Fresh Finds: Class Of 2025 – Aussie Acts To Add To Your Playlist

Joe Dolan, Journalist

Joe Dolan

In 2016, I was studying professional writing when an email dropped into my inbox with an opportunity to intern with a budding street press magazine (those were a thing back then). By the end of the eight-or-so-week course I was hooked - and for some bizarre reason,The Musicdecided to keep me around.

Since then I’ve gone on to review countless live gigs, albums, standup sets, theatre shows and gotten to interview some bone fide legends along the way too. Nowadays, I even perform and work on the occasional show myself, but I still like to find time to get out amongst the action whenever I can.

If it weren’t forThe Music, I can genuinely say my life would be totally different. Definitely more boring, to say the least.

Reviews / Arts
Hannah Gadsby: Nannette (MICF)
"There are certainly jokes, but there is also a mountain of pain that many will not be able to climb."
Reviews / Arts
Aunty Donna: Big Boys (MICF)
"There are a surprising amount of "real jokes" that sneak their way into the mix of lunacy."
Reviews / Arts
Dara O'Briain: Live (MICF)
"His mile a minute pace is matched only by his own quick-wit."
Reviews / Arts
The Comedy Zone (MICF)
"[Tom Cashman] is particularly efficient at putting reviewers in their place should they foolishly decide to sit in the front row."
Features / Music
What Keeps The Blackeyed Susans Up At Night
"The things that inspire us are the same things that keep all of us up at night - good, bad or indifferent."
Reviews / Arts
Late Night Letters And Numbers (MICF)
"Watching the comics struggle against the diehards in the crowd is a schadenfreudian porn."
Reviews / Arts
Pink Flappy Bits: The Flappaganza (MICF)
"Lou Mapleston and Tara Dowler are superbly adept at blending conversational and musical comedy."
Reviews / Arts
Paul Foot: Tis A Pity She's A Piglet (MICF)
"To see Foot extend his views on current affairs is a bizarre wonder to behold."
Reviews / Arts
Headliners (MICF)
A night of generous variety and bright comedic talent
Reviews / Arts
David O'Doherty: Big Time (MICF)
O'Doherty has the stand-up chops to rival any other working comedian in the business.
Reviews / Arts
WrestleBrainia (MICF)
This is an enjoyable one for those within the inner sanctum.
Reviews / Arts
Luke Leonard: Man Up (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)
The uniquely stressful monologue is ingeniously heightened by its MICF context.
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