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Bit 1
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"Time! Subtle thief of youth", complained John Milton on the occasion of
his 23rd birthday. I feel like getting him by the scruff, or collar, or
whatever 23-year-olds had round their necks then, and curtly reminding him
that he could at least attend Five to Midnight secure in the
knowledge that he was a member of the right demographic. I guess he'd just
turn round to me and say "what's a demographic?" though.
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Bit 2
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You see on the occasion of my attending Five to Midnight, old Time had
stolen a wee bit more of the old youth from me than it had from young John
on the occasion of his writing one of the English language's great
sonnets. QPAT's Stage X festival was (by Tony Gould, Director --
Queensland Performing Arts) billed as a "vibrant event, an exhilarating
celebration for young people". And for those unsure of their identity, he
helpfully included in brackets after this, "aged between twelve and
twenty-five".
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Bit 3
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So, it was feeling a rarely felt affinity with the under-twelves that this
thirtysomething-to-be hit Five to Midnight, the open-air concert
and freakshow element of Stage X. It felt a bit like inverse gatecrashing,
turning up alone, unfashionably dressed and with two free review
tickets, so I endeared myself to a randomly selected
teenager in the ticket queue with the gift of the spare ticket. I guess
that will make the memory even better for one of the vibrant youths who
thronged and pulsed there like there was no tomorrow.
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Bit 4
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On entering I was greeted by four noticeable, pink, furry bikinis, which
were in the process of gyrating on the hips of four dancers who were also
wearing very, very large furry pink slippers. This set the tone for the
chain of events one experienced walking down through the freakshows
towards the outdoor stage. But outlandishness, though a compulsory element
of each show, was not all that was on offer. You have to have seen Tubby
the robot (Paul Cooper) in the techno-scrapyard of the Quarantine
Area, to understand the sense of pathos he aroused in his capacity as
a discarded and marginalised being who learns, as the program says, to
"fashion a present and construct a future from the discards of a
generation: junk and trash media". (Tubby, there are many more of us who
know how you feel.) And, Shenzo Gregorio's stunt violin playing on top of
a moving crane arm (or 'tallescope'), in concert with the starry night
visuals it invoked, was simply beautiful.
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Bit 5
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Of course, it would have been nice to find some uselessly affected
posturing through which to rant about the pretensions of salad days, but
most of the twenty freakshow performances were too fresh to fit the bill.
And anyway, when you walk around in a curiously bemused state, even if not
completely convinced by every concept you meet, you have to admit that a
freakshow has, by definition, worked. It provided the perfect distraction
for attention spans that were bound to stray from a six-hour musical menu,
at some point or another.
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Bit 6
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And, as for that menu, it was not so varied. But it might have been my own
fault for missing the ska, rockabilly, punk and pop timbres of the
openers, Wiseacre. One of the reasons I attended alone was having friends
for whom the thing was not goth or prog rock enough, even when a freebie
was on offer. This was, above all, a time to enjoy the fuzz box and being
in a large crowd that was carried along by well-laid riffs. During the set
of Fur I could not help but contemplate about the way you got a better
sound walking over Victoria Bridge than you did right in front of the
speakers. But the latter was where the vibe was at. A hardcore of pogoers
was gradually warming up.
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Bit 7
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The next band, Brisbane's own Gota Cola, put an end to all that. They were
the band, with all their trip hop dubbiness, who stood out stylistically
from the rock norm. Their second song was textbook Portishead: rising and
falling progressions punctuated by ethereal female vocal starts. Pretty
atmospheric. And their variation on a theme of a playschool glockenspiel
melody was initially enchanting, but it got carried too far away into
constructing a sense of itself. Indeed Gota Cola were a good band but were
too precious about some of their good ideas. The result was a rather
cerebral repetitiveness that didn't go down well with the front of stage
mob, some members of which took it upon themselves to make rather clear
displays of disapproval, missiles and mooning included.
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Bit 8
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The night went rockier again with Something for Kate, who displayed their
great musical edge and enough cool to control the sillier elements, while
keeping them on their side. I left them to their crowd pleasing to check
out what was happening at the Do-Tank, a marquee dance venue featuring
several DJ's and dance bands. Local outfit Soma Rosa created a seriously
seductive groove with their sampling, synthesis, turntables and drums, and
Melbourne-based DJ Shake shook his turntable to a deviously off/on beat
effect. After dancing a fair bit too vigorously and probably making an old
school move too many, I sloped back off to see Powderfinger, leaving
behind only hardcore danceheads. They whipped it up, of course, playing all
the well-known tunes and more, just as well as on their records. So, I
decided to leave the younguns in good hands and headed off to a
night late enough for me, along, presumably, with the rather more
reluctantly retiring under-twelves. There comes a point when the
memory of partying infinitely into every night is the more alluring
immediately lived experience. I didn't want to spoil that.
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Bit 9
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Details
Various Bands.
Produced by QPAT.
South Bank, Brisbane, 17 July 1999, 6 pm to Midnight.
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Bit 10
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Guy Redden. "Vaulting the Boundaries of Youth: Entertaining 'Five to Midnight'." M/C Reviews 4 Aug. 1999.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/features/stagex/five.html>.
Chicago style:
Guy Redden, "Vaulting the Boundaries of Youth: Entertaining 'Five to Midnight'," M/C Reviews 4 Aug. 1999,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/features/stagex/five.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Guy Redden. (1999) Vaulting the boundaries of youth: entertaining 'Five to Midnight'. M/C Reviews 4 Aug. 1999.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/features/stagex/five.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://203.147.212.170/whats_on/images/150_five_mid.jpg)
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