Category Archives: Review

Live Review : Zac Brown Band at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney – April 1, 2015

April 6, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

Review by David Jackson – sbj.rocks

Zac Brown put his “Toes in the water” in Sydney on Wednesday night at the Hordern Pavilion Sydney April 1st 2015.

Wednesday night, April fool’s day for some, serious business for others. Sydney was longing to be reacquainted with Zac Brown and his band. Touring Australia for the second time in two years, how the fan base has grown from 2013 when he was last here. With a swag of awards, music sales exceeding 7 million and a “greatest hits” album under their belt, the Hordern was about to have its roof raised off.
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Live Review : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2015 – Day 3

April 5, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

Bluesfest Day 3

By Wanda Hill

The rain came down as spirits soared lifted by music unfazed by the weather or mud underfoot. Day three was a bit wet but who really cares when your safe and dry listening to The Gypsy Kings surrounded by warm bodies all captivated by sounds that make you feel like you’re thousands of miles away in the warm Spanish countryside having a religious experience. Being transported by Spanish Romini elder Nicholas Reyes’s vocals in combination with the magical flamenco guitar of Tonino Baliardo, supported by younger cousins on vocals and guitars is a cultural experience everyone should have in this lifetime.
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Live Review : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2015 – Day 2

April 4, 2015 admin

By Dominic Feain

Bluesfest 2015 Day 2

Byron Bay’s Bluesfest hit full stride yesterday as day-two kicked off around lunchtime with Melbourne blues singer/songwriter Shaun Kirk at the Juke Joint while American six-piece Delta Rae cranked up the mojo on the you-know-where stage.
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Live Review : Bluesfest Byron Bay 2015 – Day 1

April 3, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

Bluesfest2015

Bluesfest 2015 Day 1

Review by Wanda Hill

It’s that time of year again when thousands of music lovers make their way to Arakwal Country in the Byron Shire for the annual Easter celebration of all things blues, roots and beyond. It is such a lovely feeling to walk onto the extremely well prepared festival site knowing that there are five days of incredible artists from around the world to be enjoyed amidst a friendly crowd and delicious food.
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Live Review : Jurassic 5 at Newcastle Panthers – March 26, 2015

March 28, 2015 admin

Review by David Jackson

To say they were having the time of their lives in Newcastle on Thursday night is an understatement.

The founding six of Jurassic 5 hit the stage with power and precision playing a powerful ninety minute set to a packed and appreciative house. Founding MC’s Akil, Zaakir and Marc 7, moved synergistically with the deep voice of Chali 2na to give the Newcastle fans a real treat. DJ Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist showed the crowd a new concept of becoming portable from behind the confines of their turntables. The portable turntable/drum machine and the extended DJ scratch break ensured fans kept with the rhythm as the four DJ’s briefly left the stage.
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Live Review : Lewis Watson at The Lair, Sydney – March 15, 2015

March 18, 2015 admin

Review by Scott Singh

Gone are the days that Lewis Watson would upload songs to his YouTube account HolyLoowis, with the hope that somewhere across the world someone would be watching. Coming to the tail end of his first headliner Australian tour. Much has changed with this young artist but his core offering that fans fell in love with since the beginning, have stayed true despite the lures of success.

Playing to a packed out crowd at The Lair the night was filled with screaming fans, teeming with excitement at the chance to see their favourite artist.
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Review : 65daysofstatic at The Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane – March 12, 2015

March 16, 2015 admin

Review by Denis Semchenko
Photos credit Stephen Goodwin

‘Post-rock’ is a tired term – in fact, so tired it’s lost its meaning since the genre’s noughties heyday. This writer has long discovered that instrumental rock music doesn’t need to come with a ‘post-‘ or ‘math-‘ prefix attached to it in order to sound good; in the end, it either does or it doesn’t. It has now been 15 years since Explosions In The Sky first showed us how delicate instrumental rock can be and before that, Slint and Tortoise did the same for a mix of tricky time signatures and sparse guitar atmospherics.
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Live Review : Macy Gray at Lismore City Hall – March 13, 2015

March 14, 2015 admin

Review by Wanda De Verelle-Hill

Macy Gray is on a bus and travelling around Australia bringing her world class show to major cities and a few very lucky regional towns such as Lismore. Last night Lismore City Hall was packed with thoroughly pumped people having a wild party with the funked up Macy Gray and her very stylin’ band.

Don’t know how I got it so wrong – I was expecting something mellow and jazz club like, so made my way early into the theatre to get a good seat thinking it will be all about having a good view. Turns out I should have rocked in late, charged to the front and spent the night dancing with all the sensible people that had staked out the limited space on the dance floor.
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Live Review : Dan Sultan + Benny Walker at Melbourne Zoo Twilights – March 5, 2015

March 11, 2015 admin

Review by Ben Connolly
Photo by Lucinda Goodwin

There are fewer more pleasing sights in the live music world than a rock act totally on form. And for Victorian lad Dan Sultan, he couldn’t presently be more on point at the moment: his third long-player Blackbird is universally lauded, has given him a swag of awards and, just last month, notched over to ‘gold’ status in the sales sheets. More than all of that, however, is the confidence all of this has brought the charismatic singer. And it spills out in abundance in his stage shows of late.
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Live Review : Mogwai at The Tivoli, Brisbane – March 4, 2015

March 8, 2015 admin

Review by Stephen Goodwin
Photos by Stuart Blythe

Mick Turner spends 40 minutes creating slow-moving, somnolent guitar figures interspersed with distorted drags of cello bow, while a Jim White sound-a-like softly layers staccato drum patterns underneath. It’s a “solo” mode that could almost be The Dirty Three on benzos, but if so it shows that D3 is much more than the madcap antics of Warren Ellis.

Mogwai has eight studio albums under its belt now. It’s the sort of longevity that adds friction live: inevitably something must give way.
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Live Review : Conor Oberst at Metro Theatre, Sydney – March 4, 2015

March 6, 2015 admin

Review by Tess Kerbel

There are gigs that go down in history, gigs where something very rare and very special happens, where people come together and experience the extraordinary. This was one of those gigs.
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Live Review : Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks @ Melbourne Zoo Twilights – February 27, 2015

March 4, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

Review by Ben Connolly

There’s a somewhat delicious irony to the longevity of the slacker indie rock of Stephen Malkmus. First in the iconic 90s indie kings Pavement and now with his own band The Jicks, the slacker lo-fi ethos portrayed belies the studied industriousness of the bands, who combined are now well into their third decade in existence.
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Live Review : Soundwave Festival 2015 – Day 2 – Sydney

March 4, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

By Scott Singh

After an explosive day 1, it was time for punters to prepare themselves with another offering of head banging, arm swinging, all round chaos that Soundwave always ensues. Remarkably the grounds were spotless as rejuvenated faces filled the area once more.
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Live Review : Incubus + Antemasque + Le Butcherettes – The Enmore Theatre, Sydney – February 27, 2015

March 3, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

By Courtney Laura
Photo credit Stuart Blythe

Three-piece band LE BUTCHERETTES took to the stage of the Enmore Theatre with a bang. We were captivated with the diverse vocals ranging from a classic style, to the heavy scream vocals in some tracks. A high energy and bizarre performance played out before us, that I am sure left most of the audience wondering what had just happened.
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Live Review : Soundwave Festival 2015 – Day 1 – Sydney

March 3, 2015 LifeMusicMedia

By Scott Singh

Soundwave Day 1

With a new format and a festival spanning the entirety of a weekend, it was time for day 1 of Sydney’s Soundwave to kick off. Being Australia’s premier rock experience, Sydney Olympic Park was filled with black cladded fans and an assortment of coloured hair and accessories. It was from the moment the gates opened that fans rushed in with pure excitement as they scoped out the grounds and prepared themselves for the intensity of the weekend.
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