Live Reviews

One of the unique advantages of playing a successful and respected annual event like Sydney Festival is that artists who may otherwise perform to half full rooms around the country are given the chance to sit in front of large, (usually) packed venues. This is thanks to the mix of fans and the curious who…

After seeing Limbo, I felt it would be hard to witness another acrobatic circus so soon. Surely it couldn’t top all the wonderful array of party tricks they had up their sleeves. Indeed, Limbo is a high-tech, over-the-top masterpiece of the circus. So I went into Scotch and Soda, Sydney festival’s other house circus, with…

If you could mix together a blend of emo, pop punk, fast paced alternative rock and a dash of rap you would be pretty close to summarising the different genres and sounds you’d hear at tonight’s concert. All of this would be delivered in large high energy doses courtesy of all three acts.

Sometimes on very rare occasions an artist is so mesmerising and captivating, that all you can hear is their performance and nothing else. It’s not often that I get to be a part of shows like that, but tonight was one of those nights.

Following years of successful cabaret “house shows” at the Sydney Festival’s Famous Spiegeltent, it should come of little surprise that this year’s production LIMBO is set to follow in the footsteps of critical and box office smashes like Cantina and Smoke & Mirrors. Well, we certainly can’t predict a sell out season, but we can…

In the now classic song* by Sydney band The Beards, it’s exclaimed “There’s Nothing Better Than Having a Beard”. What Canadian troubadour Ben Caplan proved in his Sydney Festival opening set, accompanied by his band The Casual Smokers, is that a) this is true and b) it’s even better when that beard can play some…

After some 115 shows around the world, including an impressive (and slightly humbling – we’re rarely so spoilt) two stops in Australia, Brooklyn group Grizzly Bear have brought their Shields tour to an end with a spectacular two hour set at the Sydney Opera House. The crowd lapped up every minute of the set, which…

With a big night before in check, Field Day offered enough dance music to keep the celebrators happy while offering a few more chilled out options for those still recovering from New Year’s Eve. Its size, slightly smaller than a regular festival, meant that it was easier to get around and criss-cross genres throughout the…

Pond has built themselves a reputation as one of Australia’s top live acts, and it’s not hard to see why, delivering a whole lot of noise on par with the depth of the album recordings. Support band Doctopus did a good job of warming up the crowd – with plenty of electric guitar, stage banter…

Whilst half of Adelaide were across town seeing Bon Jovi, another demographic of music lover had made their way to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre to see one of popular musics most skilled songwriters perform. The venerable poet of the 1960s, Leonard Cohen returned to Adelaide for the final leg of his ‘Old Ideas World Tour’….

Louis London are hitting their stride, showing maturity and promise beyond the early stages of their career. Following the resounding success of their first ever Pozible campaign, the band confidently launched their second EP The Big Deep with a string of local shows, finishing up in Melbourne. It seems that their hard work has paid off with latest singles “This…

When you name your tour Spreading The Disease and feature some of America’s leading acts to deliver big riffs and big vocals and big hair, you can expect nothing less than a hilariously stellar rock show.

The Workers Club has this strange way of gathering crowds. Sparse people saunter in and out of the bandroom with everyone wanting to socialise while an ear was eagerly kept on alert for when the music will begin. It’s very strange, but this venue has a way of bringing in fascinating crowds, if previous gigs…

Cub Sport’s music has been described as ‘infectiously happy with summer pop vibes’. Their live show does just the same, carrying off a smooth-sailing performance that is surprisingly low-key. Not as in low energy (each band member pays ferocious attention to their instruments) but the night took a friendly register, only encouraged by the cosy…

Last week Dan Sultan brought his ‘Back to Basics’ solo tour to a close with an intimate sold out gig at Perth’s Ellington Jazz Club. With his band at home back in Melbourne and with no support, Sultan took to the stage alone, with only a guitar and a piano for company. What followed over…

Thursday night saw Sydney troubadour Patrick James kick off the first of two intimate shows in WA in support of new single “Wait”, with a packed performance at The Ellington Jazz Club. None too shabby for an artist who hadn’t played a headline show in the state before. The evening’s support came in the form…

This week the Australian leg of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Old Ideas World Tour’ arrived in Western Australia with a packed show at the Perth Arena. At 79 years old, Cohen doesn’t look to be slowing down any, treating his Perth fans to a three-hour set, that featured, a good twenty songs and not one, but two…

Electronic music isn’t what it used to be – where there once were clear lines between house, dance and rock, Australian music has openly taken on all technology so that there is a fusion of the best parts of each genre. Melbourne’s World’s End Press and Sydney trio Movement take on big sound for a…

A little more than a month after Neutral Milk Hotel kicked off their reunion tour – their first run of shows since 1998* – in Baltimore, Maryland, the iconic group have made the journey down to Australia for their first ever shows in our country. To be considered so early in this reunion cycle, or…

For a band that has never headlined a tour in Australia to date, the guys from OneRepublic managed to nearly sell out the enormous Event Centre room and bring a thunderous show to the crowd filled with epic pop rock tunes and flashy production.

The last day is here. I write this in a state of both sadness and joy, because I have seen so many great bands perform in front of pretty enthusiastic crowds. NYC really likes to cheer and woo for their entertainment, and it’ll be something I really miss from this city. Then again, I’m sitting…

The final night of CMJ at the Music Hall of Williamsburg opened with the comedy of Kate Berlant – whose reasonable clever shtick involved making a series of confessions and observations in lieu of ever playing a song, while a guitar was draped around her shoulders – ultimately unused. An odd choice for an opening…

With the evening upon us, it was time for Culture Collide to bring out the big guns on what was the final night of the three day event. King Kahn and his seven piece troupe The Shrines – featuring no less than three members making up a brass section – were the first band to…

Thursday night saw Canadian singer-songwriter Tim Chaisson, who is currently touring the country with Diesel in support of their joint EP Last Shower, stop in at Perth’s Ellington Jazz Club for an intimate solo performance. Unfortunately, being mid-week, the night never really threatened to sell out. Even by the time Chaisson took to the stage…

Though there wasn’t a Saturday afternoon block party to close things out this year, they retained an outdoor stage and made that the centrepiece of a day of fantastic music and comedy over eight stages. I kicked off the final day of Culture Collide with Japanese solo artist SiMoN, who accompanied lyrics in his native…

Sometimes you forget that Ricky Martin has been a stalwart of the entertainment industry for the last near 30 years. He’s an accomplished and successful singer, songwriter, actor and even an author. Tonight he’d be showcasing his greatest hits which have put him on the map as an entertainer and I don’t think there was a single…

It was a day of redemption today. I am not going to stay up any later than 1am. I am not going to fall asleep during gigs. I’m not going to be that insane bottle of a person who lies in the corner writing tour diaries in the press centre corner for two hours fixing…

Let’s get to the serious stuff first though. The conference part of the CMJ conference starts us off – a cavalcade of talking heads and absorbing insight talking about a wide array of issues plaguing the music industry today. The first of these panels was “Music Journalism in the New World”. We at The AU…

Considering that your dear writer was up until 1:25am last night, it would be good to assume that grogginess would take over on day two. But never fear! There is a feeling of invincibility in me at the moment. But it should be noted that there should be emphasis on the words ‘at the moment’….

Staying up until 3am last night broke the record of staying up until 1am on the 16th October for me. The range of places that I went to varied insanely – too much probably. Going from living-room sized tiled rooms underneath restaurants to larger rooms that could fill hundreds of people was an experience and…