The sad irony about stadium shows is that on one hand the artists have become successful enough to sell out 15,000 seats in an arena, but on the other hand, audiences are losing out on the intimacy of a smaller venue. Perhaps this is why Mumford & Sons treated those fortunate enough to a secret gig at the Ding Dong after their sold out stadium show at Rod Laver.

After having some of their stage gear stolen, and with other places in Australia receiving special mini-festival performances, you’d be forgiven for thinking Mumford & Sons’ Sydney show wouldn’t rate amongst the best of 'em. But you’d be wrong. The English quartet put on an excellent concert of inclusive and thoughtful indie folk tunes that could be enjoyed by young and old alike.

The last time Mumford and Sons came to Australia, they played smaller venues, and only in three cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Despite their song “Little Lion Man” being everywhere a few years ago, they still only merited the smaller-to-mid-sized venues.

Big Easy Express isn't so much a concert film. It isn't so much a road movie. It isn't so much a rock bio. It's both none and all of the above. I think the best way to desribe it is as a musical odyssey. Big Easy Express beautifully captures the "Railroad Revival Tour", a 7 day musical journey when 3 bands board a train bound for 6 concerts in 6 cities, from Oakland, California, all the way to New Orleans.

While they're in the country for a national tour, Mumford & Sons have been announced to curate a one-day event, Gentlemen of the Road (A Camping Stopover), in NSW. Presented in conjunction with the teams behind the Laneway Festival and Splendour in the Grass, the event will be held in Dungog on the 20th of October.

In This Issue: Mumford & Sons travel the American heartland on the Big Easy Express, The Fringe Furniture 2012 entries open, graphic novelist Alan Moore teams up with director Mitch Jenkins for short film series, Faber-Castell and AGNSW Kids Drawing Prize competition opens, Regurgitator’s Ben Ely exhibits his lust for old video games, No Worries photo exhibition by Martin Parr opens at Brisbane Powerhouse, The Twilight Markets in South Melbourne get set to raise money for kids in need, The Creators Project transforms Paris’ Grand Palais, and Australian horror film Muirhouse is added to iconic Fright Night Film Festival.

For most of us, the evolution of whistling first came to light when Otis Redding charmed us with the timeless classic, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in 1968. Strangely enough, his intentions were to change the whistling in favour of words around the time of his death but it never came to be. After the track was released, it went on to become one of the most popular songs of the modern era.

What an amazing year we had in 2011! We bring our 2011 "Best Of" retrospective coverage to an end with a look back now at our 11 favourite tours from the year, featuring the international artists we hope will keep coming back to Australia for more...

Somewhere in between the excessive touring that makes up a year in the life od Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, frontman Alexander Ebert made time to record a solo album under the moniker Alexander. The album of the same name was just released in Australia, and so we caught up with the man himself to talk about the new record, as well as Edward Sharpe’s recent tour in Australia and their future “Wu Tang” album.

So over the next few months, how is it all going to be working? I understand you’ll be playing shows both for the solo record and as Edward Sharpe.

The hippies were out in force and flooded the Forum with their dreadlocks, ponchos and eager anticipation to see the great messiah Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros weave their magic upon a welcoming Melbourne crowd.

Finding it a handy way to catch the vast majority of bands who took over Sydney Olympic Park for Big Day Out in 2010, I once again decided to venture out to the festival grounds for the two consecutive days of the 2011 event. Having seen such a ridiculous amount of amazing music over this period I've decided to break this review down by the eight main stages. But before we get started, let's give a bit of an overview...