Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.
The 2014 Sydney Festival has well and truly set the standard for high quality gatherings of artistic types once again! The opening weekend saw many stellar performers, from Ben Caplan to Amanda Palmer, there was something for everyone. Jamie Williams brings you some highlights in this gallery.
the AU review presents Canadian artist Mo Kenney performing the unreleased track “Wind Will Blow” (Working Title) LIVE, exclusive and acoustic on the AU sessions. Filmed in Sydney, Australia at AU HQ on 8th January 2014. Mo Kenney is currently touring Australia with the following dates remaining: Friday 10th January at Caravan Music Club, Melbourne
Make the most of everyday – Summer is more than just a reason, it’s the feeling that something awesome could happen at any moment. Summertime has well and truly begun, being right in the midst of the festival season, summer and music go hand in hand. Guvera has created a Summertime playlist featuring international artists…
Ever since they were announced on the Big Day Out lineup, fans have been waiting for announcements on their sideshows. And now that time has arrived. Playing Sydney are the Deftones, Melbourne will get a The Hives sideshow while Ghost will play both Sydney and Melbourne. Check out the dates and details here: DEFTONES +…
Larry Heath meets Canadian artist Mo Kenney while in Australia to talk about her time down under, which included a performance at Woodford Folk Festival… we learn a bit more about what’s coming next for Mo on her long awaited second album – working with Joel Plaskett – and also find out the artists, like…
The house show of Sydney Festival this year is an incredible production going by the name of LIMBO. The full review will be online shortly, but in the meantime enjoy these photos from opening night at The Spiegeltent. Performances continue nightly (except Mondays) until the close of the festival. Photos by Prudence Upton.
the AU review sits down with two parts of Born Ruffians just before they hit the stage at the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney, on their Falls Festival sideshow. PART ONE: PART TWO:
You often hear an AU contributor rate a gig as a highlight of the year, but by the time the year is over, what still sits on that top 5 list? Well, we asked our contributors just that and from all those responses we bring you the AU’s top thirteen international tours of 2013! Read…
New Years Day 2014, Sydneysiders were treated to an incredible display of rock and roll at The Vic in Enmore. You Am I turned the venue’s car park into a mini-festival to show their appreciation for the local locals. The lo-fi gig lived in the band’s pub rock tradition and saw The Mountains, The Love…
Following years of successful cabaret “house shows” at the Sydney Festival’s Famous Spiegeltent, it should come of little surprise that this year’s production LIMBO is set to follow in the footsteps of critical and box office smashes like Cantina and Smoke & Mirrors. Well, we certainly can’t predict a sell out season, but we can…
In the now classic song* by Sydney band The Beards, it’s exclaimed “There’s Nothing Better Than Having a Beard”. What Canadian troubadour Ben Caplan proved in his Sydney Festival opening set, accompanied by his band The Casual Smokers, is that a) this is true and b) it’s even better when that beard can play some…
the AU review is proud to support Curve Lurve, the McGrath Foundation’s education initiative, developed to help increase breast awareness in young Australians, with a particular emphasis on young women. To help promote Curve Lurve, the McGrath Foundation has commissioned a 1950s inspired caravan named Curvey that will attend the 2014 Big Day Out in…
Larry Heath sits down with Austin Jenkins and James Petralli of Austin Texas band White Denim during their first ever Australian tour in January 2014, not long before they hit the stage in Sydney, supporting Hanni El Khatib, in a Falls Festival sideshow.
With the main summer festival season just kicking off around the country once again, we are bringing you our top 5 favourite Australian festivals of the last year, as voted for by our contributors. Though the list is dominated by the larger national touring festivals, a number of the local state specific festivals racked up…
the AU review presents Canadian artist Mo Kenney performing the track “The Happy Song” LIVE, exclusive and acoustic on the AU sessions. Filmed in Sydney, Australia at AU HQ on 8th January 2014. Mo Kenney is currently touring Australia with the following dates remaining: Thursday 9th January at The Basement, Sydney Friday 10th January at…
In the Horror Comedy Ghost Team One, a sensation from the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, films like the Paranormal franchise are parodied, and word is that it’s to a hilarious result. We’ve been sent the official red band trailer for the film, which is now available digitally through Paramount Home Media Distribution. Watch the trailer…
From mirrors in the streets, to bullets in your teeth, Sydney Festival will have it all when it kicks off this Thursday night. But let’s face it – there’s just too much to choose from! So to help, we’ve listed 14 performances and attractions you can’t miss at Sydney Festival 2014! LIMBO January 8th to…
After some 115 shows around the world, including an impressive (and slightly humbling – we’re rarely so spoilt) two stops in Australia, Brooklyn group Grizzly Bear have brought their Shields tour to an end with a spectacular two hour set at the Sydney Opera House. The crowd lapped up every minute of the set, which…
Not long before he released his new record, Don’t Tell the Driver (available now), I caught up with Mick Turner, best known for his work as part of Dirty Three to talk about his music, his art, touring with Bill Callahan and much more… Mick will be playing Sydney Festival on January 23rd. You’re a…
Every two years, Melbourne’s much respected Circus Oz pitch their tent in Sydney, and while it might feel like just yesterday that the troupe were last here, that time has arrived once again, with Thursday night holding the opening night premiere of the newest Circus Oz production: Cranked Up. While Sydney Festival offers circus and…
Ahead of the premiere next week of LIMBO as part of Sydney Festival, I spoke to Danik Abishev about his role in the show described as a “dirty and dangerous circus-cabaret”. Danik, meanwhile, is described as an “aggressive hand balancer”. Find out what that means and more about the show in this interview! LIMBO looks…
Tomorrow will see the release of Dublin based singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow‘s much anticipated record Post Tropical – the follow up to the highly acclaimed Early In The Morning. He’s currently in Australia to kick off his tour for the record, playing Falls Festival, Southbound and sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne next week. Just before…
Earlier this month, Larry caught up with Lee Ranaldo from the iconic group Sonic Youth, who will return to Australia next month for the local premiere of his new work Hurricane Transcriptions (Last Night on Earth) exclusively at the Sydney Festival. We talk about the composition, his recent work with his band The Dust and…
2013 marked a lot of firsts for us at the AU, and one of the new additions to the site we’ve been most excited about has been our new video games section “VideAU Games”. We asked our new team of contributors to tell us their favourite games of 2013, and from that, we bring you…
The new documentary Muscle Shoals tells the story of a little town of the same name in Alabama, USA, where an incredible amount of iconic music was recorded at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios. We’re talking tracks by everyone from The Rolling Stones to U2 and Aretha Franklin (all of whom appear in the film)… to…
The new documentary Muscle Shoals tells the story of a little town of the same name in Alabama, USA, where an incredible amount of iconic music was recorded at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios. We’re talking tracks by everyone from The Rolling Stones to U2 and Aretha Franklin (all of whom appear in the film)… to…
Back during the AU review’s Sydney Film Festival interview series for 2013, we sat down with Patrick Riester, one of the actors from the low budget film Computer Chess, directed by Andrew Bujalski. We talk about the unique filmmaking style, the story, being a part of the film and his usual role: editing. The film is screening…
He’ll be representing Aussie Hip Hop in a big way at next month’s Big Day Out festival, so we took some time out to chat to the man known as Pez to talk about the BDO, his recent appearance at the Queenscliff Festival and much more… read on! How did your performance at the Queenscliff…
While at Supanova in Sydney all the way back in June, Larry Heath sat down with one of the dwarves from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy to talk about the films, New Zealand based actor Jed Brophy who plays Nori. We address some fan disappointment in the first film, how that might be addressed in the future, and what…
