Photo Credit: Daniel Boud, Sydney Opera House (Used with Permission) Formerly known as Smog, and the brief touring and life companion of the incomparable Joanna Newsom, Bill Callahan is sitting on an impressive catalogue of music that spans some 25 years and 14 albums. This week, he’s touring Australia for the first time in some…
Image Credit: Daniel Boud It’s been reminded to me quite a few times – by the band and others – that I was the first person to ever publish written work about a group formerly known as The Preachers. It’s not something I bring up now because I feel I’m entitled to take some glory…
In one of Sydney’s few remaining small live music pubs on an unseasonably warm Autumn evening, some local talent come out to perform their tunes to a small but appreciative crowd. It’s an eclectic little mix of artists, from a singer-songwriter with some Bob Dylan tendencies, to an indie pop rock outfit and then our…
Photo: Daniel Boud It’s the hardest part of being an artist – letting go of your work – and Sufjan Stevens lets go all the way. In the first of his performances for Vivid 2015, he transformed the Concert Hall into a mesmerising montage of his life’s narrative. First thought when the lights came on…
Pictured: Klo Sunday in London saw the return of The Aussie BBQ – the live initiative of our music export body Sounds Australia. Hundreds of music fans – both locals and expats – came out for the event which saw over twenty Australian artists performing on two stages over ten hours at the Hoxton Bar…
Last week, the tour celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the legendary Count Basie Orchestra reached Perth and the Perth Concert Hall. Now under the leadership of Scotty Barnhart, the 18-piece orchestra played two, hour-long sets to an appreciative and attentive audience of young and old. Now I wouldn’t consider myself a connoisseur of jazz music,…
Saturday marked the third and final day of the 10th annual The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, England. Larry Heath was on ground at the event to discover new talent and witness some of Australia’s finest bands in a unique setting. It is with this in mind that the day started at The Aussie BBQ,…
This year, an epic 35 year run in music is coming to its inevitable end, with Mötley Crüe making their last ever stop in Sydney at the Allphones Arena. The glam four-piece was accompanied by legend in his own right, Alice Cooper. There are few other ways to describe Cooper’s opening act as aptly as…
On Friday night in Brighton, England, dozens – if not hundreds – of bands from the UK and around the world played across dozens of venues around the city for the second day of The Great Escape 2015. Our highlights from the day kicked off early with Plymouth singer/songwriter Jamie Lawson performing an intimate set…
Curious Cartel is a relatively new film experience, and on Saturday I got to see what all the fuss was about surrounding their new event Popcorn Therapy. Here’s the jist of Popcorn Therapy – a secret screening of a secret film is held somewhere in a secret location within Sydney… secretly. You know nothing of the…
As soon as Peace took to the stage in Sydney’s underground Oxford Art Factory, the space took off with an intensity of sound that made it seem like an outdoor festival. I saw Peace play the same venue two years ago and their confidence levels are now even higher, it felt like a seasoned rock…
Backstreet’s back and these five men, well grown from boys, are very much here to put on a show for the largely female 25 to 40 year olds dominating the audience tonight. AJ Maclean, Howie Dorough (aka Howie D), Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell’s collective appeal has hardly waned in 20 years it seems. Appearing silhouetted red on the…
Friday night, Sydney’s iconic Metro Theatre was graced for the first time by Melbourne/Sydney rockers, The Delta Riggs, who were joined by openers, Food Court and Harts, and I was lucky enough to catch it all live. As a person with a need for immediate gratification and a “skip to the main event” personality, admittedly…
The cars were packed, the cow onesies dusted off and the fast food outlet lines were long – Groovin The Moo had arrived. We’d all spent the day in wait, enviously scrolling past the Oakbank highlights flooding our newsfeed, planning out our timetables like tactical masterminds. In true WA form the sun was out for…
Photo Credit: Johnny Au Coming to Australia all the way from Benin in West Africa is the beautiful, the wonderful Angélique Kidjo. She’s a Grammy Award winning artist who has been described as “the undisputed queen of African music” and is no stranger to our shores, returning this past week to play Bluesfest in Byron…
At this point, I feel I’ve said everything there is to say about the great Gary Clark Jr, yet once again I find myself at one of his concerts in absolute awe of his talent. The way he makes everything look so effortless, the way he moves along that guitar and makes us move in…
The line up for today’s A Day On the Green at Bimbadgen Winery in the Hunter Valley has a stellar line up featuring a plethora of talented musicians. The venue appears to be practically sold out as there isn’t much green left to sit on, the regular general admission punters always arrive early to grab…
Put together each year by the popular music aggregation site The Hype Machine, Hype Hotel has become a mainstay of the annual SXSW music festival. Every time the Hotel returns, it gets bigger and better, and this year was no exception, taking over a massive warehouse on the East side of town. One of our…
With the release of their second album Smoke + Mirrors, the gents from Imagine Dragons returned to our shores for a very brief visit to give us a taste of their new songs live at an exclusive predominantly fan populated event at The Star Event Centre.
When it comes to international popularity, it might be fair to argue that the Americana scene is the strongest it’s been in some time. Not that they’re perhaps the best examples of the genre (nor from the South), but nonetheless, the popularity of artists like Hozier and Mumford and Sons has helped solidify the sound…
A full capacity show on a Friday night was something I half-expected for Falling In Reverse. Having struggled to set foot in Australia because of visa issues, it was a dream come true for many to see frontman, Ronnie Radke in the flesh. Waiting in line is always a tease and the struggle getting into the…
Day 2 of Soundwave brought in more Sydney goers compared to Saturday’s festivities. With the lineup being catered to mainly pop punk fans as well as the metalheads too, it was riveting to see what the second day had in store. I liked the idea of spending my weekend at Soundwave; it was like taking a holiday…
”Fkn Insane! Sexy Amazing. Dance like nobody is watching. I’m off-chops right now, loving everybody. This is sick! 2 Chainz is lookin 4 my booty cos I got a big booty. Do you want to go out with me then break up right before Drake? We love Future!” These were just a few of the…
There were nostalgic memories of my teenage years as I stepped into the Factory Theatre on Wednesday night for one of the many Sidewaves happening in Sydney. The venue filled up quickly and once the lights dimmed, I knew that the madness would commence in a matter of minutes. Making an extravagant entrance, The Devil Wears…
Like anything deemed “popular” in contemporary music today – especially by such mainstream media as Triple M – it’s fair to say that the Foo Fighters are a band that you either love or you hate. Though they hardly inspire the same sort of vitriol of, say, Nickelback, they certainly have their detractors. But being…
It’s been almost five years since we last saw Spoon in Australia, as part of the Groovin’ The Moo tour, off the back off their 2010 record Transference. A lengthy hiatus followed, resulting in the emergence of projects like Britt Daniel’s Divine Fits, who made it down here as part of Laneway a couple of…
It’s not often you get to see two living legends collaborate on stage together; less so given we live in Australia. But some two years after Paul Simon and Sting conceived the idea to bring their bands together and hit the road, their well oiled, impressive production showcasing the best songs of their careers has…
After I had the privilege of enjoying the heavy beats and the amazing sounds of Caribou at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday night, I headed up to the Oxford Art Factory to see another Laneway act parading their wares in Sydney, 28 year old American folk artist Angel Olsen. The talented vocalist based in…
It was an overcast windy afternoon and Sydney Harbour was a little choppy as we made our way out to The Island. Just like the harbour, British garage rock duo Royal Blood are also making waves on the music scene.
