Fred Again
Qudos Bank Arena, March 12-14
If you thought the hype reserves of Sydneysiders were spent after Taylor Swift’s recent visit, think again: a surprise pop-up show at the Sydney Opera House last week from UK DJ, producer and singer Fred Again saw 145,000 rush to buy tickets to the 2250-capacity show – the biggest on-sale demand in the venue’s history.

If you’re wondering who Mr Again is and why he’s booking three nights at a 21,000 capacity arena, a quick primer: born Frederick Gibson into rather posh circumstances (you’ll find various earls and dukes in his family tree), the 30-year-old made a trio of COVID-era albums of voice memo-sampling electronic music that wound up putting a couple of Grammys on his shelf.

If thoughtful, euphoric dance music is your bag, this one is for you.

The Buoys
Crowbar Sydney, March 2 and Albion Hotel Parramatta, March 14
Although Sydney’s live music scene isn’t quite what it used to be compared to the pub rock heyday of the ’80s and ’90s, there’s still an encouraging number of young bands knocking about, even if many don’t quite get the attention they deserve.

Sydney alternative rockers The Buoys are one such band. A quartet led by singer-guitarist Zoe Catterall, they are making a name for themselves with a series of live-wire shows and impressive songs best enjoyed in a beer-soaked venue.

This month brings two opportunities to see The Buoys do what they do best: first, at Crowbar for the “Inner Phest” mini festival alongside DZ Deathrays, These New South Whales and Arse; the second is a headline gig at the Albion Hotel in Parramatta, where they’ll showcase songs from their three EPs.

Wilco
Sydney Opera House, March 21-22
Chicago rockers Wilco – once unkindly derided as “dad-rock” by an aggrieved reviewer – are celebrating 30 years as a band this year, an admirable feat for an act infamously dropped by their record company in the early 2000s for producing the “uncommercial” Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, only to have a subsidiary label of the same record company pick up and release the album to commercial success and critical acclaim.

The six-piece, led by singer-songwriter Jeff Tweedy, has logged enough hours on the road to shape themselves into a formidable live band, with these two shows at the Opera House sure to remind why Wilco are still considered one of the finest bands of their generation.

March might be the month of dad-rock. Teenage Fanclub are in town, as are Fleet Foxes and The National, playing together on March 1 and 2. If big hair and shoulder pads are more your thing, ’80s chart botherers Nik Kershaw, Go West and The Human League all have shows this month, as do ’80s Oz-rock royalty Peter Garrett, Jimmy Barnes and Yothu Yindi (newer Aussie acts including Jessica Mauboy, King Stingray and Montaigne will also be playing shows). Visitors from the US include pop princess Pink and folk legend Graham Nash; UK artists hitting town include The Streets, Morcheeba, The Damned, and Elvis Costello & The Imposters. Who will you be heading off to see? Let us know in the comments.

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