Thu 25 Apr – Black Sabbath, Shihad

Black Sabbath
Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Thursday, 25 April 2013

There are surprisingly few frills to tonight’s stage production. At the back, a giant video screen is intercut by what might be intended to be spiderwebs. A smaller video screen sits beneath the tall drum riser. There's coloured lights and strobes. No pyrotechnics. Two men perched up in the rafters ensure that twin spotlights remain on the singer at all times. A handful of cameramen track the players for the big screen, alongside occasional file footage of atom bombs exploding and some sort of…

Fri 19 Apr – Midnight Juggernauts, YesYou, Young Men Dead

Midnight Juggernauts
The Zoo, Brisbane
Friday 19 April 2013

All they need is one good show.

It’s been three years since Melbourne trio Midnight Juggernauts last performed a headline tour. Then it was off the back of their second album, 2010’s The Crystal Axis. Time is not kind to bands of certain genres, electro-pop especially. That the band have amassed enough punters with medium-long memories to half-fill The Zoo tonight is respectable enough. But even though this three-city run of shows is ostensibly a chance to play new single ‘Ballad…

Fri 12 Apr – The Drones, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

The Drones
The Tivoli, Brisbane
Friday, 12 April 2013

There’s an anecdote told by my editor when reviewing this band at the (initial) closure of the Tote three years ago. “I've heard of bands questioning in the rehearsal room if they could go on stage and ‘play this song after The Drones’, as shorthand for whether it's any good or not,” he wrote. “I don't think it's out of line to say that The Drones are the benchmark for bands of all stripes at the moment. That they're…

Tue 5 Mar – Bloc Party

Bloc Party
Brisbane Riverstage
Tuesday, 5 March 2013

“The real work is the complete activity, the accumulated practice, the total summing up of tradition and ideas,” wrote Adam Gopnik in 2008. “The real work is what makes a magic effect magical.” Gopnik’s compelling feature for The New Yorker studied the tight-knit community of career magicians, but since reading the story last year, I’ve come to find parallels between that field and other creative pursuits.

Watching Bloc Party tonight, I'm impressed by how they handle the real work of live rock music. Their performance is…

Fri 1 Mar – The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses
Brisbane Riverstage
Friday, 1 March 2013

The first half hour of this show is one of the most disappointing and frustrating brackets of live music I've seen in a long time. A hugely anticipated band playing their first Australian show since reforming after fifteen years of silence, and somehow, the sound is utter trash. I can always forgive the first song at any show, as the team behind the desk twiddle knobs, adjust levels and react to the intricacies of live sound dynamics. But half an hour—seven songs’ worth—of the…

Sat 23 Feb – Soundwave 2013

]url=http://www.thevine.com.au/music/live-reviews/report-soundwave-brisbane-2013/]Full review and photos at TheVine.com.au

Fri 22 Feb – Puscifer

Puscifer
The Tivoli, Brisbane
Friday 22 February 2013


Metal-detecting wands are a rare sight at a rock show, especially outside of an entertainment centre. Everyone’s given a once-over by the wand before they walk through the theatre’s doors. It's because the man behind this band isn’t fond of cameras. Of any description.

A FasterLouder photographer arrives at the head of the long queue and is turned away, despite his protestations that he’d been accredited to shoot the show. A woman at the door bellows the same statement every 30 seconds: no photos or recording, or…

Sun 20 Jan – Big Day Out 2013

I wrote a review for TheVine.com.au, which you can read here. Good photos, too.

Fri 14 Dec – Parkway Drive, I Killed the Prom Queen, Survival, Northlane

Parkway Drive
Riverstage, Brisbane
Friday 14 December 2012

Some nights, even a powerhouse musical performance leaves you a little cold. This is one of those nights. As good as Parkway Drive are tonight, playing to a near-full hill of heavy music fans, I leave with a lingering feeling that something’s missing. I’ve cherished this band’s music for eight years, and seen them live half a dozen times since 2005, but this might be the show where we part ways. After 70 minutes of being blasted with some…

Mon 3 Dec – Primal Scream

Primal Scream
The Tivoli, Brisbane
Monday 3 December 2012

In a word: loud. Forgive me for starting at the end, but it’s all I can think about right now.

The last thing we heard from Primal Scream tonight—the band's first show of a six-date Australian tour that includes this weekend's Meredith Festival—was five minutes of looped instruments and vocals cranked up way beyond anything resembling a sane volume. A wash of unintelligible white noise, essentially, which—combined with incessant strobe lights—has the unique effect of inducing both awe and nausea. Leaving the venue after…