Music

The fantastic concept that is The JD Set has returned to our shores for a second round, showcasing an audience’s pick of relatively unknown bands (Brittle and Starting Sunday) alongside one of Australia’s most popular acts (Faker)… All for free! The way they ran the ticketing system was fairly simple: register for tickets online, bring…

SPECIAL REVIEW FEATURE(S): TWITTER FEED As the crowd began to filter into the Enmore, lone support act CATCALL, formerly of Kiosk, took to the stage, performing “Be My Earthquake” to open her half-hour-or-so set. Reasonably catchy, the song was enhanced by a rarely seen 3-piece backup band. While other songs were brought down by the…

While touted as the “debut [V] Live event”, today’s event was always going to be a hard reminder of the days when Channel [V] ACTUALLY brought regular live music to the streets of Sydney. Free events, usually at Fox Studios, showcased some of the world’s hottest properties (Foo Fighters, Incubus, The Dandy Warhols and Queens…

SPECIAL REVIEW FEATURE(S): TWITTER FEED While their appearance at Splendour in the Grass, was touted as an “exclusive Australian appearance”, Bloc Party have managed to fit in a few “secret” shows along the route. On Friday night, they appeared at the Great Northern Hotel in Byron Bay for the pre-Splendour party – in which they,…

Why wait for the full review? In an AU review FIRST, from Friday night to Sunday night, Larry & Chris uploaded live tweets – both text and pics – from Australia’s signature winter festival. Check out the archived embedded feed here: #Splendour lives on! Full coverage from tomorrow! Then Bloc Party @ MCA. They played…

As I entered Manning Bar, it was immediately clear that tonight would be a unique evening. Donning newspaper hats, a good 500 people had taken over the dance floor, sitting down, cross-legged, slowly sipping away on their beer. Yes, tonight these 20-somethings would all be singing along to tunes from their youth. And with the…

On the cusp of yet another last-minute cancellation from Ajax (okay, perhaps that’s a bit harsh… I only know of one other time he’s done that in Sydney this year), some may have been a bit disappointed to hear his replacement, Act Your Age, hitting the main stage decks on arrival instead. But after some…

In a line up rivalling Sydney’s recent Come Together festival (and then some), a huge list of talents took over the Metro Theatre this weekend, providing Sydney with 7 hours of quality music. A mini-festival by any standard… and all for $40! Can we “Save FBi” every month? THE JEZABELS were just getting things warmed…

Personally my favourite of all the “Save FBi” gigs this month, The Ivy League brought quite a few amazing acts out of the closet, freshly dusted, to perform for us tonight. Arriving just in time to catch the end of crowd-pleasers Cabins, I once again found myself thoroughly enjoying their set, and was heartily disappointed…

While I can’t say I was ever a huge fan of the Wu Tang Clan growing up (sacrilegious I know!), I certainly have always been able to appreciate the impact they made on the world of hip hop, something which continues today – both as a collective (sans the late ODB) and in their assorted…

It’s quite a rare occasion in which one can be self aware they are witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event. Simon & Garfunkel playing the stages of Sydney almost 40 years after they first split up is one such moment. For myself, it’s the first opportunity I’ve ever had to see the legendary duo, and it will…

While it might seem like we at theAUreview are covering a fair share of Mum events of late, such simply reflects the talent being showcased here on a weekly basis. As much as we reviewers love live music, it’s a fair effort to convince us to attend a gig on a Friday night, especially if…

As Sydney’s groundbreaking Vivid festival draws to a close, tonight marked the end of the Creative Sydney portion of the event, during which some of Sydney’s finest artists came together to showcase the musical talent of the city. The event, appropriately named “Songs of Sydney”. How this worked (in fast-moving fashion), was that a house…

The first in a long line of FBi fundraiser gigs, OK! Relax have presented Sydneysiders with a gig at 3pm on a Monday? God bless the long weekend. And special thanks to the Queen in this case. And a bunch of quality bands for just $10? Well that’s the icing on the (Queens) cake! Arriving…

Although one of the more (seemingly) obscure artists on the Luminous bill, the electronic stylings of Jon Hopkins (not to be confused with conductor John Hopkins) have made their way into most houses across the world, thanks in major part to Brian Eno and Coldplay (with the instrumental beauty of “Light through the Veins” featured…

After months of hype and anticipation, Brian Eno’s Luminous Festival has finally arrived; the main feature of Sydney’s groundbreaking festival of light, sound and culture – Vivid. Late last week, the festival kicked off with the lighting of the Opera House Sails, and the opening of Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings Exhibit. I highly recommend…

Mum is one regular Sydney night which consistently delivers an exceptional dose of local rock into the consciousness of the city. And tonight was no exception. The night launched with Halal, How Are You? – a difficult-to-describe rock band whose lead singer, Zac, has become infamous for taking off his shirt and climbing over everything…

It’s fair to say that few people are willing to make the trek out on a Tuesday night to see a group of unknown local acts; but this fact hasn’t stopped Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel from putting on one such night. Dubbed “Tuesday Night Live”, groups of local acts play in a relaxed environment, where…

When it comes to those hip hop groups considered “influential”, it would be fair to say that few pack the punch they used to. For some, untimely deaths/murders are to blame. Differences and arguments broke others apart. But most simply no longer produce the product that made them so popular and influential in the first…

It would be hard to argue that this year’s V festival lineup was anything to get excited about. With The Killers headlining the festivities, it had nothing on the Pixies and The Smashing Pumpkins of previous years, reading like a very average British festival. And a last minute set change, which caused The Killers to…

It goes without saying that there has been no band who has even come close in matching the success Kings of Leon has seen in Australia this past year. And all it took was one song. In January of last year, still riding the wave of “ONLY BY THE NIGHT”, the Kings of Leon were…

Following the disasters which ravaged Queensland and Victoria in February, the worst in our nation’s history, it became clear that we as a community had to join together to do something – anything – to not only immediately assist those in peril, but financially assist any and all organisations which would keep these sort or…

While last month’s “The Big O” may have been something new for Sydney Uni students, Beachball is a long-running tradition for the new semester. While the internationals are missing, a fantastic showcase of local talent is always on offer. This year, Van She and Wolf & Cub were given the honour of headlining the Manning…

It’s a distant memory now when Coldplay first played Australia. In fact most of you probably didn’t even notice it happening. Riddled with nerves, Chris Martin stepped onto the Big Day Out Main Stage in 2001 to a crowd who had no idea who they were. They had barely released “Parachutes” at this point, after…

One thing that my friends in the UK have always bragged about over the years were the bands that their Universities would get for their Orientation week-equivalent, Freshers’ Week. Well it seems the kind folks at Boundary Sounds were a bit jealous as well, and organised an Australian-wide tour / mini festival “The Big O”,…

A while back I reviewed Decorated Generals as part of the MUM lineup at World Bar, in which I commented on how they are easily, and perhaps surprisingly, one of the most impressive up-and-coming bands Sydney has seen in some time. In a recent appearance at Oxford Art Factory, they cemented this status, playing tracks…

Review by Dane Wang: After last year’s hiccup you would have thought that the promoters wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, but however they managed to outdo themselves again. Waiting in line for almost an hour to get in, I feared the worst for the remainder of the day; will there be enough free water?…

Trying to write a review for a Leonard Cohen concert has been one of the hardest tasks I’ve undertaken in recent memory (clearly I live a difficult life…). To be able to clearly articulate this experience is far outside my skills as a writer. Put simply, I will never be able to replicate the true…

Having attended the Sydney Big Day Out for the past 5 years, it would be fair to say that being sick of the crowd that attends this event is an understatement. So, loving Melbourne, I decided to make the trip down south for this year’s epic BDO event – and boy, did it pay off….

While everyone else was at the Sydney Big Day Out (including, initially, some members of The Curse of Company), a small group had gathered at the Hopetoun Hotel for what was to be an excellent, albeit rather humid, night of live music. First up, all the way from New York, was the one-man machine of…