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…
Homebake returned to The Domain over the weekend for the first time since 2009. It was missed by all of us in 2010, but its year away was understandable in all respects. Though its 2011 installment didn’t sell out, the crowds were massive, energies were high and the music was killer. Here’s a look back…
Hibernian House was taken over on Friday night by two wonderful young singer/songwriters. First up was Patrick James, a surprising young talent whose eloquent folk music may have fit well on the Garden State soundtrack – especially the closing track “Burn Away”. A beautiful track, all it was missing was a montage. “Carry On” opened…
Heavenly Sounds is a new initiative to place beautiful contemporary music in Churches and Cathedrals around Australia. In its first effort, the organisers sent Seeker Lover Keeper and special guests on a tour of 12 such venues around the country, selling out every show along the way. Tonight we found ourselves a third of the…
Last night the final Russian Standard Vodka Live at the Chapel event for 2011 took place in Newtown, with the first ever double act for long running series. Two of Australia’s finest live acts, PNAU and Eskimo Joe, shared the altar (so to speak) for a very entertaining evening of live music, in the acoustic…
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The hugely successful national run of Tim and Neil Finn tribute concerts – They Will Have Their Way – continued last night with a sold out show at the Sydney Opera House, the first of three at the venue. The show sees seven well regarded Australian artists – Seeker Lover Keeper (Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann…
Heading through the strange venue that is The Buffalo Club, I felt I was in some sort of strange vortex of time between war-time Australia and a fashion palace that was dimly lit for an accidental hippie. Regardless, the venue provided an unusual backdrop for some slightly unusual music (maybe not too unusual if you’ve…
It’s barely been two years since an “intimate showcase” featuring Florence and the Machine was just a run of the mill gig for the London based band. Indeed, the meteoric rise that has led Florence Welch and her band to this point – the release of their second record Ceremonials – has been a joy…
What better way to spend Remembrance Day than by celebrating the classic songs of Nick Drake, performed by a wonderful selection of artists from around the world and accompanied by a remarkable thirteen piece ensemble. The night, titled Way To Blue, after the Drake song of the same name, was curated by Joe Boyd, who…
Being fashionably late is no longer fashionable. I find this out when I arrive as soon as the 3rd or 4th song from The Letter String Quartet and the venue is nearly full already. As soon as I walked through the door, this collection of strings had me captured. The tones which the four players…
My final day of CMJ was spent admiring the music of Australia from afar. Though I was at The Delancey for the entirety of The Aussie BBQ, I once again enjoyed little-to-no music as I undertook a pile of interviews on the roof. You, however, will be enjoying those soon. That said, I did catch…
