John is a passionate photographer and reviewer, focused on Australia's vibrant music, culture and arts scenes. His vibe is one of infectious enthusiasm. Also enjoys romantic strolls on the beach.
An essential part of a memorable festival is rain and mud. Throw in a violent electrical storm, and you have Bingo. Thus, Adelaide’s 2025 Harvest Rock Festival is memorable for this and many more reasons. A severe thunderstorm on midday Saturday meant that a shelter in place warning was issued. Rundle Street pubs were filled…
The State Opera of South Australia have reimagined Shakespeare’s story of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet as a beautiful ode to the power of love. Director Radula Gaitanou has taken Gounod’s distillation of Shakespeare’s play and imagined it as a love story that transcends time and space. It is a story of two young…
The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) has continued to foster outstanding home-grown movies. With Diabolic, Adelaide director Daniel J. Philips has created an edge-of-your-seat horror thriller based on real-life events from co-writer Ticia Madsen‘s time in a fundamentalist Mormon church. Whilst the forbidden love story was real, the dark malevolent horror is pure blood-curdling fantasy. Walking…
In 2015, The AU Review’s John Goodridge interviewed Kiss founder Paul Daniel “Ace” Frehley after the release of his 2014 solo album Space Invader. We stumbled upon it while thumbing through our extensive archives and are now publishing it in tribute to the pioneering musician, who sadly passed away on 16th October 2025, aged 74. Read…
The Adelaide Film Festival opened the 2025 season in style with a pink carpet outside the Capri Cinema in Goodwood. Gilbert Street was closed off between the Capri and the Good Gilbert bar, giving a sophisticated European chic. There was an expectant buzz about the Australian debut of Jimpa, a film about an Adelaide filmmaker…
Since hitting the scene as a fresh faced teenager, RUEL has continued to kick goals. He’s on the cusp of releasing his sophomore album, Kicking My Feet, due out on October 17th. To mark the occasion he’s released a new single “Wild Guess” which has the tonal textures and influences of LA, to where he’s…
It’s been a while between drinks for Adelaide (Kaurna Country) singer Hollie “Cookie” Baker. Her 2019 LP, This Is Not A Love Song, was a perfect introduction to her wide range of folk-pop influences. The release featured her 2017 duet with Tim Rogers, “The Summer”, which perfectly encapsulates long simmer days on the farm, related…
ARIA nominated indie dance band Cut Copy was created back in 2001 as a bedroom recording project by Dan Whitford, expanding to a fully fledged band with guitarist Tim Hoey, drummer Mitchell Scott and bass player Ben Browning. The band achieved breakthrough success in 2008 with their second album, In Ghost Colours, which included well-known…
The Linden Postcard Show is in its 35th year and this year there will be over 1200 artworks on display available for purchase. The Postcard Show runs from 6th September to 2nd November in the gallery in St Kilda in Melbourne. This is a much loved fixture in the Melbourne Art scene. As part of…
Artistic directors and cofounders of the Adelaide Ballet, Rejane Garcia and Sarah Humeniuk have a vision – to establish a professional ballet company that honours the timeless beauty of the art form, while telling the stories of South Australia. And, in the confines of the Light Room Studio at ILA, Adelaide’s Immersive Light and Art,…
Whilst The Magic Flute has been a staple since W. A. Mozart wrote the music in 1791, this performance of the opera by the State Opera South Australia has been produced with the co-support of Opera Hong Kong, Beijing Music Festival and China National Opera House. This gives it a multicultural feel. In the opera,…
If you’ve been to a major music festival recently, you may have been impressed by DJ RONA on the decks. She’s played Laneway, Pitch Music & Arts, Strawberry Fields, and Splendour in the Grass. Many are citing the 2024 Sugar Mountain Boiler Room set as a defining moment. RONA. is known for her original electronic…
At a recent high energy launch party at Sydney’s Chin Chin guests were introduced to a new classic Spritz, Johnnie Walker Black Ruby Blackberry & Soda. The launch featured a live set from rising pop artist Charley, DJ performances by Mowgli May and Yes Boone, and an immersive Black Ruby bar. The party was to announce Johnnie Walker…
It felt like magic was in the air on the final day of the 2025 Mundi Mundi Bash. The weather had been perfect all week, the music was universally loved. The attendance and money raised for Beyond Blue and the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) was outstanding. A large part of the success of this…
Friday morning opens to a bright sunny day on the Mundi Mundi Plains. Perfect weather for the traditional Mundi Undie Run. One notable feature of the Mundi Mundi festival is the inclusiveness. People with disabilities, families, pets, Indigenous workshops are all celebrated and embraced. Bring out your strange. This year an incredible number of people…
Adelaide based singer My Chérie has matured her songwriting with her latest release, “Dishes in the Sink.” The song is described as “a haunting exploration of relationship friction, emotional cycles, and the longing for peace within complicated bonds.” And does it kick! It builds comfortably within the warmth and tenderness of a relationship that evolves…
This week, a record crowd of some 15,000 music lovers descended onto Belmont Station near Broken Hill in western NSW for the now iconic Mundi Mundi Bash. While the event officially started on Thursday, many took advantage of early-bird entry and were treated to acts such as Chocolate Starfish, The Headliners and the local “Mundi’s…
As part of their ongoing exploration of art and technology, ILA, Australia’s Centre for Immersive Light and Art have enlisted Berlin-based multi-disciplinary art collective flora&faunavisions to create an immersive and interactive experience. The experience, called TIMELIGHT ‘Beyond our ticking world’ allows visitors to interact with a virtual digital canvas to explore themes of time and…
Agatha Christie is a timeless story-teller, weaving intriguing stories about complex characters with dark secrets. With some 66 crime novels, 150 short stories and over 25 plays, she is regarded as the Queen of Crime. Director Robyn Nevin AO has bought And Then There Were None to life with style and humour. The play is set…
The musical offerings at this year’s Illuminate Festival have been nothing short of inspired. From the two night Unsound festival, to the melodic sounds of Faroese-Icelandic duo, Kiasmos, the music has been captivating. The crowd at Friday night’s Hindley St Music Hall are sure to agree. Opening act Juno Mamba is a Filipino born musician…
Grammy nominated composer Cheryl B. Engelhardt and Australian producer-artist GEM have collaborated on an ambient new-age album that takes inspiration from cosmic events such as solar eclipses and super-moons. They discuss working with 3x Grammy winner Producer Lonnie Park, the Dallas String Quartet, pop singer Robin Tucker and GRAMMY-winning vocalist and sound healer Johnaye Kendrick….
Lovers of alternative music look forward to Illuminate Adelaide‘s Unsound weekend as it always brings a wide selection of local and international musical artists. Held over two nights, it started at Lion Arts Centre on Friday and finished at Hindley Street Music Hall before the closing acts performed in the suitably grimy basement of Ancient…
It may be counterintuitive at a sound, light and music festival to disconnect from your phone for a few hours of quiet time, but it really helps reset the mind. The Offline Club as a concept started in the coffee shops of Amsterdam. It has trended (ironically via Instagram) to places such as Dubai, Berlin,…
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…
