Future Music Festival 2010 Empire of the Sun, Franz Ferdinard, Prodigy, Way Out West and more live @ Sydney, NSW (March 2010)
Your most memorable Festival moment or experience? Probably the first time we played Falls. It was in Tasmania and we were on a side stage in the afternoon and were just happy to be there. Our friend Mason Jennings played before us to about a hundred people but by the time we came on the entire festival crowd was at our stage! There was literally about 50 people at the mainstage. It was mayhem with too many people in a small area. The front barrier got knocked down and the crowd sung every song so loudly we couldn’t hear ourselves. There’s been many amazing festival stories but that was the first and I’ll never forget it.
Favourite Artist you’ve seen at a Music Festival? Probably Snoop Dogg at a festival we played in Detroit.
What’s your ideal Festival line-up? TBG, Pantera, Biggy, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Fat Freddys Drop, The Clash, The Specials, Kate Bush, Tenor Saw, Tanuki Dub, The Dead Beat Band, Daft Punk, Led Zepplin, Johnny Cash, Bianca Jade
What are your tips for attending Music Festivals? Turn up, bring your ticket.
My Festival Experience
