Line-up

Headliner
Everything Everything Last time in Sydney: 1 year ago

Venue

Metro Theatre

624 George Street, 2000, Sydney, NSW, Australia

www.metrotheatre.com.au/events/metro

Capacity: 1,500

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Additional details

Doors open: 19:00

Concert in your area for Indie & Alt, Electronic, and Rock.

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Everything Everything biography

Everything Everything (formed in 2009) is a British genre-bending, eclectically-unpredicatble, all-encompassing R&B and indie/art rock band, hailing from Manchester, UK.

From the swooned-over contemporary R&B of Destiny’s Child and R. Kelly, to the eclectically-inclined Radiohead and the emotionally-charged Nirvana, Everything Everything’s influences span years and genres. Formed of falsetto-vocalist and keyboard player Jonathan Higgs, drummer and vocalist Michael Spearman, guitarist Alex Niven, and bass player Jeremy Pritchard, the band’s name derived as a commentary on the state of today’s media culture. After a series of performances that earned the attention of the music industry representatives, Everything Everything signed to the XL Recordings offshoot Salvia and released their debut single “Suffragette Suffragette” in December 2008. The single was produced by respected producer David Kosten and followed-up by “Photoshop Handsome”, which marked the beginning of the band’s excursions into synthesisers.

Everything Everything subsequently embarked on a year of touring before releasing the single “MY, KZ, UR BF” on the London label Young & Lost Club. Released in late 2009, the single introduced the band to a much wider audience and led to a nomination for the BBC Sound of 2010 award in December 2009. Shortly after, the group signed with with Geffen Records who issued the single “Schoolin’” in June 2010. Debuting at No. 152 the single was taken from Everything Everything’s debut album “Man Alive”. Once again produced by David Kosten, the album debuted at No. 17 on the UK Album Chart, earned strong reviews from the musical press, and was shortlisted for the 2011 Mercury Prize.

Known for their unpredictable and eclectic delivery, the band’s follow-up full-length “Arc” arrived in January 2013. Noted for its simpler expression of emotion, the album debuted at No. 5 on the UK Album Chart and spawned the singles “Cough Cough”, “Kemosabe”, “Duet”, and “Don’t Try”. “Kemosabe” was later nominated for Best Contemporary Song at the 2014 Ivor Novello Awards and won the UK Single of the Year at The Music Producers Guild Awards.

Live reviews

I don't know how Jonathan Higgs' voice holds out. Night after night, belting out that raucous falsetto with an intensity and passion you just can't imagine is sustainable. But that's Everything Everything. I've seen them in a bunch of different London venues over the past five years, as they've grown in popularity and musical expression.

Everything Everything aren't easy to categorise – most critics label them "math rock" but there's all sorts in there: lyrical silliness and satire, driving guitars, biting synths, expansive quasi-orchestral arrangements, funky r'n'b drum grooves, and That Voice.

At a live show, Jonathan's vocals can lose something of their crispness, but often the crowd is shouting and singing along too: word-for-word (tumbling out like an unstoppable torrent).

The most memorable recent moment for me was their epic performance of "Cough Cough" at the Village Underground (which is an incredible space). Jonanthan is thumping at a drum, the crowd belting out "I'm comin' alive, I'm happenin' now" accompanied by explosions of light and thunder. The hairs on my skin were standing on end, I was hoarse from shouting, and sweaty with the crush of EE fans bouncing along.

Their most recent material suits live performances pretty well, but it's still the Everything Everything classics that send the crowd wild: "Photoshop Handsome" and "MY KZ, UR BF".

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