LIVE REVIEWS

  • Floors of Heaven underwater concert (Woolloomooloo Bay)

    First published in Guardian Australia, January 2022

    The line between novel and novelty could have been easily crossed last night at Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool at Woolloomooloo Bay. Floors Of Heaven: Submersive Study is a 45 minute dip in a 50m outdoor saltwater pool as an ambient composition by British electronic producer Leon Vynehall is broadcast on a “specialised underwater sound system”. The ambient part is a relief: an excitable early report ...

  • William Crighton (The Great Club)

    First published in the Sydney Morning Herald, March 2021

    It would be mad to pretend that the good times of country-rock artist William Crighton’s show on Friday were exclusively about him. The warm and fuzzy buzz was also due to the comeback of a gig actually feeling like a legit night out instead of the ‘in with them and out with them’ practicalities of the COVID era’s two-show shuffle. No less, a night out ...

  • The Presets (The Factory)

    First published in the Sydney Morning Herald, November 2020

    His voice awash with elation and relief, Julian Hamilton of The Presets speaks straight to the arse of every seated one of us when he says: “I thought this would be weird.” Mate, us too! We’ve been fastening our seat belts at the cabaret-style gigs that COVID-19 has made ubiquitous for months while dance acts such as The Presets have laid low. Because it’d be ...

  • Ocean Alley (Qudos Bank Arena)

    First published in Guardian Australia, November 2020

    Even before arriving on a filthily hot day to Sydney’s Olympic Park, the adjectives about Saturday night’s big gig have been beefed up into superlatives. Great Southern Nights is the name of the state government’s support of 1,000 Covid-safe gigs across New South Wales in November, but tonight is the first in the program’s finale of two concerts called Greatest Southern Nights. Ultimately, the young men here in pastel-coloured ...

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    Hockey Dad (drive in, Bulli)

    First published in The Guardian Australia, October 2020

    If drive-in concerts could make enough of a buck for concert promoters to pursue them (they can’t), Wollongong band the Pinheads’ appeal on Friday to “give us a beep!” would go down in Australian music history. Hundreds of hands are slammed on horns in acquiescence. A song later, a sheepish correction: beeping, bad. Too late! Spirits are high in this wind-whipped Bulli field where 400 ...

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    Tex Perkins (Camelot Lounge)

    First published in Sydney Morning Herald, October 2020

    Last I saw of Tex Perkins he was ramming some critical infrastructure – a spine – up the New Years’ Eve concert on Sydney Harbour by dedicating The Honeymoon Is Over (The Cruel Sea) to Prime Minister Scott Morrison before giving the finger to Kirribilli House. Tonight’s concert with Jez Mead features no acts of rebellion but an aura of humility instead. “I can’t believe I’m here,” ...

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    Steve Kilbey (Paddo RSL)

    First published in Sydney Morning Herald, August 2020

    If a future historian ever documents the work of The Church’s Steve Kilbey they’d need to rewind the tape startlingly far, with Kilbey’s new album alongside classical guitarist Gareth Koch, Songs From Another Life, described as “music of the ancients”. Any hint of second-guessing and the record would have dissolved in a puddle of salty self-doubt. But Kilbey and Koch have conviction in spades – or ...

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    Nick Cave: Idiot Prayer (Alexandra Palace, London)

    First published in The Guardian Australia, July 2020

    In pre-pandemic times, a concert such as Nick Cave’s Idiot Prayer would have been called a solo show. Not so this one, filmed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robbie Ryan and billed as Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace. Only a musician can be solo, the title suggests, but we can all be alone – especially now.  The nod to our shared predicament is no accident: ...

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    Lime Cordiale (Oxford Art Factory)

    First published in Sydney Morning Herald, July 2020

    When Oxford Art Factory bills its return to live music as a “speakeasy” in “the most intimate of settings”, without mentioning that the 70-person limit is by decree of the pandemic, you appreciate the flip from buzzkill to buzz. Lime Cordiale’s second album, 14 Steps To A Better You, is out on Friday. The breezy pop duo from Sydney’s northern beaches has released six singles of ...

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    Alaska Orchestra do Brian Eno (Opera House livestream)

    First published in Sydney Morning Herald, June 2019

    Curating concerts to suit the zeitgeist is hard right now. A month ago, with our cities in stasis and our moods unusually malleable, Alaska Orchestra’s performance of Brian Eno’s Music For Airports from 1978 would have resonated well. Now, with restrictions lifting and political protests on high boil, a sense of urgency prevails, and Eno’s famous ambient composition has to work harder than the minimalist ...