Summer festivals sideshows and beyond

The National

Every year, New Year’s festivals like Falls and Southbound bring a bunch of really awesome bands to our far-away land. For those of us staying local over the summer, first half of January is loaded with sideshows by some really awesome international bands.

New York City indie rockers Interpol are touring their fourth self-titled album and aside from the New Year’s festivals, will also be making an appearance at the Enmore Theatre on Tuesday 4 January. Tickets are still available from the venue. The Californian four-piece Cold War Kids will also play at the Enmore Theatre. Limited number of tickets are left for their Thursday 6 January show.

Another American indie rock band I am super excited about is The National. Their fifth and highly acclaimed album High Violet has been a highlight of this year for me, so I just can’t wait to see them. They will play two sold-out shows at the Enmore Theatre, on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 January.

Old school rock queen Joan Jett will be doing a very intimate sold-out sideshow at the Annandale Hotel on Friday 7 January. Canadians Hot Hot Heat will rock the Factory Theatre on Thursday 6 January. Tickets still available from the venue. Dance-punk New York City trio The Rapture will take on the Metro Theatre on Thursday 6 January, and tickets are still around.

Big Day Out will make sure our second half of January is also well spent. Sideshows not to miss are Grinderman, who play on Friday 28 January, and The Black Keys on Saturday 29 January, both at the Enmore Theatre. The multi-member Californian band Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros are back in the country and will bring their indie folk sounds to the Forum on Friday 28 January. Also on Friday, if you scored yourself some tickets already, you can catch the colourful British artist M.I.A at the Metro Theatre.

The sold-out St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, happening on the first Sunday in February, has some sweet, sweet international and local acts on the bill. A few of those partake in the Sydney Festival too, like Beach House and Gotye who will perform their sideshows in late January. See my previous post for dates. On Saturday 29,  you can also catch the American dream-pop trio Blonde Redhead at Sydney Opera House.

The rest of the sideshows are all pretty much lined up for the first half of February. Upbeat electro-pop Irish band Two Door Cinema Club are back with a sideshow at the Enmore Theatre on Monday 7 February. Brooklyn-based trio Yeasayer also play on Monday 7 February at the Metro Theatre. Atlanta (Georgia) four-piece Deerhunter will take on the Metro Theatre on Tuesday 8 February. New Yorkers Les Savy Fav will bring the house down on Thursday 10 February at Sydney Uni’s Manning Bar. Also on Thursday, catch the five-piece LA band Local Natives in action at the Metro Theatre. Tickets available from the venue.

Playground Weekender is on in the second half of February at the Wisemans Ferry, just under two hours north of Sydney. Manchester-based rock band Doves are headlining the festival, and you can also see them at the Enmore Theatre on Thursday 17 February.

Belle & Sebastian will be Down Under in March for the Golden Plains festival in Victoria and will do a side gig at Sydney Opera House on Thursday 10 March. If you’re lucky, you may still find good seats available by the time you’re finished reading this.

Little further down into the year 2011, you can anticipate more amazing sideshows courtesy of the Byron Bay Bluesfest, happening over the Easter long weekend, from Thursday 21 until Monday 25 April. The complete line-up is pretty incredible and if you’re heading up to enjoy it, well, lucky you. Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Elvis Costello, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Toots and the Maytals, ZZ Top just to name a few.

A sideshow for the king of blues, B.B. King, has been announced for Tuesday 12 April at the State Theatre. Tickets go on sale in a few days here. ZZ Top will take on the Enmore Theatre on Wednesday 27 April. Tickets to the show go on sale tomorrow. Stay tuned for more Bluesfest sideshows as they get announced closer to the date.

Update on Bluesfest sideshows: Bob Dylan’s sideshow is booked for Wednesday 27 April at the Entertainment Centre. Tickets go on sale on Monday 24 January from this website. Elvis Costello will take on the State Theatre on Tuesday 19 April, get your tickets from here. For the reggae fans, Toots and the Maytals are teaming up with some buddies for a night to remember at the Enmore Thetare. For more details and to get your tickets, go here. Also at the Enmore Theatre, the legendary Texan trio ZZ Top have booked two nights – Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 April. For tickets, go here.

P.S. Not related to any of the summer festivals, Cat Power also returns to Sydney in January. Only one performance is scheduled for Sunday 30 January at Sydney Opera House. Tickets on sale Thursday 10 December. And Kings of Leon return to Australia in the new year as well. As expected, they will do stadium shows across the country and have scheduled Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 March for Acer Arena in Sydney’s Olympic Park. Tickets are on sale now.

Sydney Festival 2011

Beach House © Sydney Festival

My absolutely favourite time of the year is nearing and I thought it’d be nice to share with you my best-loved events for everyone staying in Sydney over summer.

Just like every January, Sydney Festival will light up our city with over 80 events across venues like the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Theatre, CarriageWorks and temporary venues like Beck’s Festival Bar and The Famous Spiegeltent. We will have the opportunity to see a very diverse and attractive mix of Australian and international artists covering dance, theatre, music, visual arts and more over three weeks of the festival.

Firstly, let me tell you how stoked I am about the Baltimore-based dream-pop duo Beach House hitting our shores this summer. With its atmospheric and dreamy marvel, the band’s third and highly acclaimed album Teen Dream has received outstanding reviews and won them a ‘band to watch in 2010’ tag from big industry guns. They are here for the sold-out St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in February and will do a few side gigs at the Sydney Festival. They play Beck’s Festival Bar with Parades on Wednesday 26 January and City Recital Hall Angel Place on Thursday 27 January.

Wire is a 70s English post-punk band whose live performances are said to be “full of urgency and vitality”. The band has been around for over 30 years and has over 10 studio albums, and has influenced the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and REM. Wire will play with the Los Angeles four-piece HEALTH at the Beck’s Festival Bar on Thursday 20 January.

Catching Brooklyn-based Sufjan Stevens and Holly Miranda this time around would also be good. It’s their second visit to Sydney and both will be playing material from their new albums, The Age of Adz and The Magician’s Private Library, respectively. Set in the beautiful Sydney Opera House and backed by a large orchestra and video projections, Sufjan’s performance should be a treat for the senses. Dates to look out for are Thursday 27 and Friday 28 January. Holly Miranda will play at The Famous Spiegeltent on Saturday 15, Sunday 16 and Tuesday 18 January.

I am also very excited about seeing two of my favourite Australian acts, Paul Kelly and Gotye. Both will be on stage at the City Recital Hall Angel Place, Gotye with one show on Thursday 27 January, and Paul Kelly with a few from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 January.

Live: An intimate video study of the art of performing is precisely that … a large-scale video installation showing a collection of performances of over 20 of the world’s best singers and musicians—Jarvis Cocker, Peaches, Róisín Murphy, Sarah Blasko, Warren Ellis, Rufus Wainwright to name a few. Its purposes is to create an intimate connection between the performer and their audience, and offer a profound, larger-than-life front row experience. Live will be showing from Friday 14 to Sunday 23 January at Sydney Town Hall.

Free Sydney Festival events are always great fun. For photography lovers like myself, Exposed will be a delight. It’s an engaging and diverse collection of images showing the role photography has played in capturing different interpretations of the classic nude. Works included are by some of the greatest photographers like Max Dupan, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Doisneau. Exposed will be on from Tuesday 4 January until Friday 11 March at The Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney.

And if you’re into large-scale picnics in the park with some form of music or entertainment in the background, then head to Festival in The Domain. Especially if you are fond of Latin beats and rhythms and don’t mind a bit of a dance to the late 80s hit La Bamba! Catch the East-LA Chicano rock legends Los Lobos and the Sydney-based mariachi band The Real Mexico for a true fiesta experience on Saturday 15 January, in the Domain.

If Latino isn’t quite your cup of tea, what about a Symphony in The Domain instead? Bring your picnic rug and set up camp early to get the best spot for a night of Sydney Symphony with Bell Shakespeare and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs under the stars. Relax to tunes from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Then watch John Bell enact scenes from Shakespeare’s Henry V, accompanied by the mesmerizing Sydney Symphony and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. Symphony in The Domain is happening on Saturday 22 January.

Well, so much to see and do and so little … Enjoy!

Free bands at Bondi

Free gigs at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi

Every Wednesday night Beach Road Hotel in Bondi showcases an up-and-coming local indie band or two for free. Last night I went along to see a Blue Mountains indie pop quartet Cloud Control. If you’re into your Jays, you’d know who I’m talking about as their debut album Bliss Release has been a feature record all this week. Just like every Wednesday night, the room upstairs (The Rex) was packed with hipsters in their early 20’s. If that’s your kind of crowd, get out there and support the local music scene.

Generally, the support band kicks off around 8.30pm and the main act starts around 10pm. Entry is free and beer is cheap. Upcoming shows (and more to be announced) are listed below:

The Dirty Secrets + The Protectors  + Royal Chant (9 June), Wolf & Cub + Kids Of 88 (16 June), Midnight Youth + Meow Kapow (23 June), Amy Meredith + Demon Parade (30 June), Tbc + One Jonathon (7 July), Tbc + The Chemist (14 July), Lost Valentinos + Alter Ego Mania (21 July),  The Joy Formidable + Jinga Safari + The Temper Trap Dj’s (28 July), Vasco Era + I Am Giant (4 Aug), Parades + The Laurels + Rushcutter (11 Aug), Sound Casino + Sticky Fingers (18 Aug) and Snowdroppers + Jack Nasty Face (25 Aug).

And an update: Ghostwood + Surf City (NZ) (8 Sept), Cabins + Alter Ego Mania + Step-Panther (15 Sept), The Jezabels + The Owls (22 Sept), The Holidays + We Are Fans (29 Sept) and Hungry Kids Of Hungary + Big Scary (10 Nov).

Sydney Film Festival 2010

Exit Through the Gift Shop

This year’s Sydney Film Festival is jam-packed with some of the best in international and Australian features, shorts, documentaries and archive titles. The full program was announced a few weeks ago and the most popular choices such as Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Messenger starring Woody Harrelson, I Am Love starring Tilda Swinton and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer with Ewan McGregor, Kim Cattrall and Pierce Brosnan, have already sold out. Also shown to be very popular and now sold-out are films like New Zealand’s Boy, beautiful animation The Illusionist and Australian feature Caught Inside.

No One Knows About Persian Cats

Because I love all things related to music, I am always very excited about the ‘Sounds on Screen’ selection of films and documentaries. This year, Sydney Film Festival brings an interesting mix of music genres to the screen. Definitely worth seeing is No One Knows About Persian Cats, an Iranian documentary on the underground indie rock scene in Tehran, and The Runaways, a film based on the 70’s all-girl band from LA.

In its 57th year, Sydney Film Festival’s selection of films doesn’t seize to impress. There are hundreds of other beautiful, moving and stimulating films to be discovered. For a full list and session times, check out the festival website. Sydney Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday 2 June and finishes on Monday 14 June.

Splendour in the Grass festival sideshows

Band of Horses at the Enmore Theatre

I already miss the hot and long days of summer and its balmy nights. I can’t say I’m a big fan of winter, but I appreciate its charms. With some of the best international bands in town, courtesy of Splendour in the Grass Festival, winter 2010 might just not be too cold after all. The Strokes and Mumford and Sons sideshows sold out in minutes back in April, but try your luck with some of the following:

Band of Horses will play at the Enmore Theatre on Thursday 29 July. Tickets went on sale a few days ago, and at the time of writing this blog, there were still plenty available. Florence and the Machine is back in the country, and will be playing at the Enmore Theatre on Thursday 5, Friday 6 and Saturday 7 August. Tickets went on sale this morning. The beautiful Grizzly Bear will play on Sunday 25 July. Also at the Enmore Theatre will be Jonsi (of Sigur Ros), with a very special performance on Monday 2 August.

Florence and the Machine at the Enmore Theatre

Then there are all the Metro Theatre sideshows! New Yorkers Yeasayer will play on Wednesday 28 July; fresh from their third album tour Midlake are coming to Metro on Saturday 31 July; San Francisco rockers Black Rebel Motorcylce Club will take over the stage on Sunday 1 August; Laura Marling then follows with her own show on Monday 2 August, while the Canadian 8-piece Broken Social Scene will play on Wednesday 4 August. Check out the Metro Theatre site for heaps more bands playing in the 2 weeks around the Splendour weekend.

The Temper Trap at the Hordern Pavilion

And you can find even more superstars at the Hordern Pavilion: LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip will be bringing down the house on Monday 26 July and our own Temper Trap‘s sold-out show is scheduled for Tuesday 27 July. So there you go. Two music action-packed weeks to bring back a bit of summer heat to your chilly winter nights.

The Strokes in Sydney

The Strokes

With a major winter music festival only months away, there’s a wave of really awesome bands already announcing sideshows around the end of July. Pencil in Thursday 29 July kids if you’re keen to see the NYC darlings, The Strokes. With the highly anticipated fourth album due to be released in September, the band is back and ready to rock the Hordern Pavilion. Pre-sale tickets already went on sale yesterday, while the general public ones go on sale Monday 12 April. The popular Londoners Mumford & Sons have already sold out their two Enmore Theatre shows on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 August. So tough luck.

Surry Hills Festival

Surry Hills Festival

Any plans for next weekend? The annual Surry Hills Festival is on, where you can check out some live bands, savour delicious multi-culti foods, bump into familiar faces and enjoy the last of warm and sunny days (probably not). The festival has temporarily moved to its old location, Shannon Reserve on Crown Street, with the addition of a second entertainment stage and more stalls located in Ward Park on Devonshire Street. In live bands world, my highlights are Belles Will Ring and Jonathan Boulet in Ward Park, and The Paper Scissors and The Ray Mann Three in Shannon Reserve. Make sure you get there nice and early if you’re into dog shows and pick up poo races. The weather forecast for Saturday is not so great, maybe opt for a pair of gumboots and a brollie. More info and full entertainment lineup is right here.

White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights

There are so many excellent movies around at the moment, we’re truly spoilt for choice. However, if you’re a movie- and music-loving creature, add this to your flick list. For three nights only, Hoyts cinema is showing Under Great White Northern Lights, a feature length film about White Stripe’s 2007 Canadian tour. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the band, this visually intense and captivating documentary captures Jack and Meg’s journey across the Great White North, playing to audiences in different-sized towns, and in a number of typical and unusual venues. Showing from Thursday 25 February to Saturday 27 February. Check the Hoyts website for all the info.

Massive Attack at Sydney Opera House

Massive Attack

Bristol-based duo Massive Attack has finally confirmed their long-anticipated Australian tour. For us Sydney-siders, they chose no other than Sydney Opera House for their two shows on Monday 15 and Tuesday 16 March 2010. Tickets go on sale Friday 5 February, coinciding with their fifth studio album (Heligoland) release. If you purchase your tickets from the Sydney Opera House website, you’ll be treated to a free album download. Hurray to that!

Shoot the Player: Sydney and music on film

A great way to start the new year is by getting out and indulging in the goodies Sydney has on offer this summer. If you need a break from the beach or find the weather rather unappealing, get out there and see lots of international and local gigs at the Sydney Festival, catch a movie at one of the outdoor cinemas, or, for something a bit out of the ordinary, head down to Carriageworks in Newtown for a very interesting project from the Sydney-based Shoot the Player.

Together with Carriageworks, they are presenting an interactive showing of unique one-take music videos featuring local and international artists doing things like hanging out in their pyjamas, performing on the street and buying pastries. The aim of the exhibition is two-fold: to experience the musicians in a new light by seeing them in places one wouldn’t expect them to be normally; and the evolution of the spontaneous and unpredictable one-take music videos as an art form and the ‘do-it-yourself’ concept of filmmaking.

The installation runs until Saturday 30 January, and is free.

Shoot the Player