Music – Reviews Archive

The Saturday prior to this year’s Soundwave, Sydneysiders despaired – a weather system hanging off a tropical cyclone doused the city all day, leaving the roads between the Brisbane event and Sydney quite literally impassable in parts. Luckily, however, the sun decided …

When Ray Charles’s 1957 debut album, Ray Charles was reissued in 1962, it was under the new title Hallelujah, I Love Her So. As well as being the title of one of the album’s most riveting and beguiling songs, the ambiguous phrase …

It is a challenge to the non-Aboriginal Australian to consider that inanimate material objects can hold cultural memory. Even though we seem to spend the majority of our time chasing material possessions, we rarely, if ever, look beyond an object’s practical use …

Metropolitan Opera in HD, Cremorne, Orpheum Theatre Hector Berlioz, the remarkable revealer of mysteries, reveries and epic tales, draws for inspiration on Virgil’s account of the ancient civilizations of Troy, Carthage and their aggressors. This opera may not be for the attention-challenged …

After attending Rachel Collis’s debut of her album Ever After, going for a Brazilian wax will not be as frightening as it used to be. Collis’s uninhibited stage presence, powerful voice and great keyboard talent convinced me that the painful process of …

After a 45-minute ride into the suburban heart of Melbourne city, we finally arrived at the Footscray Community Art Centre. As we walked out of the station with the crowds, the atmosphere and energy was absolutely brilliant. The sun was out and …

Get ready for a fundraiser with a real twist. Talented sopranos, tenors, altos and baritones will sing for marriage equality rights in Australia on February 16, performing favourite arias as they’ve never been sung before. The concept is simple: swap the gender …

Vampire Weekend is a band in demand.  On the afternoon of the gig I ended up with a spare ticket at late notice due to illness. After offering it for sale on Gumtree the phone didn’t stop beeping all night. While it’s a …

I meet blues musician Ash Grunwald on Australia Day, a few hours before his gig in The Rocks. Ash lounges on a couch, with aviator sunglasses nestled in his dreadlocks and a guitar at his side. As I approach him, I tiptoe …

Band of Horses were back at The Enmore last Tuesday touring their new album Mirage Rock. They are a punctual bunch and were already into the first song when we arrived just after the 9.30pm start time. The band brings a great …