Metallica’s thundering two-hour set featured songs from across their extraordinary career, including latest album, 72 Seasons, and stretched back to their earliest days in San Francisco’s Bay Area with their late, much-loved bass player, Cliff Burton.
Master of Puppets and a pummelling version of groundbreaking, thrash metal anthem Seek and Destroy (the latter from debut album Kill ’Em All) were among the many standout moments.
Hetfield, dressed head-to-toe in his trademark black, revelled in the sing-along moments, including a rousing version of The Memory Remains, but he’ll surely cherish the almighty, closing moments of Enter Sandman.
Six years after he originally planned to bring Metallica back to Melbourne, the band’s imposing frontman looked happy, healthy, and thrilled to be back with his extended rock ‘n’ roll family.
Reviewed by Martin Boulton
MUSIC
TWICE | THIS IS FOR Tour ★★★★
Rod Laver Arena, November 8
Nothing beats the thrill of seeing your idols up close, and TWICE tried to make that a reality, performing on an immersive, 360-degree stage.
K Pop band TWICE wowed the crowd in Melbourne.
It’s the group’s third visit after two shows in 2023’s Ready To Be tour; the rain outside Rod Laver certainly did not reach their parade. “Was everyone’s way here okay?” asked Dahyun, which was met with a loud “NOOOOOOOOO!”
Rather than going all in, they eased in gently raising the curtain with latest English tracks This Is For and Strategy. And then the stage that was an unassuming block flexes its versatility for I Can’t Stop Me and Options: a platform in the former, steps to sit on in the latter.
Performing to a 360-degree crowd is no easy feat, though. Face one side for one verse, then another, then dance in a circle, then disperse to the side stages. It’s a tricky set of instructions, but when you’re a 10-year-old K-pop girl group, it looks as easy as breathing.
I saw both of TWICE’s shows in 2023, and their tenderness in addressing their fans continues to inspire. It’s as if they flicked a switch from being one of K-pop’s strongest performers, to girls next door saying “G’day mate” (literally) to a crowd they’ve missed. As with the Sydney shows, rapper Chaeyoung was sadly absent.
Next, a tonal shift from dreamy earworms Moonlight Sunrise and I Got You, to the more powerful and alluring Cry For Me and Right Hand Girl. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, a live band at the edge of the stage appears to accompany the latter tracks, wowing the audience with rock-like adrenaline.
The solo stages (a tradition even in past TWICE shows) have always been an exciting guessing game. This time, we’re asking “Who’s next?” and looking around to see which side of the stage each member pops up from. Mina, the group’s ballerina, takes centre stage with traces of ballet in Stone Cold. And later, leader Jihyo – providing a masterclass in stage presence throughout the night – dominates a side stage with R&B dance number ATM.
You would think it’s easier to sing English songs like This Is For, but “wild” is an understatement for the crowd’s enthusiasm for the group hits after the solos.
For long-time K-pop fans like me, our first taste of TWICE was in the 2010s with genre-defining hits like What Is Love, Fancy, or Yes Or Yes. To sing and dance along to hit after hit is not only an overdose of nostalgia, but also evidence of the mark left by this K-pop powerhouse. The eight idols also took their time to get closer to the fans, even anchoring the mic for them to scream “YES OR YES!” at the top of their lungs.
Feel Special was the hit of the night, the most meaningful hit in the group’s discography. In the purest form of artist-fan interaction, the group of eight momentarily schemed how to get the crowd moving. Their answer? Body waves every time they sing the line, “You make me feel special”, and then standing up for closing song One Spark.
A lot has been said about how TWICE has matured from cutesy chart-toppers with tracks like TT and Cheer Up, but this tour has been the best way to prove what a decade of experience does to a K-pop girl group. It’s no wonder these nine humble performers are among the genre’s best, and why fans behind me – voices almost gone, like mine right now – said it’s “never not a good time” when they’re here.
Reviewed by Gabriela Sumampow
MUSIC
Affinity String Quartet ★★★★
Melbourne Recital Centre, November 7
Melbourne-based Affinity Quartet has rounded off its globe-trotting 10th anniversary celebrations with a compact program showcasing its luminous, dedicated artistry. Founders, cellist Mee Na Lojewski and violinist Nicholas Waters, together with violist Josef Hanna and violinist Shane Chen possess a passionate ardour that seems to light up their music-making from within.
Receiving its first Australian performances on this tour, Incantation in Four Parts by French-born, London-based composer and soprano Heloise Werner provided a curious curtain-raiser. Moving from the mechanical to the lyrical, the work’s soundscape also required assorted vocalisations by the players, including a satisfied “ah” at the end of the first section. This intrepid piece of programming was perhaps more thoughtfully clever than truly mesmerising.
Affinity String Quartet. L-R: Shane Chen, Nicholas Waters, Mee Na Lojewski, and Josef Hanna.Credit: Kristoffer Paulsen
Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546 was invested with a high sense of drama throughout. Aided by the brilliant, resonant tone of the group’s instruments, forthrightly projected into the lively acoustics of the Salon at the Melbourne Recital Centre, the fugue’s contrapuntal texture in particular was clearly etched into the listeners’ consciousness.
Debussy’s beguiling and superbly crafted String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 thrummed with energy, the players ensuring from the outset that the work’s essential rhythmic element was always kept in view. After the driving opening with its moments of shimmering ecstasy, effective contrasts were made between the pizzicato and bowed passages in the nimbly executed second movement.
With its gently pulsing accompaniment, the poignant third movement elicited greater attention to details of light and shade that had been slightly overwhelmed by the group’s charismatic enthusiasm in the previous movements. Marked by industrious determination, the race to reach the all-too-sudden finish line was well controlled and resulted in an exhilarating finale – a worthy crowning of a decade of hard work and artistic growth by four gifted musicians.
Reviewed by Tony Way
VARIETY
Blanc de Blanc Encore ★★★
Spiegel Haus Melbourne, from October 29
Melburnians craving variety entertainment should check out the new pop-up performance precinct at Spiegel Haus Melbourne, on Lonsdale Street in the CBD. It’s opened its doors in time for summer and features a rooftop bar with intimate venues, including an Edwardian-style Spiegeltent backing onto a laneway in Chinatown.
The cast of Blanc de Blanc Encore.Credit: Cameron Grant
Taking up residence in a carnival atmosphere is Strut & Fret’s Blanc de Blanc Encore – a risqué blend of cabaret, circus, comedy and burlesque which, as its name suggests, pays Dionysian homage to the pleasures of the grape, in a slick showcase of variety performance guaranteed to make you feel like you’re drinking champagne, even if you’re stone-cold sober.
Compered by a comedy duo – Emile Mathieu and Felix Pouliot – in formal attire, the evening kicks off with a warm-up that’s also a bit of a balls-up. These two gents know how to milk a joke, and though the opener’s terrible puns might leave you testy (depending on your taste for below-the-belt humour), the suggestive physical clowning, rambunctious low comedy, and engaging party tricks should win you over as the show progresses.
Circus acts include a dizzying aerial hoop routine from Danielle Summers, a cartoonish display from Ukrainian contortionist Mykhailo Makarovoak that must be seen to be believed, and Felix Pouliot’s muscular, gravity-defying pole dance, which transforms into a climax positively effervescing with airborne pop and fizz.
Aerial hoop performer Danielle Summers.Credit: Steve Napiza
Burlesque takes centre stage through titillating and tightly choreographed striptease, drag-adjacent gender play, and erotic dance with something for everyone.
Chanteuse Clara Fable sings brisk excerpts from the odd jazz standard as well as more obscure (and loucher) numbers. I thought her puerile masturbation gag, performed to Rhapsody in Blue, gratuitously insulting to Gershwin, but this is the kind of show where it’s probably best to leave your high-mindedness at the door.
Classy only on the surface, this is a hedonistic show that denies no guilty pleasure, drenching audiences in a decadent, high-society, Gatsby-like vibe.
True, the retro 1920s stylings can make some of the “naughtiness” look super mainstream a century on, but it remains an immersive entertainment from a company of international renown, and a fun way to open a new performance venue in the heart of a city known for tucking away its most vibrant treasures in alleyways and hidden corners.
Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead
Jazz musicians Joost Lijbaart and Wolfert Brederode.
JAZZ
Joost Lijbaart and Wolfert Brederode ★★★★
The JazzLab, November 5
Patience. That’s the word – and the quality – that came to mind as I listened to Joost Lijbaart and Wolfert Brederode perform, and pondered what made their music so beguiling.
The drummer and pianist (both from the Netherlands) have been playing together in various settings for over 20 years, and their musical connection is so finely honed that they can communicate with the barest of gestures. They last toured Australia in 2018 as part of a superb quartet led by saxophonist Yuri Honing, but it’s perhaps in duo mode that their creative antennae are most vividly displayed.
Joost Lijbaart and Wolfert Brederode are both from the Netherlands.
At JazzLab on Wednesday, each of their two sets unfolded as a continuous, quietly compelling exchange of ideas and energy. Brederode and Lijbaart are musical storytellers, but their stories are mostly improvised, with the narrative arc shaped moment by moment and the conclusion unknown until it arrives.
Hence the patience. Rather than fabricating drama or climactic sequences to keep the audience engaged, these musicians simply created space and waited for fresh themes, directions and detours to reveal themselves.
At the piano, Brederode shaped wisps of shadowy abstraction into the contours of a melody before letting it dissolve, or coaxed harmonic motifs into a lush, flowing river before it, too, melted away. Beauty was everywhere, tinged with melancholy and longing, as though Brederode were grasping at something – a memory, an experience, a feeling – just out of reach.
In this setting, Lijbaart’s drums and percussion were rarely used for time-keeping. Instead, they produced colours and textures that enhanced or subtly contrasted with Brederode’s atmospheric explorations.
Yes, Lijbaart could summon a propulsive sway or polyrhythmic shuffle to nudge the music towards a groove. But more often he evoked a sense of mystery or ritual with the resonant chime of a temple bell, the rustle of a beaded shaker or the bird-like call of a wooden flute.
The duo’s close listening and attention to detail invited us to lean in and listen closely too, conjuring a spell of enchantment from which we were reluctant to emerge.
