Friday 18 September 2009
Robert Forster
Robert Forster
Up Late
Friday 18 September 2009
Tickets are $20 and are available through qtix or phone 136 246 (booking fees apply).
Become a Gallery Member today and receive a free ticket to the exhibition or The Met Up Late. Phone 07 3840 7278. A program of events is exclusively available for Gallery Members at The Met Up Late.
Robert Forster (8.30pm)
Robert Forster is one of Australia’s most critically acclaimed musicians. Forster formed The Go-Betweens in 1978 with Grant McLennan, whom he had met at The University of Queensland in 1976. In 1982, The Go-Betweens (Forster, McLennan and drummer Lindy Morrison), moved to UK and released their debut album Send me a lullaby. With several changes in band members, The Go-Betweens released albums such as Before Hollywood (1983), Spring Hill Fair (1984) and Tallulah (1987) before they moved back to Brisbane in 1987.
In 1989 Forster moved to Germany, where he recorded solo albums such as Danger In The Past. He re-joined with McLennan for select shows in the late 1990s in the UK and Europe, and in 2000 released the Go-Betweens album The friends of Rachel Worth, with McLennan and new members Adele Pickvance and Janet Weiss.
Forster moved back to Brisbane in 2001. Until the sudden death of McLennan in 2006, the Go-Betweens line up comprised Forster, McLennan, Pickvance and Glenn Thompson (from 2003). The group released several more albums, including Bright Yellow Bright Orange (2003) and Oceans Apart (2005), which won an ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album.
Robert Forster’s literary and artistic interests, honed since his student years, have been realized through several major events, including a career-spanning concert at London’s Barbican Centre (2004). In 2005, Forster became a regular contributor to The Monthly magazine, winning the 2006 Pascall Prize for Critical Writing for his music writing in the magazine. In 2007, The Go-Betweens performed two tribute sets to The Velvet Underground at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, as part of the Andy Warhol exhibition, and have since performed the set at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh (2008).
Forster’s solo career continues to rise. In 2007, the Four Ages of Robert Forster was held at the Brisbane Powerhouse – a four-night event in which Forster took his audience through more than 50 Go-Betweens and solo songs, only repeating one or two across the nights.
In 2008 Forster released The Evangelist, which was recorded in South London with Go-Between members Adele Pickvance and Glenn Thompson. Of the album Forster says it ‘is an emotional and primarily acoustic real instrument feeling album. I want people to be able to lean into the record and feel comfortable with it.’
At the closing event for The Met Up Late, Forster plays an exclusive set of songs from his vast Go-Betweens back catalogue and solo career.
My American-Australian story talks (6pm & 7pm)
Hilary Emmett
Hilary Emmett lived in the United States for eight years, during which time she completed postgraduate work and taught in the American university system. She is interested in issues of Australian-American cross-cultural exchange at both personal and professional levels.
