If you were planning on heading out to Wiley’s Melbourne show tonight you might want to put down your coat. The Godfather of Grime has cancelled the remaining shows of his Australian tour “due to personal reasons within the touring party.”
The cancellation affects shows over the next four nights in Melbourne, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, and Brisbane. Ticket holders can obtain a refund from their place of purchase.
Image used with permission from Warner Music Australia
It looks like there’s a new love in the life of Ricki-Lee Coulter.
Sources say she’s dating actor Brett Tucker, who plays nice guy Daniel Fitzgerald on Neighbours.
The pair was spotted dining at several Melbourne restaurants and taking in the Australian Open.
Ricki-Lee’s people have declined to comment, but Brett says it’s “early days.”
It sounds like there might a love match there to me!
Image source: Newscom
What are you doing this Australia Day? Sure you could celebrate with a barbeque like last year, but with so many free concerts happening around the country there’s no reason to stay in!
Australia Day Live – Parliament House, Canberra
Technically this show is the day before, but the line-up is so fantastic it deserves a mention. From 6:30 pm acts like Jessica Mauboy, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Dan Kelly, Wendy Matthews, Gurrumul, and Brian Cadd, will play Parliament House. Pre-show entertainment starts at 3:30 so arrive early to get a good spot!
Rocksong Festival – The Rocks, Sydney
More than 70 of this country’s finest singers and songwriters will play across nine stages in The Rocks. From 11 am to 9 pm you can see big name acts like Christine Anu, Holly Throsby, Kid Confucius, The Herd, and Tina Harrod.
James Morrison – Kings Domain Gardens, Melbourne
Australia’s iconic jazz trumpeter James Morrison will play a free show in the gardens from 12:30 pm. If you’ve never seen James live you don’t want to miss this.
Survival 2009 – Fremantle Park, Fremantle
This Aboriginal cultural festival features performances by Fitzroy Xpress Yabu Band, Abmusic Band, and indigenous dancers and performers. Join in the fun from 1 pm.
Australia Day Concert – South Bank Piazza, Brisbane
Finish off Australia Day with performances by Clare Bowditch, The Gin Club, and Gentle Ben and his Sensitive Side. It all kicks off at 7:30 pm, but with acts like this you’ll want to arrive early for a good view.
A Day on the Beach – Kingston Beach, Tasmania
There’s not a lot happening in Tassie, but some local bands will play at A Day on the Beach. The event, which starts at 10 am, also features sand castle competitions, water and beach sports, a kids gym, a treasure hunt, and an old fashioned Aussie BBQ. It sounds like fun!
Australia Day Concert – Elder Park, Adelaide
From 10 am Adelaide will celebrate Australia Day with a massive free concert. Lee Kernaghan will headline the show, which also features All Stars, Acoustic Juice, and Patrick McMahon. There’ll also be face painting and other kids activities, making this event one for the whole family.
Image source: Euthman @ Flickr
All aboard the Bacardi Express! The travelling concert will feature UK dance outfit Groove Armada alongside local acts British India, Bluejuice, Van She, and Lost Valentinos.
“Selecting the acts for the Bacardi Express is no mean feat as we need to ensure a good mix of genres and, more importantly, personality and stamina for this 48 hour journey,” festival organisers said.
“Eating, sleeping, jamming and partying in such close proximity is all part of the tour and we have to ensure everyone is up for that.”
The train will depart Melbourne on March 26. It’ll make stops at Wagga Wagga and Wollongong before arriving in Sydney on March 28.
You can win your seat on the train by visiting the Bacardi Express website.
Image source: Newscom
Frontier Touring Company has been named the number one local promoter of 2008 by Pollstar. Michael Gudinski’s baby also fared well in the world market, taking out number 15.
And it’s not hard to see why. Last year Frontier Touring brought us tours from The Police, Kylie Minogue, Billy Joel, and Snow Patrol. Even with the economic downturn, they’ve managed to firm up 2009 tours from Leonard Cohen, Ryan Adams, Fall Out Boy, Kings of Leon, and The Veronicas.
“It may be doom and gloom at the moment with the global economy but up until September 2008 Frontier was having a pretty amazing run. We ended 2008 well, but it could have been phenomenal before the economy went toe up,” Mr Gudinski said in a statement.
“The industry is inevitably set to go through some tough times, but I still believe that people are prepared to pay the money to go and see top quality entertainment. They may not go to as many shows as they used to, but with the right artist, and the right ticket price, there will always be a place for quality live entertainment in people’s budgets.”
I completely agree with him! The economy may have gone belly up but I’ve still got tickets for six shows so far this year! What about you? Has the financial crisis forced you to scale back, or are you still seeing as many concerts as ever before?
Jessica Mauboy’s second solo single “Burn” has proven its slow burn appeal, landing at the top spot on the ARIA singles charts this week. With the single debuting eight weeks ago, I’ll bet Jess wondered if she’d ever score that number one!
It’s been a much more meteoric rise for Natalie Bassingthwaighte, who’s rocketed into ninth position with “Someday Soon.” What an awesome effort for its first week in the charts!
AC/DC continue their dominance, outperforming all other Aussie albums with the five-times platinum Black Ice. It’s sitting at number four after thirteen weeks in the charts.
The massive Aussie soundtrack from the even bigger series Packed to the Rafters sits at number eight. Featuring acts like Ben Lee, Josh Pyke, and Gabriella Cilmi it’s little wonder people are buying this one in droves. It sounds like ideal Australia Day barbie music to me!
David Campbell rounds out the top 10 with one of my favourite albums at the moment, Good Lovin’. This is the sixties soul cover album’s highest chart position to date!
Here’s this week’s complete top ten!
Australian Top 10 Singles
Australian Top 10 Albums
I’m sure most Syl Johnson fans thought the soul legend would never grace our shores. But funnily enough, at the age of 72, he’s decided to make his first trip Down Under next month.
For those of you who don’t know about Syl, let me clue you in. He played with blues icons Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells, and Magic Sam before launching his solo career. His breakthrough hit was “Take Me To The River,” a song which has since been covered by Al Green and Talking Heads.
These days kids might be more familiar with Syl’s work through the samples used by Wu-Tang Clan, Get Boys, Cypress Hill, and dare I say it, MC Hammer.
Right now there’s only two places around the country you can see this living legend. He’ll play Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on February 14 and Perth’s Charles Hotel on February 21. Hopefully more shows will be added for those of us in other states!
Image source: Masahiro Sumori @ Wikimedia Commons
Missy Higgins move to the United States seems to be paying big dividends.
She’s preparing to tour around the country again with stops at iconic venues like the House of Blues, The Orpheum Theatre, and The Fillmore.
Missy’s single “Where I Stood” has sold a credible 150, 000 units stateside. The song has also been featured on primetime television shows like Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, The Hills, Lipstick Jungle, and One Tree Hill.
Here is Missy Higgins latest batch of United States dates.
19 February 2009 – House Of Blues, Houston
20 February 2009 – Antone’s, Austin
21 February 2009 – House Of Blues, Dallas
24 February 2009 – The State Theatre, Tampa
25 February 2009 – Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale
26 February 2009 – House Of Blues, Orlando
27 February 2009 – Center Stage, Atlanta
28 February 2009 – The Handlebar, Greenville
2 March 2009 – 9:30 Club, Washington
3 March 2009 – Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis
5 March 2009 – Theatre Of The Living Arts, Philadelphia
6 March 2009 – Terminal 5, New York
7 March 2009 – House Of Blues, Boston
8 March 2009 – Revolution Hall, Troy
10 March 2009 – House Of Blues, Cleveland
11 March 2009 – Royal Oak Music Theatre, Detroit
13 March 2009 – Vic Theatre, Chicago
14 March 2009 – Pabst Theater, Milwaukee
15 March 2009 – First Avenue, Minneapolis
17 March 2009 – Slowdown, Omaha
18 March 2009 – Beaumont Club, Kansas City
20 March 2009 – Rialto Theatre, Tucson
21 March 2009 – Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles
23 March 2009 – The Fillmore, San Francisco
Image source: Missy Higgins downloads page
If you’re finally planning on buying The Living End’s White Noise you might want to wait a few months longer. In March the band plan to release their award-winning album with a bonus disc of rarities and demos.
The lads are currently touring as part of the Big Day Out before playing their own shows around Europe. If you happen to live there you can catch this amazing Aussie three-piece at the following venues in April.
18 April 2009 – Groezrock, Meerhout
19 April 20099 – Waterfront, Norwich
21 April 2009 – Club Academy, Manchester
22 April 2009 – Koko, London
23 Apr 2009 – Nouveau Casino, France
24 Apr 2009 – Melkweg, Amsterdam
25 Apr 2009 – Luxor, Cologne
26 Apr 2009 – Postbahnhof, Berlin
Image source: Newscom
It looks like the Baby Animals might be back together for good. After a 15 year break, the band got back together last year to record the acoustic best of, Il Grande Silenzio. Now it seems a third studio album, the first since 1993’s Shaved and Dangerous, might not be too far off.
“I think that a relevant quote for the story of my life would be ‘Time Flies’,” lead singer Suze DeMarchi said in a statement. “It’s been a year since we did our last shows and a year that proved to be really creative but also a reminder of how geography affects everything!! Dave and I have been plowing ahead with work on new songs.”
We can expect to hear the new songs when the Baby Animals hit the road in April. Here are all the dates.
5 April 2009 – The Gov, Adelaide
7 & 8 April 2009 – Prince of Wales, Melbourne
9 April 2009 – Shoppingtown Hotel, Doncaster
11 April 2009 – Chelsea Heights Hotel, Melbourne
12 April 2009 – Hallam Hotel, Melbourne
15 April 2009 – Waves, Wollongong
17 April 2009 – Revesby Workers
18 April 2009 – Doyalson RSL, Wyong
19 April 2009 – Rooty Hill RSL
21 April 2009 – The Metro, Sydney
23 April 2009 – Caloundra RSL, Sunshine Coast
24 April 2009 – Mansfield Tavern, Brisbane
25 April 2009 – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast
To get you in the mood here’s a little “Early Warning”!