Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.
The fusion between French and Vietnamese is well-recognised but hardly represented as well as it should be in Sydney. There are exceptions. One of my favourite Vietnamese restaurants in Sydney, Hello Auntie, offers a masterclass in Vietnamese cuisine while paying homage to its French roots. And sister venue Hey Chu does it just as well….
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One of Sydney’s most upscale cafes, The Mayflower Darlinghurst, is paying tribute to the odd combination of whisky and peanut butter with a summer-ready pop-up bar exclusively dedicated to espresso martinis and ice cream. Yes, it may sound like a strange shot in any season, but Sheep Dog Peanut Butter Whiskey and Elato Ice Cream…
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I couldn’t imagine The Chicks ever receiving a poor reception, so the band’s recent performance at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, as part of a wider Australian tour, was as predictable as they come. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. 22 songs all delivered with seething wit and precision, nuanced by a tight band of…
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At its very fundamental level, interior design can be just as important to your well-being as meditation and a nice, long walk. While that may sound overly dramatic to some, we think it’s been well-documented just how much designing your own space impacts your level of comfort and even your confidence. Take the phrase “house…
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There are very few rappers – let alone musicians from any genre – that can claim no peak. That is, they will never reach it; they will never pass it. Relevance in rap has always been a contentious issue, so these rare emcees who can never sound dated or tired will always be fascinating to…
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Five songs into his spellbinding set, Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice genuinely lets the crowd decide what he’s going to play next. There are screams. Many. And just about every single one of them are shouting out a different song title (the winner was “Woman Like A Man”) Such is how highly regarded Rice is amongst…
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After more than thirty years, you could be wondering whether Jane’s Addiction and The Smashing Pumpkins are past their prime. But judging by their performances as part of Billy Corgan’s global-scaling The World Is A Vampire Festival, they’re showing no signs of slowing down. This wasn’t a concert. Let’s get that out of the way…
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Ice Cube’s reputation as one of the signature artists of hip hop and an architect of the culture is not up for debate. The famously barbed and politically-charged emcee played a significant part in solidifying hip-hop as a vehicle for sweeping cultural commentary, change and documentation throughout the 90s. Hence, an Ice Cube concert is…
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Angel Olsen was made for the Sydney Opera House. As part of her All Mirrors tour of Australia, the 36-year-old singer-songwriter presented a beautiful performance that really iterated how formidable the Concert Hall has become for live music. And while this can be attributed to many factors, no less Angel Olsen’s ethereal and incisive tunes,…
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For the first time in just about a decade, Snoop Dogg has returned down under. The legendary Californian rapper has had a contentious relationship with the country over the years, but now that he’s back for his “I Wanna Thank Me” tour, Aussies are just clearly glad the doggfather has finally touched down. The last…
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Ed Sheeran is a fantastic musician. Let’s just acknowledge that for a second, because I feel the UK singer’s star has risen so high over the past decade that many people often forget that. A pop star? Sure. A rock star? Equally sure. There’s unfortunately still a tendency in society to disregard someone’s credibility as…
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In modern dating culture, anyone would be lucky enough to even have one valentine to spend February 14 with. Got two? Count your blessings, because QT Hotels & Resorts are doing something rather unique to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year and it involves you, plus two. Instead of encouraging couples to come in for an…
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And so we have it, the biggest concert so far this year for Sydneysiders; a packed-out, uniformly excellent performance from indie rock legends Arctic Monkeys and DMAs on support duties. It felt like a festival; it basically was. The Domain has been used quite extensively as a venue over the past few months, jumping from…
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Many Sydneysiders are already familiar with Blanc de Blanc. Strut N Fret’s incredibly flirtatious, Champagne-fueled stab at high-class cabaret has played around the city for years, popping up every so often at different views including a sell-out season at Sydney Opera House. Now, it’s back. And quite honestly, we should all be so glad that…
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From all accounts, New Year’s Eve 2022 will go down as one of the biggest in Sydney history. Nothing particularly shocking or unconventional happened, but that pent-up lust for celebration that has remained so tight-packed and anxious during pandemic-sanctioned (and necessary) lockdowns, resulted in some truly spectacular events throughout every corner of Sydney. And Victoria…
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On one hand, you’ve got The Killers live at Qudos Bank Arena. Sydney’s go-to venue for stadium concerts was heaving for the Las Vegas band, long overdue for a revisit to our shores and fresh off a whopping 80+ shows as part of their global Imploding The Mirage tour. A tour, mind you, that has…
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Over the years, The Wombats really held it down for Britpop at a time when Bloc Party was middling around and Arctic Monkeys were a bit too big for the little guy anymore. The combination of excellent songwriting, earwormy hooks and vibrant, upbeat dance rock really hit home for a lot of people, and songs…
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It’s not every day you see some of Australia’s greatest acts converge on the same stage anymore. With music festivals up and running again, that’s about to change for 2023. And if you want to prep your body for a year of awesome live music, then the best time to start is on New Year’s…
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Over the same weekend that West Coast legend DJ Quik was set to play a small Sydney gig in the cramped side room of Metro Theatre, fellow Compton emcee Kendrick Lamar performed two tightly-packed shows at the staggeringly large Qudos Bank Arena as part of his global The Big Steppers tour. Two enormous symbols of…
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What a band. What a gig. What a venue. Local boys Rufus Du Sol just packed out The Domain twice as if it was Field Day in 2007, presenting one of the rare times in Sydney a festival atmosphere had been purpose-built primarily with one act in mind. Yes, there were two support acts and…
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We’re officially barrelling towards the end of 2022, a year that has been packed with international and local live music springing back to life after a series of crippling lockdowns. It’s been jam-packed, to say the very least, and next year is looking even stronger as some truly big-ticket acts like Elton John, Red Hot…
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Over three decades Phantom of the Opera has been solidified as a paradigm-shifting theatre production without equal. I know many people who don’t care for the theatre who would relish in every single second of any iteration of this story, no matter the time, setting or season. And those who do have a particular love…
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It’s really not fair that Sigur Ros lives over there, and not over here. The iconic Icelandic band is still one of the most unique live acts in the world, regularly spurring these incredible live performances that are forever stamped all across YouTube above an invariably adoring comment section built with praise like “life-changing” and…
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Ahead of their first studio album since 2013’s idiosyncratic and widely acclaimed Kveikur, Icelandic music royalty Sigur Ros is just about to kick off a long-overdue tour of Australia. With live music now firmly back on the cards, it’s about time we’ve got something as immersive and ethereal as this unimpeachable Icelandic band, who have…
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Tyler, the Creator has grown immensely as a performer and is not only capable of commanding an entire arena with just a – highly polished – stage design, a microphone and a ridiculous amount of energy. In 2022, the 31-year-old musician adds something to the confidence he’s so clearly expressed since he first stomped onto…
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Frontman Julian Casablancas doesn’t seem very happy these days, letting loose with some incoherent quips occasionally while his band, New York’s legendary The Strokes, play through a greatest hits set list for the first of two Sydney shows – sideshows, may I add, to the deflating Splendour in the Grass, which this year was marred…
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Nils Frahm is just some guy on a stage fiddling with knobs, tinkering with futuristic glass harmonicas, and clanging away at keys with a penchant for building waves of contemplative sounds. So you can soundtrack whatever stressful thoughts you may have brought with you on a Thursday night. Across the better part of a decade,…
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Charming. That’s the word I’d best use to describe what Moulin Rouge! has bought to a Sydney crowd that’s absolutely aching for a playful musical following the previous few years. While he’s busy doing the round in Australia right now for his new movie Elvis, Baz Luhrmann has no doubt already been through the Capitol…
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Going for high tea at one of Sydney’s best hotels is fallen out of favour in the past few years, as bottomless brunches take over as the afternoon activity of choice for groups looking to pack a sesh into their weekends. But that’s just because high tea has become such a standard affair, with the…
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*UPDATE* [19/05/2022]: Well, the news is out now. Every single music fan in Sydney is going to be knocking down the online Live Nation door as of Friday 20th May in a frantic attempt to scrape up tickets to Kendrick Lamar’s new Australia tour for 2022. The Compton emcee, who just released the brilliant Mr…
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