Taxiride brings its unique musical blend of retro sensibility with modern style to The Palais, Hepburn this Friday night, January 5.

Crafted over two years in Melbourne and Los Angeles, their debut album ‘Imaginate’ debuted at Number 1 on the Australian Music Charts.

It launched 4 singles including the memorable ‘Get Set’ and ‘Everywhere You Go’ (the most played Australian song on the radio for 2000).

Their second album ‘Garage Mahal’ contained their biggest hit ‘Creepin’ Up Slowly’, the most played song on the radio for 2002 and featured a further two hit singles.

Taxiride achieved Top 30 status in the States and subsequently toured the US, Japan and Europe. A 10 year hiatus saw Taxiride reform in 2015 with a limited run of shows.

Taxiride now returns with new live shows featuring faithful renditions of their hits plus their favourite album tracks – a must for lovers of harmony and infectious pop.

The Sweet Mona’s Choir is headed to The Palais, Hepburn for a special pre-Christmas performance happening next Saturday, December 9.

The Sweet Mona’s Choir is one of Victoria’s longest running gospel and world music choirs. The Monas are famous for their world-class arrangements, created by Barry Deenick (Melbourne Ska Orchestra, Bustamento) Stella Savy, and Valanga Khoza. They’ve worked with some of Australia’s most renowned musicians, including Tim Neal, Venetta Fields, Valanga Khoza, Tony Backhouse and Vika & Linda Bull.

Thirty to forty singers, from a broad range of backgrounds, gender and ages sing together to create astounding harmonies. The choir performs a broad range of contemporary, world and gospel music, including music from the Staple Singers and the Golden Gate Quartet.

Their world music is sourced from around the globe and is often accompanied by percussionist Stella Savy (Los Locos, Ballarat Ska Union). Their sound ranges from a rich, deep resonance to a lively, energetic tone, to haunting melodies that stay with you long after the performance is over. Recent performances include Newport Folk Festival and a sold out show at Trades Hall Ballarat.

Xylouris White live are compelling. Drummer, Jim White, with a style that can sound like a full band one minute and something stark and beautiful the next and George Xylouris, a self-taught master of the lute with a background in traditional Greek folk – weddings, parties, anything; master musicians both with a supernatural power to express themselves as one.

The Melbourne-born duo are headed to Hepburn to play the Palais live this Saturday, November 25.

“Two seemingly unconnected musical traditions could appear, on paper at least, as somewhat contrived, but Xylouris and White’s never less than compelling chemistry was as symbiotic as calm and storm, and rang as true as the dawn chorus. As timeless too.” – The Thin Air

After recent appearances at the Tomorrow Festival in Shenzhen China and Big Ears in Knoxville USA, they’re tackling Australia next with a debut appearance at the Queenscliff Music Festival and a run of east coast dates. The dynamic duo; lute player George Xylouris and drummer Jim White, will also include Meeniyan, Hepburn, Hobart, Wollongong and Canberra alongside big city plays in Sydney and Melbourne.

The tour comes off the back of 2023’s release The Forest in Me an instrumental album drawn from multiple sessions spawned across two continents; Jim in New York City and George in Crete and pulled together by non-performing band member Guy Picciotto. If previous albums drew critical appraise the response for this, their fifth album, has been exultant.

For 29 years, BABBA have been thrilling audiences with their superb re-creation of 70’s super group ABBA and the legacy of hits they gave us. Now they’re headed to Hepburn to play The Palais this Saturday, October 14.

With glitz and glamour served up with Swedish accents and enough musical memories to fill you to overflowing, BABBA will take you on a journey through time to when satin was King and Dancing Queens ruled. Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha and Frida can be yours once again and all you have to do is believe.

BABBA is the ultimate fun time; no matter how old or how young you may be, the show, just like the music, is timeless. Audiences know when they have seen the best and been a part of something very special and they just want more; that is why BABBA audiences keep coming back, time after time after time.

Much-loved Melbourne singer-songwriter Liz Stringer caps off a busy year with her First Time…For The Last Time solo tour – and it’s headed to The Palais, Hepburn.

The acclaimed blues-roots artist plays the Palais, Friday evening, October 6.

Having achieved her first entry into the ARIA Top 20 and an AIR Award for Best Blues & Roots album in 2021, Liz spent most of 2022 with Midnight Oil, working as their backing vocalist and support act in Australia and around the world on their Resist tour.

Then, in February 2023, she and fellow Oils guest William Crighton released a cover of the Oils’ “Golden Age”, featuring Jim Moginie on bass and Rob Hirst on drums, following which they toured as a duo. In March, Liz was Port Fairy Folk Festival’s 2023 Artist of the Year and she performed two triumphant sets at the iconic festival with her band.

In May, after four From Brunswick to Brixton solo shows in Melbourne, she headed to London to record her new album and play a handful of shows.

Liz’s First Time…For The Last Time tour will see the artist bring an end to the long cycle of work that began in with the release of the album in the midst of COVID lockdowns. It’s a case of unfinished business, as the tour will finally reach the places that she couldn’t get to in 2021, thanks to state border closures and the like.

All the shows will follow the intimate format of her From Brunswick to Brixton shows; Liz will perform her songs completely solo, giving audiences a real insight into how they were written and how they sounded before she presented them to her band.

This is a rare chance to see one of Australia’s greatest contemporary singer-songwriters in an intimate solo setting and the last chance to revisit her most successful and acclaimed album to date before she introduces her new material.

US-born blues and soul singer Oscar LaDell brings his band The Earth Tones for their first appearance at Palais-Hepburn later this month.

Drawing influence from the greats of 20th Century American Roots Music, LaDell and The Earth Tones play The Palais on Friday September 29 in what promises a night to remember, filled to the brim with grooves and ballads.

LaDell (pictured above) is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who brings a timeless vulnerability and passionate approach to his original blend of Soul, Blues & Roots. Hailing originally from Denver Colorado, LaDell grew up in Purakaunui in the South of Aotearoa.

Drawing from the moody and poignant scenes of his home, LaDell writes, plays and sings with incisiveness and depth. With his band The Earth Tones, Oscar’s live shows are incendiary sermons of soul, blending swaying grooves with dynamic storms of guitar and organ, all tied together by Oscar’s magnetic voice.

This month’s September 29 Palais gig gets going from 6.30pm.

Introducing The Well Strung Trio, showcasing a blend of Gypsy Jazz, Latin and yes even some classical music. Comprising virtuosic guitarists, Lyndon Kyrss and Adam Seery and Double Bass player extraordinaire Andrew Vincent this Trio has enchanted audiences far and wide with their exciting interpretations of instrumental music from a bygone era.

They’ll be playing The Palais, Hepburn (pictured above) on Friday, September 22 from 6.30pm.

Intricate guitar work, characterized by lightning-fast arpeggios and scintillating bass solos, will transport listeners to the vibrant streets of Paris in the 1930s…then a short musical walk to a New Orleans Jazz bar in the 1950s.

Over the years the Trio have performed extensively from concert halls and cafes, tents and pergolas, gardens and festival stages. Their music is a celebration of the freedom, joy, and timeless spirit of Gypsy and Latin Jazz. Swing is back and The Well Strung Trio are here to prove it through their harmonious blend of styles and captivating artistry.

Combining virtuosic piano playing with a whiskey-smooth voice, Damon Smith and his trio are headed to The Palais, Hepburn.

The Trio has built a reputation for dynamic sets featuring foot-stomping boogie woogie, New Orleans-flavoured blues, rock ‘n’ roll, heartfelt ballads, and crowd-pleasing covers that meet with rave reviews and standing ovations at theatres, pubs, clubs, and festivals across Australia.

In 2022, Smith’s album Skeletons Skeletons Skeletons debuted at #2 on the Australian Blues and Roots charts, earning a Music Victoria award nomination, and winning the MBAS Chris Wilson award.

The Trio features: Damon Smith – Piano, vocals; Adam Coad – Drums; Trent McKenzie – Upright bass and they play The Palais, Hepburn on Saturday, September 2.

Hailing from small town Heathcote and a darling of the thriving Bendigo music scene, folk artist Mariah McCarthy is one of Central Victoria’s most talented musos.

With delicately woven songs rich in storytelling, Mariah captivates her audiences through honest and affecting tales that hang around in your head long after listening.

Mariah broaches themes of love, loss, betrayal and tragedy with authenticity, and often haunting melancholy but always a glimmer of precious hope.

Mariah will be joined by fellow singer/songwriters Ben Langdon (The Bean Project, Grand Baxter) and Cassie Ward (Cass) when Mariah McCarthy Trio plays The Palais, Hepburn on Friday September, 8.

The seamless blend of Mariah and Cassie’s voices is something that can only be created through years of singing together, which for them began early on in primary school. With the addition of Ben’s smooth vocals and intricate guitar work, the trio creates something very special.

A shelf full of albums by James Taylor, Paul Simon, Jason Isbell and Dawes has given Grand Baxter a distinct sound.

Considered songwriting, bitter-sweet lyrics and a sprinkling of country-folk influence are all clearly audible in his music. Songs dance between the dark, the delicate, and the cautiously optimistic, with beautiful acoustic guitars anddelicate melodies.

Grand Baxter delivers his heart on a silver plate, best described as ‘a bold hamper of honesty, musicality and folk charm.’

He’s set to play The Palais, Hepburn on Friday evening, August 11.

Steve Balbi has just announced a run of tour dates to promote his new track – We Were Lost – following the successful Noiseworks’ reformation and recent NZ Tour with 1980s new-wavers Mi-Sex. The Palais at Hepburn Springs is among them – on Saturday July 29.

Balbi’s new tour promises a reimagination of the creative chameleon’s diverse catalogue of songs ‘n’ stories – from Noiseworks, Electric Hippies, Mi-Sex, his recent solo LP ‘I Think I Know For Sure’, and more… in eclectic, three-piece [GRID] mode – featuring Balbi (Noiseworks, Electric Hippies, Mi-Sex) on vocals and guitars, Colin Coorie (Richard Clapton) on the synth, piano, organ and keys, and Pete Drummond [Dragon] playing a live-looping launchpad, BVs, cymbals & snares.

Transcending rock and pop while coalescing sentimentality and soul, Balbi bespeaks Bowie and Dylan in melody and verse, exploring the heterogeneity, refinement, and dirty rotten groove of Radiohead. Be enlightened. Be inspired.

The new track – We Were Lost – is out now on Triplespeak/Metropolitan Groove Merchants (MGM). A sensuous, impossibly romantic journey, this latest song by the artist, composer, and producer Steve Balbi casts new light upon the way, following the recent reformation of Noiseworks. It also forms part of a 5-track EP to emerge throughout the first half of 2023. Recorded and produced in his Sydney studio, Balbi plays all instruments on the track, with Pete Drummond on drums. Mixed in collaboration with Tony Wall, ‘We Were Lost’ was mastered by fellow electric hippy Justin Stanley.

From his Sydney studio, which he affectionately calls his happy place, Balbi reflects upon his latest release. ‘It started out as a totally different song,” he says. “I’d written the melody in an awkward key for me, so I changed the melody, I changed the lyrics, I changed the chords, and I kept throwing stuff at it, so it became a different song.

“What’s the song about? Well, it’s a metaphoric journey through childhood. Driving down a road, creating this masterpiece, being young and invincible. To be honest, I think we needed a miracle to make it through, and we did. But I found myself lost for many, many years.

“I guess that, in a nutshell, is what the song’s about. It’s not the happiest song you’ll ever hear but it’s sung through the lens of victory and survival. In this sense, I guess ultimately, it is a happy song. I wasn’t sure that I was going to release it, but I really feel something for this song, so I hope that you do too.”

Veteran road warrior Bret Mosley plays the Palais, Hepburn on Friday August 4.

Mosley is a singular artist who blends Americana, blues, and soulful folk into a uniquely potent sound that is introspective, raw, and emotional. Mosley’s stirring vocals, intricate lap slide guitar work, and stomping groove deliver deeply personal and poetic songwriting that explores the complexities of love, longing, and the human condition.

The raw intensity and emotional depth of Mosley’s live performances have a way of connecting with audiences that is at once intimate and transcendent, drawing listeners in with his authenticity and emotional resonance. His shows are known for being cathartic experiences, leaving audiences feeling both balmed and inspired. From intimate coffeehouses & clubs to concert halls & major festivals such as SXSW, Mountain Jam, and Blues at Bridgetown, Mosley has earned a reputation as a true original…and as a must-see act for fans of real, honest music that speaks to the heart.

Seven years in the making, Mosley’s new album, “Through the Fire”—out July 28— is a deeply moving journey chronicling his transformative first few years in Australia—from the depths of devastating abuse and alienation to finding true love. The album delivers a powerful message of resilience and triumph over adversity with a mix of tender ballads and rocking Americana.

Contemporary Folk trio, ‘Little Tree’ is preparing to branch out and present a show of original songs at the Palais, Hepburn Springs on Friday July 28.

This is the culmination of a three-year musical collaboration of Lee and Tim, and more lately, Yenni. Recent months spent in the studio refining the band’s first EP has produced songs of delicate human experience. These songs draw inspiration from the band member’s personal experiences and observations.

Little Tree is a local, contemporary folk trio which formed in 2022.

Tim and Lee have played together for several years as multi-instrumentalists, singers, and songwriters. Both musicians share an interest in exploring both modern and traditional folk styles as well as finding novel ways of using the sounds and colour of guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and harmonica.

Lee’s background is predominantly percussion of which he plays various styles and instruments. Yenni is from Finland, predominantly a vocalist exploring her song writing and instrumental skills. The band has produced both English and Finnish songs and are about to release their first EP, recorded entirely in Daylesford which was engineered and produced by Tim.

Hepburn Palais and I Love it Live are getting set to present a special Double Shot of Blues event, featuring two of Melbourne’s leading blues acts coming up at the local venue on Friday July 7.

Kaliopi and The Blues Messengers officially launched at the Glenmaggie Blues & Roots Festival early in 2022, for a vibrant debut. Since then, the band have gone on to support and perform alongside local blues icons Geoff Achison, Ian Collard, and Jimi Hocking as the host band for Double Trouble Blues Sessions as well as regularly performing the blues circuit around Melbourne.

Drawing from the great Delta blues tradition of powerful blueswomen, Kaliopi & The Blues Messengers have developed a unique textural sound backing Kaliopi’s powerful, soulful vocal – using the fretless bass like a sousaphone, with flavours of early Dixieland piano, weaving clarinet blues licks and Delta Blues guitar over swinging groove shuffles.

Completing this special blues double bill is multi -award winning Matt Dwyer – a singer/ guitarist/ songwriter who takes all the elements of blues, jazz, swing, rockabilly , ska and surf music to make a unique style of good time house rockin’ party music that is entirely his own.

Joined by his regular band, The Magnatones, Matt never fails to deliver some fine roots music.

This double dose of quality blues music gets going at the Palais from 6.30pm, Friday July 7.

Whiskey a Go Go June 1966…. The Doors hit the stage with energy, and electricity bringing the room to a fever pitch. Jim Morrison announces the show … Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin…

Coming up Saturday, July 1 at The Palais, Hepburn, the Australian Doors Tribute is aiming to recreate this heat in their uncensored celebration of music and poetry of The Doors.

George Douglas is hauntingly Jim Morrison with his unique vocal style. Deep, mysterious, dangerous, and so precise and exact. His spellbinding performance is uncanny. The band’s authentic 1969 sound performance takes you there …into the Whiskey a Go Go to the fire of the Doors live.

Australian Doors Tribute – an impeccable line-up – made up of some of Melbourne’s best and well-loved musicians with a long history of performing around Australia. and internationally.

Thanks to the performances like the ones by Australian Doors Tribute, it is still possible to experience the thrill of Morrison and The Doors. Douglas and his fellow bandmates bring to life songs such as Riders on the Storm, Light my Fire, and Roadhouse Blues conjuring a portal for us to travel back in time and immerse ourselves in authentic renditions of these legendary songs.