12.11.07

What's the time, Mr Wolf?


Last night my friend Cheddar and I wandered down to the Corner Hotel in Richmond for the much anticipated Patrick Wolf.

For those unfamiliar, Mr Wolf is an English singer/songwriter/musician whose music melds folk-esque ukuleles and violins with electronic bleeps and sounds. He released his first album 'Lycanthropy' at 18, then came 'Wind in the Wires', and now at 24, he has released his third album, "The Magic Position", which came out earlier this year. He plays 21 instruments, dresses in a similar vein to Ziggy Stardust, and has been compared to Bowie and Bjork.

The crowd was an eclectic group of annoying people, varying from fat, hairy sweaty men who danced like fruits and blocked the view, to apathetic disaffected dykes, to people who felt compelled to record the whole thing on their mobile phone or camera. Patrick however, was incredible. Despite walking off in the middle of one of my favourite songs 'Tristan', exclaiming "I'm fucking Tristan and I am fucking sick of this shit" and knocking down miscellaneous instruments and not returning for about 15 minutes, everyone there was encapsulated by his voice and the great accompanying band, and he got Melbournians moving as much as Melbournians are ever going to move.

Flamboyant, androgynous, and rather overgrown nymph like, he exposes various facets of himself with his dyed red hair, prancing, vulnerability, brashness and ferocity. Here are a few favourites from the show...

Patrick Wolf - Tristan
Patrick Wolf - The Libertine
Patrick Wolf - The Stars


Go to patrickwolf.com
Buy The Magic Position

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