This Month
Falls Festival site going for a song as Live Nation cuts asking price
The entertainment group wanted $4 million two years ago for the site near the Great Ocean Road. It’s less optimistic now on price.
December 2024
Festival drug arrests as pill testing trial starts
Two men have been charged with trafficking at the first Victorian music event to try such measures, and one person has been treated for an overdose.
September 2024
Who decides on the fair price of an Oasis ticket?
Outrage over computer-driven ticket prices to see a legendary band has left music fans and the British government in a muddle.
It’s Asia’s answer to Burning Man. And why not buy a villa, too?
Meet the Russian tech multimillionaire who’s building a 44-hectare playground for adults in Bali.
August 2024
Bluesfest to end after 35 years in fresh blow to live music
The Byron Bay institution will close just three years after record attendance in 2022, highlighting the challenge to music promoters from rising costs.
How to do Gold Coast’s Bleach festival
If you still think the Goldie is all about surf and schoolies, the exciting, eclectic and inclusive Bleach* Festival will prove you wrong.
March 2024
Adelaide’s ‘Mad March’ breaks attendance records
More people have visited Adelaide Festival this year than ever, although the cost-of-living crisis means free events have been favoured.
February 2024
How having one owner helps Mona Foma
The Tasmanian arts festival gets much of its funding from a single person in professional gambler and MONA owner David Walsh. A freewheeling program results.
Queens Of The Stone Age just vowed to do what most bands don’t
At a cathartic show on the MONA lawns on Friday, QOTSA frontman Josh Homme became a Tasmanian hero.
November 2023
Just the ticket: the key events in Australia this summer
From the Hallelujah Chorus to Harry Connick Jr, there’s music, ballet, opera and more to kick up a song and dance about this month and into the new year.
October 2023
The five things you must see at SXSW Sydney
The inaugural Sydney version of the storied Austin culture and technology conference boasts over 1000 events. Here are some essentials.
September 2023
Desert deluge failed to dampen my Burning Man spirit
AFR correspondent Michael Smith finally made it to his first Burning Man festival, only to see a freak storm transform the desert site and strand thousands.
Tens of thousands still stranded by Burning Man flooding
Event organisers said it was still too wet for a safe mass departure of RVs and other vehicles, but hoped traffic could begin flowing later in the day.
In the mud with Aussies stranded at Burning Man
Freak rains have trapped hundreds of Australians at Nevada’s annual Burning Man festival as they wait for mud to dry.
One dead, 70,000 stranded in Burning Man festival flood
Revellers have been urged to conserve supplies of food and water while stuck in foot-deep mud with no working toilets in the northern Nevada desert.
July 2023
Meet the chefs who feed Beyoncé and Lizzo on tour
Many touring artists now take several professional cooks, not to mention entire mobile kitchens, on the road with them for efficiency, health and morale.
Why you won’t want to miss this opera festival in the outback
Tiny country towns, singalongs over a beer, friendly folk, and arias under the stars. There’s nothing else like the Festival of Outback Opera in Queensland.
March 2023
Adelaide’s ‘Mad March’ of arts defies spending crunch
The city’s long-held strategy of concentrating most of its performing arts festivals in one month appears to have paid off.
This Fringe featured dominatrixes and opera acrobats
The festival in Adelaide’s Rymill Park was a liberating experience compared with many of its overcrowded, overpoliced counterparts in other cities.
August 2022
Adelaide Festival reveals its 2023 blockbuster
The work, which will feature 200 performers, was banned upon its 1874 debut for having too much emotional power.