Live Reviews

The first night of live music took me to the French entertainment and music store FNAC on rue d’Antibes, where a special showcase for young Canadian artist Chris Assaad had been organised. Shoppers and MIDEM delegates had all gathered to listen to Assaad, who greeted everyone both in French and English, before he started off…

With an open-air concert out of question given the rather low temperatures and heavy rain that night, MIDEM had raised a big top for the event: Chapiteau Croisette, set in the beautiful location (on a sunny day that is) of Palm Beach and next to the casino. First to hit the stage were French indie…

Sometimes words can’t do justice to the beauty music can evoke. You have to experience it for yourself. At the very least, I don’t consider myself a good enough writer to do so. Tonight at the Sydney Opera House brings me one such moment, where UK songstress Laura Marling embraced a sold out crowd performing…

I arrived at the Metro Theatre for this phenomenal (and criminally undersold) triple bill to hear a couple of new tracks from Sydney’s Guineafowl, opening up the night in their usual classy fashion. The new track sounded promising, keeping us on our toes for their long awaited debut LP, hopefully being released later this year….

Last Friday night, The Bakery in Perth played host to American psych-rockers and Animal Collective label signees, Prince Rama as part of the second annual Fringe World Festival. Local duo Gulls kicked off proceedings with a subtle and mesmerising performance. Gulls are made up of Amber Fresh (Rabbit Island) on vocals/guitar and Matt Aitken (Gilbert…

Not a cloud could be found as we made our way to the St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Sydney. Indeed, the sun had come out to play on a typically beautiful Sydney summer day (which we haven’t seen much of this year); a stark contrast to the weather of last year and a very welcome…

There was a thing at this gig that became curiously weird; Battles, a mainly instrumental band using new styles of music composition were playing in a venue with old concrete walls. Walking into particular areas of The Forum and then smelling an odour of dampness was peculiar for a place that looked hugely grandiose from…

As Big Day Out and its many official sideshows wrapped up in Sydney (there are still a few more special appearances to be made… such as Das Racist at the Rdio launch on Saturday), it’s now time to officially welcome the sideshows of the 2012 Laneway Festival, with Active Child ringing in the period with…

A lot can happen in nine years. For folk troubadour Carus Thompson, plenty has changed in the nine years since the recording of the first Acoustic at the Norfolk album. In that time he has gotten married, become a father, put out three acclaimed records, and played countless shows across two continents. Now, nine years…

As I entered the Spiegeltent, LA based outfit Vintage Trouble had already begun chanting “Welcome To Our Party” to the enthusiastic crowd. Indeed, they brought the party to Sydney at an early 7pm show – always an impressive feat – with the crowd on their feet and dancing from start to finish. The band –…

There are some genres that will never die. They are the genres that paved the way for “Rock and Roll” as we know it today: Blues, Swing, Rockabilly, Jazz, Country and so on… and the reason we know it will never die is because not only do bands like Kitty, Daisy and Lewis – siblings…

Sydney’s newest venue is a small 40-capacity room in Marrickville, a short walk from the Factory Theatre on Enmore Road. It’s an intimate space which has already had artists like Lanie Lane grace its stage, and embraces you with free pizza on arrival. Brilliant! Tonight Lachy Doley took his turn to perform, performing tracks off…

It was a balmy summer night that saw me heading into the city to the Amplifier Bar for a night of great local music. Relative new comers Our Man in Berlin opened proceedings in front of a reasonable early doors crowd. From the outset they played with both confidence and poise. Playing a set of…

Sitting down cross legged at a gig is really weird, especially in a pub. I know there are those experimental gigs in warehouses where sitting crossed legged down is a pre-requisite, but why sit on beer soaked carpet? Regardless, I like hanging out with people who like to chill, and I can try to chill,…

The hit of last year’s Sydney Festival, Smoke and Mirrors, was a wonderful production helmed by Sydney talent iOTA. Bouncing off the success of La Clique in previous years, as well as iOTA’s growing popularity thanks to his turn in sell out seasons of Hedwig and the Angry Itch and Rocky Horror, it became one…

The Red Paintings returned to Adelaide on Saturday night as part of The Black Paintings Tour. The “orchestral art-rock” band appeared before a swirling star scape, at Fowlers Live, ushered to the stage by spacey science fiction sounds, to greet a crowd which numbered less than a hundred people. Numbers aren’t everything, however, as there…

I’ve always enjoyed dance. Though I rarely experience it live, few things can be as enthralling on stage (or screen – have you seen The Muppets yet?) than a dance ensemble pulling out the moves to a superb score – be it a musical, a music video, a ballet or a gymnastics display in the…

Whilst the first day of the festival had its undeniable highlights and a number of memorable music moments, it became clear fairly early in the day that the second day wasn’t going to disappoint either. Whether it be discovering new bands, insane dance circles, or enjoying an ice cold cider whilst listening to some great…

Show offs. Really that just about sums up my personal feelings about the whole show, stemming out of pure, deep jealousy for how two people can be so damn talented. The two musicians in question are Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts, both of folk rock band The Maple Trail (Daniel also of The Saturns), who…

Another Southbound has come and gone, and once again it was a great weekend filled with great music, plenty of sun, and a nice, chilled out vibe. There were a couple of changes made since the previous year, the most noticeable one – or, rather, the one that everyone has been harping on about –…

Following a spectacular Festival First Night over the weekend, things are now well and truly rolling at camp Sydney Festival. My first event – no doubt first of many – of the month long festival took place at the newly named Keystone Festival Bar (formerly sponsored by Beck’s), at the Hyde Park Barracks. Every year,…

Last in the country in March 2008 for Golden Plains, Beirut have received nothing short of a hero’s welcome on their return almost five years, and one album, later. They’ve made a slight upgrade of venues between visits, too, moving up from the 600-or-so capacity Manning Bar to the Sydney Opera House. Not bad. But…

Woodford might’ve ended a few days before, but with The Basement hosting a few of its notable acts on Friday, (soloists such as Andy Brown, Jodi Martin, and Dave Gunning, and the headlining duo Folk Uke), us Sydneysiders were treated to our own mini-folk festival.

The irregular sleeps seemingly were getting a hold of me. Waking up with this kind of irregularity over the last five days wasn’t making me crazy, but I was certainly feeling it when I took that very cold shower. It was now day five of Woodford and I was starting to feel the effects of…

Reasonably bearded Seattle based six piece Fleet Foxes had an amazing 2011. Releasing their sophomore LP Helplessness Blues to rave reviews around the world – hitting Number One in Norway, Number Two in the UK, Number Four in the US and Number Six on the Australian Charts – and touring the globe relentlessly, including a…

Waking up later each and every day seems to be a regular thing for me these days. It happened at Meredith, and it’s happening at Woodford. The third day is upon us and I was up at the sunny dawn of 8am. The previous two days saw me awake at the fairly reasonable hours (if…

Heading through the gates in the pitch black of night and then pitching the tent up in those conditions wasn’t the most ideal start, but it’s kind of the way with these things. I guess I should be used to it by now, considering I’ve been to Meredith, Splendour and many other camping festivals ever…

When it comes to music festivals in Australia, so many are too keen to expand, try and make more money and move away from their roots. Though still arguably boutique, in many cities there isn’t a laneway to be seen at the Laneway festival (not that this is necessarily a bad thing, in this particular…

When you watch Dave Grohl running around the stage, wearing a massive grin, you can’t help but imagine he’s channeling his 15 year old self, going – “hey buddy, look how cool it is! Your dreams are totally do come true!” Maybe that’s how Dave has kept it real all these years. But however he’s…

The night opened up with Kill City Creeps, a band who have spent the last six months working hard to make their mark on the Sydney seen. Made up of ex-Dolly Rocker Daniel Darling and two-thirds of Dora Maar, the band play old fashioned (perfect for any 60’s beach party) rock and roll in every…