Author: John Goodridge

For the fifth year in a row, Illuminate Festival has opened in Adelaide to shake off the cold winter chills. The opening night of  Night Visions in the leafy Botanic Gardens was an ethereal adventure. Illuminate Adelaide Co-founders and Creative Directors Lee Cumberlidge and Rachael Azzopardi have assembled a team of artists including Chris Petridis,…

This year’s Queenscliff Music Festival is shaping up to be an amazing weekend of music in a beautiful cozy seaside town. Just an easy 90-minute drive from Melbourne  and 35km from Geelong in Wadawurrung country, Queenscliff is a mecca for those interested in community and arts. The festival is held between 28-30 November and the…

This year’s Beer and BBQ Festival marked ten years of the event, and was the final one in the current format. Organisers have announced that the event will continue on in some form that is still to be decided. With that in mind, there was a mixture of celebration and sadness on the final day…

With the cold wind and rain that hit Adelaide for the King’s Birthday long weekend, it was good that there was plenty of warmth and shelter to be had at the Beer and BBQ Festival. With beer and craft stalls inside and plenty of open fires outside, it was a cosy place to escape the…

With the announcement that this year will be the final Adelaide Beer and BBQ Festival in this format, there was a mixture of celebration and sadness. Despite the wintry weather outside, there were numerous undercover spaces, warmed by copious open wood fires. There were plenty of stallholders, from beer producers to scented candles and all…

The 2025 Mundi Mundi Bash takes place outside Silverton (where Max Max was filmed) from the 21st to the 23rd of August. Unfortunately, if you were after the exclusive “Bound for the Bash” merch to display on your road trip, you’ve just missed that deadline. However, the good news is that there are a handful…

While Homer’s epic of Odysseus leaving his Ithaca home for ten years to fight for Helen’s honour in the Trojan war is well celebrated, what is not so well documented is the story of his devoted wife Penelope who was left behind. Booker Prize-winning author, Margaret Atwood penned the 2005 novella The Penelopiad, which was…

After a five-year hiatus, singer / songwriter Holly Cookie Baker is heading off for an extensive Where Do You Go In the Winter tour, taking in several New Zealand and Australian east coast stops. Raised on a sea-side farm in rural South Australia, she honed her country pop writing skills listening to the waves and the…

Tim Finn has been an adopted Aussie icon since bursting on the scene with Split Enz back in the 1970s. These days he lives a quiet life in Auckland with his wife. He’ll be heading over to our shores in June to play at Adelaide’s Beer and BBQ Festival as well as some other Australian…

Darwin’s Mindil Beach, nestled on the shore of Larrakia country, is known for it’s iconic tropical sunsets and night-time beach markets. It’s also home to the equally iconic BASSINTHEGRASS musical festival that has been a feature in Darwins music scene since 2003. This year was no exception, with the Hilltops Hoods proudly proclaiming that this…

Melbourne jazz-funk quintet Surprise Chef have just released Superb, their fourth album. Ahead of an expansive tour taking in Australia, North America and Europe, we chatted with Lachlan Stuckey, who plays a gritty mean guitar, about what drives him and the band to create the music that they do. Surprise Chef have been together since…

It’s hard to believe that The Offspring have been making punk rock classics for around forty years and are still going strong. Starting the Australian leg of their Supercharged tour at Adelaide’s Entertainment Centre, they had the sold-out crowd bopping and singing like it was their first time. The opening band, Canadian rockers Simple Plan…

Can you believe that Bass in the Grass has been running for 22 years? This year’s edition at Darwin’s Mindil Beach on Saturday 17th May has a packed lineup of cracker Australian artists. The list includes Hilltop Hoods, The Amity Affliction, Meg Mac, The Jungle Giants,  3%, Hot Dub Time Machine, Old Mervs, and so…

Once upon a time, Adelaide had the reputation of shutting shop for the winter. However, for the last five years, Illuminate Adelaide has been drawing people out into Adelaide’s chilly mid-winter streets. With a combination of lights, lasers, fires, interactive displays, music, food and dance, the event (or series of events) is a winner in…

Canadian rock duo, Death From Above 1979 released their debut album, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, in 2004 but subsequently broke up in 2006. However, the pair reunited in 2011 and are currently touring the album in Australia. We caught their show at Adelaide’s Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. The Aussie warmup band DZ Deathrays need…

By any measure, Bluesfest 2025 was a resounding success. Last year, there was an announcement that this could be the final year of the North Byron Bay event. However, the community rallied to support it, with over 110,00 people attending this year over four days. By the last day, it was announced that tickets were…

Saturday’s Bluesfest hosted a glorious sunny day for the sold out crowd. Thanks to the overwhelming support of this year’s event, it was announced that Bluesfest will continue into 2026, with specially discounted pre-early bird tickets available for sale at the festival. The overall mood is one of celebration of community, with a couple of…

One thing that you can’t control is the weather. With recent heavy rains in northern NSW, many were worried that this year would be another muddy Bluesfest. However, the weather has been glorious for the last week, including the Easter long weekend. With gravel being laid to ensure no muddy patches, festival goers this year…

This year could possibly be the final Bluesfest, but based on the overwhelming support for the Byron Bay festival makes it feel that next year’s event is possible. On opening day, three stages were in operation. Sydney band Velvet Trip opened the Crossroads stage with a psych infused indie rock set that had the crowd…

Anisa Nandaula is in the midst of her first Australian comedy tour entitled You Can’t Say That. She reflects on her journey from Uganda to Rockhampton, where she expected a multicultural paradise, but instead found cows and cultural confusion. We had an opportunity to chat with her and discuss her comedy experience. Hi Anisa. How…

Sydney’s boutique record store, Impressed Recordings are going all out at this Saturday’s Record Store Day in their Woolloomooloo Music Hub. Highlights include an exclusive collaboration with Merch Jungle, in-store performances from Maddy Jane and Loose Content as well as beverages from Heaps Normal.  Merch Jungle is Australia’s leading concert merchandise provider, so expect some…

We’ve just had a quick peek at this year’s Dark Mofo offerings, and they’ve managed to jam in as much if not more as past festivals. The program includes free and ticketed events, including the ever popular Winter Feast as well as the Nude Solstice Swim at dawn on June 21st. Other free events include…

Australian singer-songwriter Matt Corby has collaborated with Tibetan artist Tenzin Choegyal and musician Rohin Jones (The Middle East) to record an album, Snowflower, exploring the healing power of music. The album is recorded in 432 Hz, a therapeutic frequency that aims to reduce anxiety and lower heart rates. The soundscape has spiritual and ritualistic elements,…

Mick Harvey has been a staple of the Australian music scene for many years, working with The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds as well as artists such as PJ Harvey. He has teamed up with Mexican artist Amanda Acevedo to release an album covering songs from American songwriter Jackson C. Frank. We had a…

Based on the iconic 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act, The Musical launched in Adelaide to an enthusiastic reception.  Everything about this production is big, bold, brash and beautiful. The story is as fresh as when the movie was released. Casey Donovan stars as Deloris Van Cartier, a singer in a club managed by…

“Baddest. Cowboy. Texas.” These are a few words that describe the baddest cowboy in Texas. With the help of director Cecily Nash, Minnesota clown Lil Wenker has created  a laugh a minute comedy journey, in which a Cowboy meets his Nemesis. Bangtail is basically an unbridled hour of controlled clown chaos. Performed in the intimate Gallery…

Charlie Chaplin has long been recognised as a worldwide silent movie icon and is considered one of the film industry’s most important figures. In the theatre comedy show “Smile”, talented artist Marcel Cole brings to life the story of the Little Tramp and the man who created him. The Courtyard of Curiosities is a small…

To sum up Spyhard, suave English agent Antonio Tranderas (Anthony Tran) and the captivating Russian operative Faytasha Romanov (Fay MacFarlane) are caught up in a world of acrobatics and high-flying stunts. As a tribute to the action spy movies from the 80s and 90s, Spyhard ticks all the boxes. The duo, known as Circus Sorbet,…

The Australian Platypus is an unusual animal, seemingly made from disjointed parts that somehow come together to make a creature that is both unique and adorable. The Platypus is a play that uses that creature as its motif and is also an unusual creature that is loveable. Playwright and director Francis Greenslade has compiled a witty…

Can you believe that the legendary Adelaide Beer and BBQ Fest is already 10 years old? To celebrate, we have the inside scoop telling us this year’s event is going to be bigger than ever, with Tim Finn, Wolfmother and The Chats headlining the musical entertainment. The venue has remained the same since 2015, undercover…