
Queen's A Night At The Opera marks its 50th anniversary with the same impact it carried on release in November 1975. The album arrived during a crisis for the band, who were close to collapse due to a punishing contract and limited funds. They had earned hits with Sheer Heart Attack yet lived on tight weekly payments. Brian May lived in a bedsit. Freddie Mercury lived in a damp flat in Kensington. John Deacon was denied a modest loan to buy a house. The frustration led to the band parting ways with Trident and moving to EMI, a decision that would change their future.
6 minutes ago
For the first time since 2013, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will revive its long-loved tradition of free outdoor concerts at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, with four major events planned for 10 to 14 February 2026. The series, presented by the MSO with ABC Classic, The University of Melbourne and Arts Centre Melbourne, promises a week of symphonic music supported by Australian composers, celebrated soloists and rising talent.
9 hours ago
Netflix will present Sean Combs: The Reckoning on 2 December, a four-part documentary series chronicling the rise and fall of Sean “Diddy” Combs, a figure whose influence shaped mainstream hip-hop for more than three decades. The series arrives during a period in which Combs is serving a federal sentence following his conviction for two counts of transportation for purposes of prostitution, a ruling delivered in July and followed by a sentence of 50 months and a fine of $500,000.
9 hours ago
Commuters at London's St Pancras International witnessed a rare lunchtime spectacle when The Darkness arrived unannounced for a stripped back performance that marked a milestone week for the band. The British rock favourites, led by the Hawkins brothers Justin and Dan, performed beside the station's famed piano as crowds gathered in the main Arcade, a location that has grown into one of London's busiest cultural hubs. The performance aligned with the twentieth anniversary of One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back, the band's 2005 album that featured a steam train on its memorable cover, a fitting link to one of the country's most iconic rail stations.
9 hours ago
Oasis have closed the chapter on their long-anticipated Live ‘25 Tour, finishing in Sao Paulo after 41 shows across 142 days that reignited one of the most influential partnerships in British rock. The tour marked the first time Liam and Noel Gallagher had shared a stage in 16 years, a break defined by personal tension, separate solo careers, and persistent speculation about the fate of the Britpop giants.
10 hours ago
Victorian Opera will launch its 2025 season with a fresh staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates Of Penzance. The production will run at the Palais Theatre from 31 January to 6 February, with tickets ranging from $39 to $165. The company will open its twenty-first anniversary season with one of the most recognisable operettas in the English canon, a work that has remained a fixture of theatre programming since its 1879 premiere.
10 hours ago
Augie March will honour the twentieth anniversary of Moo, You Bloody Choir in April 2026 with a national tour that will feature the full album performed live for the first time. The band will also add a selection of long-loved favourites. The album, released in 2006, became an instant Australian classic and elevated the Shepparton-born group from cult acclaim to major national recognition.
10 hours ago
For more than two decades, The Used have pushed the boundaries of post-hardcore and emo, shaping a global movement through melodic volatility and emotional candour. In 2026, the Utah-formed band will reach a milestone few in their genre have achieved, with an exclusive orchestral performance inside the Sydney Opera House on Sunday 29 March 2026, a black tie event presented as A Mid Summer Night's Symphony.
11 hours ago
Newcastle's Maple's Pet Dinosaur has released her new single Chorus, marking the next step in one of the most rapid rises for a young Australian artist in recent memory. At just 15 years old, Maple has moved from backyard DIY experimentation to major-festival stages in the space of months, fuelled almost entirely by a homemade video that took the global internet by storm.
11 hours ago
British metal force Sylosis will enter 2026 with their seventh studio album, The New Flesh, set for release on 20 February 2026 through Nuclear Blast Records. The announcement arrives with the title track, a fierce lead single that captures the band's renewed sense of intent.
12 hours ago
Nearly half a century after KISS marched through the streets of Manhattan in borrowed business suits, the band's third studio album Dressed To Kill has returned in a lavish 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have produced an unboxing video of new set, revisiting the frantic early years that forged the record and ultimately launched KISS toward global domination.
12 hours ago
WOMADelaide has expanded its 2026 program with the addition of 20 new artists, reinforcing its long reputation as one of Australia's most adventurous global music gatherings. The festival returns to Botanic Park, Tainmuntilla across the March long weekend, 6 to 9 March 2026, with a lineup that blends iconic names with vital new voices.
14 hours ago
Guns N' Roses will extend their ongoing resurgence with a major 2026 world tour, following an extensive 2025 schedule that returned the group to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. The new run will begin in Mexico in March, continue through Brazil with a full sweep of major cities, then move into Europe, before reaching stadiums and arenas across the United States and Canada. The tour will culminate in a significant homecoming at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, marking the band's first performance at the historic venue in more than three decades.
1 day ago
“Murder On The Dancefloor,” a track that first stormed charts more than twenty years ago, has once again proven its rare cultural stamina. Across one London weekend, two major UK shows brought the song back to centre stage when Sombr and Royel Otis each delivered surprise moments anchored by the Sophie Ellis-Bextor hit. The song's original cowriter, New Radicals leader Gregg Alexander, witnessed part of the resurgence first-hand in Brixton, creating a potent link between its past and present.
1 day ago
Ella Hooper will open 2026 with a return to the road, as the acclaimed singer releases her new single Growing Up Is Hard To Do and confirms dates for her Australian Summer Tour '26. The tour starts on Saturday 10 January in Mansfield, then moves through Tamworth, Sale, Archies Creek, Newcastle, Mangrove Mountain, Bathurst, Boyup Brook, Ocean Grove and Balnarring Beach, with each show designed to showcase her current creative phase, shaped by country influences and personal reflection.
1 day ago