How's this for a Friday festival announcement? The crew behind Bluesfest have come out with their first artist reveal this morning, naming The National and City and Colour at the top of the list for the 2016 event taking place just outside of Byron Bay over the Easter long weekend.

The current Spectrum Now festival that has been filling Sydney with music, arts, and cultural events has just added some big names to it's line up of free music down at their pop-up Spectrum Playground in The Domain. With Spectrum Playground operating until this Sunday 22nd March, Spectrum Now is hitting a home run with free performances from The Cat Empire, Jeff Martin (Tea Party), Sneaky Sound System and Angus & Julia Stone added to the impressive line up.

It was a party to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Triple J and what a party it was. With stellar performances from Hilltop Hoods, Ball Park Music, The Presets, You Am I and a slew of special guests, Johnny Au gives you but a taste of what went down last night in this gallery:

Caravana Sun, Mama Kin, Archie Roach, The Cat Empire, Chris Tamwoy (Pictured), Darren Percival, Bunna Lawrie, Milian Martin, Tjupurru & The Bullawadda, Darren Middleton, Keyim Ba, Sticky Fingers, Jeff Lang, Siskin River, Lior and Nahko and Medicine for the People were just a few of the artists who played the Woodford Folk Festival in Queensland over the New Year period. Julie Lowe was there with her camera and brings you these photos to look back at the massive event.

As part of the Sydney Festival next year, triple j are choosing to throw a huge ass birthday party in the Domain! The Beat the Drum event is already hosting the likes of Hilltop Hoods, The Presets and The Cat Empire, but today on the Matt and Alex show, a huge second artist announcement was revealed for the January 16th party!

The Melbourne Zoo has announced their biggest Twilight Series yet today, with a stomper line up of artists set to perform in amongst the unique environment which is the Melbourne Zoo itself. Under the stars, with the animals around, the following Australian and international musicians will perform some of the most memorable shows you're likely to see come summer 2015.

Photo: Prudence Upton

The Sydney Festival has unveiled its program for 2015, comprising of 179 shows next year! Returning to destinations across Sydney, Parramatta and elsewhere, the Sydney Festival is set to present shows on with world-class reputations, including 18 world premieres, 11 Australian premieres and 22 Australian exclusives.

Woodford Folk Festival returns for its 29th year this December with a vibrant and ambitious programme. They have just released their program and this year, the festival will feature more than 400 acts in 35 performance venues over six days and nights.

The Cat Empire are set to tour again this year due to their outstanding fan-base response from previous shows. The Cat Empire will tour nationally in September/October with a show that is rumoured to blow away the crowds with support acts such as Madre Monte and Tom Thum! The Cat Empire never fails to impress with their unique music style and great live performance featuring trumpets, guitars, drums, trombones and baritone horns.

The Cat Empire performed a flawless performance to their home crowd at Federation Square to celebrate their 1000th show.

In this issue: DJ Muro bringing his 7" vinyl set to the Espy, Kerri Simpson to launch new album 4am, undergroundLOVERS announce 'Past Present' for the Toff, Flying Emus head to Melbourne, SMILE headline first Wing and Gill night, Mel Parsons and Suzannah Espie play Apollo Bay Music Festival sideshow; The Harpoons, Brothers Hand Mirror & more come together to Save Baby Riss!, Sex on Toast launch debut album and new single “Hold My Love”, Spectacle to launch at Mercat Basement, Tim Rogers, Davey Lane, James Reyne and more perform at Child Wise benefit, Plastic announces Good Friday Eve mini-fest, Electric Mary returns to The Espy, Cat Empire celebrate 1000th show with free gig, Pork Chop Party perform free show, Lachlan Byran and The Wildes Melbourne launch, Justice & Kaos Wrap Party at The Evelyn and Owl Eyes set for farewell Melbourne show.

If someone could grab us tickets to this one, that'd be great. We'd love to visit Switzerland. The final artist lineup for the Gurten Festival in Bern has been announced, with Aussies The Cat Empire and the John Butler Trio set to perform alongside some of the world's best over the four day party.

It was day three of Falls 2013, and the only thing thicker in the air than the smell of overflowing long drops was the feeling of excitement for the incredible acts that were soon to grace the stages.

The last day of 2013 arrives and the Falls Festival crowd are in great spirits. The Falls Fiesta parade winds its way through the crowd at sunset. The Rubens, Violent Femmes, The Cat Empire all keep the energy levels up. On the main stage Vampire Weekend count in the new year, while Horrorshow and Willow Beats do the same in the Grand Theatre. Our photographer John Goodridge captures some of the excitement.

The first day of music on the main stages at The Falls Music and Arts Festival in Marion Bay was about as big as they get. From big hitting Australian bands to the international heavyweights, there was something on offer for everyone.