Over the weekend Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium hosted one of the largest single day RnB festivals this side of the hemisphere, rivalling that of FOMO. Boasting a line-up that included Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent and Janet Jackson, the RNB Fridays live event was sure to be an exciting one. The eventing also introduced fans to some of the…
A huge crowd packed the Adelaide Showground for RNB Fridays Live, an event that has become an annual mini-festival, touring some of the biggest acts from the world of rap, RnB, pop, and hip-hop. The event was hosted by US rapper, Fatman Scoop and Aussie Ash London with the help of DJ Horizon and Yo!…
For a first time festival, Land Of Plenty, held in Shepparton, managed to get a lot of things right. Hopefully setting it off on a bright path for future years. The festival, which for its debut brought along a stellar line-up of local Australian artist, managed to keep the focus firmly on Shepparton’s local scene,…
There’s a strange level of community in country and blues music. It’s not the genre of music I’d listen to the most. But, every time I head along to a gig by a band playing this type of music, I’m bound to walk away after ninety minutes with a big dumb smile on my face…
Sydney’s Roundhouse was packed out on Friday night for Holy Holy, an indie rock outfit whose origins span Australia’s East coast. Having recently released their third studio album, My Own Pool Of Light, Holy Holy have garnered an intense fanbase eager to relive the best cross-section of their discography live. But first, it was Perth’s…
The last time I saw Seeker Lover Keeper it was in a dinky little restaurant venue just down the road from the Enmore Theatre. This was was during the initial run of the act back in 2011. It was a showcase of sorts, as the act made up of Holly Throsby, Sarah Blasko, and Sally Seltmann…
Forget harmony, Kamasi Washington and his exceptional band, The Next Step, are here to preach the virtue of divergence. The kind you’d hear sparingly in Sydney Well, not entirely; they are here to show how top-tier musicians can veer off onto their own paths, only to meet back at one singular spot, occasionally checking in…
It’s been 7 years since I last saw Seattle based singer/songwriter Noah Gundersen. Then, he had a lot less tattoos. Me, a lot less facial hair. In that time he’s gone on to release four more albums and work with Glorietta. His latest, Lover, hit our headphones at the end of August. It’s a stunning record that deserves to…
After a truly excellent first day of Yours & Owls Festival, spirits were definitely high as Day Two rolled in over Wollongong’s trampled Stuart Park. Although the morning looked like an ominous rainstorm, punters were luckily blessed with an evening of pristine perfect clouds and an equally dreamy line-up of acts. I caught Perth’s Spacey…
According to my Uber driver, Yours & Owls Festival is the biggest event in Wollongong’s calendar and apparently cultivates a dedicated returning community each year, which is something to be said about the standard of this regional festival. But as the clouds rolled in for the long weekend, it was beginning to look like a…
To my left, a teen was clutching her phone in one hand and her chest in the other, screaming at an unnatural decibel. To my right stood a girl whose eyes were tightly squeezing out silent tears as she heaved. And in front was a countdown clock presenting five seconds until 16-year-old pop sensation Ruel…
British crooner Bruno Major delivered two sold-out nights at The Lansdowne this week and, look, there are now a lot of impregnated ears around Sydney. Opening the swoony night was Insta-famous Tash Wolf, showing off guitar shredding talents in an acoustic set filled with originals. Her goofy demeanour made the intimate crowd feel as though…
Over the weekend Melbourne’s 170 Russell was tuned into the emotional works of Didirri, with a bustling crowd eager to hear his works lining up early the night was a grand success as both Didirri and Ro saw the launch of ‘Tea Stains’ off in Melbourne. The two were joined by Kat Edwards, who opened…
Synthony is a pretty unique concept. Bringing together local orchestras, DJs, vocalists, feature musicians, and a crowd hungry for dance music, Synthony presents some of the biggest tracks of the last thirty years, live on stage, in an energetic and exciting event. Since kicking off a couple of years ago in Auckland, Saturday night was…
After the breakout success last year on Ekka Eve, Sesh And The City has graced Brisbane for the second time with a top billing line-up and a Saturday takeover at Brightside. Ambitious to compare Brisbane to New York? Hardly. Is there any correlation with Sex and the City other than the punny name of the…
A surprising mix of artists descended on the Budweiser Stage in Toronto tonight, with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds shortly into their set when I arrived, after an earlier set from openers AFI. What does link these acts though are ever growing, rabid fanbases. You mat not feel like you’ve heard much new music from these…
As part of their latest North American tour, Australia’s Rüfüs Du Sol (formerly just Rüfüs) made their debut at Washington DC’s 6k capacity venue The Anthem last week, selling it out and bringing along an updated version of the incredible light show and production you might have witnessed via that Coachella live stream earlier this…
On the final day of the 21st year of Portland’s iconic Pickathon festival, I arrived on site in time to catch the end of a morning art tour that runs throughout the festival and showcases the hidden art gems that you can find in the main festival space, as well as the expansive camping area….
Mumford & Sons kicked off their North American tour this week, with Portland-based Portugal. The Man opening things up for the first run of shows. This made last night’s show at Moda Center – the second of the run – a hometown show for the supports. Indeed, given how big they are here, it felt…
Throughout all four days of Lollapalooza, you could tell what the most anticipated show of the weekend was. No, it wasn’t Tenacious D’s or even Shaquille O’Neil’s DJ set… It was the Queen of Lollapalooza 2019, Ariana Grande. It is a very big deal to me that Grande was the Sunday night headliner. There are…
Saturday was definitely filled with a little something for everyone. If you wanted to see a show with fire, crowd involvement, and crowd surfing, twenty-one pilots were for you. If you wanted to see the first-ever Lollapalooza Latino headliner in J Balvin was where you need to be. Or if you just wanted the greatest…
Kicking things off for Saturday at Pickathon, Zia from The Dandy Warhols was DJing when I arrived, as DJ Rescue, who grooved us into the first set from New York’s Bodega, who delivered a high energy performance that asked everyone to “sweat the toxins out”. The five piece are described as “art rock”, but they are…
Set about 40 minutes out of Portland in idyllic wilderness, Pickathon is a boutique festival with a strictly limited capacity that brings up memories of festivals back in Australia like Secret Garden, Peats Ridge and Dashville Skyline. Crowds are quiet and respectful, here for the music, and surrounded by good food and amazing drink. It’s…
Music festivals can put their attendees in tough spots. Lollapalooza is known for doing this every year. With over 100,000 fans in attendance, festival organizers have to devise plans to scatter the crowd and they do this by booking the biggest names of the festival against each other. Saturday brought two of the hardest decisions…
The 15th edition of Lollapalooza in Chicago kicked off with the greatest weather you could ever ask for. The annual festival which always takes place on the first weekend of August is usually met with scorching sun, torrid temps, and severe threats of dehydration. But this year by the grace of the weather gods it…
This August, we’re celebrating the 11th birthday of the website. As of now, we’re not throwing any parties this year – though we are going to be doing two things. The first one is that we’re finally moving our new site out of beta at the “launch.theaureview.com” domain and moving everything – and almost all…
No one wails quite like James Blake. The Enfield artist has a unique way of catching his listeners and drawing them deep inside of his music, coaxing them to the very centre where his vocals are at their most penetrative. He touches your soul, truly, in the same way legends like Sam Cooke and Marvin…
After a couple of stellar Splendour In The Grass sets between both The Lumineers and their opener, Tyne James Organ they were able to back them up again during the only Australian sideshow The Lumineers provided. Tyne-James Organ was a brilliant opener for The Lumineers, while his sound had an abundance of energy, Tyne-James has…
It once seemed like St Albans’ party-starters Friendly Fires were destined to become one of the biggest bands of their time, back in the days of their 2008 self-titled debut. Frontman Ed Macfarlane, earnestly goofy in his stage presence, seriously clever in his delivery, could light a room on fire; their music was remarkably detail-oriented…
Adelaide played host to the Spin Off Festival, the annual mini-Splendour event which featured headliner Childish Gambino, alongside an impressive lineup of international and local acts. The one-day festival took place at the Adelaide Showgrounds on what turned out to be a sunny Friday for Adelaide in winter. The event tried a new set-up this…
