The Australian music scene has produced the following bands, Midnight Oil, Men at work, INXS and Crowded House as well as artists such as Natalie Imbruglia and Kylie Minogue all of which have had varying sucesses away from the Australisian Continent.
Yet if I mentioned the name Sia to the average music listener they probably would not know of her and her back catalogue of albums. SIA is from Austrialia but because she has lived in places like New York and the United Kingdom she has become a little influcenced by her life in these countries also.
Sia Furler is practically an undiscovered talent within the shores of the UK which is very sad when you think of what SIA is capable of in terms of her song writing and innovative music videos as well as being a fantastic live act, Sia has appeared on The David Letterman Show and the Jools Holland Show lets hope that there are more appearances for Sia on shows like these to come.
SIA’s voice is a gift to the ears of any listener, one minute you think your listening to Corinne Bailey Rae then the next your thinking Dolores O’Riordan (of the Cranberries) yet somehow SIA seems to put her own personality and impression into her voice.
The DVD is made up of a Live Concert filmed on September 12th 2007 at the Hiro Ballroom New York, a Tour diary titled “Where The Magic Happens” as well as Music Videos and finally credits.
The DVD also contains Easter Eggs which you have to activate using your DVD remote control or your Mouse if your watching the DVD on a PC, these Easter Eggs are entertaining and are a very well thought out extra that will keep you entertained whilst you look for them.
The Concert
SIA has almost redefined the music DVD, what with the very different start to her concert which relies on costumes that react to UV light which everyone including SIA are dressed in; the effect is simply stunning and innovative for the song BUTTONS even the drummer’s drum sticks are coated in Day Glow material the effect cannot be justified fully in this review.
But by the beginning of the LITTLE BLACK SANDALS all the band have changed and you see a more contemporary female singer and her band who are joined by a young female called Lucia Ribisi.
The banter between the music is quite open and SIA seems to capture and hold the crowd well with her open and at times quite frank expression of her feelings, or on one occasion an explanation for her vocals being off key “Air conditioning being left on in her hotel room”.
SIA always seems at ease on stage and throughout the show there are many jokes and much honest and genuine laughter which I found quite entertaining.
The set list on the DVD runs as follows
Buttons, Little Black Sandals, Lentil, Day Too Soon, Sunday, Destiny, Breathe Me, Electric Bird, You Have Been Loved, Academia, The Girl You Lost To Cocaine, Distractions.
These are songs from the Colour the Small One and Some People Have Real Problems albums as well as some of Sia Furler’s work with Zero 7.
The Concert is mixed into 5.1 Surround Sound which is an added treat for the remarkable visuals.
The Tour Diary
This is titled “Where The Magic Happens” although it is a rather honest and frank insight into SIA’s world whilst touring it is quite funny in places; and shows SIA in a great light she always seems to be rather gracious to her fans which is something of rarity these days with other more established artists.
The Diary starts with an instore at Starbucks which is rather interesting and it then continues with SIA’s American tour of 2008; which includes a scene where SIA actually rings a fan and she proceeds to leave a message on their answer phone, and even sings 99% of one of her songs into the fan’s answerphone a moment in time which must have been a delight to the lucky fan. Though as you will see later on in that moment Sia is not so sure she has the right telephone number which makes it all the more amusing.
The part of the diary were Sia takes you around the Fillamore and she goes on to explain the Poster rule that if you sell out the venue the Fillamore will commisson a unique poster celebrating that very fact.
The Music Videos
Here you will be able to see the music videos for the following songs: Buttons, Day Too Soon, The Girl You Lost To Cocaine, Soon We’ll Be Found – all of which are from the 2008 Album ‘Some People Have Real Problems’.
All of the videos are quite innovative and different especially “Buttons” which in places reminded me of the Peter Gabriel music video Sledgehammer but SIA is quite a bit more attractive than Peter. “Soon We’ll Be Found” also has SIA performing a unique form of Sign Language with her Hands and then she is joined by a cast of others who follow suit, The video also has some clever work with Shadow play then the video enter’s the realm of Ultra Violet and it becomes truly artistic and a worthy work out on the eyes and senses.
I really lost count of the amount of Characters that Sia plays during the “The Girl You Lost To Cocaine” Video Sia is quite a versatile artist.
This is one artist that I think should be on the Radio and you should be able to see her tour the UK, lets hope both of these happen soon. The DVD is really worth watching and it is quite different from the normal Music DVD release and for that reason I can only recommend it to EVERYONE.
For more information about SIA please visit her official website HERE
Many thanks to Helen at IE Music