Year: 2018

The Falls Festival hit Byron Bay on New Years Eve. Unfortunately due to illness, one of the headline and much anticipated acts, Dizzee Rascal had to cancel. Amongst many fine acts to feature were Hockey Dad, Mallrat, Ocean Alley, Cut Copy, Stoker with Anderson .Paak bringing in the New Year. Bruce Baker was our photographer…

joey Bada$$, Client Liaison, City Calm Down & Tash Sultana led the crowd through the first major day of Beyond the Valley 2018/19.  

Earlier this month, we sat down with Didirri, Vera Blue and Clowns to talk about their favourite music of 2018; potentially the songs they’ll be choosing for the Hottest 100 and some of the albums that excited them over the last 12 months. Photo of Didirri taken at Festival of the Sun by Larry Heath

Day two of Beyond The Valley topped an already impressive first day! Nicole Millar set the tone for the day, leaving a predominantly young female crowd wondering how she isn’t already an international sensation. Although her song “Blindfolded” received a huge  crowd sing along she proved she has a whole catalogue of feel good pop…

The second day of the Lorne Falls Festival was a beautiful day starting with the traditional Welcome to Country before launching into raucous sets by Amyl and the Sniffers,  West Thebarton and Slowly Slowly. Briggs, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and First Aid Kit all put on great performances on the Valley Stage. Anderson…

Denis Villeneuve shone a light on issues that now seem more rife than ever in 2015’s hard-hitter Sicario. For its follow-up, sub-headed Day of the Soldado, the concerns at hand are more unnerving than before, and whilst the argument of whether or not the original film needed a sequel is still a valid talking point,…

The rumours were true! Arnott’s have officially won the great snack race of 2018, managing to (finally) funnel a classic Aussie combo into the latest flavour for Shapes. Vegemite & Cheese Shapes is being described as “the spirit of the nation distilled down into a cracker”, and has now made its way onto supermarket shelves…

Beyond The Valley (BTV) in Lardner, an hour and a half outside Melbourne has been proving itself to be a hot contender in the battle for the ideal New Years Festival, against tough competition from Falls Festival, Lost Paradise, Field Day and a stack of others. Although Falls generally has the biggest international names, Beyond…

Mallrat, Hockey Dad, Ocean Alley, Dizzee Rascal and more helped kick off the first day of Falls Festival in Lorne. John Goodridge is on ground and brings us back these photos:

You might not want the same-old go-to spirits for this year’s NYE house party, especially since there have been some new expressions released over the past few months that have really tempted drinks enthusiasts away from their regular bottles. New Year’s Eve brings the perfect time to introduce our new column, “On the Shelf”, which…

When a film doesn’t have a media preview screening, you know the confidence from the studio in its quality must be low. Following that up with a dismal score on Rotten Tomatoes (currently 6%) only seems to reinforce their fears. This year’s mainstream US holiday comedy – which in past years has included surprise hits…

Choosing your favourite game of the year is hard. We’ve done it every year since we founded The AU Review’s games section in 2014, and it never gets any easier. In 2018, we played so many incredible games that it became impossible to list and number every last one of them, so we opted not…

Now in its second year, NYE in the Park has lined up an incredible group of artists who are set to help bring Sydneysiders into the New Year on Monday. Set in the lush surrounds of Camperdown’s Victoria Park, The Jungle Giants, Hayden James, Hot Dub Time Machine, Thundamentals, Confidence Man and many more will…

Electronic duo Kinder have had an amazing 2018, and now they’re finishing it all off with an appearance at NYE in the Park in Sydney this coming Monday – right before flying off to Falls Festival. Ahead of the show, we looked back at the year past with the pair, as they reflected on their…

Hot Dub Time Machine will be helping finish off 2018 with an appearance at NYE in the Park in Sydney this coming Monday. Ahead of the show, we looked back at the year past, as he reflected on his favourite moments of 2018, his favourite music of the year and give you some hot tips…

Absurdist cinema is not for everyone. The directorial work of master of the bizarre Yorgos Lanthimos likely hasn’t sat well with most audiences. By the same token, period films aren’t exactly most people’s cup of tea either. When presented with an absurdist period piece directed by Lanthimos, one may have some trepidation. Leave your apprehension…

As Aquaman swims his way into cinemas today (read our review here), the King of Atlantis himself, Jason Momoa, has been travelling across the globe in the film’s lead-up to promote the latest offering from the DC roster. Returning to Queensland’s sunny Gold Coast, where the film was mostly shot, Momoa chatted with The AU…

Already a critical darling and favourite of the award season, Adam McKay’s new film Vice tackles an unlikely subject, with perhaps an even more unlikely lead actor. In the film out Boxing Day, Christian Bale transforms himself into Former US Vice President Dick Cheney, as McKay – who also wrote and produced the film –…

It seems that autobiographical stories that stem from the lives of film directors are in the spotlight in terms of critical acclaim lately. There are great films out there like the Spanish family drama by Carla Simon, Summer 1993; the relationship comedy-drama by Tamara Jenkins, Private Life; the semi-autobiographical rom-com by Eva Vives, All About…

It has been a long road for Melbourne based band British India, releasing six albums over the past eleven years and countless tours through the country. Yet, the lead in to the weekend was the end of an era as one of the band’s leading members and creator Nic Wilson performed his final shows with…

Frothed or flat; hot or cold. Those were the limited options you always had with your milk every morning if you were using any Nespresso machine with its included Aeroccino frother. The company’s tech has come such a long way that the smaller, more niche details wouldn’t have bothered the majority, but for those wanting…

It’s finally here – the Summer season of festivals that not only provide an eclectic mix of the best acts currently touring, but require a road trip which offers the chance to visit some of Australia’s most unique and stunning regional locations. Here are our top reasons for why you need to plan a road…

Sydney may have the more famous fireworks display, but Melbourne hold their own when it comes to raucous New Year’s Eve parties well worth heading out for. Assuming you’re not house partying this year, you’re going to want to know where the best spots are to party 2018 into the past, so we’ve rounded up…

With Christmas just around the corner, an evening at the theatre is one of those quintessential traditions that many people venture on in order to elevate their festive spirits. Arguably, one tale in particular that seems reminiscent of the Christmas period is that of Peter Pan. Set in hibernal London during the winter, with messages…

Shake off that epic NYE hangover and make it a two-day binge to bring in the New Year. Sydney’s got some of the best New Year’s Day parties in the world, so sleeping it off just ain’t gonna cut it if you want to kick-start 2019 in the most epic way possible. To help, we’ve…

Disney once again mines its own intellectual property for more family fun over the holiday season. Their recent trend of recreating their animated features into new “live action” films has been an ongoing and generally successful juggernaut. However with Mary Poppins Returns, they’ve opted for a new take on the Poppins tale.

Google are in the ideal position to make the Pixel 3 XL the best Android phone on the market, they just haven’t quite done that yet. Current users of the phone, which is mostly excellent but has a few substantial downsides, have been divided over the product since it was released, from the strangely intrusive…

It’s that time of year again, and you can bet Sydney’s best venues are going to pull out all stops to try and top their previous New Year’s Eve celebrations. We’ve sifted through and picked out five parties we think are totally going to be worth it this year, so if you don’t yet have…

Unless you’ve somehow managed to avoid all retail stores for the past month or so, you’re probably already close to peak Christmas song saturation, so you’ve probably already had your fill of jingle bells for the year. But, please bare with us as we close out of 2018 with one last Track of the Day…

On Wednesday we were excited to reveal our nominees for the 5th Annual AU Awards, celebrating the best in Australian music over the last 12 months. Now today we’re presenting the winners across all those categories, which are awarded based on both recorded and live merit. Australian Live Music Event of the Year (Metro) St….