Even though I spent quite a bit of time growing up in the US, American Country music was never something I was raised with. In fact, with the more generic of the genre being all I was exposed to, I did my best to avoid it entirely. It’s only been in recent years through events…
Far from the laneways it originated in, the boutique St Jerome’s Laneway Festival is now a three country, seven city touring juggernaut, with huge crowds and unthinkable logistics. And though it still attracts the fringe acts that gave it its idealic indie reputation in its early days, it also attracts (or, rather, predicts) bands who…
The ritual performances that The Necks perform at The Corner Hotel around about this time of year has always been something intriguing, considering the venue hardly ever gets people to sit down for a performance for any of the shows it puts on. It just seems as if there is this ‘block’ where an exception…
Archie Roach has suffered than his fair share of hardships over the last three years. Following the passing of his partner and soul mate Ruby Hunter in 2010, Roach suffered a stroke and went on to lose a lung to cancer not long after that; both times seeing the beloved Aboriginal artist head into rehabilitation….
In the country to play St Jerome’s Laneway Festival next weekend, Seattle based Mike Hadreas aka Perfume Genius first snuck in two intimate showcases, including one on the closing night of the 2013 Sydney Festival, at The Famous Spiegeltent. The tour comes almost a year after the artist released his acclaimed sophomore LP Put Your…
I don’t think I’ve ever reviewed an explicitly classical music production before. Years ago I spoke about Run Lola Run‘s live presentation at Sydney Festival with The Bays, and at this year’s event I’ve already talked about a Jazz Orchestra, but in either case I’m very much out of my comfort zone here. At least…
As seems to be the trend of many bands playing Big Day Out this year (The Killers, Foals etc.), we’re getting a unique opportunity to catch some pretty big names in relatively intimate settings. Take last night’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs gig as a perfect example of this; the band played the 1200-or-so capacity Metro Theatre,…
Two men. Two acoustic guitars. An hour and 15 minutes of music. It would be fair to say that this is the best way one might describe this weekend’s debut Australian performance of The New Mendicants, aka Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub, among others, and Joe Pernice from The Pernice Brothers, among others. The pair,…
Every now and then a show comes along where being a fan makes it rather difficult to write a review that isn’t full of hyperbole and inexplicable excitement. For me, Weezer was one of those shows. But don’t let my status as a “fan” belittle any praise bestowed upon this gig. I’ve seen Weezer before,…
Supported by a superb five piece band and some of the best songs in the history of music, it would be fair to say that Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright should have had a fairly easy night winning over their Sydney Festival crowd for the “Sing The Truth” concert – an evening of…
One thing I love about events like Sydney Festival is that it gives you the chance to discover new artistic beings you probably should have already known about, but didn’t. Robert Wyatt was one such being, whose name I’d heard echo around the music ether over the years, but never really took the time to…
The second day of the Southbound festival saw temperatures rise well past the coolness of the first day and had the majority of festival goers opting for the shade of the Share Stage. Jinja Safari (pictured) kicked off my second day of the festival in their usual vibrant style. It was an unsurprisingly fun set,…
Another year, another Southbound Festival and despite predictions of the opposite, attendance was up on last year, with the vast majority of the attendees opting to camp on site for the weekends festivities. Though this years line-up may not have been at its most buzz-worthy, it was still a fine collection of acts over the…
It’s a big week here in Sydney. Every night there seem to be dozens of bands playing sideshows from their Falls, Field Day, Southbound, Peats and Woodford appearances – and there simply aren’t enough people in this city to fill every venue with a $50 ticket. Unfortunately this meant that the crowds were not out…
One of the highlights of the Sydney Festival every year are the string of phenomenal, intimate performances that take place in The Famous Spiegeltent in Hyde Park. Helping kick things off last night for 2013 was Brooklyn based talent Sharon Van Etten, who was using Sydney Festival to not only launch her first ever tour…
Sydney Festival time is upon us once again and this year the festival passed on its usual “Festival First Night” branding and introduced us to “Day One: An Opening in Three Acts”, which was a rather artistic way of telling us there would be three events happening in the Sydney CBD on the first day…
Walking onto the stage to an eerie projection and soundtrack, the Swedish duo that make up First Aid Kit – aided tonight by two others and playing in front of a sold out Sydney Opera House crowd – launched straight into the “In The Morning”, before taking us through tracks from The Big Black &…
In the first week of 2013 that begun traditionally with a stellar day at The Domain thanks to Field Day, it was time to kick off the Falls Festival sideshows with a string of events around the city. Though the following night would end up proving the most difficult for clashes, there was plenty on…
Morrissey is an artist whose music has always existed in the periphery of my mind. I wasn’t brought up on The Smiths; rather discovered their music in my late teens. His solo music, meanwhile, was something I knew from song to song, rather than album to album. This wasn’t so much indicative of any particular…
Upon entering a gig where The Living End are playing, you will notice one thing initially – there is always a huge crowd drinking and then you will notice throughout the night the passion that leaks into each punter about this band that reigns above all else and you will find it electrifying. Fans just…
My favourite showcase returned for round two the other night, bringing with it the music of Ivi, Jenna Murphy and Zana Rose, and Rascals & Runaways. Once again, it was a great night of female talent — the kind of event that doesn’t happen anywhere near often enough.
Friday night saw Perth’s Amplifier Bar play host to a collection of local talent, the majority of whom I was seeing for the first time, for the launch of Our Man In Berlin’s video for latest single “Bled Dry” off forthcoming EP Paint The Lies. I unfortunately missed a good portion of opening act Lanark’s…
Tiny little streetside hole in the wall, The Newsagency, prides itself on being a venue for songwriters. A place where music fans can come and enjoy grassroots artists; performing in a lounge room style setting. Even the gig itself was touted as Brendan Maclean’s own personal birthday extravaganza; with a line-up consisting of Maclean’s own friends from…
On my first visit to The Forum (being from Adelaide and all) I walked in and was struck by two things. Firstly, the incredible view of the Roman-style theatre complete with naked statues and a bright, faux-star sky. Secondly, the effortlessly booming, deep, blues beats of support band The Growl. Their name conspicuously missing from…
Birds of Tokyo have been around for quite a few years now. Since their debut in Perth in 2004 and after releasing two EP’s, they released their first full length album in 2006 titled Day One. After extensive touring they released a second titled album, Universes, which was recorded in LA and has won many…
Walking into The Workers Club at 9:30 on a Friday evening doesn’t seem to be the right time to enjoy a band, and I can only guess that this was the reason why we see bAnofee performing to a crowd of about four people. This is a damned shame, because her striking vocals reverberated around…
Getting a music conference right is never an easy thing. There needs to be a balance between keeping things interesting for both musicians and the industry, a variety of panels to make it worth everyone’s while – as well as being unique for the market – great networking opportunities and, naturally, the showcasing of some…
Things looked a little sombre at the Sando to begin with. Normally it’s the rain, but tonight it seemed to be the heat keeping the punters away. I thought I had turned up slightly late, but the lady at the door eased my mind when she told me the opening act had not yet commenced….
Over the last few years, the camp at ARIA have been working hard trying to use their brand to the best of its abilities; extending beyond the awards in an age where sales are down, profits are low and a TV audience is reducing. In 2010 they introduced a concept that saw its nominated artists…
Sometimes it’s the smaller intimate gigs that are the more memorable. Brett Winterford’s show at Perth’s YaYas was one of those shows. Being a Thursday night, the audience was a lamentable one in terms of size. What would have been an already intimate show, became that much more intimate. There was none of the awkwardness…
