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| Taylor Swift returns to Australian stadiums 11 months from now. Photo: Reuters |
The Big Day Out may have gone to the great backstage area in the sky and the Australian dollar has dived against the American currency, but the international live music options over the next 12 months in Melbourne and Sydney remain strong. Beginning with a strong and diverse summer touring season and culminating in the Taylor Swift experience at year's end, here are 10 notable shows to mark as possible big nights out on your calendar.
TAYLOR SWIFT
Now ensconced as one of pop music's central figures following the completion of her Nashville migration with the recent chart-topping success of the 1989 album, Taylor Swift returns to Australian stadiums 11 months from now, a period that will be filled with video clips, memes and headlines. Previous visits have highlighted, as with her songwriting, Swift's ability to render the orthodox personal and idiosyncratic, and fans are unlikely to be disappointed.
When:
- November 28, ANZ Stadium, Homebush
- December 11-12, AAMI Park, Melbourne
Tickets: $91.65-$173.21, ticketek.com.au | $91.65-$173.21, ticketek.com.au
FOO FIGHTERS
Dave Grohl appears to be searching for ever more detailed ways to inspire his studio albums, including last November's Sonic Highways, but the Foo Fighters frontman maintains a belief in rock music as a joyfully cathartic live experience that translates into volume, commitment, sweat, and hits when playing gigs. Most stadium acts rely on spectacle to fill the vast space between themselves and the audience, but Grohl still believes he can reduce it to the intimate through the band's performance.
When:
- February 26, ANZ Stadium, Homebush NSW
- February 28, Etihad Stadium, Docklands VIC
Tickets: $94.92-$202.88, ticketek.com.au | $97-$199, ticketmaster.com.au
SINEAD O'CONNOR
The wildcard. Sinead O'Connor has made headlines for many reasons over the last few years, including her clashes with the Catholic Church hierarchy, see-sawing mental health issues, and an awkward online dialogue with Miley Cyrus, but there has also been a recent pair of well-received album, most notably 2014's I'm Not Bossy, I'm the Boss, that have served as the springboard for the 48-year-old's renewed touring. O'Connor retains a remarkable voice, and a deeper catalogue of fine songs than you might think.
When:
- March 19, Sydney Opera House
- March 4, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre, Melbourne
Tickets: $79-$99, sydneyoperahouse.com | $82-128, ticketmaster.com.au
NENEH CHERRY WITH ROCKETNUMBERNINE
Neneh Cherry is in the midst of a resurgent second act in a career that began with groundbreaking sounds 25 years ago on the Raw Like Sushi album and subsequently went very quiet. Also playing at the Golden Plains music festival, the Londoner arrives with last year's Blank Project, her first solo album in 18 years and an exploration of sparsely affecting electronic music whose chief collaborators, synth duo RocketNumberNine, are touring with Cherry.
When:
- March 11, Sydney Opera House, Sydney
- March 6, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre, Melbourne
Tickets: $59-$79, sydneyoperahouse.com | $78-102, ticketmaster.com.au
DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
Do scratch this: the Renegade of Rhythm finds the two acclaimed music producers and DJs furthering their previous collaborations by taking to the stage with six turntables and vinyl drawn from the vast record collection of seminal New York DJ Afrika Bambaataa, the pioneer in beats who foresaw hip-hop and electronic music's fruitful relationship. DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist are also at Golden Plains, but their headline show should allow them to acknowledge the past while invoking the future.
When:
- March 12, the Hi-Fi, Moore Park
- March 6, Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Tickets: $70.50-$125.50, tickets.thehifi.com.au | $74.20, ticketmaster.com.au
THE BLACK KEYS
The Black Keys are familiar figures on Australian stages – this will be their eighth tour of the country. But each visit has brought a larger profile and the show to match it, and this time there's also the deep melancholy of 2014's Turn Blue album, which topped the Australian charts, to integrate into Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney's usually raucous live garage-blues experience.
When:
- April 7, Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne;
- April 10, Qantas Credit Union Arena, Darling Harbourn Sydney
Tickets: $109.70, ticketek.com.au | $107.56, ticketmaster.com.au
CARIBOU
The Canadian composer and musician Dan Snaith has enjoyed a successful career in electronic music since emerging as Manitoba at the turn of the century, but the warmth, eclectic grace and immersive precision of his last two albums – 2010's Swim and last year's acclaimed Our Love – have elevated him, into both the charts and the forefront of club and pop music's blissful integration. His Laneway Festival sideshow should give him room to dazzle.
When:
- February 3, Sydney Opera House Sydney
- February 5, Forum Theatre, Melboourne
Tickets: from $49, sydneyoperahouse.com | $69.90, ticketmaster.com.au;
SPOON
Spoon are at the veteran stage now, two decades into the band's career, but they continue to make outstanding albums thanks to the combination of Britt Daniel's songwriting and Jim Eno's studio expertise. Thankfully they don't tour as often as most American indie bands (ie. every 18 months), and their live shows allow for the band's intuitive cohesion and Daniel's stage flair to explore and expand their elegiac studio output.
When:
- February 13, Metro Theatre, Sydney
- February 11, Forum Theatre, Melbourne
Tickets: $61.17, ticketek.com.au | $63.20, ticketmaster.com.au
PERFUME GENIUS
One for the future: Seattle singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas, touring as part of the Laneway Festival, has released three album under the moniker of Perfume Genius, with the most recent – 2014's Too Bright – serving as a well-deserved breakthrough. Increasingly extroverted in his outlook and sounds, his music can take in starkly moving ballads and urgent, uneasy alternative rock with electronic edges. This could well be the last Perfume Genius gig he plays at a venue this size in Melbourne and Sydney.
When:
- February 18, Oxford Art Factory, Darlinghurst NSW
- February 15, Corner Hotel, Richmond VIC
Tickets: moshtix.com.au | $45,cornerhotel.com
DRAKE
In this age of perpetual touring due to negligible music sales, the Canadian hip-hop supremo is surprisingly only now playing his first headline shows in this country (he's also at Future Music Festival). In some ways the yin to Kanye West's yang, the Toronto-born rapper with an ear for R&B's vintage warmth has offered a new vision for hip-hop superstardom: more introverted than extroverted, open to emotion, welcoming in his success.
When:
- February 25, Allphones Arena, Homebush NSW
- February 27, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Tickets: $11.94-$307.69, ticketek.com.au | $107.70-$151.05, ticketek.com.au
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| She's not bossy, she's the boss: Sinead O'Connor has a deeper catalogue of fine songs than you might think. Photo: Donal Moloney |
BANG FOR YOUR BUCKS
If you want to see as much music as possible in a concentrated amount of time, then it's a music festival (and sunscreen) for you. Four perennials to consider:- ST. JEROME'S LANEWAY FESTIVAL (February 7, Footscray Community Arts Centre; February 1, Sydney College of the Arts, Rozelle; $160) with Banks, Future Islands, FKA Twigs, Caribou and Flying Lotus.
- SOUNDWAVE (February 21-22, Melbourne Showgrounds; February 28-March 1; $132 for one day, $188 for two) with Faith No More, Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot and Soundgarden.
- GOLDEN PLAINS (Saturday 7 to Monday 9 March, Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre, $328.80) with Conor Oberst, Sharon Van Etten, Felice Brothers, and Village People.
- FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL (March 8, Flemington Racecourse; February 28, Royal Randwick Racecourse; $149 to $345) with Avicii, The Prodigy, Drake, Nero and Afrojack.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/mustsee-gigs-2015-caribou-spoon-black-keys-foo-fighters-taylor-swift-and-more-20150106-12i2su.html
