Sarah McLeod and Dallas Frasca are two of the country’s best female rock talents. So you know that their upcoming Green Electric tour is bound to be an incredible time.
The tour’s name doesn’t just play lip service to sustainable trends. Sarah and Dallas have teamed up with Green Music Australia to use inset emissions strategies which will reduce and offset the environmental impact of these shows and time on the road. Think merchandise made from recycled materials, sustainable travel routes, eco-certified accommodation, and meat-free catering. This tour also supports Seed Mob, Australia’s first Indigenous youth-led climate justice organisation.
“We wanted to do something that wasn’t just loud — but meaningful,” Sarah said. “If rock and roll can’t lead the charge for change, what can?”
While the message matters, it won’t compromise the rock. You can expect plenty of Sarah and Dallas’ original hits and brand new collaborations when this talented twosome hits the stage. Tickets are on sale now:
I love it when acts break the mould and push the boundaries of different genres to create something that’s truly fresh and new. That kind of artistry rarely comes early in someone’s career, so it’s exciting to hear it from isha, a Zimbabwe-born, Aussie-raised singer-songwriter with Indian heritage. A melting pot of influences, which include the sounds of Bollywood and modern pop and R&B, has helped her bring her exciting new single “Beautiful Mess” to life.
“I wrote Beautiful Mess sitting on my couch one night after hearing this random flute sound that sparked something in me. The song just flowed out in one sitting,” isha said. “It’s about that kind of Romeo and Juliet love… a little forbidden, a little messy, but so powerful you can’t help but fall into it.”
isha assures me she has big plans for releasing plenty of new music next year, so make sure you’re following her on her socials to learn all about it first.
Chloe Styler is best known for her lighthearted pop-country tracks, but she’s showing a more vulnerable side on her latest single, “Placeholder.” Chloe’s never sounded better as she recalls a difficult relationship where she was treated as second-best.
“This song stirs up some messy, emotional feelings and still leaves an ache in my chest when I listen to it. But it’s honest, it’s raw, and it lives in that uncomfortable space between wanting to be loved and knowing you’re just being kept around as an option in someone’s life,” she said. “There’s no real resolution. It just sits in the sadness of that truth. It’s the heartbreak that comes when you finally see things for what they are, and you have to find your own closure because they’ll never actually give it to you. Here’s to never being the placeholder again though. That sucked.”
Chloe has a few more gigs before the year wraps up. See her at these free events in the coming weeks.
After winning the 2025 Big Break title, Liam Maihi is being touted as the next big thing in country music. It’s easy to see why when you listen to his latest single “Bound to Yours.” Liam’s voice is gritty and honest, fuelled by emotion as he sings out the lyrics he penned during a run of shows in Ngambri/Canberra.
“I had just got off a FaceTime with my partner and kids and was feeling a little homesick. It came flooding out,” he said. The song was originally conceived as a ballad, but Liam made a few tweaks and developed it into a certified country-rock banger.
“I wanted it to have that drive in the music. Something that you listen to while ‘on the road’. I realised that I’m not the only one alone in this situation of working away to support my family and that many of the people who love country also work on the road,” he said.
Liam will have a little downtime over Christmas, but he’ll be back on stages soon enough. Catch him at the following country music events in the New Year.
‘90s romantic-comedy Sliding Doors is one of those movies that lives in my mind rent-free. The premise of a single decision completely changing the trajectory of your life is fascinating. It seems local singer-songwriter Sidney agrees, as the flick inspired her fantastic new indie-pop single, also called “sliding doors.”
“I was still holding onto the belief that if I just pushed hard enough, maybe it could still work. But sometimes, choosing one path is what shows you the truth about what you actually wanted,” Sidney explained. “With its light/dark contrast and undercurrent of emotional unrest, ‘sliding doors’ sonically captures the emotional tug-of-war at the heart of the EP, sitting right at the tipping point between fantasy and clarity.”
Sidney will release that EP on February 27. You can hear a couple more songs from that release, including previous singles “golden boy” and “what if it ends?” on your favourite streaming services.
If you’re feeling that midweek slump, take a moment to press play on “Running,” the latest track from Meeanjin/Brisbane-based rockers Lucid Safari. It’s such a fabulous feel-good track from a band that seem destined for big things.
“‘Running’ is about that ache you feel for someone you never really got the chance to know. It’s that unspoken connection that lingers, the one that got away before anything real could even start,” explained Lucid Safari’s lead singer, Daniel Lewis. “You’re replaying moments, chasing fragments and memories that never quite left you. Underneath the energy of the song, there’s a quiet kind of longing about how time moves on, people change, but some feelings just stay with you.”
Discovering “Running” has sent me down a little rabbit hole listening to all of the most recent Lucid Safari’s releases, and I am so impressed. Hopefully we hear plenty more these guys in 2026.
As someone who struggles to switch my brain off and stop living outside my head, I’m hard relating to “Overthink,” the folky new single from Boorloo/Perth-based singer-songwriter Bella Dyer. Bella’s honest vocals and simple acoustic guitar melody help bring her introspective lyrics to life.
“’Overthink’ was written after I emerged from a long and difficult period in my life,” Bella admitted. “Finally stepping out of that space gave me a chance to reflect deeply on who I am and the person I want to become, someone free from the weight of my past identity. The song captures that process of self-realisation and expressing my emotions both inside and out.”
Bella credits her band and Chris Benato of Lloyd and the Leftovers, who recorded, produced, and mixed the track, for bringing her vision to life. The year’s almost done, but hometown fans have one more opportunity to see her life when she plays Mojo’s NYE Party on December 31.
Is it just me, or does New Years’ have a way of sneaking up on you? With so much focus on Christmas, it’s all too easy to enter the final week of December without any plans to kickstart the year right. So let me make it easy on you, Sounds of Oz readers. Field Day is celebrating 25 years in Eora/Sydney with a massive New Years Day bash.
The likes of Carl Cox and Jamie Jones, The Presets, Deborah De Luca, Bag Raiders, Kölsch, and Patrick Mason will make sure the anniversary celebrations are the ultimate party. New for 2026 is CAMP GROUND, a fresh stage celebrating local queer talent.
“Field Day has always been a space where LGBTQIA+ communities are welcome and celebrated,” organisers Fuzzy said in the presser. “Queer artists and revellers have been a big part of Field Day’s 25 years of success. We’re thrilled to honour that by introducing CAMP GROUND to the festival in 2026 – curated by and for LGBTQIA+ communities, spotlighting some of Sydney’s best.”
Field Day will take over the Domain on January 1. General admission and VIP tickets, along with Fast Forward passes and a fantastic Double Trouble New Year bundle, are all available now from Moshtix.
If you’re a sucker for bold, honest lyrics as I am, I know you’ll love Benjamin Trillado’s latest single “16.” It’s a beautiful, bittersweet coming-of-age folk anthem inspired by Benjamin’s own experiences growing up queer in Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country/Sunshine in suburban Naarm/Melbourne.
“I remember being at school and feeling like every day I was just trying not to get caught,” he recalled. “I felt like I knew more about myself, yet I started to go further inwards.”
Benjamin may not have been able to be his full self then, but he’s certainly found his voice now. If you’ve ever felt like you needed to make yourself smaller, I know Benjamin’s raw vocals and powerful lyrics will strike a chord with you.
As it became clear that New South Wales would swelter on Saturday, I began to dread Jimmy Barnes’ Working Class Man 40th Anniversary show in Wonnarua Country/Pokolbin. If I hadn’t spent around $200 on the ticket, I might have cancelled. I became even more nervous as we neared Bimbadgen Estate and saw the car’s temperature gauge click over to 43 degrees. I felt nauseous by the time I found my seat and started to worry that this was all a bad idea. But superb music, and a healthy dose of soda water, has a way of making everything better.
John Rooney was a late addition to the bill. Ordinarily I would have made sure to catch an artist I wasn’t familiar with, but I’m sure in the heat he’d forgive me missing his set. One artist I wouldn’t miss is Kate Ceberano. She’s always excellent, but I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed a set as much as this one promoting her new Australian Made live album. I wasn’t familiar with this release, so every classic cover was a surprise. Hits of the past like “Boys in Town” and “Barbados” fit her like a glove, while modern tracks like “Chandelier” and “The Joker and the Thief” were unexpected joys. And she was always going to make the Barnesy-loving crowd happy with a cover of Cold Chisel’s “You Got Nothing I Want.” Kate also treated us to plenty of her own numbers including “Bedroom Eyes” and a reggae-tinged take on “Pash.” While she stole focus with her effortless charisma, I’ve got to give praise to her stellar band including the always fabulous HARTS. What a fantastic surprise to see such a brilliant artist in his own right sharing the stage with our Kate.
Kate’s celebration of Aussie music perfectly led in to Ian Moss’s solo set. Another national treasure and Jimmy’s former bandmate, he was always going to go down a treat with this crowd. It’s been some time since I’ve seen Mossy with a full band, so it was a real thrill to hear songs from his entire career given that electric treatment. From Cold Chisel hits like “Choir Girl” and the epic closer “Bow River” to “Nullarbor Plain” from 2024’s Rivers Run Dry, it was top notch. I also loved seeing Ollie Thorpe, who I last saw as part of The Whitlams’ Black Stump Band, with Mossy. He got his chance to really shine sharing vocal duties on “Georgia on My Mind.”
I was really looking forward to Icehouse after they blew Hall & Oates off the stage in 2012. I’m pleased to report they have very much still got it. The blend of founding member Iva Davies and long-term bandmates Paul Gildea and Paul Wheeler with newer members like saxophonist Hugo Lee and keyboardist Michael Best is inspired. They sound so tight, unmistakeably Icehouse, yet so fresh. I also loved seeing the supremely talented Michael Paynter doing double duty with Icehouse and Barnesy. Icehouse has a catalogue that is so rich, you don’t realise how many hits they had until they’re delivering them. They performed so many of them with the kind of energy that makes you forget many of the band members have done these songs for decades. They still seem to relish sharing their music with us. When a band plays with such precision and enthusiasm, you will always have a good time.
Remember how there was that heatwave that had me feeling nauseous? It persisted right up until Jimmy Barnes was due to take the stage. And then the weather took a serious turn. The winds came. The rains came. Oh how they came. Massive droplets that had us soaked to the skin, because of course we had been so worried about packing frozen water, fans, and damp face washers that we hadn’t thought to grab ponchos. We were told the concert would be “paused” and we should seek shelter. It honestly felt worse than the Sting show which was abruptly axed, so I braced myself for a cancellation. Although there was a voice in my head saying “I did not sweat it out only to go home!” And then thankfully, the rain disappeared, at least temporarily, and the show went on. And how.
Given all we had endured, Jimmy seemed determined to make it worth our while. He’s always the kind of guy who gives his all, but he seemed to have a little extra in the tank as he treated us to every song from his breakthrough solo album For the Working Class Man. I loved the opportunity to hear many songs that don’t make his typical sets like “Without Your Love” and “Promise Me You’ll Call.” Given the length of the album, I knew there’d be a few more songs besides, but it was a mystery which tracks would make the cut. There were some old favourites like “Too Much Ain’t Enough Love” and “Lay Down Your Guns” as well as more recent cuts which tie so easily back to early material like “Shutting Down Our Town,” inspired by his upbringing in Elizabeth, and “Beyond the River Band,” a tribute to his love with his beloved Jane who lent her backing vocals and bagpipe skills to the night.
The songs are just one part of the Jimmy Barnes experience. We love them, but we also love him. He’s one of us, our working-class man. In a place like Wonnarua Country/Hunter Valley, a significant coal mining area, his humble beginnings resonate. He might be up on that stage, but he talks to us like we’re old friends. He joked about the “fucking hurricane”, noting that he felt like the president as organisers tried to usher him to a car as the heavens opened up. He said he refused, rebelliously declaring “If we die, we all die together!” That’s our Jimmy.
I am such a fan, I will listen to Jimmy perform anything and lap it up. But there’s something special about being amongst a bunch of Australians as Jimmy belts out monster hits like “Working Class Man” and “Khe Sanh.” I felt it even more intensely on Saturday night, perhaps because we had all gone through so much. The heat, the storms, the joy that made it all worth it. The conditions made me dread this concert, but it was such a beautiful celebration of Aussie talent that I am so glad I put my concerns to the side and attended.
Jimmy Barnes and his ultra-talented mates will continue the Working Class Man 40th Anniversary shows in Eora/Sydney this week and through 2026. And it’s likely to be hot. Bring your water, sunscreen, and hats, and just do it. I promise you, you will not be sorry. Tickets are still available for all remaining dates:
