Review and photos by Peter Coates
Santana have made it over to Australia for Bluesfest, and have arranged an arena tour around their weekend headline show at the festival – and brought The Doobie Brothers along to open the night with a generally familiar set of songs – not all of the greatest hits, but a decent selection of them.
Continue reading Live Review : Santana + The Doobie Brothers at Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney – 13 April 2017
Category Archives: Review
Live Review + Photo Gallery : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2017 – Day Three
Review by Wanda Hill
Photos by Stuart Blythe + Ant Ritz
One of the great things about Bluesfest is that the musicians who travel a long way from around the globe to get here have a brilliant time and enjoy the opportunity to see acts they have never seen, and to meet and collaborate with artists that inspire them. Backstage they are treated to unique Byron/Bluesfest hospitality and have a chance to learn about Australia’s Indigenous peoples through magnificent artworks placed throughout the greenroom. Being such a friendly festival it is not unusual to see guest artists out in the crowd enjoying the atmosphere.
Continue reading Live Review + Photo Gallery : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2017 – Day Three
Live Review + Photo Gallery : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2017 – Day Two
Review by Wanda Hill
Photos by Stuart Blythe + Ant Ritz
The festival site was cranking with a huge crowd enjoying everything the festival has to offer. Moving from A to B involved weaving in and out of human traffic going in every direction and careful navigation through seas of chairs arranged to take advantage of screens outside the main tents. Colourfully adding to this complexity were a series of roving street acts including stilt walkers who amazingly manage to move forward with grace amidst the whirl of chaos beneath them.
Continue reading Live Review + Photo Gallery : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2017 – Day Two
Live Review : Cyndi Lauper + Blondie at A Day on the Green – Rochford Wines Yarra Valley – 8 April 2017
Review by Natasha Wyborn
A Day on the Green at the picturesque Rochford Wines at Yarra Valley in Victoria promised so much and delivered even more. Joining forces for the first time in Australia were Debbie Harry AKA Blondie and Cyndi Lauper. The tour aptly touted “The bitches are coming back” pitted two veterans of modern music on some of the country’s biggest stages.
Continue reading Live Review : Cyndi Lauper + Blondie at A Day on the Green – Rochford Wines Yarra Valley – 8 April 2017
Album Review : ERIC GALES – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Review by Peter Coates
ERIC GALES – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (Mascot Label Group / Provogue)
“Now that’s how you start a riff” is spoken with feeling after the opening bar of Good Time which is a sparkling piece of gospel boogie that would not be out of place in a white clapboard church scene out in the US Midwest, featuring Eric Gales as the guitar-wielding preacher, and a the wailing back-up singing of his wife LaDonna Gales giving her all. There are some almost ridiculous testimonials being made about this guy, from the likes of Joe Bonamassa – “One of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world”; Carlos Santana – “He is absolutely incredible” and Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge – “This guy could be the best player on Earth”. He was hailed as being the next Hendrix when he burst onto the scene in 1991 playing an upside down guitar left-handed.
Continue reading Album Review : ERIC GALES – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD
Live Review : Don Henley at A Day On The Green | Mt Duneed Estate Victoria – 18 March 2017
Review by Natasha Wyborn
The A Day On The Green showcase moved to Mt Duneed, Victoria, located in close proximity to the city of Geelong, less than an hours drive from Melbourne on Saturday. The location was one of the easiest to get to I have visited. Sunlight filled the skies and the weather was near perfect. Headlining the night was one of the founding members of The Eagles, and solo artist, Don Henley.
Continue reading Live Review : Don Henley at A Day On The Green | Mt Duneed Estate Victoria – 18 March 2017
Album Review : Quinn Sullivan – “Midnight Highway”
Review by Peter Coates
Quinn Sullivan is another young blues guitarist, already classed as a “prodigy” at 17 years old by some fairly credible media (Rolling Stone and The Washington Post), and when Billy Gibbons reckons you have mastered the blues, and Buddy Guy says “Players like Quinn come along once in a lifetime” you get the idea that there could be something special about this guy.
Continue reading Album Review : Quinn Sullivan – “Midnight Highway”
Album Review : THUNDER – ‘Rip It Up’
Review by Peter Coates
It is sometimes hard to try and set aside the fact that I have been a fan of this band for nearly 35 years and listen to a new record with an objective viewpoint – from club shows as Terraplane, and then the arena support slots when they were the next great hope of British Rock, through to the farewell show in 1999, and the next goodbye in 2009, and the triumphant UK tour in 2015. I haven’t loved everything they’ve released, but I do like most of it! The last album, Wonder Days, was a mighty return to their absolute best, so following that up was always going to be a challenge.
Continue reading Album Review : THUNDER – ‘Rip It Up’
Live Review : george at Melbourne Zoo Twilights – 18 February 2017
Review by Ben Connolly
In the late nineties, early noughties, the Australian music scene was in a bit of flux. Still reverberating with post-grunge angst, the scene was awash with angular guitar pop. A bevvy of Brisbands dominated the pop-rock scene, while the hip hop world was just starting its local resurgence fronted by the shock of Australian accents.
Continue reading Live Review : george at Melbourne Zoo Twilights – 18 February 2017
Live Review : Paul Dempsey at Melbourne Zoo Twilights with Melody Pool – 17 February 2017
Review by Ben Connolly
With two solid solo albums, and a couple of glorious collections of covers, Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey has become a mainstay of the Australian music scene. Backed by a cracking live band, his gigs have become a known quantity.
Continue reading Live Review : Paul Dempsey at Melbourne Zoo Twilights with Melody Pool – 17 February 2017
Live Review: Ball Park Music at Melbourne Zoo Twilights with The Jungle Giants – 10 February 2017
Review by Ben Connolly
When times are tough, music is rightly a place to turn to seek solace. It mends a broken heart, it eases the pain of loss and it provides guidance through uncertainly. It’s fitting then that the salve for a broken and hurt world might also lay in the skilful hands of a musician. Rockers provide impetus and courage, while rap and hip hop drops truth after truth, and folk singers give poetic sense.
Continue reading Live Review: Ball Park Music at Melbourne Zoo Twilights with The Jungle Giants – 10 February 2017
Live Review : Refused + Sick Of It All + High Tension at Enmore Theatre, Sydney – 21 January 2017
Review and Photos by Meghan Player
With a line up this solid, there’s no hesitation in turning up early and supporting Melbourne locals, High Tension. I’ve witnessed these legends tear up the stage a few times now, and I never fail to be impressed by the intensity of their performance.
Continue reading Live Review : Refused + Sick Of It All + High Tension at Enmore Theatre, Sydney – 21 January 2017
Live Review : Alexisonfire + Behind Crimson Eyes + The Dirty Nil + The Getaway Plan at HBF Stadium, Perth – 11 January 2017
Photos by Peter Coates – Inside Edge Photography – for LifeMusicMedia.com
After a few years on hiatus, the Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, led by Dallas Green (City & Colour) announced they would be headlining the Unify Gathering in Victoria, and then added a few dates around the country either side of the festival. LifeMusicMedia caught the first night of the tour in Perth, and the band appeared re-energised and most welcomed by the locals.
Continue reading Live Review : Alexisonfire + Behind Crimson Eyes + The Dirty Nil + The Getaway Plan at HBF Stadium, Perth – 11 January 2017
Live Review : Falls Festival, Byron Bay 2017 – Day 3 (2 January 2017)
By Wanda Hill
Photo (Bernard Fanning playing at Falls Festival 2016 – Lorne) by Ruby Boland
Falls Festival Byron Bay – Day 3
Searing heat and a dry dusty walk into the festival site felt like a pilgrimage to a holy land where hardship must first be endured to prepare the mind for revelation. Seeing people with various states of epic sunburn prepared me for what would be my skins fate at the end of this 3rd and final day of Falls festival.
Continue reading Live Review : Falls Festival, Byron Bay 2017 – Day 3 (2 January 2017)
Album Review : AARON KEYLOCK – Cut Against The Grain
Review by Peter Coates
From the opening riff of All The Right Moves it appears that the UK has produced another stunning young talent in Aaron Keylock, able to combine the truly British classic 60’s and 70’s blues rock sound of Free and the Clapton, Beck, Page-era guitarists, with a modern American southern rock twist! Hints of early Black Keys or White Stripes in the stripped-down riff and drum lines combine with a greater variety of guitar sounds and raw vocals.
Continue reading Album Review : AARON KEYLOCK – Cut Against The Grain