Tour alive and kicking off
MUSIC guru Michael Gudinski has a couple of “surprises” in store for almost 5000 people who attend his lockdownbreaking concert at Geelong’s Mount Duneed Estate on Saturday.
Tickets are still on sale for when the legendary promoter brings Missy Higgins, Tones and I, Gordi and Didirri for the first leg of the 2021 Sounds Better Together concert series.
It will be held at the same time as a Jimmy Barnes concert in the Yarra Valley, and precede daily music shows across Victoria for the next week.
The shows were only announced on Monday, hours after Victoria’s mask and social distancing rules relaxed.
At just $50 a ticket, Gudinski is billing them as a chance to breathe new life into the Aussie music industry after it ground to a halt in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He promised the short preparation time won’t compromise safety or the quality of the performances.
“Victoria's back,” he told the Geelong Addy.
“It’s an amazing line-up and there'll be a couple of surprise combinations … I’ll pull a couple of rabbits out of my hat.”
Preparations for the Mount Duneed Estate show were in full swing Thursday.
“We’ve done some amazing shows at Mount Duneed. The capacity is normally 22,000, it’s down to about 5000, and we’ve got a few tickets left,” he said.
“We’ve set it up with separate seating and put in extra bars, so we can ensure people it’s safe. Open air is much safer.”
Gudinski’s Mushroom Group has teamed with state tourism arm Visit Victoria to put on the eight-day concert series under strict safety guidelines.
“Music has been one of the worst affected industries, not just from a business point of view but from an artistic frustration point of view, because the live side of things is so important to artists; the communication and playing live,” he explained.
“Artists have just been busting to play, and that helps lots of people, whether it’s the public or the people that build the stages, the road crews, etc.
“It’s been very frustrating for people in the music industry, and arts industries all over Australia, when they see 40,000 or 50,000 people at sporting events in Sydney or Brisbane, yet we haven’t been able to do concerts anywhere for more than a couple of thousand people.”
With international acts unable to visit Australia, Gudinski’s attention is on reviving the Aussie music scene, and he has urged live music lovers to do the same.
In March, he’ll help bring one of the country’s biggest rock acts, Midnight Oil, to Mount Duneed Estate. Based on current crowd allowances, no tickets are left for that gig.
“That will be an amazing show; The Oils … it's sold out at half capacity,” Gudinski said.
“I don’t think you’ll see an international act in this country before late this year, at the earliest.”
For a chance to win one of two double passes to 2021 Sounds Better Together at Mount Duneed Estate on Saturday, see the @geelongaddy Instagram page (competition ends 11.30am Friday).