MUSIC

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    The Cure (Opera House)

    First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, May 2019

    Provided all parts were oiled and in working order, how could this gig flop? We already knew The Cure were still a great live act. And the Opera House wasn’t going to drop the ball, given the scale of the pop culture coup in scooping other major cities to host the band’s five 30th anniversary gigs for seminal 1989 album, Disintegration. We knew the crowd would ...

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    Kacey Musgraves (Enmore Theatre)

    First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, May 2019

    Who here,” asks Texan country pop star Kacey Musgraves, “has legit seen a huntsman spider?” Every hand in the sold-out theatre shoots up. “In your room?” Musgraves replies to a fan. “And you’re still here? I would’ve legit burned that house down.” Legit, she probably would’ve. Musgraves is many things but most of all she’s a woman who seems to do exactly what she sets out ...

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    Odette (Metro Theatre)

    First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, April 2019

    Last Odette got engaged to a fan. Last night Odette totally killed it. Last night the crowd screamed and sung and whistled for her every note, shimmy and word, even when she bemoaned Sydney’s lockout laws. Last night Odette also played a few songs too long. But first, to the victories. Her debut album of powerfully sung pop ballads, To A Stranger, reached No. 13 on ...

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    George Ezra (Hordern Pavilion)

    First published in The Sydney Morning Herald, February 2019

    It’s said Nashville country musician Chet Atkins once declared: “Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.” It certainly applies to the self-proclaimed “pop and roll” of young UK singer George Ezra, whose debut record, Wanted on Voyage, went big in 2014. As did 2018’s earworm single, Shotgun, which he popped over to play at last year’s ARIA awards. Shotgun ...

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    Unsound Festival, Adelaide, 2018

    First published in The Wire Magazine, March 2019

    Six editions in and Adelaide still can’t believe its luck that Unsound Festival landed here. When it began in 2014 as the strange and spiky rock embedded in the state-funded monolith of Adelaide Festival, it made some sense. Then a troubling hiatus when many thought it may resurface in Melbourne or Sydney. But in 2017 it was back – in Adelaide. 2018’s festival is a ...

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    Grand Salvo – Sea Glass

    First published in The Guardian Australia, January 2019

    Sea glass. A sharp, human thing worn smooth by nature. A still thing enclosing so much time and tumult. When, six years after I fell hard for Grand Salvo’s sixth album, Slay Me In My Sleep, I saw the name of this follow-up record, the metaphor made sense before I’d even heard the songs. “I listened on the weekend and it gutted me,” said a fellow ...

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    Nick Cave: ‘These conversation events have brought back the terror’

    First published in The Guardian Australia, January 2019

    “You’re part of an experiment in connection,” Nick Cave says from the stage. His In Conversation show, currently touring Australia, centres on questions and song requests but, like Cave’s new Red Hand Files website, “there will be no moderator”. So first he must briefly mire himself in rock’n’roll’s nemesis: a bit of housekeeping. The rules of play. While Cave is dressed impeccably at the Sydney ...

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    Gregor – Silver Drop

    First published in Guardian Australia, December 2018

    Solo Melbourne artist Gregor makes new-wave pop with a wan exterior and a warm heart. The Durutti Column’s bloodless guitar noodling is an influence but Gregor’s storytelling skill is innate, comparable to The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt – the minimalist miseries of 1995 record, Get Lost, in particular. Despite at first feeling to be peering in on Gregor’s world – a place impervious to hearts so soft ...

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    Gang Of Youths (The Enmore)

    First published in The Guardian Australia, November 2018

    On Sunday, Gang of Youths’ frontman David Le’aupepe checked out of social media “for a bit” – though not for the first time. On Wednesday, the first concert of the band’s heroic six-night run in their hometown of Sydney was cancelled due to “our David’s” chest infection. The band had played eight sold-out gigs at the Forum in Melbourne already, not to mention other cities. Running yourselves ...

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    New War (Marrickville Bowling Club)

    First published in the Sydney Morning Herald, November 2018

    Melbourne band New War are in Sydney to launch their new album, Coin, at a venue dear to Inner West music fans. The bowlo’s boss, however, has insisted the lights adjoining the dance floor remain on. She’s gone home but something, something, “trip hazard”, something, something, “out of our hands”, say staff. The safety-first lighting lends New War’s set a kick-against-the-pricks feel. Prosaic forces are pressing ...