A recently remarried Jack White took to the stage last night in Brooklyn’s Barclay Stadium, as part of his North American tour for the brilliant new album Fear of the Dawn – one of the iconic Detroit musician’s finest to date, and the first of two albums he’s set to release this year. The 2…
The excitement was palpable as we crunched our way through mud and pebbles towards the 33rd annual Byron Bay Bluesfest. After two years of cancellations, the 2022 festival was not just a celebration of music but a true celebration of life and the joy of human connection. I’d had my first Bluesfest experience back in…
The time has come for Brisbane rock trio Columbus to call it a day after a decade. Before announcing the breakup on their socials, the band released their latest EP Driving in the Dark on 24 March – featuring singles “Pain is a Mirror”, “Temporary Summer” and “Full Heart”. The beloved punks played the second…
Huge touring festival Under the Southern Stars brought its stellar lineup to the Brisbane Riverstage on Sunday 27 March for the final show of a 12-date run. Headlined by legends Stone Temple Pilots, Bush and Cheap Trick, this celebration of 90s rock was the first international tour of Australia in two years. An afternoon of…
Newcastle punk favourites Trophy Eyes know how to put on a show and seeing them live is a rite of passage in the local heavy scene. The esteemed four-piece kicked off their first tour since 2020 at a packed Eleven Dive Bar in Maroochydore with Waxflower on Thursday 24 March. It was the first of…
Sydney emo-punk favourites Bloom have rocketed to success in the last two years and hurdled every obstacle of the pandemic. Their highly-anticipated Sink into the Soil Tour – originally planned for June 2020 – kicked off at The Brightside in Brisbane on Friday 18 March in celebration of their latest single. It was the band’s…
The weather slowly warmed up over the Adelaide Cup long weekend, making Sunday a perfect day at Womadelaide. Rugs marked meeting spots under the trees. Lines formed at the free water stations. Some visitors discovered artist workshops and Planet Talks. Kids had plenty of zones and activities to keep them busy. The lifting of some…
With such and incredible range of music on offer at Womadelaide, it can be easy to forget that there is much more available. HEXADECA music-making playground and roving performers entertain the families. There’s Eddie Betts story time in the KidsZone. Yoga from Human.Kind studios for the early risers. The Taste the World sessions have moved into…
Celebrating thirty years of presenting world music, WOMADelaide has weathered COVID restrictions to put on a massive show for 2022. As international travel uncertainties played out, the focus this year has been on highlighting Indigenous and Pacific Island acts. After the traditional Kuarna Welcome to Country, Cairo-born oud virtuoso, Joseph Tawadros played with the Adelaide…
It has been rapidly coming together for Genesis Owusu. After releasing an EP in 2017, and some singles in the following years, everything was set and bubbling, on the threshold of an explosion; a big, dramatic and impossible to miss kind of explosion. With the release of his debut studio album, Smiling with No Teeth,…
Sometimes, everything aligns to create that perfect moment. International Women’s Day marking the opening night of Lady Sings the Blues was one of those moments. As the full-house crowd filled the Melba Spiegeltent in Gluttony, it was clear that something special was about to happen. The feeling of the wooden floors, the mirrored walls, the…
It felt like a long time coming, the Foo Fighters released both their Bee Gees inspired album, Hail Satin under the name DeeGees and released their most recent Grammy-nominated record, Medicine At Midnight. Yet, every time it felt like we may see the glimpse of an announcement that the Foo Fighters would come to tour…
Sydney metalcore legends Polaris have quickly established themselves as one of the most revered heavy bands in Australia. Known for their explosive live performances and dedication to their craft, the quintet has been dying to bring their sophomore record The Death of Me – released 21 February 2020 – to stages across the country since…
The Electric Dreams collective are presenting several immersive arts programs for the 2022 Adelaide Fringe. These include the alternate realities of Bedtime Stories, Volo: Dreams of Flight interactive VR swings, First Nations centerpiece performance Sky Song, and more. This reviewer found themselves in the confines of the Pacific Islander room at the Adelaide Museum, where…
WA-based psychedelic rockers Pond opened the Perth Festival at the wondrous Fremantle Arts Centre on Friday night in front of a gig-starved audience on a glorious late summer’s evening. Pond are much more than a Kmart version of Tame Impala and they showcased that to their tune-thirsty audience, with a fun and groovy display that…
Melbourne rap legend Seth Sentry’s anticipated Brisbane leg of the Super Cool Tree House tour at The Zoo on Friday 11 February was more like a party than a gig. A night full of comic skits, fan participation, drinking contests and stagedives, the man definitely put on a show. Accompanied by the infamous DJ Sizzle…
Beloved Brisbane hardcore five-piece Stepson finally got to take their acclaimed debut album Help Me, Help You on the road last week after countless setbacks and it was definitely worth the wait. After having to reschedule the tour four times in response to the everchanging government restrictions surrounding live music and venue capacity, the Melbourne…
While the sun-scorched Melbourne, homage was paid to the release of The Teskey Brothers’ newest album Live at Hamer Hall at the Sidney Myer music bowl alongside the Orchestra Victoria (OV). With what seemed to be a full house, close to two and a half hours of folk, blues and rhythm were unleashed on an…
After multiple postponements, one wouldn’t be surprised if Mallrat decided to cancel her run of two shows at the Forum in Melbourne. Thankfully, she persevered and we were finally able to get a taste of her emphatic pop sounds once again at the Forum on Tuesday night. To make sure the evening started off with…
The eminent Jameson House of Rounds returned for a night of whiskey, food and music at iconic bar The Rails in Byron Bay on Saturday, 4 December – and you can bet that we were there for every bit of it. As New South Wales emerges from lockdown, Jameson House of Rounds provided a unique…
“This venue is daunting to play,” admitted Spacey Jane lead singer Caleb Harper early in their maiden set at Perth’s revered Red Hill Auditorium on Saturday night. Given Western Australia’s hard border, Perth-based Spacey Jane have gigged in their hometown countless times before, but playing at Red Hill is something else altogether, as a wonderful,…
When you’re stuck playing to the same audience over and over, it’s easy to slip into a mode of monotony, which has been a challenge thrust upon lots of WA musicians including artist Michael Dunstan with Premier Mark McGowan’s hard border. Of course, the rebuttal is at least they get to play but that doesn’t…
Perth surfie punk-rock trio Pretty Uglys have been generating lots of hype lately, fueled by popular new single “Your Shade” prompting a strong turnout to their Saturday night show in their hometown. Pretty Uglys’ tunes are gritty punk but it’s grunge-y yet summery, loose with a surfer twang, heavy on driving bass, unrelenting drums and…
Returning to play a hometown show for the first time since releasing their stellar second album, Middle Kids brought more than their A-game to Sydney’s City Recital Hall as they tore through a career-spanning set and set a new high standard for what you should expect from the band. Opening up the night was The…
There is absolutely nothing better than spending National Reconciliation Week with my Bundjalung brother Budjerah as he performed to a sold-out crowd at Sydney’s Lansdowne. The 19-year-old brought along Liyah Knight and Kirsten Salty to open the night – both ones to watch for their performance prowess and hooky tunes. I’d caught Kirsten over a…
Aussie alt-rockers The Rubens are yet another band who’ve been denied the opportunity to tour their latest album due to COVID restrictions, but they are making up for it right now. In fact, The Rubens have been making hay while the sun shines, travelling the length of the country in support of their latest studio…
Hot on the heals of the release of his debut EP in early April, EJ Worland hit up Mary’s Underground in Sydney on Saturday night to showcase the best of the EP to a keen and loyal home town crowd. With the release of No One Left to Blame still fresh in the mind, and…
Someone really didn’t want Northeast Party House‘s (NEPH) Perth Factory Festival show to happen. The gig was rescheduled four times due to COVID-19 restrictions, eventually going ahead in the shadow of Perth going into lockdown at midnight that evening. But the party went ahead, with NEPH hitting the stage at 9:30pm, two-and-a-half hours before Perth’s…
An incredible return to the Forum Theatre played out on Wednesday night as The Teskey Brothers joined by Mia Wray played two shows across a packed sold-out venue. Mia Wray was a revelation to open both sets. Her powerful vocals set a wonderful tone for the set to come. Yet, Mia wasn’t to be outclassed…
Yours and Owls, the first major music festival held in NSW since the start of the global pandemic, went ahead in Dalton Park, Wollongong, this April 17 and 18, 2021. How was it? Well, let’s get into that. THE SETUP How do you run a festival when there’s a major pandemic going on? By developing…
