(updated) Why does everything always have to happen in January?

Rant In Australia, bands are like buses. You wait ages then they all come along at once. Having been starved of quality international acts coming to Australia for eleven months of the year (save small pockets of activity around the V Festival and Splendour In The Grass), January is always the month where everything happens. And coming, as it does, just after Christmas, it also happens to be the time when you've got the least money to spend.

This January, thanks largely to the Sydney Festival and Big Day Out, the likes of Rage Against The Machine, Bjork, Arcade Fire, Brian Wilson, Sufjan Stevens, The National, Battles and LCD Soundsystem descended on the country. It was pretty much a who's who of the most talked about bands at the time. And next January looks like it could be even bigger.

Neil Young has been confirmed for Big Day Out, and will be headlining his own shows with My Morning Jacket in support, making MMJ a strong bet for BDO too. Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys are also amongst the myriad of bands currently rumoured to playing the travelling festival too.

And Sydney Festival seems increasingly able to coax some really big names over who wouldn't normally visit these shores. Surely Radiohead must be top of their wishlist for the '09 event.

In addtion, it's just been announced that excellent All Tomorrow's Parties festival franchise is coming to Oz in, you've guessed it, January. With three days of music and Nick Cave already announced as a headliner, it looks set to be another winner.

So bring on a month of three of your favourite bands playing different venues on the same night, and not being able to afford any of them. Joy.

Update:  But then again, at least the weather's likely to be decent in Australia in January.  efestivals are reporting that this August in the UK has been the worst on record for festival goers, will well below average levels of sunshine, and it was the 5th wettest August on record.  So I won't complain too much.