Gotye - The Forum

So many things spring to mind when I hear the word Gotye, other than trying to figure out the correct pronunciation, which I think is gore-tee-yeah. But don't quote me on that.
From the ages of about seventeen to nineteen his music was such a huge part of my life; I would obsessively listen to his record "Like Drawing Blood," I used Heart's a Mess in one of my literature assignments, and discovered that he drummed and sang for a band called the Basics. By chance I became friends with one of the other members on, wait for it, MySpace *cringe* (who says being a red head doesn't pay off), and thus I proceeded to stalk the band with Ruby and a couple of other friends of ours. But before you call us lame pathetic fangirls, we did actually really enjoy their music; CD's were bought, not downloaded, lyrics were learned and so on.
I own a Gotye tshirt, I, along with Ruby and aforementioned friends, attended his first national tour (which was sadly ruined by a row of old loud drunk people with no manners and serious bad karma), and two Laneway festivals just to see him play.

We did not hear a lot from Wally in the years that followed (we love to pretend we know him well enough to be able to call him by his real first name); the Basics released their second album, and I was holding on to the hope that a third Gotye record was in the works. With the release of 'Eyes Wide Open' in 2010 my passion was re ignited, but the album on which it features was not released until the middle of this year, along with the single "Somebody That I Used to Know", a gorgeous duet with Kimbra that saw his massive talent finally recognized by the masses.
I will admit that I felt a little threatened when I started to hear the object of my musical affection for so many years being blasted from commercial radio stations every hour or so, and found myself fighting the urge to scream "HE'S MINE" in the face of anyone who mentioned the song to me. But I'm slowly learning to not be so precious, and not listen to the radio because I really don't want another "Sex on Fire" on my hands. I miss you Kings of Leon, but my feelings for you will never be the same.

Anyway, I'm getting totally sidetracked by nostalgia here; the gig. The Forum is one of my favourite venues because 1) the ceiling is painted to look like the night sky, and 2) no matter where I stand I can always see the stage. Being the multi instrumentalist that he is on the album, Wally had invited at least 10 musicians to play on this tour. He also had a guy who was in charge of the visual effects, so that every song had its own little cartoon or short film. This was not just a gig, this was full on visual and musical performance, but as he walked on the stage to the title track of his third album, Making Mirrors, I was still filled with that sense of heart rendering glee I felt when we were dancing to the Basics all those years ago.
With each song he switched from percussion to drumkit to keyboards and computers like it was no big deal, and if his incredible talent wasn't enough to make you sick, he's also SUCH A NICE GUY! He looked like he was having so much fun up on stage, especially during State of the Art, where he got to use his special voice changing microphone and everything.
Honestly, this was one of the most fun shows I've been to since Darwin Deez (they still win because they had coreographed dance moves), but I was also incredibly moved by his live rendition of Bronte, which he closed with before encore (apparently it's about his friend's dog that died).
My favourites: Save Me, In Your Light, Better, Heart's a Mess, Eyes Wide Open, Learnalilgivinanlovin, which is the best closer cos of that massive instrumental at the end, Bronte *sob* and Somebody that I Used to Know, cos it sounds brilliant live, even with the crowd singing instead of Kimbra.

I'm so glad I got to see him, he gets more confident and more brilliant with every tour, and I have no doubt that he will take all of his well deserved success in his humble stride.