I believe 2024 was an excellent year for film. I saw at least one film a week, often two. My list of favourite films is based on 2024 Australian release dates. And my favourite films came out early in the year, with Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest staying on top all year. They were both remarkable films. Smart and intelligent, exquisitely acted and directed. They were both films that stayed long in my memory. Films like All Of Us Strangers and The Holdovers were other films I totally admired early in the year. The 2024 Academy Awards were dominated by Oppenheimer and rightly so. My favourite film of 2023 and I believe a five star masterpiece.

I think easily the best blockbuster film of the year was Dune Part Two, but overall it's always the smaller films that dominate my list. Probably the best of these was A Real Pain, a film I truly loved. Be interesting to see how it fares in the upcoming awards season. Same with Anora, another admirable film. There are plenty of films opening soon too that I am looking forward to. Such as Conclave, The Brutalist, We Live in Time, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, A Complete Unknown, Queer and September 5.

1. Anatomy of a Fall
2. The Zone of Interest
3. All Of Us Strangers
4. The Holdovers
5. Dune Part Two
6. The Iron Claw
7. About Dry Grasses
8. A Real Pain
9. His Three Daughters
10. Green Border

2024 felt like another great year for live music. I might not get to as many shows as I did in the past but what I did see was very good. Festivals seem to really struggle in 2024 due to many factors. Splendour in the Grass went by the wayside and Laneway Festival is a shadow of its former self. But Vivid still brings out interesting acts and Volume managed to have a second year at the Art Gallery of NSW. But my absolute favourite show of the year was towards the end of the year in London. I managed to see Vampire Weekend on their world tour whilst I was in the great city and they were incredible as expected. I also managed to see TV on the Radio in London too. Another great highlight of the year was seeing Wednesday for the very first time in Sydney. MJ Lenderman supported and he was great. I also saw him do a solo show in Melbourne. Can't wait to see him again in 2025.

1. Vampire Weekend @ Brixton Academy, London
2. Wednesday @ Factory Theatre
3. TV on the Radio @ Islington Assembly Hall, London
4. Explosions in the Sky @ Sydney Opera House
5. Wilco @ Enmore Theatre
6. Dirty Three @ Enmore Theatre
7. Wilco @ Sydney Opera House
8. Waxahatchee @ Sydney Opera House
9. The Hold Steady @ Stay Gold, Melbourne
10. The National & Fleet Foxes @ Aware Super Theatre  

My time in London in early December was given another bonus when the great TV On The Radio announced a three night run in Islington. The seminal New York band had sort of been on hiatus but there was a frenzy when they announced shows in New York, Los Angeles and London. It worked out perfectly for me that I was able to snare a ticket for their third show in London. So, on a Thursday night I ventured along to a small and intimate venue in the beautiful suburb of Islington for a spectacular night of music. The night was a great reminder of just how great this band are. Trust me, they have lost nothing at all. It felt like a night of celebration and great joy. They tore through a great selection of their catalogue, providing much joy and happiness to the lucky few that were there. Hopefully there will be more shows in 2025 and who knows, maybe new music.

Set List
Young Liars
Golden Age
Dreams
Halfway Home
Love Dog
Could You
Wolf Like Me
Repetition
Province
DLZ
Dancing Choose
Satellite

Ambulance

Trouble
Staring at the Sun

Vampire Weekend are just a very special group. I’ve been very fortunate to see them a few times over the years and they are consistently great. I made long term plans to be in the U.K. and London in December and when I saw they were playing shows I quickly bought a ticket. I was even more excited as their new album in ‘Only God Was Above Us’ is my favourite album of 2024. So on a Tuesday night I ventured to Brixton to see them play at the historic Brixton Academy. As expected it was a great show. They played plenty from their latest album and naturally they all sounded great. The band now consists of the three original members, but live they flesh the band out to eight for a full and rich sound. For a band with such a rich and varied catalogue set lists are just nominally great. My absolute favourites of the night were ‘White Sky’ and ‘Diane Young’. But honestly it was all great. The band also have a new tradition on this tour of taking requests in the encore. But not their songs. It’s all a bit chaotic but also a lot of fun. The night ended perfectly when they finally closed with one of their own in ‘Ya Hey’. I love this band so much and it was pure pleasure to see them yet again. 

Set List
Oxford Comma
Campus
Boston (Ladies of Cambridge)
Ice Cream Piano
Classical 
Connect
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
White Sky
This Life
Sympathy
New Dorp New York
Pravda
How Long?
Capricorn
Gen-X Cops
Diane Young
A-Punk
Prep-School Gangsters
Obvious Bicycle
Mary Boone
Harmony Hall
Hope

Thunder Road (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Jealous Guy (John Lennon cover)
Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits cover)
The Boys Are Back in Town (Thin Lizzy cover)
Guns of Brixton (The Clash cover)
Both Sides, Now (Joni Mitchell cover)
Dancing in the Moonlight (Toploader cover)
Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? (Rod Stewart cover)
The Israelites (Desmond Dekker cover)
Big Shot (Billy Joel cover)
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler cover)
Twist and Shout (The Top Notes cover)
La Bamba
Worship You
Ya Hey

Waxahatchee has come a long way in a relatively short space of time. Otherwise known as Katie Crutchfield, the Alabama singer first came to Sydney to play her country tinged indie rock in very small clubs. She was last here in 2018 when she played the Studio in the Sydney Opera House. Monday night she graduated to the Concert Hall. And she filled it with ease. Her voice and style is very hard to resist, one of the very best shows of the year. Since 2018 she has released two highly acclaimed albums. 2020's 'Saint Cloud' and this year's 'Tigers Blood'. Her sound has graduated to magnetic Americana, so we didn't really hear any of her older material. It was a set basically filled with songs from her latest albums. But I wasn't complaining. Those albums are great and this show was great. Katie has a voice to stop a small planet. It's tender and powerful. With a great band behind her, including Spencer Tweedy on drums, she gave us 90 minutes of great music. A beautiful set, some highlights being 'Crimes of the Heart', 'Bored' and 'The Wolves'. Of course 'Lilacs' went down a treat, as did closing song 'Tigers Blood'. It was a warm and wonderful night from a truly great artist.     

Set List
3 Sisters
Ice Cold
Can't Do Much
Problem With It (Plains song)
The Eye
Hell
Right Back To It
Burns Out at Midnight
Bored
Lone Star Lake
Crimes of the Heart
Oxbow
Line of Sight (Plains song)
Witches
Crowbar
Ruby Falls
The Wolves
Hurricane (Plains song)
Lilacs
Tigers Blood

Evil Spawn

Much Ado About Nothing
365
Fire 

Real Estate are just reliably good. In this sad time of soporific pop it's great to see a band that write good songs with melody and touch and feel. It had been seven years since Real Estate were in Australia, so it was great to see them again Saturday night at the Manning Bar. They also had a new album to promote, another benefit of seeing them again live. The New Jersey band have been making great music since their 2009 debut and I believe this was probably the fourth time that I have seen them live. Led by Martin Courtney, their melodies are languid and lush. You can just drift away in their beautiful songs. Naturally they played quite a bit from their 2024 album and I especially enjoyed 'Water Underground' and 'Haunted World'. With a growing catalogue you always miss songs you wish they played, but I believe they gave us a pretty good spread of material from over the years. If I was being selfish I would though have loved to hear some from that very first debut record. Can't complain though, after a really fun night. Just hope we don't have to wait seven years for their next visit.

Set List
Somebody New
Darling
Primitive 
Flowers
Water Underground 
Green Aisles
Paper Clip
Younger Than Yesterday 
Haunted World
Say No More
Interior
Crime
Talking Backwards 
Suburban Dogs
Freeze Brain
Had to Hear
Stained Glass
Saturday 

Easy
It’s Real

Volume Festival returned to Sydney this July. A little earlier than 2023, but very welcome. My show of the festival was to witness the icon Kim Gordon on Friday night in the Art Gallery of NSW. The setting was the underground The Tank. A unique space for sure, dark and mysterious. Although the number of poles didn’t help for great sight lines. Gordon of course was a member of the legendary Sonic Youth and is now forging her own solo career. Earlier this year she released a wonderful album in ‘The Collective’ and in fact her set included every song from that superb album. It was a relatively short set, but a furious one. Gordon and her four piece band pounded through that album as well as a few songs from her debut album. It was a great set with her abrasive industrial tinged guitar rock banging loud through the cavernous space. Gordon is aging extremely well. Her music is vital and strong and vibrant. Powerful stuff. 

Set List

Bye Bye

The Candy House

I Don’t Miss My Mind

I’m a Man

Trophies

It’s Dark Inside

Psychedelic Orgasm

Shelf Warmer

The Believers

Dream Dollar

Air BnB

Paprika Pony

Cookie Butter

Hungry Baby

Grass Jeans