Ann Wilson in her selective voice

I have been very under the weather – and crazy – lately. But I was not going to miss this event, so I hauled myself downtown to the Grammy Museum last night to see the “Crazy On You” woman, Ann Wilson, for the first public screening of her portrait-style documentary, In My Voice, followed by a Q&A with Ann and the film’s director, Barbara Hall.

Darren Hayes – Grooving in Joy, Savagery, Beauty, Survival, Honesty

Well, this was without doubt the most extraordinary concert experience I’ve ever had at the legendary Troubadour, where so many extraordinary things have happened in music history… At Darren Hayes’ show last Saturday, the first of two sold-out nights, it was about the energy, the astonishing audience, and the emotion going both ways from stage to audience and back, which felt extra unique and remarkable.

Brandi Carlile – A superstar still being human

It could be the height of irony that a new album featuring songs about pondering our existence, being as human as we are, returning to ourselves where solitude can ultimately return us back more closely to our relationships with others, was showcased on an arena tour this year. In those soulless and cavernous and super expensive (parking!!) venues, to pack in a lot of people and raise production levels so that giant screens and special effects might appeal to a wider audience and entertain those with challenged attention spans and maybe justify the ticket prices…

Or maybe it’s just sincere progress. Brandi Carlile has, in the seven years since I became Brandified, become a superstar.

Rob Hirst – Heading for the Golden Age

The strangeness of the TV evening news in America carrying a story about shark attacks at and near Sydney’s Manly Beach stayed with me the other evening, and then the news of Rob Hirst’s death – expected and yet horrible in its finality – flooded my social media feed. And immediately I thought of the opening to my Songwriters Speak chapter on Rob and his Midnight Oil co-writer, Jim Moginie.

Not fumbling, flourishing – Truth and ecstasy with Sarah McLachlan

I re-watched the Lilith Fair documentary on Hulu a few days after seeing Sarah McLachlan’s flawless performance at The Orpheum, the final date of her nine-city tour in support of her latest album, Better Broken, which I have been listening to a lot these past couple of months.

Sarah will be the first to put herself out there as imperfect but her version of being broken is a state of being human that most of us who are brittle, vulnerable and deeply flawed, women especially, would aspire to. She is profoundly talented, an extraordinary vocalist, an ingenious and honest songwriter, a translucent performer.

Crazy On Them

Getting to this Heart show in Anaheim near the end of a year crazier than the lyrics of “Crazy On You”, after two missed opportunities, withstanding horrendous LA weekday traffic, dressed in concert attire that makes me look cool even if I don’t feel cool, and upgrading my view from sixth row side to second row centre because I was plucky enough to claim an empty seat – which it turned out was alongside Mike Flicker, famed Heart producer, and his family – was all enough to justify being ecstatic as the opening riffs of “Bebe Le Strange” began.

Mainly I was euphoric at hearing Ann and Nancy Wilson live, singing gorgeous songs, being up close, seeing Ann looking so beautiful and sounding remarkably good after her significant health challenges.

Endings

I literally started writing this four weeks before I saw the Fireworks Finale show at the Hollywood Bowl, because I knew what I was setting myself up for, and I just wanted to get the heading and central remarks in place, so it might not be so painful when I came to write about the absolute final time I ever saw Chicago in concert.

That was last night, so I am finishing this piece today.

Jesus is cool – And she’s a man, she’s just a man

I was there. Three words, and then some.

We frequently see people posting a link or photo on social media these days saying, “No words.” What a strange way to describe something so incredible, beautiful, sad, devastating, any or all of the above. “No words” – well, those are actually words. There are always words.

I did consider just posting all these photos with literally no words. But even though for a few days I felt challenged to find some original, revelatory words, I was not copping out. I had to offer some of my own words about what I experienced last weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. And here they are pouring forth.

More than lucky – Kylie’s triumphant and indisputable magnificence

It is no accident, although unplanned, that Kylie Minogue performed the final show of her US “Tension” tour the same night as the Australian federal election. While the humungous audience at Crypto Arena was largely American and male and gay and sparkly, the joy and pride for the Aussie icon whose unpretentious star shines so bright, whose home accent seems more evident than I’ve heard in years, whose decades of hard work have ascended her to global success few really imagined possible when she released “I Should Be So Lucky”, was as glorious and victorious as an election result in favour of what is good and true and fair and free.