England, late seventies. Punk and ska begin to overlap. Guitars cutting through basslines carried into Britain from Jamaica years earlier. Rooms filling with kids from different scenes, suddenly wearing the same t-shirts. Punk stripped it down. Ska and reggae carried the pulse. By 1978 and 1979, The Clash and The Specials moved through the same circuits, same bills, same pressure in the air.

It returns to the stage at Brunswick Ballroom, intact.

Black Market Clash play the songs of The Clash without smoothing the edges. Should I Stay Or Should I Go sits next to Straight To Hell, Safe European Home, Lost In The Supermarket and Janie Jones. There is no hierarchy and it’s not just a greatest-hits run. Victor Stranges, who came up through Melbourne’s 1980s punk scene, shares guitar and voice with Garry Allen. Stu Thomas on bass, drawing on years with Dave Graney and Kim Salmon. They approach the material with respect and reverence. Nothing out of place.

Loonee Tunes come at The Specials from inside the bloodstream. Not revival, but continuation. Formed in 1982, they are Australia’s longest-running ska band still performing regularly. Early in their career, they were channeling Dexys Midnight Runners before realising the room moved more to ska. A Message to You, Rudy, Too Much Too Young, Gangsters and Concrete Jungle. Horns tight. Rhythm locked. Movement follows naturally. The room doesn’t stay still.

One night only.

Doors open 6:30pm Show time 8:30pm

Tickets are now on sale for the debut performance of The Songwriter Series: New York Stories at George Lane St Kilda. A curated evening exploring the writers, songs and scenes that helped shape New York’s extraordinary musical history - from Tin Pan Alley and the Brill Building through to Greenwich Village, CBGB and downtown Manhattan.

Across an extended live set, Victor Stranges revisits the worlds of Doc Pomus, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Carole King, Paul Simon, Blondie, Willy DeVille, Television, Ramones and more, weaving together songs and stories from nearly a century of New York songwriting and cultural history.

The evening opens with a special solo performance by Stu Thomas, who will also join Victor later in the night for selected songs. Anthea Palmer also appears as a special guest across the evening.

An intimate live experience blending music, storytelling and reinterpretation, New York Stories celebrates the city, the writers and the songs that continue to echo far beyond New York itself.

Limited seated and standing room tickets available from $35 + B/F.

Book now: The Songwriter Series: New York Stories - Victor Stranges + special guests Stu Thomas, Anthea Palmer 7:00pm Friday 10th July, 2026 1 George Lane, St Kilda

Victor Stranges returns to the songs that shaped him with Get Stiffed - a rare, one-night-only dive into the catalogue of Stiff Little Fingers, the Irish punk band whose songs defined a generation. As a teenage drummer in Melbourne’s underground ’80s band Drunk ’n’ Disorderly, Stranges cut his teeth on this material across the pub circuit. Now, 37 years on, he brings them back reinterpreted solo, with weight and perspective. Expect material from the band’s early run through their first split in 1983, spanning Inflammable Material (1979), Nobody’s Heroes (1980), Go For It (1981) and Now Then… (1982). Tuesday 28 July, 8:00pm at The Drunken Poet - 65 Peel Street, West Melbourne - FREE ENTRY

Atomic: The Songs Of Blondie arrives at Thornbury Bowls Club on Saturday 1 August for a special extended performance celebrating the music, influence and enduring legacy of Blondie. Performing two full sets across the evening, Atomic revisits the band’s remarkable catalogue - from the raw energy of New York’s downtown club scene to the era-defining records that transformed Blondie into one of the most adventurous and influential groups of the late twentieth century.

Emerging from the CBGB circuit alongside artists such as Talking Heads and Television, Blondie fused punk urgency with pop instinct, art-school aesthetics, disco rhythms and new wave experimentation. Songs such as Heart Of Glass, Dreaming, Atomic, Call Me, One Way Or Another and Rapture remain woven into popular culture, while deeper album tracks reveal the breadth, sophistication and invention that set the band apart from their contemporaries.

Rather than presenting a straightforward greatest-hits tribute, Atomic approaches Blondie’s music with a focus on musicianship, detail and historical context, balancing the iconic singles with lesser-known material drawn from across the band’s catalogue. The result is a performance that captures both the immediacy of Blondie’s classic recordings and the restless spirit that drove them beyond the conventions of punk and pop.

Atomic is led by Anthea Palmer alongside Stu Thomas (Dave Graney & The MistLY, Kim Salmon & The Surrealists), Mike Dupp (The Methinks, The Futurists), Victor Stranges (The Methinks, The Futurists) and Garry Allen (Crossbones Boogie, Kahuna Daddies) - musicians with decades of live and recording experience, united by a deep respect for the material and the era that produced it.

Limited collector ticket bundles are available, including exclusive 180g vinyl editions of Blondie classics "Parallel Lines" and "Eat to the Beat", collected on the night of the performance.

A night for longtime devotees, record collectors, New York romantics and anyone still drawn to the collision of punk attitude, pop intelligence and rock ’n’ roll electricity that made Blondie endure.