new music

Sophistication isn’t difficult to absorb when it arrives at the very un–rock and roll hour of 2pm on a Saturday. Suited up for the occasion, Tim Freedman, Jack Housden, Terepai Richmond and Matt Fell, collectively The Whitlams, joined conductor Nicholas Buc and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a rare afternoon of class and drama.

When Mondo Rock released Baby Wants To Rock in 1984, they were riding high on a string of Australian hits but still searching for a global breakthrough. The single became a staple on Australian radio, helped cement the group’s reputation as one of the most consistent hitmakers of the 80s, and decades later, found an unlikely new audience with its appearance in the 2025 film The Naked Gun.