Versatile maestros who excel in straddling
the invisible boundaries between moody dance, shimmering pop and glacial
rock, duo Bob Moses have locked in two very special East Coast shows
this November, making the most of their upcoming trip to Australia as
part of the huge Strawberry Fields line up. Appearing at The Metro in
Sydney on Thursday November 28, and following up the next night at 170
Russell in the heart of Melbourne, these recent Grammy nominees will
enrapture audiences with spectacular cuts from their two albums, Days
Gone By (2015) and Battle Lines (2018), exhibiting the skills that have
made them a radio hit here in Australia, and a festival favourite the
world over. The duo made up of Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance attended the
same high school, where they shared the distinction of each having
already begun to pursue his musical ambitions in the hours after school
with Vallance playing clubs as a DJ and Howie performing his own songs
at local venues. Years later a fortuitous meeting in the parking lot of
a Brooklyn hardware store on the way to separate rehearsal spaces led to
a long dinner and an almost immediate beginning to making music
together.
When: Thursday 5th December
Where: The Concourse, Chatswood
Elite Performance Studios presents 'Bloom'.
'A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it, it
just blooms.' Showcasing the work of our 2019-2020 performance teams.
With energetic and entertaining routines by some of Australia's leading
industry choreographers.
After an emotional final performance with
the Beasts of Bourbon, Tex Perkins thought of getting the band’s
members, past and present into a recording studio just to celebrate the
band and see what resulted. Sadly, bassist Brian Hooper died a week
after the show. But weeks later former Beasts Charlie Owen, Boris
Sujdovic, Tony Pola, Spencer Jones, Kim Salmon and Tex Perkins assembled
without a plan, save for the crazy M.O. employed back in 1983 when the
Beasts first recorded The Axemans Jazz in that fateful 8 hour session.
As back then, they went at it! Songs weren’t so much learned as ideas
thrown together and recorded the moment they coalesced. The result is a
collection of pieces with names like ‘Pearls Before Swine’, ‘My Shit’s
Fucked Up’, ‘Drunk On A Train’ and ‘On My Back’ in a raucous celebration
of their own Beastliness. Spencer was sadly only around long enough to
make it onto one track. But what a track – witty observations from the
hospital bed entitled ‘At The Hospital’. This isn’t The Beasts of
Bourbon. It would need to have Jonesy on every track to be that! But
loudly and proudly this is: the Beasts Still Here.
Blackbear is a rock star who defies genres.
Swinging between hip-hop and punk, rapping and singing and the
increasingly fragile wall between obscure internet culture and the
mainstream, blackbear is a tattooed middle finger to all expectations.
Covered in denim, he accompanies his listeners through the life of a
rock star. It's nihilism, drugs, sex, anxiety, and insensitive
ex-girlfriends – it’s blackbear singing “do re mi fa, so fuckin 'done
with you, girl”, before moving on to the next destructive adventure.
With around a billion streams and collaborations with just about
everyone, from 2 Chainz, Cam'ron, Machine Gun Kelly, Ne-Yo to T-Pain,
blackbear is one of our most interesting rap hybrids of our time. After
leaving Florida-based rock band, Polaroid, Musto relocated to Atlanta,
Georgia to work with Ne-Yo and pursued a solo music career. Throughout
his 13-year music career, blackbear has released six EPs, five studio
albums, and two collaborative albums. His most recent release, ‘hot girl
bummer’ (Interscope/Universal Music Australia), has surpassed more than
25 million streams in just 3 weeks and currently placed at #34 on
Spotify’s “Australia Top 50” chart. The 28-year-old singer and
songwriter has also produced songs for some of the biggest names in
music including Justin Bieber, Linkin Park, G-Eazy and more. Don't miss
out on this hot Florida rapper’s return to Australia this summer – catch
him in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
British pop superstars Bastille are
returning to Australia at the beginning of next year on the Doom Days
Tour, Part 2, giving fans their first chance to hear the band’s third
studio album Doom Days performed live. Bastille have sold more than 8
million albums and racked up global streams well over the 6.5 billion
mark, making them one of the most streamed acts on the planet. Their
recent Marshmello collab ‘Happier’, which they performed in Times Square
on New Year’s Eve, is now certified Platinum in the UK and 5x Platinum
in Australia.
When: Saturday 1st February
Where: Hordern Pavilion
Frontier Touring are thrilled to welcome
back the inimitable punk superstar and Grammy nominee for a series of
special headline shows in January/February 2020 - Idol's first tour of
Australia since 2015! Idol will be bringing his full band back down
under, including his long-time collaborator and legendary lead-guitarist
Steve Stevens. The iconic singer will perform at Brisbane's Riverstage
on Friday 31 January, followed by a show at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion on
Saturday 1 February. Don’t delay in grabbing your tickets to Billy Idol,
live in Sydney this summer!
When: Saturday 1st February
Where: Hordern Pavilion
Frontier Touring are thrilled to welcome
back the inimitable punk superstar and Grammy nominee for a series of
special headline shows in January/February 2020 - Idol's first tour of
Australia since 2015! Idol will be bringing his full band back down
under, including his long-time collaborator and legendary lead-guitarist
Steve Stevens. The iconic singer will perform at Brisbane's Riverstage
on Friday 31 January, followed by a show at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion on
Saturday 1 February. Don’t delay in grabbing your tickets to Billy Idol,
live in Sydney this summer!
When: Saturday 1st February
Where: Hordern Pavilion
Brandi Carlile is currently touring in
celebration of her three-time GRAMMY Award winning sixth album, By The
Way, I Forgive You. The album includes ten songs written by Carlile and
longtime collaborators and bandmates Tim and Phil Hanseroth, including
"The Joke". Of her performance of the song on the live GRAMMY broadcast,
The New York Times proclaimed, "Carlile’s vocals were robust, ragged,
full of sneer and hope. On a night curiously light on impressive
singing, it was an uncomplicated, genuine, cleansing thrill." Brandi
Carlile has been a part of several activism campaigns and an advocate
for causes ranging from spreading awareness for health issues to
empowerment of women. $1.50 from each ticket sold for her performances
will be donated to her charity The Looking Out Foundation. Having sold
out her Madison Square Garden performance in New York on September 15,
Brandi Carlile is bring her bright shining talent to Australian shores.
"over the past 18 months has catapulted from longtime road-warrior fan
favourite to Grammy-winning superstar… " – Rolling Stone.
Brass Against are headed to Australian in
February 2020! The much-hyped brass-band-with-a-twist will be fronted by
supremely popular and talented vocalist Sophia Urista. In this
politically challenging era, it’s time to stand up against the machine.
Brass Against is collective of some of New York City’s top musicians,
who have come together to form a unique brass band that combines rock
and edgy hip-hop to create music that is both powerful and empowering.
Founded by Brad Hammonds, the band covers Rage Against the Machine,
Living Colour, Gil Scott Heron, Janes Addiction, A Tribe Called Quest,
and Led Zeppelin, amongst others. Brass Against is exceptional music
with a political edge. They are angry, they are inspired, they are ready
for change—and they hope their music amplifies this energy in everyone
who listens.
Britpop luminaries THE BLUETONES are
returning to Australia and New Zealand in May 2020, performing their
breakthrough debut album ‘Expecting To Fly’ in full along with a set of
their greatest hits. ‘Expecting To Fly’ was a sensation upon it’s
release knocking Oasis’ ‘What’s The Story (Morning Glory) off the #1
spot in the UK charts! Decade Mag included the album in their list of
all-time greatest Britpop albums, with X Radio bestowing similar
honours. The album set THE BLUETONES on a storied career having played
thosuands of shows across 73 countries. These long overdue dates will
see the reunited foursome return for their first Australian headline
tour in over 20 years whilst making their first trip to New Zealand.
These will be unforgettable shows not to be missed!
When: Tuesday 12th May - Thursday 14th
May
Where: Metro Theatre
Handsome Tours is thrilled to announce that
Billy Bragg will be returning for a very special tour entitled “One Step
Forward. Two Steps Back.” In each city Bragg will perform three unique
shows on consecutive nights.
NIGHT 1
Career Spanning Billy Bragg Set
NIGHT 2
Songs From First Three Albums
'Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy' (1983)
'Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984)'
'Talking with the Taxman about Poetry' (1986)
NIGHT 3
Songs From Second Three Albums
'Workers Playtime' (1988)
'Don't Try This at Home' (1991)
'William Bloke' (1996)
The first night's performance will
feature Bragg's current set, which ranges across his 35 year career. The
second will see Bragg perform songs from his first three albums: his
punk rock debut Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy (1983), its similarly raw
follow-up Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984) and Talking with the Taxman
about Poetry (1986). The third performance will see Bragg perform songs
from his second three albums: the positively jangled Workers Playtime
(1988), the pop classic Don't Try This at Home (1991) and the
back-to-basics William Bloke (1996). Says Billy: “After more than three
decades of travelling around the world in a van, or spending all day
flying vast distances to play a gig, I'm looking forward to having some
time to explore cities that I usually only get to see between the
soundcheck and the show. And this three night stand format is a way of
keeping things interesting, both for me and the audience. I tried it out
in Auckland recently and had a lot of fun revisiting my back pages.”
Billy Bragg has been a fearless recording artist, tireless live
performer and peerless political campaigner for over 35 years.
Politicised by a Tory government operating without love or justice, this
previously adrift young man from Barking, whose failure at national
exams had reduced his career opportunities to two, eventually bought
himself out of the British Army in 1981 ('the best £175 I ever spent'),
determined to make a living out of song. Don't miss the orator,
entertainer, rabble-rouser, negotiator, pamphleteer, the fabled 'Bard of
Barking', Billy Bragg, across three extraordinary evenings.
When: Friday 22nd May & Saturday 23rd
May
Where:
Qudos Bank Arena
Backstreet’s back, alright! Get your group
together, because the biggest selling Boy Band of all time (100 million
albums), the BACKSTREET BOYS are heading back to Australia in 2020 for a
national arena tour. AJ McLean, Brian Litterell, Nick Carter, Howie
Dorough and Kevin Richardson have been enthralling fans for more than 25
years and are expanding their massive world tour to Australia. Featuring
their signature, flawless choreography, costume changes, a
pyramid-shaped stage of light, trap doors and giant video screens,
Australian fans will experience their harmony-laden vocal prowess and
arsenal of mega-watt hits such as; >‘I Want It That Way’, ‘Everybody
(Backstreet’s Back)’ and ‘As Long As You Love Me’, plus songs from their
tenth studio album, ‘DNA”.
When: Sunday 28th June
Where: The Concourse, Chatswood
PRE-CONCERT TALK - Linda Foulsham will give
a pre-concert talk in the upper foyer at 1pm. SYNOPSES - Belshazzar’s
Feast tells the dramatic story of the Israelites’ Babylonian captivity
and enslavement, the wealth of the city-state and of King Belshazzar’s
great feast at which the King drinks from sacred vessels, stolen from
Jerusalem’s First Temple. This sacrilege heralds a clap of thunder and
God’s hand, writing in Hebrew: “You have been weighed in the balance and
found wanting.” Belshazzar is killed, the Israelites are freed and the
city is destroyed. The music is equally dramatic with wild extremes. The
work involves a variety of moods from the delicate to the cataclysmic, a
full orchestra with massed brass, a battery of percussion, some jazz
rhythms, a baritone soloist and large choir. Chichester Psalms Each of
the three choral movements centres around one complete psalm with
excerpts from another. The work is jazzy and contemporary, Bernstein
describing it as “popular in feeling” with “an old-fashioned sweetness
along with its more violent moments”. Hebrew text combines with
Christian choral tradition in a plea for reconciliation and unity.