Review by Natasha Wyborn
Sydney welcomed the ‘Eternal Return’ of Sarah Blasko
The iconic Enmore Theatre played host to the beauty and very talented Sarah Blasko on Friday night. Taking in her hometown of Sydney as part of her international Eternal Return tour the audience was treated to a seventeen song set featuring new and old hits.
Continue reading Live Review : Sarah Blasko at Enmore Theatre, Sydney – April 8, 2016
Soon to set off on their mammoth Australia-wide tour, indie innovators Little May are today announcing 18-year-old prodigy and triple j darling, E^ST as their support act this May. She will be joined by yet-to-be-announced local openers in each city. This news comes with the unveiling of the winner of Little May’s #artforthecompany tour poster competition, Lauren Vingillis from Sydney, who has won a bunch of prizes and will have her artwork distributed nationally.
Continue reading LITTLE MAY – National Tour – May 2016
Photographer: David Jackson
Continue reading Photo Gallery : Sarah Blasko at Enmore Theatre, Sydney – April 8, 2016
One of Australia’s hardest working bands is at it again… Melbourne locals The Smith Street Band have barely stopped to take a breath since the release of their third album, 2014’s Throw Me In The River. Now before heading into the abyss to work on its follow-up, the four-piece have announced they’ll give Throw Me In The River one last run of live shows around Australia, and return to New Zealand for the second time.
Back in early 2015, shortly after two of the band’s biggest Australian tours to date, The Smith Street Band headed out to take Throw Me In The River around the world, touring through the UK, Europe and North America on several occasions, taking on Reading and Leeds Festivals (UK) and Belgium’s Groezrock. Not to mention homecoming performances at Splendour In The Grass, Poison City Weekender and their very own, and aptly titled, I Love Life Festivals in Sydney and Brisbane.
The Smith Street Band kicked off 2016 on the prestigious Laneway Festival tour. They then revisited the small Victorian country town of Forrest, where they recorded Throw Me In The River, to host the inaugural Weekend At The Wonk Festival, paying homage to the town that had treated them so well. In typical fashion, the band didn’t rest there, jetting straight to the US where they’re currently undertaking their first North American headline tour, playing sold out shows in New York, Philadelphia and Boston. Check out a video update from the band’s current adventures here:
Released to critical acclaim Throw Me In The River landed triple j album of the week and debuted in the ARIA top 20 album chart, scored the band a nomination for ‘Best Independent Hard Rock, Heavy or Punk Album’ at the 2015 AIR Awards, ‘Live Act of the Year’ at the Rolling Stone Awards and took out the gong for ‘Best Live Band’ at The Age Music Victoria Awards. Single ‘Surrender’ came in at #69 in triple j’s Hottest 100 and their 7” release ‘Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin off Your Punchable Face’ donated all its profits to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
No stranger to top notch supports, the Australian leg will see The Smith Street Band joined by great friends and Tasmanian label mates Luca Brasi, touring in support of their brand new album If This Is All We’re Going To Be. Also on the bumper bill will be MC and multi-instrumentalist Joelistics and Melbourne’s Jess Locke Band.
This June, join relentless road warriors The Smith Street Band in celebrating and saying farewell to Throw Me In The River around Australia and New Zealand.
THE SMITH STREET BAND
with special guests Luca Brasi, Joelistics & Jess Locke Band
Friday June 3rd – Metro, Sydney – SOLD OUT
Saturday June 4th – Max Watts, Brisbane – SOLD OUT
Saturday June 11th – The Gov, Adelaide – SOLD OUT
Thursday June 16th – Max Watts, Melbourne – SOLD OUT
Friday June 17th – Max Watts, Melbourne – SOLD OUT
Thursday June 23rd – Kings Arms, Auckland*
Friday June 24th – Great Job, Palmerston North*
Saturday June 25th – Moon 1, Wellington*
Tickets on sale 9am Wednesday April 6th
Friday June 10th – Capitol, Perth
*TSSB only
www.thesmithstreetband.com
KADAVAR (GER) Australian Tour 2016 – Supports Announced
In Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Kadavar will be supported by Melbourne’s CHILD and Perth band MT. MOUNTAIN.
Heavy blues enthusiasts and live music giants CHILD will be the main support on the tour. After a highly successful European tour and a recent lineup change, CHILD have been busy putting the final touches to their long awaited second album which is due for release in May 2016. We cannot wait to see them live again three nights in a row!
Continue reading KADAVAR (GER) Australian Tour 2016 – Supports Announced
*** TOUR UPDATE – NEW SHOWS ADDED + NEW CLIP ***
Behold the brand new clip for the third single from Feelin Kinda Free, ‘Boredom’.
Shot in locations across Tokyo, and Melbourne, directed by The Drones and Chris Matthews of Defero Productions, it is a party and hens night, celebrating and mourning the universal power of deep suburbia to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.
Continue reading The Drones – ‘Feelin Kinda Free’ National Album Tour 2016 **UPDATED**
2016 is shaping up to be RÜFÜS’ biggest year yet; with BLOOM topping the ARIA charts with a #1 debut in Jan, booting Adele from the top spot that she’d held for months. The album’s two lead singles landed in triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown (You Were Right #12 and Like An Animal #28) and the fellas are currently in the middle of their mostly sold out European/UK/US/CAN tour, which is set to see them play on the coveted Coachella line up later this month..
Continue reading RÜFÜS – National Australian Tour – April/May 2016
Black Stone Cherry has some sweet (as cherry pie) news – their tour dates in June 2016 have been rescheduled. While that doesn’t SOUND like awesome news… it most definitely is, as they have been shifted to main support slot on the Steel Panther tour. Double your dose of US rock in one night!.
Continue reading Black Stone Cherry joins STEEL PANTHER Australian Tour – June 2016
Pop punk phenomenon MAYDAY PARADE are heading Down Under in October on their most extensive Australian headline tour to date to support their fifth album, ‘Black Lines’.
Continue reading MAYDAY PARADE (With special guest The Early November) Announce 2016 Australian Tour
Hot off the heels of his blistering performance at Blues Fest in Byron Bay over Easter, blues-rock guitarist extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa is happy to announce he will be returning to Australian shores for a national headline tour this September, including a very special evening that will see Joe play his debut performance at the Sydney Opera House.
Continue reading Joe Bonamassa – 2016 Australian Tour
*** TOUR UPDATE ***
LOCAL TOUR SUPPORTS ANNOUNCED
The much anticipated return of US metal monoliths TRIVIUM is but one week away now, and promoters have revealed a series of quality local openers for the tour, complementing already announced main support ORPHEUS OMEGA.
Primed and eager to tread the boards alongside one of the most significant and exciting names in modern metal will be a selection of curated local acts. Melbourne scores prog-metal up’n’comers Orsome Welles and the popular Envenomed. Sydney gets energetic melodic hardcore act Polaris. Brisbane will include death metal maestros Eternal Rest, whilst Fremantle and Adelaide will catch Make Way For Man and Dyssidia respectively. All awesome ambassadors for our thriving local metal scene.
There’s no doubt this tour will yield will be one of the most thrill inducing live metal experiences to be had on Australian shores this year. More shows are on the cusp of selling out, so be decisive and head to tickets.destroyalllines.com immediately to secure tickets.
*** ****
Continue reading Trivium Announce Australian Tour – April 2016 *Supports Announced*
The Cat Empire announce the ‘Rising With The Sun Global Tour’ with shows in Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Far North Qld, and of course their home town of Melbourne. These shows (many of them suitable for all ages) join the already announced Western Australian dates in March and performances at Womadelaide and BluesFest in Byron Bay, with more shows in QLD and NSW to be announced soon.
Continue reading The Cat Empire Australian – ‘Rising With The Sun’ Tour Announcement
Massachusetts rifflords A WILHELM SCREAM are primed to destroy small venues on their May Australian tour, and stoked to add popular Perth punkers THE DECLINE as main tour support, with the cream of local punk talent to open all shows.
Continue reading A Wilhelm Scream – Australian Tour – May 2016 – Supports Announced
To coincide with the launch of his brand new mix tape ’93 KFC Rotisserie GOLD, Ivan Ooze has announced a national headline tour that will take the young rapper across the country to showcase the tracks featured on his long-awaited 2nd release.
Continue reading Ivan Ooze Announces National Tour 2016
Review and photos by Peter Coates
Support act, the Adam Eckersley Band from the NSW Central Coast, took to the stage fresh from their CMC Rocks appearance and delivered a set of country-style folk-rock, full of Aussie attitude with a mean twin-acoustic guitar attack.
The band is pretty laid-back with lovely, easy harmonies with some raw emotion in the vocals and gave us a highlight set of ‘The First Album’ and the more recently released ‘The Second Album’. The crowd particularly enjoyed the acoustic solo from Adam in ‘Wheels’ and the set-closer featured some great interplay between the various band members, featuring drums, keyboards and bass. A terrific warm-up set from a great local outfit.
Blackberry Smoke are from Atlanta, Georgia, and have been linked to the stable of The Zac Brown Band for some of their earlier releases. They have been recording and touring for over 10 years, since the release of first album ‘Bad Luck Ain’t No Crime’ in 2004.
The lineup consists of Charlie Starr (lead vocals, guitar), Richard Turner (bass, vocals), Brit Turner (drums), Paul Jackson (guitar, vocals), and Brandon Still (keyboards). While the band is one tight country-rock outfit, there is no doubting the talent and sheer presence of front-man Charlie Starr, with a powerful vocal delivery, sharp moves and great guitar playing.
This is the band’s first visit to Australia for the Bluesfest in Byron Bay, so an early show in Sydney is a great way to see this critically-acclaimed southern country-rock band in an intimate setting. This will be the first and last time we will get to see the band play to 250 people in this country!
‘Holding All The Roses’ is the latest and fourth full-length album from early 2015, but their set was drawn from all four studio albums opeing up with ‘Six Ways’, ‘Let Me help You’ and ‘Like I Am’, before really warming the place up with ‘Pretty Lil Lie’. The crowd knew most of the songs and Charlie Starr was delighted with the response and the frequent singalongs!
The Turner boys on bass and drums must be the most laconic rhythm section doing the rounds, but rock solid with it. Lots of keyboards give some of the songs an atmospheric jazz-fusion feel with some great Hammond organ and honky-tonk piano from Brandon Still, particularly in the extended workout of ‘Sleeping Dogs’ and ‘Holy Ghost’ – but the band never strays far from the electric guitar-based core of the music.
The set rolled on with two cracking tracks in ‘Wish In One Hand’ and my favourite from the latest album, ‘Payback’ which is just a great rock song with a cool story. Title track of the previous record, ‘Whippoorwill’ almost felt like early Pink Floyd in the beginning but rolled into some great guitar work from both Paul Jackson and Starr with a glorious piano and organ solo from Stills.
The songs kept coming, with the simplest of ballads written about Manette, Alabama, One Horse Town, and then a retreat into 1980’s classic rock with ‘Up In Smoke’, contrasting the ballad with rumbling riffs and a wailing solo. The energy started building through ‘Ain’t Got The Blues’ and the enormous-sounding ‘Holding All The Roses’ with more killer riffs and a false ending before the raucous close.
‘Shake Your Magnolia’ closed the set as another upbeat piano and guitar-driven track before the encores brought the band back out, Starr in a tasteful hat, for ‘Too High’, new song ‘Let It Burn’, and the signature southern rock anthem of ‘Ain’t Much Left’.
Good luck Bluesfest – these guys are going to bring the deep south all the way to Bryon Bay this weekend – Do Not Miss Blackberry Smoke!
Click here to view our photos from the show
Headliner: Blackberry Smoke – www.blackberrysmoke.com
Support: Adam Eckersley Band – www.adameckersleyband.com
Venue: The Basement, Sydney Australia
Date: March 23, 2016
Photographer: Peter Coates – www.facebook.com/InsideEdgePhotography
