The Broken Strings Tour
album by Birds of Tokyo
The Broken Strings Tour is the first live album by the Australian alternative rock band Birds of Tokyo. It was released as a double CD/DVD on 5 February 2010 and debuted and peaked at number 11 on the Australian ARIA Charts.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010, the DVD was nominated for Best Music DVD but lost to Sound Relief by various artists.
Background and recording
In 2009, Birds of Tokyo came up with the idea to show Australian audiences a very different and unexpected side of the band. They stripped their music down and rebuilt it with acoustic sounds and orchestration.
The band took this sound on their Broken Strings tour, performing to venues across Australia, working with producer, composer, and longtime collaborator Anthony Cormican. The performances included a variety of instruments, from ukuleles to 12-string guitars, as well as a string quartet and a grand pianist. The album was recorded at the Enmore Theatre on 14 November 2009 and the Melbourne Town Hall on 15 November. It was announced on 4 January 2010.
Reception
Jenny Meagher from Music Feeds gave the album 4 out of 5, saying: "I am certain had I been sitting there watching this show live at the Enmore Theatre, I would have shed a tear."
Track listing
CD1
"Overture" – 2:58
"Armour for Liars" – 4:36
"Like Rain" – 4:35
"Russian Roulette" – 3:56
"Black Sheets" – 3:56
"Rose" – 3:35
"Wild Eyed Boy" – 3:03
"The Bakers Son" – 7:19
CD2
"I Heard it Through the Grapevine" – 4:27
"Head in My Hands" – 5:11
"Train Wrecks" – 4:58
"Violet" – 4:16
"Rest Here My Brother" – 4:19
"Off Kilter" – 3:48
"Wayside" – 4:56
"Broken Bones" – 5:05
"Medicine" – 4:25
"Silhouettic" – 4:10
DVD
The DVD features footage of all songs listed above (excluding "Heard it Through the Grapevine") as well as interviews with the band members and string composer/arranger Anthony Cormican.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Broken Strings Tour” as album by Birds of Tokyo. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as album by Birds of Tokyo. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q24038046. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010 and 2009.
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