DON WEST is gliding up the east coast for his summer tour run
The sleek sounds of the Sydney soul man will be sliding into several stops along the east coast, complementing his run on Spilt Milk festival.
The Big Don is locked in to kick things off on Wadawurrung Country/Torquay on December 5 before a couple of festival dates. He'll then return to Naarm/Melbourne on December 11 and work his way up the coast, flicking between Spilt Milk and his own headline shows.
DON WEST will wrap it all up just before the festive season with a big hometown show in Eora/Sydney on December 19. No better way to crack into the holidays than by getting sweaty at a slick soul gig.
Tickets for DON WEST's headline tour are on sale from 1PM local time on Friday 27 June, with a couple of cheeky presales in the days beforehand. Check out the tour's website for more info.
Suss all the dates and details below and get ready to fall into the groove with DON WEST in summer. DON WEST 2025 Australian tour Friday 5 December - Torquay Hotel, Wadawurrung Land, Torquay Vic
Friday 5 December - Torquay Hotel, Wadawurrung Land, Torquay Vic Thursday 11 December - Northcote Theatre, Wurundjeri Land, Melbourne Vic
Thursday 11 December - Northcote Theatre, Wurundjeri Land, Melbourne Vic Thursday 16 December - The Triffid, Turrbal Land, Brisbane Qld
Thursday 16 December - The Triffid, Turrbal Land, Brisbane Qld Friday 19 December - Liberty Hall, Gadigal Land, Sydney NSW
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
31 minutes ago
- ABC News
The best and worst romantasy tropes, according to author and viral BookTokker Stacey McEwan
When I ask Stacey McEwan to describe her latest romantic fantasy novel, A Forbidden Alchemy, the Queensland-based author and content creator responds with a question indicative of a broader trend in the book world. "Do you want the elevator pitch? Or do you want me to just give tropes?" The use of tropes in fiction is nothing new. But in the age of BookTok, Bookstagram and Goodreads, it's increasingly common to see romance and romantic fantasy (romantasy) fans summarise entire novels from these genres using the tropes within them, from "fake dating", to "dagger to the throat". Many traditional publishers are following suit, leaning into trope-first marketing. Some advanced reader copies of romance and romantasy books even list tropes on the cover, relegating key information like book titles and even authors' names to the spine. McEwan says there's a reason romance and romantasy novels are particularly prone to this. "Because they all have a three-act structure and need the happily ever after, and because they're so repetitive — I say that with deep, deep affection for them — [the romance genre has] leant itself to tropes that people started referencing and labelling a long, long time ago," she explains. "And, because many [elements of romance] carry over into romantasy, now we have all these romantasy tropes that you wouldn't see in contemporary romance." Romance and romantasy books are more than the tropes they're based around, which is why some see a reliance on tropes in reviews and marketing as a problem. But McEwan thinks readers seek hyper-specific romance and romantasy tropes for the same reason they're criticised: familiarity. "It's comforting and something we know and understand," she argues. McEwan's latest novel follows a fated pair in a world divided by the magical and non-magical, who discover a secret that starts a revolution, and leans into the "slow-burn romance" and "found family" tropes. But she doesn't just explore romantasy tropes in her writing — McEwan also dissects the tropes fans love and hate in her viral book-related Instagram and TikTok content. Who better to ask about the best and worst of the genre and why we feel so strongly about them? This is the romance/romantasy trope du jour. And for good reason, McEwan says. The "enemies-to-lovers" trope often comes with delicious tension and irresistible banter between love interests. "Those things can occur in other dynamics between two characters, but 'enemies-to-lovers' really calls for it, and the anticipation and the pay-off at the end when they flip is everything," she explains. It also lends itself well to a bunch of other tropes readers love, from "slow-burn romance", to "dagger to the throat" (in a moment of high tension, one of the love interests holds a knife to the other's throat, prompting a barrage of conflicting feelings); to "only one bed at the inn" (the love interests need to stay somewhere for the night, but the inn/hotel only has one room left, and that room only has one bed); and "forced proximity" in general (any scene where predicted love interests are forced into close contact with each other for a significant period of time, ensuring their relationship develops). "When an author forces enemies into close proximity to each other, you just know the banter is going to be really good, and the tension is going to be sky-high," McEwan says. To McEwan, this trope is "pure escapism — particularly if you're femme". "If you're reading fantasy or romantasy, you're looking for escapism anyway, but to me this trope is the height of escapism because I like to pretend that I am, in fact, the main character, and I won't take any judgement on it because I think we all [pretend we're the protagonist]. This is your morally grey masc love interest who typically possesses some sort of shadow magic, and definitely has an attitude problem. McEwan thinks most of us don't want to be "pick-me girls" — women who seek attention from men by proving they're somehow "not like the other girls". "But at the heart of it, we kind of are," she says of this trope. "Reading about a shadow daddy, or a morally grey love interest who hates everyone, will fight the entire world off for the main character … it's really fun to watch a character soften for that one person." McEwan describes "found family" as her favourite trope "by far", which is why it crops up in almost everything she writes. "'Found family' is really comforting for readers because it's the family the main character has chosen rather than been born to, and the main characters in these books typically have terrible families or dead families, to make their decisions more believable and relatable," she says. "And so [as readers] we're always rooting for them to find their people, and it's comforting when they do." Picture this: you've just made it past all the world-building and will-they-won't-they of a new romantasy book and the love interests are finally together, only for a new conflict to appear out of nowhere. Said conflict could be solved in one conversation. "Really, there are no bad tropes if you know how to write them properly," McEwan says. "I've read books that have used the 'miscommunication' trope very, very well, to the point where it's believable. It's just that the 'miscommunication' trope so often isn't, and that's incredibly frustrating for readers. When it comes to romantasy, McEwan concedes this trope is often used out of necessity. "In most of these books, [the love interest] would smell of sweat and body odour because they've been riding on a horse for five days, with no way to bathe themselves," she points out. "If the author instead draws attention to the idea that they smell like sandalwood and pine and starlight, we can all pretend they don't smell terrible. "There's no way what they're smelling is eucalyptus and tea tree, though." Think: Nesta in A Court of Silver Flames or Aelin in Throne of Glass, both by Sarah J Maas. "This can be done really well and for really good reasons, but often it feels stereotypically sacrificial that the woman would have to part with such a big piece of herself to fix things for everyone else," McEwan says. Another "stereotypically sacrificial" trope, McEwan says "surprise pregnancy" is widely disliked among readers because it "feels cheap to have this huge conflict happening and then, suddenly, pregnancy changes everything, from the main character's motivations, to the love interest's, to the way she sees the world and what needs to happen next".
News.com.au
40 minutes ago
- News.com.au
NSW musicians finally get their own awards and it's the biggest cash prize in Australia
NSW musicians will finally get their own awards after decades of being ignored as other states celebrated their local artists. And it's the biggest music prize in Australia, with the state government offering $80,000 to the major NSW Music Award winner for the single or album judged to have 'the most significant impact.' The winners of the First Nations Music Award and Breakthrough Artist of the Year will each score $40,000. 'Despite the fact NSW is the engine room of Australia's music industry, we were one of the only states that didn't have a music prize. I thought that was a travesty, so the arrival of the NSW Music Prize will right that wrong,' Minister for Music John Graham said. While the eligibility criteria is to be finalised, there are a raft of contenders for the inaugural awards open to NSW solo artists or groups who have released new work between July 1, 2024 and June 30 this year. Sydney born and raised global rap star The Kid Laroi is a frontrunner to score a nomination, having released his new single 'How Does It Feel?' just before the June 30 cut off. Indie duo Royel Otis who have taken the world by storm have been strong favourites with awards judges over the past two years. Alternative rockers Lime Cordiale, who have been playing to record crowds in America opening for Tash Sultana, are also in the running with last year's No.1 record 'Enough of the Sweet Talk.' Established artists also vying for the major prize include electronic superstars Rufus Du Sol, acclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko, hip hop heroes Bliss N Eso, Menangle rockers The Rubens and Angus Stone with his Dope Lemon side project. There is a wealth of First Nations artists from the State making noise on the airwaves and stages also up for the inaugural gongs from proud Nowra rapper Nooky and western Sydney rhyme queen Barkaa to soulful northern NSW singer Budjerah. Emerging acts to keep an eye out for on the nominations list for the awards to be held in Sydney in November during Ausmusic Month are alternative pop chameleon Grentperez, r&b goddess Becca Hatch, Barnesy's grand-daughter Ruby Rodgers and Cronulla all-women indie rockers The Buoys. Graham said the awards were overdue to address the identity crisis suffered by NSW music-makers. 'For a lot of NSW citizens, I don't think they know who their NSW artists are, they would think of them as Australian artists,' he said. 'We just want them to have that second thought to realise how local they are so that deepens the connection between the fan and the artists.' NSW has a long and illustrious roll call of musicians who have claimed global success over the decades from AC/DC, INXS and Midnight Oil to Flume, 5 Seconds of Summer and Dean Lewis. The Breakthrough award will prove a profile-boosting game-changer for emerging talent who struggle to get airplay or cut through on streaming services against top tier international acts. The struggle for local artists can be seen on the ARIA charts where streaming has shut out homegrown releases from the top 50. 'The thing that really worries me is our artists getting locked out of the international music system at the moment as streaming really narrows the chances of our artists taking off,' Graham said. 'Every global success has got to start locally somewhere. And we've got to recognise how important the local scene is and when our local artists do succeed, either on the national or the international stage, we've got to claim them and celebrate them. We've singly failed to do that until now.' Other states are huge on blowing the trumpet for their local acts with long-standing gongs via the Music Victoria Awards (paused for 2025), Queensland Music Awards and SA Music Awards. Respected promoter, indie record label owner and Australian music champion Michael Chugg agreed the awards are long overdue. 'I think nationally we need to get more Aussie kids into Australian music, and these things help,' he said. 'With streaming now, to make it in your own country, you pretty much need to have a big hit in America or England. 'There has been a disconnect here and a lot of people don't even know those artists doing really well overseas are Australian.' The government is now calling for Expressions of Interest to join the nominations committee and judging panels via Sound NSW.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
What's on: Rogue and wild events happening in Darwin this weekend
WHAT'S ON THIS WEEKEND Who went to the Rodeo at the Waterfront last night? There's more fun to be had – today, the DCOH Darwin Guineas Day kicks off the Great Northern Darwin Cup Carnival at the Darwin Turf Club. If you'd prefer to take the weekend to do some Dry season gardening, there are a couple of plant sales again this weekend too. Head to the Karama Community Garden Plant Sale from 10am, for a wide selection of native and tropical plants, or on Sunday, plant lovers can also check out the Friends of the Botanic Gardens Plant Sale at George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens from 8am to Midday – and there's usually some volunteers there to offer gardening advice, which is always handy. Also on Sunday, music fans can go and check out the First Sunday Blues at Tracy Village Social and Sports Club from 3pm – it's always a good time, a very chill afternoon of blues and rock music out in the courtyard, and if you get there early you can get your name on the board and play a song. For the kids - the Palmerston Youth Festival kicks off on Saturday and continues all weekend across various venues in Palmerston, featuring workshops, performances and all kinds of events for young people, including the popular Geekfest Top End. I've spoken about this venue before, Dock One, the newest venue to open on the Stokes Hill Wharf. It's an intimate venue with a beach vibe, but it maintains a level of sophistication, and it's been popular! There have been times we have wanted to get out on the water and watch the sunset over the city (one of the only places you can do this), and there hasn't been a table … so they made a new deck. Literally. Dock One now features an expanded viewing deck, with a heap more tables and an even better view of the city. It's an awesome sunset venue to add to your rotation with a great all-day tapas and cocktails menu. LOCAL'S TIP So we all survived to live another Territory Day. Love it or hate it, it's certainly one of those events that makes the NT a unique place to live. As Territorians, I think we like the idea that we are a little bit different – maybe a little bit rogue. After all, I guess you've got to be a little bit rogue to survive those precious Nightcliff Dry season swims, to thrive in the months-long humidity, and to put up with the ruthless 2am flight times. So in celebration of all things rogue, there are a few more iconic events coming up this Dry season to remind you of before your calendar gets full. Firstly: The Mega Annual Viking Funeral. Last year, I took my parents for a laugh, and posted a reel about it on We Are Locals – it was shared almost 1000 times – and I was surprised by the number of people who commented that they'd lived their whole lives here and never heard of it! There's literally a burning boat that gets shot with flaming arrows … how could you not want to check that out at least once! There's also delicious food and live music – this year the iconic Stereobate will be playing … and it's your one and only chance every year to see people wearing fur in Darwin! Mark the calendars for July 12, at the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association.
