Review: Lauren Sherritt
 [Photo: Stuart Blythe] |
It has become a well known fact that New South Wales band Art vs. Science do not put on any ordinary live show. What they create is more than music, what they do is more than mere entertainment, and the allure of their act has had them selling out venues nationwide on their recent ‘The Experiment’ tour. As expected, their concluding performance at The Tivoli in Brisbane was an evening of riotous fun, insane dancing and marvellous spectacle. |
 |
One of the beautiful things about a festival as large and varied as Bluesfest is that the discovery of something new and exciting, at least for the listener, waits around every corner. For this reviewer, Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was the jewel of this year’s hidden treasures.
Already familiar with her 60s hit Universal Soldier and the rocking Bury My Heart at |
Wounded Knee, as well as her Academy Award winning effort Up Where We Belong (who isn’t?), it was a pleasure to become acquainted with the other varied dimensions of her 40 plus year repertoire, and to experience the woman behind the music.
Continue reading Bluesfest 2011 – Day Six, Featuring: Bob Dylan, Gurrumul, Paul Kelly and Buffy Sainte-Marie. – Live Review
by: Pepa Wolfe
Monday was another delightful mix of new discoveries and big names, with a good dose of puppetry and performance art thrown in.
The day saw the some rocking blues with plenty of keys down at the Crossroads tent as German outfit BB & the Blues Shacks charmed the crowd. Physically dynamic and looking sharp, BB and his boys really ramped up the audience participation. It was an onstage/offstage love-in, complete with dancing girls on stilts.
Continue reading Bluesfest 2011 – Day Five, Featuring: Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, BB & the Blues Shacks, and the Old Spice Boys. – Live Review
It was Easter Sunday, the sun was shining over Bluesfest and the Crossroads tent was gearing up to celebrate with a solid block of gospel, soul and blues, kicked off by the enigmatic, effervescent powerhouse Mavis Staples and Her Band.
This year’s festival boasted an array of music a legends, not least of which was the incomparable Staples, who either solo or together with The Staple Singers has been >performing for over 60 years. Returning to Bluesfest with material from her Grammy Award winning CD You Are Not Alone, Staples is loads of fun. She’s got the moves, she’s got the attitude and that voice – a rich, raw, rip your guts out and make you happy sound that only improves with age.
Continue reading Bluesfest 2011 – Day Four, Featuring: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples & Her Band, and The Snowdroppers. – Live Review
Review by: Lauren Sherritt
Known for catchy tunes, clever lyrics, playfully sung narratives and an outstanding energy, The Wombats played to a sold out Tivoli in Brisbane on Thursday night, giving their all to make it a night to remember for the fans attending.
So popular were tickets to the trio’s show that Thursday night’s gig was their second Brisbane performance, organised for those who had missed out on tickets for the original Tuesday night show. Being all ages, the evening started early, with doors opening at six-thirty and the band taking the stage just after eight. Populated mainly by teens delighted to be able to see the marsupial-inspired band in the flesh, the crowd got busy chanting for The Wombats early on.
Continue reading The Wombats @ The Tivoli, Brisbane – 5 May 2011 – Live Review
Review By: Pepa Wolfe
Photos by: Silvana Macarone
Early birds and trivia buffs rocked up to the Jambalaya Tent on Friday to test their skill and perhaps earn a place on the panel of RocKwiz Live. Cracking the proverbial whip and vetting the various hopefuls was producer and co-host of the SBS series Brian Nankervis who after seven years with the show has it down to a fine art. Appearing across four days of the festival, Friday’s first taste had host and improv queen Julia Zemiro in top form, and featured musical guests Tim Rodgers (You Am I), Marcia Hines and Glenn Richards (Augie March), as well as a couple of impressive punters whose extensive music trivia knowledge was bested only by their brazen karaoke efforts, one contestant whipping out a harmonica and riffing with the impeccable RocKwiz Orkestra. A highly entertaining start to the afternoon, Richards, Hines and Rogers blasting Kiss’ I Wanna Rock and Roll All Nite, the icing on the cake.
Continue reading Live Review | Bluesfest 2011 – Day Two, Featuring: Rodrigo y Gabriela, B.B. King, Fistful of Mercy, Jack Thompson & the Original Sinners and RocKwiz Live
Review by: Lauren Sherritt
I headed to Sparkadia’s show on Friday April 8 at the Hi Fi in Brisbane with much the same feeling of trepidation that I had on hearing that the band was releasing a new album in March this year. Technically, I knew that the songs on the record were superb, just as I knew that the hype building about the The Great Impression tour and Sparkadia’s new live show had to mean something. I was troubled, though, by clear memories of a gig on the eighteenth of September in 2008 that had changed the way I viewed live music and made me worried that there was only disappointment to come by way of comparison.
Continue reading Sparkadia @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – April 08, 2011 [Live Review]
Review: Lauren Sherritt
Day two of Sunset Sounds 2011 arrives, bringing with it steady rain and a forecast of nothing but. Organisers have spread sand over some of the affected areas, but when I arrive on Thursday afternoon the damage that the combination of thousands of feet and a whole lot of rain did to the grounds yesterday is easily apparent. Areas that were grassy are now plains of squelchy mud ready to snatch unsuspecting thongs from feet and disappear them forever and the paths we traversed yesterday are now boasting small streams of rainwater.
Continue reading Sunset Sounds 2011 – Day 2, Live Review
Review by: Lauren Sherritt
 [Photo:Justin Ma] |
The afternoon of Friday January 7, 2011, had been a classically humid one for Brisbane. Undoubtedly much unlike the weather English pop-rock group Mystery Jets are accustomed to finding at home in Eel Pie Island, the heavens opened on the evening that they were set to play the city’s Hi-Fi Bar with local support Tin Can Radio. Not even off-putting weather, however, could dampen the splendid performance they gave, the memory of the night burnt into fans’ consciousness for a long time to come. |
Brisbane’s Hi-Fi Bar was only sparsely occupied as Tin Can Radio took to the stage. Merry and casual, they took their time setting up, waiting while the drummer’s girlfriend rushed in with a forgotten cymbal. Regardless of the meagre crowd, the five bought out their characteristic liveliness and played a short but ferocious set that in the end had the audience on their feet and clapping along.
Continue reading Mystery Jets @ The Hi-Fi, Brisbane – Live Review
Review: Lauren Sherritt
Photos: Matt Palmer
Billed by organisers as the perfect way to cap off New Year’s celebrations, Brisbane’s Sunset Sounds has become renowned for its impeccable line-ups and alluring Botanical Gardens setting. With headline act Interpol leading the charge of an impressively diverse set of artists, the 2011 festival kicked off on the muggy afternoon of Wednesday January 5th.
After a short delay at the gate (a mix-up with letting the media in probably not the kind of press that organisers had hoped for) I head straight for the River Stage to catch the first winners of the festival’s ‘Sponsor the Band’ competition Ball Park Music. Halfway through their set and the local six-piece has drawn a small but decent crowd for early in the afternoon, mixing originals and covers and making big sound for a group of not so big kids. Ending with ‘iFly’, their most well known track, the swelling audience joins in with a rousing chorus and the day is kicked off to a glorious start.
Continue reading Sunset Sounds 2011 – Day 1, Live Review
by Jose Eduardo Cruz
Absolutely everything that was put in place by the organisers was solely for the enjoyment of the 16,000 attendees. I would find it really hard to find something negative to say about the whole experience.
Firstly, the organising committee have to be given a massive thank you for putting such a high level event. From our arrival we were subjected to VIP treatment. VIP camping grounds, with warm showers may I add, which come in handy when the temperature plummets to 5 degrees. In typical Victorian style the weather fluctuated between 5 degrees at night to 41 degrees in the middle of the day.
Continue reading Falls Festival 2010 – Festival Review
Review: Kenada Quinlan
 [Photo Credit: Silvana Macarone] |
Following the licensed streets, the once closed Amphitheatre is showing tonight and as the clock strikes 8pm, Evil Eddie is on schedule. Interaction with the 10 row deep bouncing spectators is initiated with the first instalment of ‘Somebody Say Evil’. “That was a little self-indulgent but thank you!” smiles the lead man and ex-Buttefingers vocalist/songwriter Eddie Jacobson. Taking a back seat yet pivotal to the performance, Jacobson enjoys the company of his fellow comrade Toddy Spitfire as the two slickly pinball lyrics from one song to the next. |
Charging through ‘Aint Love Grand’ and the addictive ‘Voices In My Head’, the vision becomes clear as the studio sounds are brought to life via a strong family of well equipped and known Brisbane musicians.With the crowd multiplying by the second, the festivities continue and the only exit from this show is to refresh yourself with the energy that has been freely given to you.
Continue reading Woodford Folk Festival – December 30th 2010 – Live Review [P2]
Review: Kenada Quinlan
Photo Credit: Silvana Macarone
The first day of blissful dry weather and the number of smiles has doubled at the sight of the sun. Tallulah Rendell’s first port of call before her 6 week tour of the continent is a string of gigs in the usual Woodford fashion. Strumming soft emotive of blues driven rock, the half-Australian, London based solo artist resembles the tones of PJ Harvey. Taking inspiration from an operatic era, Rendell’s quaintly captivating structures decide to haunt at instances, delivering momentary bouts of individualism.
Continue reading Woodford Folk Festival – December 30th 2010 – Live Review [P1]
Review: Lana Harris
Photo Credit: Stuart Blythe
View full photo gallery here
The crush down Caxton St at five pm begins the stadium size spectacle that will be U2 and Jay-Z tonight. By the time Jay-Z takes the stage at 6.30pm, the standing room ticket area is already mostly full. Jay-Z lives up to his hype, resplendent in Gangsta Garb, sunglasses welded to his face, rap antics peppered throughout his set, a ten piece accompaniment to his words provided by drumming, saxophone, trumpet and keyboard among others. He’s playing early, to an audience mostly waiting to see a main act distinctly different in style. He copes well with this, managing to get hands in the air and ladies spinning clothes above their heads during the one hour set. ‘On to the Next One’ and ’99 Problems’ get the crowd going, and ‘Forever Young’, covered in an ode to Notorious B.I.G, is also popular. Throughout the set the bass is massive, pummeling the throat, rattling hearts against rib cages. He exits the stadium in a stretch golf buggy.
Continue reading U2 @ Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane w/ Jay Z – 8 December 2010 – Live Review
Review: Lana Harris
The show begins before we’ve even entered the room. An usher approaches, explaining that to gain admission, tickets are not enough. We’ll need to remove our shoes and any socks and crowd into the shopfront’s store room, leaving behind our footwear. As compensation we will be given a small torch. Crammed into the dark room with forty other people and their exposed feet, we wait for the show to begin.
There is no extra light provided once the doors to the shopfront are opened. We creep in using our bare feet for balance and our small torches for sight. Bolder venturers have already spotted the still as statue performers; others illuminate kitchenware hanging from the ceiling and news stories on the wall recounting the trial of a 1950’s female that killed her husband by poisoning him.
Continue reading Boiling Point @ Judith Wright Centre, Brisbane 19 November 2010 [Live Review]