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.
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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Banging out to songs like “Corso” (Tyler, the Creator) and “Wiley Flow” (Stormzy) on your headphones late at night during lockdown was cool, but think about what it’s going to be like when all that pent-up energy is released in at a concert this year? Yeah, that’s right. Concerts are coming back in full-force, and…
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In case you missed it, iconic Aussie brand Mambo has returned to its roots with the launch of Mambo Surf De Luxe. Merging old and new, the brand will celebrate iconic heritage artics such as Reg Mombassa and welcome a new era of talent, including Nathan Seahan and Chloe Kovska. Aussies everywhere have a memory…
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Mister Gee North Strathfield, which is still rolling after many years as one of the absolute best burger joints Sydney has ever seen, is about to drop something very, very unexpected on us. Teaming up with Alizé to celebrate the new Alizé Pineapple infusion, Gee will be taking a hard left turn from what one…
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Purveyors of taste and decadence, Gourmet Life, are playing it smart ahead of Valentine’s Day this year. The popular online gourmet grocer has curated its top-shelf products into three different Valentine’s Day packs for couples planning to picnic this weekend, offering up what is easily some of the ritziest packs around. From fresh black truffle…
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17 nights for the price of just one in some of Australia and New Zealand’s most reliable luxury hotels sounds like a deal that’s too good to be true. For some lucky couples, it will be a reality as QT Hotel & Resorts ready the country’s most unique Valentine’s Day offer. Like an ambitious croupier…
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Originally available exclusively for the US, the eternally party-minded Fireball Whisky is doubling down on the liquor’s racous image by bringing a 5.25-litre keg to Australia. Doubling as a collectable, the Fireball Whisky keg is now available with a strictly limited quantity of just 1,000 exclusively for sale online via BoozeBud. All you’d need to…
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Let’s get this straight out of the way. If you own the already-excellent Bose QuietComfort 35 II, or the Bose NC 700 headphones then the newer and only slightly more impressive Bose QuietComfort 45 headphones aren’t worth the upgrade. Bose kind of started this whole obsession with supreme noise cancellation, and they perfected the art…
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Robot vacuums were one of those fast-emerging categories of technology that I’ve always just kind of ignored for a couple of years. It’s like that sometimes. Hype can take a while to suck you into its trending temptations, and for the most part, I’ve been actually quite enjoying shimmying my trusty Dyson back and forth…
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To say the Sony WF1000XM4 was my most anticipated bit of personal audio kit of 2021 is an understatement. If you’ve read my review of the XM3s you’d already know that I’m now a true believer in Sony’s ability to outgun the competition when it comes to headphones and earphones. Now, much has changed, which…
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Given smartwatches have now well and truly become an essential purchase for anyone looking to more efficiently track their exercise and gamify their health journey, it’s always worth doing a double-tack at models that have been out for quite some time. These things drop in price regularly, so being able to pick up some of…
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