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1995 was a big year for me. I attended my first festival, The Big Day Out, in January and my second, Alternative Nation, in April. Alternative Nation was headlined by Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More. Other acts included Tool, Ice T & Body Count, L7 and a couple of others that didn’t quite
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I saw Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters on their first tour of Australia in 2013, before Plant had released his first album backed by the group, Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar (2014). That performance at the Sydney Entertainment Centre (sometimes derided as the Empty Space Centre), mostly featured Led Zeppelin tunes, given a
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American band, The National, returned to the Sydney Opera House Forecourt last night (February 21) after playing there on their last visit to Australia in 2014. They’re here supporting their 2017 album, Sleep Well Beast, which won them a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in January. Time will tell whether Sleep Well Beast resonates as well with
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The 2018 edition of MOFO was a transitional one. Events were split between its longstanding home, Hobart’s MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) and Launceston, as well as Faux Mo in Hobart Town. MONA Grand Poobah, David Walsh, has plans for a grand makeover of MONA, so MOFO is to be moved, lock, stock
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A punk musical is an oxymoron if ever there was one. Is it even accurate to call the American band Green Day ‘punk’ as they often are? Johnny Rotten has described them as ‘a wank outfit’. If you’re going to use the word ‘punk’ to describe Green Day, then it needs the word ‘pop’ preceding it. The
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There was a time when a rock ‘n’ roller handing over a tune to be used as an advertising jingle would result in loud choruses of “sell out” thrown at the artist. Times have changed and Feist is not exactly in the rebellious rocker category, so might survive “selling out” in any era. Apart from
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Holly Throsby has returned to music with a new album, After a Time, released this year. She wore the hat of a novelist last year, with the release of her debut novel, Goodwood, to critical acclaim. Throsby has also collaborated with other artists, most notably with Seeker Lover Keeper and released music for children. But until she is
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War and conflict has been a constant of human civilisation. Mass agriculture brought wealth, power and poverty and if the TV news is to be believed, we all should fear the lonely son’s hand on the big red button. Syria is a mess, Trump is in the White House, the Myanmar military seems to be attempting to
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Hardcore band At the Drive-In formed in El Paso, Texas in the mid-’90s and called it a day in 2001 (before returning in 2017 with Inter alia) at the peak of their popularity as so many bands in the ’90s did. In fact, quitting while you’re ahead has been a common move for rock bands
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Supergroups are the new black or even the new little black dress. Every rocker who’s anybody is in one, or wants to be in one. Prophets of Rage, who have just released their eponymous debut album, may be the biggest name supergroup since the Travelling Wilburys. Some might argue the trend should’ve stopped with them,
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