Music – Reviews Archive

American president John F Kennedy had a drastic situation over his standoff with the Soviet Union in the 1960s with the Cuban Missile Crisis, but his namesake, Australian musician John Francis Kennedy, has no crisis over his new musical concept, Sons of …

Soaking up the rootsy atmosphere at this year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest (often to saturation point), I began thinking on music and the notion of authenticity. To be honest, I began to get a little irked by the relentless barrage of worn leather, …

Intrepid arts director Leo Schofield is about to see the culmination of an eight-year dream as the very first Hobart Baroque kicks off on Friday. This unique new event, celebrating the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, will attract music lovers …

Firmly established in its 24th year as one of the premier music festivals of the world, the Byron Bay Bluesfest continues to top its already heady highs. The lineup for this year’s festival was a dream program for lovers of blues and …

Although My Bloody Valentine has a history spanning from the early 1980s, it was only last month the band released their highly anticipated third album entitled m b v. Such a gap is mostly due to frontman Kevin Shields being such a …

It has been ten years since Bruce Springsteen last brought his legendary E Street band to Australia, but in a blistering show at Allphones Arena in Sydney on Wednesday night he reminded everyone why he is still the boss. In a set …

Several months ago I happened to catch a performance of a band called Video8 at the Annandale. They were tight, edgy, obviously influenced by the sharp end of the ‘80s and surprising. Surprising in their originality and sound but also surprising because …

Anthony Steel doesn’t believe that opera has had its day. With the right packaging and the right selection of operas it is an art form he is certain can still appeal to the young and the uninitiated. The veteran festival director of …

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 …