Read this review of Charli XCX’s recent show in NYC we pinched from Rolling Stone and then get excited about Charli heading our way in September for Parklife!

They may have once been ‘New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-parody duo’, but tonight Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are stars. And though their shtick as the bumbling, delusional, down-on-their-luck Flight Of The Conchords is as on song as ever, it seems funnily out of place in front of this sold out arena crowd. I mean, how do you keep playing the fool when your fan base is larger than your home country’s population?

I’d made the mistake last year of not attending any concerts as part of the Vivid LIVE festival in Sydney, and as a result missed The Cure play their first three albums live and in full, so this year I vowed not to make the same mistake twice. My first choice was Sydney experimental-electro trio Seekae, and managed to get my self two tickets to the sold-out performance, and boy was I glad I did.

Last night I attended the System Of A Down sideshow at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

The show was absolutely amazing and the fact it was getting recorded for a live album seemed to make the guys really bring their A game. The teenager inside me loved every second, as they belted out a 27 song set across an hour and a half. And I think I forgot how good of a vocalist Serj Tankian is – totally on-key, powerful, and distinctive!