LIVE REVIEWS

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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 ...
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Caitlin Harnett (socially distanced, The Lansdowne )

Down the length of some of Sydney’s main drags, plenty of people look to be failing at having a nice night out. It’s just gone 6pm but queues have formed at even the greasy old holes as if they were buzzy new clubs at midnight. Newtown venue The Vanguard was the first to reprogram live music two weeks ago. An easier task, perhaps, as a ...
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Sydney Opera House’s livestreamed concert series could be a game-changer for local bands
First published in The Guardian Australia, May 2020
Vivid festival was due to light up Sydney on Friday but instead the city is dark and silent bar a few night-joggers ploughing the streets. There’s a stir at Joan Sutherland theatre though, guitars leaning on amps ready for post-punk band Low Life’s concert – the first contemporary music act to be presented as part of the opera house’s digital season. At the band’s request, ...
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Client Liaison (KFC Australia Facebook page)
First published in Sydney Morning Herald, May 2020
During intermission in this live-streamed gig on KFC Australia’s Facebook page, raising awareness for mental health service, ReachOut, Client Liaison’s keyboardist and producer Harvey Miller has changed from a green velvet suit into a billowy all-white affair with a turtleneck beneath. Meanwhile, singer Monte Morgan – he of the curly mullet and pencil moustache – is mincing about in a sequinned jacket. A disco ball ...
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Delivered Live festival, C.W Stoneking (YouTube)
First published in Sydney Morning Herald, April 2020
“Strange gig,” says Delivered Live’s headline act, C.W. Stoneking. Usually, his bluesman-of-the-bayou mumble trades on a sense there ain’t nothin’ it ain’t seen before. But even Stoneking can’t feint at having memories of anything quite like this. No doubt the crowd is going wild online. But for those streaming YouTube through their TVs (where comments don’t appear), and for performers in tonight’s studio, only patchy ...