Vivid Sydney, 2014 delivered a significantly expanded program featuring a diverse range of cutting edge music, an incredible line-up of contemporary performances and talent from a multitude of genres creating the biggest Vivid Music program seen to date.
During Vivid Sydney, music fans were spoilt for choice with an expanded Vivid Music line-up of more than 80 shows and more styles of music, in even more venues around the city – featuring a diverse range of cutting edge music, an incredible line-up of contemporary performances and talent from a multitude of genres.
Vivid Music showcases local and international talent, enhancing the festival experience for all music lovers
Across its venues, Vivid Music featured performances from a wide range of artists including – Pixies, Ms Lauryn Hill, Pet Shop Boys, The Liars, Hot Chip, The Luis and the Wildfires, ACO and The Presets, Nicky Siano, Laneous & The Family Yah, The Big Village, Giorgio Moroder, James Vincent McMorrow, Goodgod Small Club, Penny Penny, St. Vincent and Anna Calvi.
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The incredible success of the Vivid LIVE program at the Sydney Opera House is complimented by the uber-hip Modulations at Carriageworks, a series of outstanding club nights, New Wave: Sound at the Seymour Centre, cutting edge performances at The Basement, Spectrum at the Argyle Centre and Spice Cellar nightclub.
Vivid’s director of music, Fergus Linehan, said the program was designed to appeal to “anyone who is culturally curious.”
“There have been years where we’ve ended up with something quite specific, I think in 2012 it was very kind of indie royalty, with Karen O and Sufjan Stevens,” he said.
“We’ve tried to broaden that out a little bit so it’s not purely electronic or purely indie, and also to appeal to different generations.”
Fergus Linehan
Vivid Live @ Sydney Opera House
Sitting alongside Vivid IDEAS, Vivid LIGHT and Vivid MUSIC, Vivid LIVE is a key component of Vivid SYDNEY, the city’s leading winter cultural event.
Contemporary, cutting edge and influential acts will grace the stages of Sydney Opera House from 23 May to 1 June as part of Vivid Sydney, the Southern Hemisphere’s largest festival of light, music and ideas.
Vivid LIVE is the highlight of Sydney Opera House’s year-round contemporary music program
Since its inception in 2009, Vivid LIVE has evolved into a veritable highlight of Australia’s popular contemporary music calendar, welcoming the most ambitious and innovative artists to the nation’s most iconic stages.
Vivid LIVE has maintained an open and flexible goal – to give artists the resources and context to introduce freshly hatched work, revisit existing material in exciting ways, and push the very notion of the concert to new levels.
Vivid LIVE invites solo-artists, promoters, collectives, bands and digital animators to raise the roof of Sydney Opera House’s theatres, rehearsal spaces, recording studios and most famously, its iconic sails.
The Vivid LIVE 2014 program included:
Midlake
Texas folk, rock and alternative band Midlake will kick off the first night of Vivid Sydney at the Sydney Opera House with tunes from their brand-new album Antiphon.
The Pixies
The Pixies kicked off Vivid Sydney with four nights of intimate performances. May 23-26.
In a tradition of Australian premieres, one-off commissions and residencies with contemporary music’s most influential artists, Vivid LIVE welcomed indie-rock luminaries the Pixies for a rare series of exclusive, intimate performances – finally bringing ‘the cornerstone of modern rock’ back for a fiery festival opening to 2014.
Renowned as Kurt Cobain’s favourite group and worshipped by generation-defining artists such as Radiohead, PJ Harvey and Bono, the Pixies returned with their signature bend on psychedelia and surf-rock with the likes of ‘Here Comes Your Man, ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’, ‘Debaser’ and their classic albums, including Surfer Rosa and Doolittle.
Since I Left You: A Celebration of the Avalanches
Jonti and Astral Kids’ effervescent tribute to the Avalanches’ 1999 multi-sampling masterpiece Since I Left You.
The Avalanches gave Stone’s Throw Jonti permission to perform a sort of tribute to Since I Left You with a whole bunch of local artists – including Rainbow Chan – taking to the stage to interpret songs from the seminal album. Sat May 24.
St Vincent
Annie Clark was here for Sydney Festival 2013 with David Byrne .
This time she came off the back of acclaimed new self-titled album: it’s St Vincent in full indie-baroque mode Sun May 25.
The Presets and ACO: Timeline
Vivid Sydney presented a collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra and electronic duo the Presets for Timeline, a staggeringly ambitious and successful attempt at condensing the past 40,000 years of music into two hours
In a time-bending odyssey through 42,000 years and over 230 songs, the Australian Chamber Orchestra joined together with The Presets in an exhilarating surge through history
Artistic Director Richard Tognetti brought you through music’s history with a set list that mixed tracks from Miles Davis, Bob Dylan and Nirvana with classical pieces by Vivaldi, Mozart and Bach. Sun May 25.
The concert featured eye-popping visual effects from the mind of Ignatius Jones.
Ms Lauryn Hill
The queen Fugees came to Sydney for Vivid LIVE.
Though still only having one album behind her – the seminal Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Hill has been playing shows in the US to great acclaim and previewed some new material. May 27-28.
Irish singer-songwriter McMorrow sound has taken some exciting (and electro and R’n’B-inspired) twists of late and in this show – Post Tropical LIVE, a kind of audio-visual rendering of his 2014 album Post Tropical Thu May 29.
Goodgod Tin Pan Alley
The Goodgod Vivid Studio party was held in the Joan Sutherland room with a big budget and even bigger imagination.
Headlining this very special revue was South Africa’s Penny Penny along with his seven-piece band. Fri May 30.
The Music of Giorgio Moroder
From Daft Punk and his disco-defining Donna Summer hits to his legendary film music (Scarface, Top Gun), the ‘godfather of EDM’ made his Australian debut at an impressive 74 years of age with a heaving DJ set, an intimate Q&A session and an epic orchestral celebration by the Heritage Orchestra
Vivid Live – Studio Parties
Sydney’s finest party purveyors take over the Opera House Studio for two weekends of late-night revelry. May 23-Jun 1
Girorgio Moroder Studio Party
Future Classic curated a dance night
The Vivid LIVE Studio nights series included the return of Siberia Records’ Siberian Nights showcase, with Midnight Juggernauts premiering their interactive music experience AERIALS, the Australian debut of Modern Love mainstay Andy Stott, as well as Aussie acts Black Vanilla, Forces, Cassius Select, DCM and Four Door.
R.I.P. Society celebrated their 5th Birthday at Vivid LIVE with a left-field rock lineup featuring The Dead C, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys, Woollen Kits, Feedtime, Native Cats, Rat Columns, Cured Pink, Holy Balm, Ghastly Spats, Housewives, Constant Mongrel, Half High, and Wallaby Beat DJs.
There’s also a showcase presented by Sydney’s Astral People featuring Chicago acid-house pioneers Phuture, joined on a bill featuring emerging acts such as Rainbow Chan, Andras Fox, Ben Fester, and Preacha.
Carriage Works
From 6-8 June 2014, hip venue Modulations at Carriage Works will complement the Opera House with some renowned and emerging DJ’s and bands as well as providing panel discussions that feature music industry professionals, video artists and graphic designers.
Grounded in music and crossing art and design, Modulations looks at where these art forms intersect, overlap and influence each other
Modulations, at Carriage works, is curated by Stephen Pavlovic, featuring “New Wave: Sound, and of the many highlights feature a unique genre-pairing through Timeline, with a collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra and electro-pop duo The Presets.
The weekend-long event, designed by famous creative director Es Devlin (who’s worked with everyone from Kanye West to Julie Taymor), will host DJs and bands both local and international with award-winning electronic pop duo Pet Shop Boys headlining.
Spice Cellar
A lounge bar and club located in the basement level of the heritage Overseas Union Bank building in downtown Sydney.
Taking over the Wine Banc’s old sunken cellar, the venue is ensconced 20 feet below street level in the trusty cocoon like surrounds of a bank basement.
It realises a vision to deliver something wholly unique, yet distinctly international to Sydney’s nightlife.
Inspired by bars in New York and nightclubs in Berlin, this is what you get when you cross the visions of a DJ , an event producer, a mixologist and a restauranteur.
Always a venue up for a creative concept night, popular dance destination The Spice Cellar will be joining in this year’s Vivid Sydney with ‘Spice Spektrum.’
It’s a marriage of light, music, food, and drink, all carefully paired up to stick to a particular theme.
WEDNESDAY is an interpretation of illuminate: the food will be sophisticated, the mood will be provocative and the entertainment is burlesque, a night of bohemian elegance.
THURSDAY is an interpretation of blue: the food will leave you feeling calm and confident, the mood will be a feeling of Nostalgia and the music is all about disco and deep house.
FRIDAY’s is an interpretation of green: The food will be from the earth to represent fertility, and growth, the mood and music will represent creativity.
SATURDAY is an interpretation of red: The food is full of spice, the mood will inspire passion and the music will be intense.
