Live Reviews

In town for the CinefestOz Film Festival, where a documentary about him is being screened, Steve Kilbey, of The Church fame, dropped into Fremantle for a one off ‘solo’ gig at Mojos on Thursday Night. Joining Kilbey on stage was a trio of local musicians – Shaun Coulson, on guitar and mandolin, Shaun Hoffman on…

Taking the pretty much unheard of route of playing seven shows in seven days at Sydney’s The Lansdowne, locals The Jezabels played night four of their residency to a sell out crowd in front of their hometown fans. Playing a venue literally the next street down from where they formed whilst at uni, the Sydney…

Following a successful regional tour together, the Hoodoo Gurus and You Am I decided to hit the road again and luckily for the rest of the country, they added Jebediah and Adalita added to the bill. The Fist Full of Rock  tour kicked off in Adelaide on Friday at Thebarton Theatre, with what was a…

It was a different kind of set to the ones I’m used to from The Living End. This is a band that headlines festivals, starts mosh pits, and causes all ’round chaos in Australia. But on this sticky Monday night in New York, they were very much a support act. It wasn’t from lack of…

Live orchestra club music experiences – be they film, video game, or pop music –  seem to have become the hottest ticket in town. As the traditional audience for classical orchestra instrumentation performances peters out, and orchestras struggle with relevance and sponsorship, they have found a way to reach new, younger consumers of their product:…

Brisbane duo Elko Fields are hyped to do big things, but the massive hometown crowd at Lefty’s showed big things are deservedly happening for them right now. Opening with a bang was local duo The Royal Artillery, whose riffs packed more firepower than their namesake. Every song felt like an explosion, but the duo’s finale…

Do you remember when you were still a little primary school cherub, and for whatever reason you got to go to school after hours – maybe a parent teacher interview night, a sleep-over at school, a school disco. There was kind of a feeling of being up to something bad, and you act a little…

Is New Jack Swing still alive and kicking? It’d be hard to argue for the style’s viability in today’s market of crayon-rap and sparse, bass heavy and drug-addled R&B, but there’s no denying the nostalgic value of the genre and its various pioneers, two of which performed together for the first time in Australia at…

If you were going to get frisked at a gig in Brisbane we guess it would have to be at Death Grips, right? Friday night found Max Watts occupied by a weird hybrid of metalheads meets hipsters. A completely sold out show of a lot of these types, all waiting in the dark for Death…

It was a bittersweet night for Shane Nicholson at the Caravan Music Club last Friday night, with the venue announcing its closure after a decade of providing an iconic venue for bands and artists to play. Always a highlight venue on the Victorian leg of his tour; singing songs from his twenty-year career repertoire and…

Legendary Sydney live music venue The Lansdowne Hotel has come back from the dead after being closed for nearly two years. The rough around the edges pub played host to the Red Bull Sound Select July instalment on Friday night curated by St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival. These events give music lovers new music monthly along with…

Margaret Court Arena on Thursday night looked very different to the Margaret Court Arena on Wednesday night. Gone was the disco ball that hung over LCD Soundsystem’s stage; in its place was a full lighting production and screens on to which brilliant computer-simulated visuals would eventually project. We are here for Sigur Rós and we…

It’s been four years since Two Door Cinema Club have blessed the ears of their Melbourne fans, so it came as no surprise that the Irish pop-rock outfit went all out to make their show at Festival Hall one to remember. Planting their feet on our shores initially for their appearance at Splendour in the…

For Melbourne music fans, Splendour sideshow week is like Christmas, the abundance of exciting international artists hitting the city is like no other, Banks at The Forum being a particular standout on the schedule. Opening the evening was Zimbabwe-born, NZ-raised rapper TAPZ who revelled in the eager early-comers converged on the floor. Recent single “Run…

I tell ya what, Margaret Court Arena is going to be going through it over the next few months or at least, until the Melbourne venue is renamed. With Sigur Rós‘ much-anticipated show at the arena taking place this evening, an event that has directly called Margaret Court out herself and has taken steps to actively support…

Time helps build a cult of personality; a paradigm in which how you remember things can be altered dramatically from how they actually are. With more than six years since their last visit, plenty of time has passed since LCD Soundsystem had the chance to play to a Sydney crowd. And while the music industry…

You know that old rule your mum used to tell you: ‘If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all’? While it sure is nice to be spoken to politely, Sigur Rós must have listened really well to their mums, as they played the nicest and most awe inspiring of sets you’ll…

From its humble beginnings as a one-night showcase at LA club The Echo, FYF Fest has evolved both in venue and scope with a diverse lineup spanning 3 days at Downtown’s Exposition Park. Day One’s Friday afternoon began with the punch of Sydney’s own Royal Headache, followed by the soothing touch of Canadian outfit BADBADNOTGOOD, whose…

“Hello everyone, grab a seat!” Jeremy Neale says from the bed of a hotel room. His set list is peeping out from the “What do you call this thing?” The 20 odd guests call out… “Throw!” “Rug!” “Blanket!” “A throw?” he says, “Too fancy for me. One day I’d like to own a throw”. This…

The Metro Theatre is one of the more intimate venues but on Friday night people were definitely getting close and personal for Rag’n’Bone Man’s Splendour Sideshow. I walked in to a purple haze of the packed theatre with support act hip hop artist L-FRESH the LION signing off after spitting what I’m sure were some fire…

As the usual circus that is Splendour In The Grass rolls through this vast country of ours, so too does some of the best bands currently walking the earth. One of these said bands is HAIM, and I’ll tell you what, they know how to play a live show. Here at their only headline date…

With today’s announcement of a massive tour in April/May (which may or may not coincide with Groovin’ The Moo), tonight’s relatively intimate sole headline show at the Metro for U.K. duo Royal Blood turned out to be something of a preview for their big shows ahead in the new year – playing venues five times…

Jon Stevens kicked off his Starlight Album Tour at the Palms in Melbourne, with special guest, long-time friend Kate Ceberano. Opening the show with some classic covers, Phil Ceberano and band brought a level of excitement and intensity often lacking by opening bands.

Back in the country for the first time since their co-headline tour with Nine Inch Nails in 2014, Queens of the Stone Age are on the road this week for a run of shows which tease their upcoming album Villains (due out August 25th). The tour kicked off with their first ever show in Darwin,…

Tucked under The Chippendale Hotel in Sydney there is a den. It is darkly lit to set the mood with music posters on the roof and graffiti sprawled all over the walls. On Friday night, it was filled with hippies, hipsters, goths and everyone in between. All to see the dynamic duo that is Willow…

Melbourne’s Better Half were lucky (?) enough to receive the tough task of warming up The Corner Hotel’s stage for international acts Touché Amore and Turnover. No biggie, that wouldn’t have been terrifying at all. A subdued stage presence matched the mellow crowd, which is understandable, considering vocalist Christopher Vernon was fresh off the back…

I think it was Mac DeMarco who breached the final barrier of bringing smooth yacht rock back to the realm of the hipsters, but I’m glad he did. He proved that just like every genre which gets a blanket opinion, there were reasons it got popular in the first place which are lost in the…

Who doesn’t love a cover song? I have a theory that in any festival set, if a band (irrespective of their size or street cred) covers a classic song, the crowd will froth on it and that will be the biggest moment of the set. Playing their own headlining show at the Enmore Theatre, Furnace…

Adelaide trio DONNARUMMA launched their new EP Billy Billy at one of the city’s most beloved music venues – The Grace Emily – on Saturday night; an evening that was full of love and support for the players who have established themselves as more than just familiar faces on the circuit. Coming together with a wealth of…

Before anything, let’s take a moment and raise a glass to Furnace and the Fundamentals for not just changing the face of live music, but giving the public want they want – all killer, no filler. Gracefully traversing a well-blended medley of greatest hits, the spicy six piece took to an eager Max Watts on…