Geese performed a monumental show Wednesday night at the Metro Theatre. A very hot, sweaty and packed room was there for the band of 2025. Geese conquered the world last year and they definitely lived up to the hype. It was an electric show with an excited crowd singing and dancing to every single song. It was quite thrilling in truth to see a band be 'in the moment'. A band of such incredible talent and one destined for greater things. Last year they released 'Getting Killed' and it was easily my favourite album of 2025. It was for many critics too. So when they opened with 'Husbands' it was a sign of just how great the show would be. They ended up playing eight of the songs from 'Getting Killed' and they were spectacular. My only small regret was that they didn't play 'Cobra' but otherwise I couldn't complain. 'Islands of Men' was a cosmic delight and 'Half Real' was beauty personified. 'Bow Down' was amazing and of course 'Taxes' tore the roof off. They still had time for older tracks too with '2122' being a true rocket blast. The encore was short and sweet with 'Trinidad' sending the room into a total frenzy. Then they left. They came and conquered. Even though they are a young band they combine beautifully together. Max Bassin is a phenomenal drummer and Emily Green is an intuitive guitarist. And of course all eyes were on lead singer Cameron Winter. He has a howling voice and is very charismatic. This show will live long in my memory without a doubt.
Set List Husbands Getting Killed Islands of Men Half Real 2122 I See Myself 100 Horses Cowboy Nudes Domoto Tomorrow's Crusades Bow Down Au Pays du Cocaine Taxes
Lucy Dacus gave us all a glorious show Tuesday night at the Sydney Opera House. She has come a long way since playing the Oxford Art Factory a few years back. Now she is selling out the iconic venue before a very excited audience. Lucy's latest album, 'Forever Is a Feeling', from last year was a fine album but I don't think it was nearly as good as her first three albums. But hearing the songs live was still a great experience. Thanks to the force of personality of Lucy and the greatness of her band. 'Ankles' and 'Talk' early on were especially good. But my favourites were some older tunes such as 'VBS' and 'Hot & Heavy'. I'm still also glad that Lucy plays 'I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore', a great song from her very first record. She also played 'Planting Tomatoes', a new song she has been playing recently. I thought the show lost a little momentum towards the end with a few songs from her latest album that don't quite do it for me such as 'Bullseye' and 'Best Guess'. But the encore was super special and ended the night on a super high. Lucy played 'Trust' solo, a song also from her first album and then did a Boygenius cover which was sung along with total gusto. Of course she closed with 'Night Shift' which is surely her signature song and was just enormous live once again. Lucy is such a special performer and it was great to see her again last night.
Set List Calliope Prelude Hot & Heavy First Time Ankles Modigliani VBS Talk Partner in Crime Planting Tomatoes I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore Brando Big Deal Limerence Losing Bullseye Best Guess Lost Time Forever Is a Feeling
Trust (solo) True Blue (Boygenius cover) Night Shift
Alex G put on a spectacular show Monday night at the Sydney Opera House. The young man from Philadelphia has come a long way from small shows and self released records. I had seen him twice before a few years at festivals, but hadn't be able to see him in own headline show. He was supposed to tour here in 2020 but COVID got in the way. So he finally made it back in 2026 and he sold out the iconic venue with ease. Alex has slowly built his career and last year landed at a major label with his tenth album in 'Headlights'. I loved that album, it was my second favourite album of last year. So it was really exciting to hear every track from the album. 'Louisiana' blasted out and got the show going immediately. 'June Guitar' was also an early highlight. 'Oranges' was beautiful as well, with an impromptu phone spotlight serenade. Of course with an extensive catalogue there is plenty of room to play a variety of older tunes. 'Runner' was sensational as expected, whilst 'Blessing' was a total blast. I think my favourite part though was when Alex took up the keyboards and did 'Immunity' and 'Logan Hotel' back to back. His band was fantastic as well. A lot louder than I thought, best shown by a jammed up closer in 'Headlights'. The encore was full on fun too, we got nine songs! Alex did a beautiful rendition of 'Far and Wide' then seemed to go fully 'off book'. A front row fan yelled out 'Wicked Boy' and we got that, then straight into 'Sportstar' and 'Mis' on keyboards. They seemed very happy to play requests and 'Sarah' and 'Harvey' purely melted my heart. 'Animals' closed off a perfect night. Another notable thing about the night was the age of the audience. I think I was easily the oldest there. It was a very young audience. There was audible screaming at the start of many songs. It was also quite heavenly women based. It gives me great hope for the future. Alex G is a gift to music. I can't wait for him to return.
Set List Louisiana Gretel June Guitar Runner Real Thing Beam Me Up Afterlife Oranges Bug Kicker Brick Horse Blessing Immunity Logan Hotel Is It Still You In There? Bounce Boy Spinning Forever Headlights
Far and Wide Wicked Boy Sportstar Mis Southern Sky Sarah Harvey Powerful Man Animals
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are pure Australian legends. I have seen them several times now and they never disappoint. So it proved Saturday night on a beautiful summer night at The Domain. For close to two and a half hours they gave us a wonderful night of music. They rocked, they serenaded, they connected emotionally. This was The Wild God tour, named for their 2024 album. They would play 8 songs from that wonderful record. They really translated well live. Especially the title track, as well as ‘Frogs’ and ‘Conversion’. Of course they gave us all the classics too. My favourites were ‘Jubilee Street’, ‘From Her to Eternity’ and ‘The Mercy Seat’. Nick Cave is still the magnetic frontman. He commands a stage like no other. He loves to connect with his adoring fans. And of course The Bad Seeds are electric live. The encore was really special too. Australian classic ‘Shivers’ was played and then Nick closed this magnificent night playing ‘Into My Arms’ solo on piano. A perfect way to end a great night.
Set List Frogs Wild God Song of the Lake O Children Jubilee Street From Her to Eternity Long Dark Night Cinnamon Horses Tupelo Conversion Bright Horses Joy I Need You Carnage Final Rescue Attempt Red Right Hand The Mercy Seat White Elephant
Shivers Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry The Weeping Song Henry Lee Skeleton Tree Into My Arms
2025 belonged to Geese. Their album in 'Getting Killed' was my album of the year with little doubt. In my list of favourite songs of the year I could have included nearly all of the songs from that album. So naturally my number one song of the year was by the New York band. It could have been 'Taxes', a magnificent song and the obvious pick. But I went with 'Husbands', third song off the album and a song I love with all of my heart. Truly incredible. 'Cobra' was also one to feature highly. Lead singer Cameron Winter released a fantastic album late in 2024 which I loved. I have seen it appear on many 2025 lists as it was released so late in 2024, but it appeared on my 2024 list. Although with many repeated listens it could easily have appeared much higher on my 2024 list. 2025, a great year for music.
1. Husbands-Geese
2. Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)-Wednesday
3. Left For Tomorrow-Perfume Genius
4. Frontrunner-Horsegirl
5. Taxes-Geese
6. Gethsemane-Car Seat Headrest
7. Afterlife-Alex G
8. Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World-Destroyer
9. Possession-Ty Segall
10. Taraval-Freckle
11. Los Angeles-Big Thief
12. It Will Get Worse-Lifeguard
13. Lou Reed-Cory Hanson
14. This Side of the Island-Hamilton Leithauser
15. Defense-Panda Bear
16. Cobra-Geese
17. June Guitar-Alex G
18. Elderberry Wine-Wednesday
19. Half Real-Geese
20. Wreck-Neko Case
21. First It Was a Movie, then it was a Book-Florry
22. 2468-Horsegirl
23. Au Pays du Cocaine-Geese
24. Mud-Waxahatchee
25. More Today-Hand Habits
26. Paranoid-Freckle
27. Total Euphoria-Caroline
28. Is My Living in Vain?-Bonnie Prince Billy
29. Julie-Horsegirl
30. Devereaux-Car Seat Headrest
31. It's a Mirror-Perfume Genius
32. Pick Up That Knife-Wednesday
33. Bird on a Swing-Cory Hanson
34. Lowly-Young Fathers
35. Oranges-Alex G
36. How Could I Have Known-Big Thief
37 .One Tiny Flower-Jeff Tweedy
38. Winchester Mansion of Sound-Neko Case
39. Football-Youth Lagoon
40. Pony-The Men
41. Ink Blot-Clifford
42. Under Your Reach-Lifeguard
43. Sylvia-Julien Baker & Torres
44. Song For Alicia-Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover
45. Praise-Panda Bear
46. Coast-Snocaps
47. Shoplifter-Ty Segall
48. Tree of Heaven-Friendship
49. Spangled-Fust
50. Floodway Fall-Will Johnson
51. Talk-Lucy Dacus
52. Fletcher's-Craig Finn
53. Habit-Daffo
54. Catch These Fists-Wet Leg
55. Little By Little-Matt Berninger
56. The LA River-Georgia Maq
57. Dan's Boogie-Destroyer
58. Porchlight-Colin Miller
59. Song Two-Caroline
60. Joker-Cory Hanson
61. Enough-Jeff Tweedy
62. Damage-Whitney
63. Reality-Car Seat Headrest
64. Salesman-Greg Freeman
65. Migration Patterns-Home is Where
66. Screaming Song-Alan Sparhawk & Trampled by Turtles
I believe that 2025 truly belonged to Cameron Winter. At the end of 2024 he released an album named Heavy Metal, his first solo album. It came out very late in the year and so missed most end of year lists. After a couple of listens I slotted it in at 19. But this magnificent album has shaped most of 2025 for me. So much so that it would probably be my number one album of 2024 if I redid my list. I wasn’t that familiar with Winter previously but I found out he is the lead singer of Geese. A band I liked but wasn’t totally sold on. Then they released a song called Taxes, and I was hooked. Taxes would become part of Getting Killed. From the moment I heard this album in September I had no doubt it would be my album of the year. Such an exciting, swaggering, vibrant album. This New York band is truly special. There were other special records released last year. Alex G made his major label debut and produced a beauty, whilst Wednesday followed up my favourite of 2023 with a fantastic album in Bleeds. Perfume Genius made an album of impossible beauty, whilst veterans like Destroyer and Ty Segall came through with the goods again. As did Neko Case and Jeff Tweedy. I truly believe 2025 was a great year for music.
1. Getting Killed-Geese 2. Headlights-Alex G 3. Bleeds-Wednesday 4. The Scholars-Car Seat Headrest 5. Glory-Perfume Genius 6. Possession-Ty Segall 7. Dan’s Boogie-Destroyer 8. Sinister Grift-Panda Bear 9. Caroline 2-Caroline 10. Phonetics On and On-Horsegirl 11. Double Infinity-Big Thief 12. Freckle-Freckle 13. Neon Grey Midnight Green-Neko Case 14. Buyer Beware-The Men 15. Diamond City-Will Johnson 16. Twilight Override-Jeff Tweedy 17. I Love People-Cory Hanson 18. Rarely Do I Dream-Youth Lagoon 19. Big Ugly-Fust 20. The Purple Bird-Bonnie Prince Billy 21. Big Black Plume-Michael Beach 22. Ripped and Torn-Lifeguard 23. Sable, Fable-Bon Iver 24. Thee Black Boltz-Tunde Adebimpe 25. Losin’-Colin Miller 26. The Open Up-Frog Eyes 27. Blue Reminder-Hand Habits 28. Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles 29. Snocaps-Snocaps 30. Golden Caravan-Clifford 31. Get Sunk-Matt Berninger 32. Always Been-Craig Finn 33. What Of Our Nature-Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover 34. This Side of the Island-Hamilton Leithauser 35. Time Indefinite-William Tyler 36. On This Day-Tony Molina 37. Moisturizer-Wet Leg 38. Small Talk-Whitney 39. Strange Love-Bleak Squad 40. Abomination Revealed at Last-Osees 41. Natural Light-Dan Mangan 42. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory 43. Send a Prayer My Way-Julian Baker & Torres 44. Surgery and Pleasure-Vundabar 45. Hunting Season-Home Is Where 46. Forever Is A Feeling-Lucy Dacus 47. Blight-The Antlers 48. Once I Was Wild-The Smith Street Band 49. I Believe In You, My Honeydew-Josh Ritter 50. A Study of Losses-Beirut
Any year that Paul Thomas Anderson releases a new film has to be a good year. And so it proved. Many great film in 2025 but Anderson's One Battle After Another was my number one. Not only was it his most expensive film, it was also his most action packed. But you could tell it was still a PTA film in style and delivery. I saw it 3 times at the cinema. It was a spectacular film. At the moment it looks favourite to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, giving Anderson a well overdue win. As usual my best of list contains many films that were released in the US in 2024, but only received an Australian release early in 2025. Of those my favourite was The Brutalist, a spectacular epic film that I hoped would win Best Picture early in 2025, but it wasn't to be. Sentimental Value made a late charge up my list after seeing it in the last week of December. Just a beautiful film in every sense of the word. I have plenty to look forward to early in 2026, including No Other Choice, Hamnet, The Secret Agent, Marty Supreme, It Was Just Accident, Sirat, amongst many others.
1. One Battle After Another 2. The Brutalist 3. Sentimental Value 4. Nickel Boys 5. A Complete Unknown 6. I'm Still Here 7. The Seed of the Sacred Fig 8. September 5 9. Twinless 10. Bugonia
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