LIVE WIRE – Sydney Live Music Guide May 24th

Friday May 25th, Florence & The Machine will be the big name act launching the Vivid Festival of light and sound at the Opera House concert hall. The indie-pop group led by enigmatic front woman Florence Welch will be joined by the Ceremonial Orchestra – with over 40 performers on stage – leading to what will be the largest incarnation of the group yet. At the Opera House theatre you can catch experimental rock trio PVT who are taking time from working on their upcoming fourth studio album in order to preview it at the Vivid Festival. The group who’re already known for their epic live shows will be playing with additional orchestration and a light show specifically designed uniquely for this performance. Alternatively on the same night, you can experience a night of explosive fun and dancing with Melbourne’s revivalist doo-whop soul group Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes. That’s over at Goodgod Small Club.

Saturday May 26th, a huge night is on the cards when rock & roll eccentric Anton Newcombe and his band Brian Jonestown Massacre take over the Oxford Arts Factory. The experimental group, whose sound has evolved with each album to straddle psychedelia, folk, blues and electronica have been popularised by their public feud with the Dandy Warhols, yet the group are influential in their own right and it’s a unique opportunity to be able to witness such an act on our shores. Over at The Vanguard, former Superjesus front-woman Sarah McLeod is playing an acoustic show in what will be a great opportunity to spend an intimate night with the charismatic performer. The extraordinary “rock chick” has got three ARIAs in her closet and has sold over 300,000 records. You can expect to hear songs on the night from her solo album Beauty Was a Tiger as well as some old Superjesus songs and a few covers for good measure. She’ll be supported by Ashleigh Mannix and Ollie Brown.

Sunday May 27th, Sydney live electronic extraordinaires Seekae have been granted the privilege of performing at the Opera House theatre for the Vivid Festival. The young trio use live instrumentation along with sequencers to produce epic sonic barrages and fragile soundscapes that draw upon hip-hop, post-rock and other forms of electronic music. They’ve had a world wind year touring throughout the US, Japan and domestically and for Vivid they’ll be accompanied by a string section as well as a visual show.

Wednesday May 30th, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O is fronting perhaps the most ambitious Vivid Festival production at the Opera House theatre. Stop The Virgens: A Psycho Opera features Karen O, a crack team of indie rock musicians and KK Barrett – the production designer for Being John Malkovich and Lost In Translation. The result is an operatic autobiographical journey through the evolution of Karen O that pushes the boundaries of music, theatre and performance.