Fans flock to Mofo in North
THOUSANDS of Launceston Mofos painted the town pink yesterday as Mona Foma’s inaugural Launceston Block Party rocked the Inveresk precinct.
One of the day’s musical highlights was a performance by Milwaukee acoustic punk rockers Violent Femmes, who were joined on stage by a special guest guitarist and vocalist — Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman.
Mofo curator and Femmes bass player Brian Ritchie said Mofo’s “incursion” into the state’s North had been a success, with fans also flocking to see contemporary dance show Monumental at the Princess Theatre and Gotye’s performance at the Albert Hall over the weekend.
“To have something with the production values of
Monumental in such a beautiful theatre, you can’t top it,” Mr Ritchie said.
“Inveresk is more like our old-fashioned, rustic, makeshift ad-hockery, which is the way we like to do things. It’s not that necessity is the mother of invention — we like to do this kind of stuff!”
A number of patrons travelled from interstate for Launceston’s Mini-Mofo weekend, suggesting that there’ll be a big influx of visitors when the full festival is held in the city next summer.
“This year we’re obviously using a mixed marketing message because we have the festival in both cities, but next year when it’s just in Lonnie people have the choice — go to Lonnie or don’t go to Mofo, and we’re confident that many people will choose to come here,” Mr Ritchie said.
The Mofo circus will make its way back to Hobart for another week of music, art and activities, culminating in the three-day Weekend at Walshy’s party on-site at Mona from January 19-21 and collaborations between Violent Femmes and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on the 22nd and 23rd. “The line-up we have is really remarkable remarkable. The emphasis is on inclusion, freedom of speech, protest, people from countries that don’t necessarily have the kinds of freedoms that we have, and people from parts of the social spectrum who aren’t usually given a voice,” Mr Ritchie said. For details and bookings go to www.mofo.net.au