The Jezabels
The Jezabels are on a national tour to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their multi-award winning Gold Album Prisoner. For the first time, the band will be playing their most successful record, in its entirety, live on stage.
Prisoner is a panoramic study of tension and emancipation, from the echoing stone cathedral of the title track to the sun-blasted morning of the first single, ‘Endless Summer’; from the cloistered atmospherics of the instrumental interlude, ‘Austerlitz’, to the chiming and climbing pop of ‘Deep Wide Ocean’ and the quiet reflecting pool of ‘Peace of Mind’.
With three quarters of the band calling Byron Bay home, it’s only fitting that The Northern be one of the stops on the tour. Lead singer Hayley Mary says she is very excited to be home. ‘It’s always quite emotional and nostalgic for me. I think the Byron and that shaped, particularly Heather and me is gone. But, in some ways, it’s good as well – it’s easy to remember and to romanticise the past, like before the Instagram models moved in, but it was a pretty blokey beach town back in the day. There were definitely some things that we needed to escape to be female musicians.’
The Jezabels will be revisiting an album that’s ten years old but Hayley says that, ‘unlike Byron, the beauty of the record is that it hasn’t changed over time, but the lyrics are vague enough and poetic enough that they haven’t aged. You can read into them what you want. An album is a cultural artefact, it doesn’t change – like a place does. But what we’ve found is we’re not too caught in a time and place. I’m a really different person to what I was when we wrote that album – everyone is – but I can step into it and that nostalgia element gives you the ability to pay homage to that time and place.’
You can see The Jezabels play Prisoner at The Northern on Thursday 9 June.
More fun than the 2022 election results
The Byron Comedy Festival promises to deliver more laughs than the door hitting ScoMo on the but on his way out.There are so many highlights, the entire festival is set to tickle your funny bits.
Sammy J – Symphony in J Minor: A musically-savvy master wordsmith, Sammy J has kept busy during his COVID-19 enforced break in touring by creating satirical sketches including Playground Politics and National Yoga for ABC TV. Sammy might only weight 58kg but he’s no comedy lightweight. He reckons his show will be smart enough for the oldies and cheeky enough for youngsters. Saturday 11 June, 7pm, Surf Club, $50.
Melanie Bracewell and Chris Ryan – Double feature: Get ready for some sharp wit from these two writers-turned-comedians. Kiwi, Melanie, moved from writing for TV to appearing on shows such as Have You Been Paying Attention? and The Project (including one segment where she accidentally dropped an F-bomb live on air). Chris Ryan is an ex-journalist who won Best Newcomer awards at both Sydney and Melbourne comedy festivals. Her laconic take on topics including co-workers and life with teenagers will have you nodding and laughing in equal measure.
Friday 10 June, 7.45pm, Surf Club, $50.
Best of British at The Beachy: A side-cracking staple of the international comedy scene, this show features Dan Willis, a Brit with more than 3000 shows under his belt since ditching his computer programming career, Rory Lowe, who riffs off his real-life experiences, which include being held at gun-point, and his ‘Aussie Peppa Pig’ YouTube series; Gary McAllister, whose Scottish gags will git right up ye; and, Georgie Carroll, who escaped Britain for Australia but still loves ‘home’ enough to join the crew for the Thursday night – two shows: Festival opener on Thursday 9 June, 8pm, Beach Hotel and Friday 10 June, 5.30pm at the Surf Club, $45.
Lawrence Mooney and Lindsay Webb – Double Feature Show: Multi-award winning comedian, radio and TV show host, Lawrence Mooney is a seasoned performer and will be heading to Byron after gigs at the Sydney Opera House. Lindsay Webb developed his skills behind the scenes as a ‘warm up guy’, including for ABC’s The Gruen Nation and Q&A. You know you’ll be in safe hands with his playful and off-the-cuff style.
Saturday 11 June, 5–6pm, Surf Club, $50. All this and more!
To find out what’s on, visit: www.byroncomedyfest.com
June at Byron Theatre
Byron Theatre is very excited to present an awesome lineup of live events in June.
Ballina Region for Refugees is hosting a special film screening of Limbo on Thursday 2 June to help raise funds for their work assisting refugees and asylum seekers both within and outside Australia. Limbo is a funny and poignant cross-cultural satire, set in Scotland, which subtly sews together the hardship and hope of the refugee experience.
Byron Theatre presents their next National Theatre Live film on Wednesday 8 June. The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage is set twelve years before the epic His Dark Materials trilogy.
On Friday 10 June Flow Music presents Doppel – offering a full scale production in the Byron Theatre, Funktion One Sound and the freshest tastemakers in the country, this will be a sell out event! The dance floors will be open!
Sunday 12 June the theatre hosts The Dawn Light Because of Love album launch with special guests: Peter Hunt Band and Animal Ventura. Because of Love is a 12 song album capturing the exquisite singing and songwriting of Angela Newcomb.
The Byron Theatre is proud to present a very special ‘Black & White’ for the 80th Anniversary of Casablanca. The Byron Theatre Events Bar will transform into the famous ‘gin joint’ with specialty cocktails and live music in the courtyard – wear your best black & white to celebrate!
On Tuesday 28 June, Byron Theatre brings you Joan Didion’s celebrated memoir The Year Of Magical Thinking, brought to life by Green Room Award-winning actor Jillian Murray, in a solo performance that reunites her with director Laurence Strangio.
On Thursday 30 June, The Tap Pack is finally back conjuring up a modern twist to the crooners and artists from the fifties through to the noughties! The Tap Pack mixes slick humour, high energy entertainment and world class tap dance. They sing. They dance. They joke. They bring a new, invigorating energy to a timeless style! For more details on any of these wonderful events, or to buy tickets, please go to: byroncentre.com.au
Amber bringing it back
Multi-Golden Guitar winner, Australian singer-songwriter, Amber Lawrence, is one of Australia’s most celebrated and hardest working country artists. Having released six studio albums and three children’s albums, Amber is always busy. Writing, recording, hosting her own show on iHeart radio, ‘Amber Nights’, mentoring up-and-coming talent at the Tamworth Academy, hosting awards and in excess of 500 school performances around the country. This new mum takes it all in her stride.
Amber has so many awards there is not a mantelpiece big enough, and she is also touring in 2022 to fill you up with happiness and hope and one big sing-along.
Fill it Up is the third single to be released from Amber’s forthcoming album, a follow up to her top five singles Bring it Back and I’m Coming Home.
Fill it Up continues where Bring it Back left us, painting a picture of what happens when music finally comes back to life, when we can surround ourselves with friends and feel ourselves again, it’s a quintessential feel good, party tune, concocting visions of dancing and singing along with close friends and raising a toast to everything we’ve been through over the past two years.
This year Amber will play a massive Bring it Back tour with over 50 shows on the slate.
You can catch her show at the Ballina RSL this Sunday 3pm. See ballinarsl.com.au.
Byron’s street life
Local artist Caitlin Reilly’s powerful exhibition of paintings document one aspect of contemporary life on the streets of Byron Bay, a place she has called home for nearly 25 years. The subject matter of homelessness is one that has an inherent sadness to it and painting these works has amplified her own fears of housing insecurity and her awareness of the hardships leading to homelessness.
These very personal works are as much about the anonymous sleepers as they are about the places they sleep. A visual language that acknowledges the relationship between our individual lives and the mechanisms of society.
The artists intention is to capture visceral reactions to homelessness and at the same time offer a perspective rendered with care, and in doing so capture and focus your gaze to look closer at another side of the streets of this town.
The exhibition Streets of this town is on display at Lone Goat Gallery until 18 June 2022.
Tom waits for no man
Stewart D’Arrietta presents his homage to Tom Waits with trademark flourish and reverential impudence.
His larger-than-life presence, irreverent humour and distinctive growl bring a unique passion and texture to the songs of Tom Waits.
D’Arrietta has a long relationship with Tom Waits music, and an affinity deeper than most, having developed it over two decades. He has the ‘Cease and Desist’ order to prove it, once having to cancel the New York run of his hit show Tom Waits for No Man over objections from Waits and his legal team. D’Arrietta rewrote an entire show in days and maintained his run.
His passion for Tom’s music remains undiminished, only enhanced by the years of creative forensic interpretation.
One of the ten best shows at Edinburgh Fringe according to Scotland’s The Sunday Times, D’Arrietta’s characteristic gravel-voiced sensitivity brings out the shapes and shades of legendary ballads such as Invitation to the Blues, Martha, and the heart wrenching Tom Traubert’s Blues, before bursting into rock songs such as Way Down In The Hole and Goin’ Out West.
Beneath the roaring bluster and cyclonic musicality, the sinewy strands of romance weave poignant and compelling stories of life, love, lust and loss – this performer’s favourite themes.
See Tom Waits for No Man on Saturday 11 June, at 8pm – go to: byroncentre.com.au for more info.
All is love for Juman
Love is All is a13 track release for Juman – her first full length album.
Juman says that the songs are representations of meeting herself and the world around her with humility, accountability and love – first and foremost! ‘It all begins with a full commitment to loving thy self. It feels really amazing to be in a place where this feels really natural to me, after so much dedication to working through my shit. In saying this, there are moments every now and again that don’t always feel this way – the contradiction of life. How humbling.’
Juman says that is it through the songs that she summons herself towards her soul’s purpose, through the weaving of WAVS. ‘This musical creation inspired and drives my actions, step by step – it’s really the most loving thing you can do for yourself and the world; to follow your soul’s calling!’.
Juman wrote and produced all of the tracks herself from her bedroom studio. She hopes the album will make people fall deeper into love with life, and themselves.
Launching on Saturday, Juman will be supported by Ella Bancroft.
It’s going to be a very special evening that will be sure to leave you feeling super inspired and nourished.
Durrumbul Hall on Saturday from 5pm. For more info, visit: www.jumanmusic.com.
The heart of the wave
The journey into the heart of big wave surfing continues with this sequel to the acclaim surf documentary The Big Wave Project.
This production has taken Tim Bonython around the planet to interview the world’s most renowned big wave surfers, and to record the biggest and most death-defying waves to surf. It’s a narrative that will scare viewers as much as it will exhilarate.
Can monster waves be surfed, both in paddle and tow? Are there any limits? What are the stories behind the biggest waves too big to paddle?
The Big Wave Project 2 takes on answering those questions by traveling to all the big wave spots on the planet with the world’s most respected big wave surfers.
Locations include: Nazaré (Portugal) – the home of the biggest rideable wave, The Right, Shipsterns (Australia), Cloudbreak (Fiji) and Teahupo’o (Tahiti), Mavericks and Jaws (USA), plus hot off the press – that historic February 2022 swell where some serious contenders went down for a possible new Guinness World Record for the biggest wave.
The Big Wave Project 2 is a made for the big screen, narrated by Australian big wave legend and world champion Tom Carroll. Tim Bonython will be at the show at Byron Theatre on Friday – screening is at 7pm.
Arts trail a contemporary art showcase
The Murwillumbah Arts Trail (MAT) was founded in 2015 by Annie Long who worked with local artists and curators to coproduce a multi-sited exhibition for her Southern Cross University honours project; which aimed to examine the role of the independent curator within regional Australia and to explore how temporal art events can serve to regenerate community interaction and local identity.
The trail was originally focused in the Murwillumbah CBD using the empty art deco shops as pop-up galleries and collaborating with the existing galleries and artists in the town, taking people inside spaces they had not been into for years and to places they would not normally go, and it reignited a sense of pride in the town. MAT has contributed to the building of the existing artistic culture of the town and to the empowerment of artists in the region.
The annual event has grown over the years into an exhibition of contemporary art that showcases up to 100 artists from the Tweed Valley and surrounds, offering the community a chance to see artists at work, participate in art activities and purchase art from local artists.
MAT is run by a talented volunteer committee of people who put in the work to bring you this annual event. They gratefully acknowledge Tweed Shire Council funding with support from Tweed Tourism. MAT 2022 is auspiced and supported by Creative Caldera, a not-for-profit incorporated organisation supporting local art and artists.
The Murwillumbah Arts Trail is on this weekend with a garden barbeque and opening night party from 5.30pm at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds. For more info visit: www.murwillumbahartstrail.com.au.
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