Burna Boy announces No Sign Of Weakness World Tour with four Australian dates
Grammy Award-winning global superstar Burna Boy has announced the No Sign Of Weakness World Tour will include four Australian dates in October. The tour celebrates his eighth studio album No Sign Of Weakness, which was released on 11 July via Spaceship/Bad Habit/Atlantic.
The No Sign Of Weakness World Tour will showcase Burna Boy’s explosive live performances across some of Australia’s most credible venues. The Nigerian artist has become this generation’s leading ambassador for African music, earning recognition as the first African artist to have two albums earn over one billion streams on Spotify.
No Sign Of Weakness World Tour
- When: 16, 18, 20, 24 October
- Where: Melbourne (Sidney Myer Music Bowl), Sydney (Qudos Bank Arena), Brisbane (Entertainment Centre), Perth (RAC Arena)
- Tickets: General sale 24 July 12pm, presales 22 July 9am
- Available: Ticketek and TEG
Check out our gig guide here.
The Australian leg begins in Melbourne on 16 October at Sidney Myer Music Bowl before moving to Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on 18 October. The tour continues to Brisbane’s Entertainment Centre on 20 October and concludes in Perth on 24 October at RAC Arena. Following the Australian dates, the tour heads to North America for 16 massive venues including Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, where Burna Boy will become the first Nigerian artist to headline the iconic venue.
Burna Boy has established himself as one of the most significant and groundbreaking African artists in music history. His trademark fusion combines afrobeats, pop, R&B, hip-hop, reggae and an encompassing range of musical approaches. The artist has accumulated 11 Grammy Award nominations and four BET Awards for Best International Act, becoming the first African artist to win the award three consecutive times.
The highly anticipated No Sign Of Weakness album includes the scintillating single TaTaTa featuring Travis Scott, the romantic reggae-flavoured Sweet Love, the anthemic Update and the triumphant fan favourite Bundle By Bundle. The collection showcases Burna Boy’s larger-than-life charisma and unmistakable fusion of global influences with melodic pop sensibility.
Burna Boy’s accomplishments extend beyond streaming records to include a 2023 Billboard Music Award for Top Afrobeats Artist and countless nominations spanning American Music Awards, Brit Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards and MOBO Awards. His live performances are renowned globally for their explosive, show-stopping energy across sold-out shows and milestone festival appearances.
The tour represents another landmark moment in Burna Boy’s titanic rise to the forefront of the world stage. His cultural impact has established him as a landmark figure who continues to break barriers for African artists in the 21st century music landscape.
For more information, head here.
Mama Kin Spender: ‘We need the words to mean something to us, to hit us and break us open’
Sure, some slip off the tongue, seemingly as if writing themselves. But others take grit, determination, and the bravery of looking at hard things head-on. That’s what Mama Kin Spender discovered while working on Promises.
The duo, made up of Danielle Caruana and Dingo Spender, are set to release their sophomore album on 15 August, and for Danielle, it couldn’t come soon enough.
Mama Kin Spender
- 12 September, 2025
- Brunswick Ballroom
- Tickets here
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
“Get these out of my system and out of my body, please!” she says of the new songs. “Some of them were excruciating to write. The content even sometimes feels like a raw confession. I’m not proud of the behaviour that prompted the songs, but I’m so proud of the songs that changed my behaviour!” Dingo agrees: “Honestly, it’s a huge cathartic relief.”
Written over the span of three years, the album charts a period where both artists were going through “parallel experiences of heartbreak and despair”. Their latest single, Arrows, offers only a taste of the emotional turmoil to come.
“It’s basically a bunch of songs about all the stages of romantic love,” says Dingo. “The first drug-like euphoria, the domestic grind, all the way through to white-hot rage and despair, back to the deep realisation that the love we seek in others always lives within us first.”
It was only through working on the project that the two were able to find some solace and work towards healing.
“I am so grateful to have a friend and collaborator in Dingo,” Danielle says, “to have been able to sit in the centre of what felt like an abstract and frozen fog, and to extract meaning, to scratch a map together. To brew up a body of work that would guide us both through and back to love.”
The pair’s musical journey began more than 25 years ago when they met in a chance encounter on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles, “when neither of us were parents and there were no iPhones,” Dingo shares.
View this post on Instagram
After being housemates for a while, they parted ways, moving to opposite sides of the country. They were brought back together when Dingo’s project, Spender, supported Danielle’s project, Mama Kin, on a national tour.
“Later, we decided to put a band together because we were both miserable being solo artists and trying to do a music career with young kids. Then we made a record that was ARIA-nominated and toured around the world,” says Dingo.
Joining forces opened many doors for them, from bouncing songwriting ideas back and forth to crafting intricate vocal harmonies.
“We are word nerds,” Danielle says. “We need the words to mean something to us, to hit us and break us open. None can be wasted, so we work hard for them; sometimes that means being patient… A song will emerge as a clue and then hibernate for a couple of years until our lives catch up with the sentiment. I love that.”
View this post on Instagram
Early on in their collaboration, Danielle and Dingo envisioned working with choirs – something they now do regularly, on their recordings, but also as part of their Choir Camp events, which bring together people from across Australia for weekends of workshops, somatic practices and fireside sing-a-longs.
“We write all our songs knowing that there is space for a choir to fit in, because we’ve worked with choirs all over the world and understand the power that it brings – not just to our sound, but the energy is magnificent,” Dingo says. Danielle adds they use choirs more like instruments, layering human voices to build chord beds. “We are just hot for harmony! Romantics for resonance! Okay, I’ll stop now,” she jokes.
On 12 September, the duo will take over the Brunswick Ballroom for their first Melbourne show since before the pandemic, and they couldn’t be more thrilled to finally be bringing Promises to life.
“We’ve had people asking for years now, so it will be very exciting to bring all the elements together. Plus, we LOVE the venue!” says Dingo. Danielle finishes with a promise: “We will leave nothing at the curb, chests proud and ready to reveal, confess and celebrate this new album together with new friends and long-standing champions.”
To keep up with Mama Kin Spender, head here.
Macrodosing emotion with MGNA Crrrta: ‘Nicki Minaj did Anaconda…I felt a chakra opening up’
Meeting at 11 years old on a Hunger Games roleplay Minecraft server, before then starting their own Divergent-themed one, Farheen and Ginger have long been collaborating and building their world.
Now based in New York City, the electro-pop duo are touring across North America, Europe, and Oceania, as their pulsing beats and euphoric vocals hook listeners into their iridescent girl-world, or as Ginger puts it, “fab and exciting and cute and gorgeous” sounds – words that could be fittingly bedazzled on a hot pink Old Navy tee or inscribed across a justgirlythings post.
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
All of this can be traced back to the making of their track The American Experiment together as college students, in Farheen’s bedroom.
“The first song was kind of funny,” recounts Ginger with a laugh, “cause I had the melody for [it] saved on like a random GarageBand project from high school.”
After Ginger showed it to Farheen, they proceeded to tweak it back and forth, figuring out the music-making process as they went. “I feel like it doesn’t really make much sense, but we were just having fun with it,” Farheen tells me.
When asked about their roles in MGNA Crrrta, Ginger expresses that she is more responsible for the production and melodies, while Farheen is stronger at coordinating the visuals behind each song. As for their aesthetic influences, Farheen shares that there’s no strict answer as inspiration can be found everywhere. “People honestly get pissed off at us for having no strong visual. We’ll be like, ‘Water. The vibe for this is water.’”
Having recently moved to New York, the pair quickly made it their home. “I came from a really small town in South Jersey,” explains Ginger. As a trans artist, she says she’d never have had the same opportunities creatively or with her identity if she’d stayed in her hometown.Describing the town as “trashy”, Ginger bemoans the difficulties of growing up as the odd one out. “I definitely feel like it was fate for me to end up in New York.”
Originally from metropolitan Seattle, Farheen fondly recalled herself “trying to LARP as how Seattle was in the ’90s and 2000s, cause that was the last time it was cool.”
Farheen points out that “being a teenager in a place where there’s just nothing, you’re so in touch with everything you feel”. Cut off by stifling towns and chasing a bygone coolness, Farheen and Ginger, like many others in their generation, turned to the internet for solace.
“[The internet] basically made our music,” says Ginger half-jokingly.
“This is a little bit pathetic, but a lot of our growing up experiences happened online.”
For Farheen and Ginger, the pop princesses of the 2010s were a defining feature of their childhoods. “I was the biggest Nicki Minaj fan ever,” gushes Ginger. “When I was watching the VMAs in 2014 and Nicki Minaj did the Anaconda performance and then Bang Bang with Ariana and Jesse, I felt a chakra opening up from my body at that moment. And then I just became obsessed with pop music.”
“On this six-hour road trip, all I had on my phone was Kiss Me by One Direction, Your Love Is My Drug by Kesha, and then the Your Love Is My Drug Minecraft parody in a playlist,” Farheen tells me. “I just listened to them the whole road trip. So now when I hear Your Love Is My Drug, I get kind of nauseous. I just remember being car sick.”
Farheen also lists Five Seconds of Summer, Panic! at the Disco, Green Day, My Chemical Romance and Blink-182 as early influences before her introduction to electronic music.
Towards the end of our call, Farheen shows me a waterfall poster from Temu that hangs opposite her bed – an image she feels captures MGNA Crrrta’s aesthetic. Squinting at the pixilated blur on my laptop, I can barely make out streaks of blue, white and grey. But as I crane my neck, I realise that maybe the desire to manifest a utopian vision from crackly glitches is fundamentally reflective of MGNA Crrrta’s philosophy. By mish-mashing niche samples, esoteric lyrics and infectious riffs, they’re macrodosing emotion, just like how a Yankee Candle will always be more evocative than the real thing.
MGNA Crrrta is playing at The Industrique on 22 August.
Kevin Hart’s Acting My Age Tour hits Australia with phone-free comedy experience
Emmy and Grammy-nominated comedian Kevin Hart has announced his highly popular Acting My Age Tour will visit Australia in September 2025. The global superstar and Mark Twain Prize recipient will perform three shows across the country as part of his ninth standup special tour.
The Acting My Age Tour represents Hart’s return to Australian stages following his successful Reality Check tour, which was named the number one comedy tour of 2022 by Billboard. Hart was also recognised as the highest grossing comedian of the year in 2023 by the same publication.
Acting My Age Tour
- When: 23, 25, 26 September
- Where: RAC Arena Perth, Rod Laver Arena Melbourne, Qudos Bank Arena Sydney
- Tickets: Artist presale 18-21 July, Live Nation presale 21-22 July, general sale 22 July 12pm
- Special conditions: Phone-free experience with Yondr pouches
Check out our gig guide here.
The tour kicks off at Perth’s RAC Arena on Tuesday 23 September, followed by Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Thursday 25 September, and concludes at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Friday 26 September. This marks a swift three-city tour spanning just four days across the country.
Hart’s career trajectory from Philadelphia comedy clubs to Hollywood box office powerhouse has been remarkable. The comedian has opened 11 films at number one at the box office, generating more than $4.23 billion in global revenue. In 2024, he received the Kennedy Center’s annual Mark Twain Prize for American Comedy, becoming the 25th recipient and youngest honouree to date.
The comedian has expanded beyond performance into entrepreneurship as chairman and CEO of Hartbeat, a global multi-platform media company creating entertainment at the intersection of comedy and culture. The company unites television and film production capabilities with expansive distribution networks, marketing, sales and digital capabilities.
Hart’s previous standup special Zero Fucks Given became Netflix’s biggest standup special of 2020 and earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album. He has also received Emmy nominations for Die Hart and its sequel Die Harter for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series, plus his docuseries Don’t Fuck This Up.
The Acting My Age Tour performances will be phone-free experiences using Yondr pouches. All phones, smart watches and accessories will be secured in individual pouches upon arrival, which remain with guests throughout the event. Devices can only be accessed in designated phone use areas within venues, with anyone using devices during performances escorted from the venue.
Ticket access begins with an artist presale from Friday 18 July at 11am through Monday 21 July at 11am. My Live Nation members can secure tickets during their presale from Monday 21 July at 12pm until Tuesday 22 July at 11am. General tickets go on sale Tuesday 22 July at 12pm.
For more information, head here
BIGSOUND expands artist support with dedicated Spotify artist hub
BIGSOUND, the southern hemisphere’s premier music conference and showcase festival, has partnered with Spotify to present a comprehensive Artist Hub focusing on artist development and wellbeing. The hub will take over Brunswick Street’s BrewDog venue for the entirety of BIGSOUND week from 2-5 September.
The BIGSOUND Artist Hub represents a significant expansion of support services for showcasing artists, featuring workshops, panels, networking opportunities and essential artist services. Partners including Community Music, Support Act, APRA AMCOS, American Apparel, Select Music and Casio will contribute to the program across all three levels of the venue.
BIGSOUND
- When: 2-5 September
- Where: Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
- Artist Hub: BrewDog, Brunswick Street
- Tickets: Three-night festival pass $79 (early bird), delegate pass from $399
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
The Artist Hub will provide quiet zones, refreshments, a Conversation Corner and artist concierge services, creating a retreat from the busy festival atmosphere. QMusic and BIGSOUND CEO Kris Stewart emphasised the organisation’s commitment to supporting sustainable music careers beyond simple artist discovery.
Spotify’s increased investment through their Turn Up AUS program will include exclusive events for BIGSOUND performers, including an official Artist Welcome Event and marquee breakfasts on 3 and 4 September. The platform’s local Music Editors and Artist and Label Partnerships Team will host these exclusive sessions.
The hub will feature dedicated panels covering A&R and sync, artist wellbeing and mental health, navigating the industry and career growth. In a festival first, American Apparel will offer artists the opportunity to sell merchandise through on-demand printing at Fortitude Music Hall, with proceeds going directly to performers.
Additional highlights include Casio’s interactive display of their PX-S700HM Piano with prize opportunities, APRA AMCOS trivia sessions produced by the Not On Your Rider team, and artist mixers presented by BMI and Qsic. The hub will be available to showcasing artists throughout the event, with some sessions open to conference delegates.
Ticket options include:
- Early bird three-night festival pass: $79 plus booking fee
- Under 25 three-night pass: $65 plus booking fee
- Single night tickets: $49 standard, $25 under 25
- All-access delegate pass: $724 general, $624 QMusic members
For more information, head here.
Melbourne Recital opens doors for Open House Melbourne with a community choir
Melbourne Recital Centre is throwing open its doors to music lovers, architecture enthusiasts and curious explorers as part of Open House Melbourne. The venue will offer guided tours, community choir sessions and architectural discussions throughout the day.
The Open House Melbourne program at Melbourne Recital Centre features a diverse range of activities designed to showcase the world-class performance spaces and architectural design. Visitors can explore the Centre’s foyers and performance spaces, with the Primrose Potter Salon open for most of the day.
Open House Melbourne
- When: Saturday 26 July, 10am-4pm
- Where: Melbourne Recital Centre, 31 Sturt Street, Southbank
- Cost: Most activities free, Robin Fox talk $10
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
The highlight of the day includes guided tours of the Centre running at 12pm, 2pm and 3.30pm, allowing visitors to explore backstage areas and appreciate the timber-lined Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. These hour-long tours require advance booking through Open House Melbourne.
Community music making takes centre stage with Choir 3006, the Centre’s free community choir led by conductor Renee Heron. The session runs from 10.30am to 11.30am in the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, welcoming all participants regardless of singing experience.
Architecture and design enthusiasts can attend a conversation between ARM Architecture, ARUP and LendLease from 1pm to 2pm, exploring the concept, design and construction of Melbourne Recital Centre. This discussion follows an earlier session at Melbourne Theatre Company focusing on the Southbank Theatre design.
The program also features artist-in-residence Robin Fox presenting The History of Australian Electronic Music from 2pm to 3pm. Fox, founding director of Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio, will trace the journey of Australian electronic music from Percy Grainger’s early experiments through to contemporary practice.
Activities include:
- Free venue exploration from 10am-4pm
- Guided backstage tours with advance booking required
- Community choir session with no prior experience needed
- Architecture and acoustics discussion with industry professionals
- Artist-in-residence lecture on electronic music history
For more information, head here.
2025 Art Music Awards finalists revealed with trailblazing dual nominations
APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre have revealed the finalists for the 2025 Art Music Awards, showcasing the best of contemporary Australian art music across 11 categories. The ceremony will celebrate excellence in composition, performance, music education, experimental practice and regional activity.
Several standout artists have earned dual finalist status, demonstrating the breadth of their creative contributions. The Australian String Quartet appears twice in Performance of the Year: Notated Composition for their work on Jack Symonds’ Gilgamesh and Dr Lou Bennett AM and Paul Stanhope’s nyilamum song cycles. Dr Bennett AM also receives recognition for her performance alongside a nomination with Paul Stanhope for Work of the Year: Chamber Music.
2025 Art Music Awards
- When: Thursday 21 August, 5.30pm
- Where: City Recital Hall, 2 Angel Place, Sydney
- Hosted by: Vanessa Hughes with guest presenters Hamed Sadeghi and Nardi Simpson
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
Experimental artist Aviva Endean has achieved dual finalist status with The Breath Becomes the Wind, nominated for both Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art and Excellence in Experimental Practice. Meanwhile, double bassist Helen Svoboda features in two categories through her composition Headwater for Work of the Year: Chamber Music and as one of seven performers on Chloe Kim’s Music for Six Double Bassists in Performance of the Year: Jazz/Improvised Music.
Rising star Olivia Davies continues her impressive trajectory with her third consecutive year of nominations. Her orchestral work Hyphae, commissioned for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, contends for Work of the Year: Large Ensemble, while her interdisciplinary collaboration with Kate Milligan and flautist Jonty Coy competes for Work of the Year: Electroacoustic/Sound Art.
The finalists demonstrate deep interdisciplinary creative engagement and broad critical engagement with the contemporary world. Winners of the four remaining awards, including the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music and three Luminary Awards, will be announced in August.
For more information, head here.
Songs From The Canyon brings Laurel Canyon magic to Royal Botanic Gardens
This stunning live show reimagines the iconic sounds of the 60s and 70s with an ensemble of acclaimed singers and musicians including Husky Gawenda, Charm of Finches, Hannah Cameron, Stephen Grady, Dan Challis and joining Songs From The Canyon for the first time, You Am I legend and solo star Davey Lane.
Songs From The Canyon will transport audiences back to the golden age of music and Laurel Canyon, where melodies and stories came together in perfect harmony. The homegrown troubadours will pay homage to the iconic songs of Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Carole King, The Doors and many more.
Songs From The Canyon
- Sunday, 30 November
- Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Check out our gig guide here.
View this post on Instagram
Featuring timeless classics including California Dreamin’, God Only Knows, Mr Tambourine Man, It’s Too Late, You’ve Got A Friend, Everybody’s Talkin’ and Love The One You’re With, the show celebrates Laurel Canyon’s golden era. The bohemian neighbourhood nestled in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles gave rise to some of the most influential and melodic music of the 1960s and 70s.
Singer-songwriter and the show’s musical director Husky Gawenda describes Laurel Canyon as a wellspring of near-perfect songs and golden harmonies that still resonate today. He notes that bringing this to life with Melbourne’s best folk artists feels like the fulfilment of a dream, creating a transcendent experience for audiences.
Opening the show is Freya Josephine Hollick, the Ballarat-based rising star of Australia’s alt-country scene, known for her haunting vocals and genre-blending sound of cosmic country, desert blues and psych-folk. Her latest album, The Real World, was recorded in Joshua Tree with Lucinda Williams’ band, Buick 6, reaching number one on the AIR 100% Independent chart.
The vision behind Songs From The Canyon belongs to artist manager Rick Chazan, who first dreamed up the show nearly 20 years ago after hearing a sublime cover of Crosby, Stills & Nash at Brisbane’s Troubadour. The idea has grown into a national phenomenon gracing some of Australia’s most prestigious stages since premiering at Melbourne’s Chapel Off Chapel in 2022.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, 22 July from Ticketmaster at 11am local time, with Live At The Gardens and Roundhouse member presales beginning Monday, 21 July at 10am local time.
For more information, head here.
Mellowing
Fear And Posing In Port Fairy – Single Launch.
After dropping their first single, ‘Untitled Fight’ in May, Mellowing are throwing a party for their next single, ‘Fear And Posing In Port Fairy’, and you’re invited! Supported by Harminia and Sadie Mustoe, get ready to eat up a night of folk, grunge, shoegaze and emo all in the one place.
Little Faiths + Private Stash
We of Little Faiths have a few places of worship we love to frequent…so, yes, we’re heading back to one of our favourite northside pubs. The 5-7pm slot on a Saturday is the perfect way to ease into the night. Hang around later (or earlier or during) for one of their cracking pub meals.
Our good mates, Private Stash, will be up first at 5pm and we can’t wait to share our first bill with them…been talking about it for eons.
Private Stash are Mandy, Jeff, Jase, Dave and Seano. If they were a drink they’d be a shot of Blondie , a dash of Fleetwood Mac and a sprinkling of their fave 90’s band , The Hummingbirds. Their words, but we heartily agree!