BOYS FROM THE BUSH REUNITE IN BROADBEACH
Stars team up, fans flood in as Broadbeach challenges Tamworth and Gympie
LEE Kernaghan sent crowds wild in Broadbeach last night when he joined Groundwater star James Blundell onstage and revealed he will headline the country music festival next year.
It capped off a stellar weekend which attracted 65,000 country fans and resulted in the Broadbeach Alliance becoming the newest promoter on the Australian music scene.
LEE Kernaghan sent crowds wild in Broadbeach last night when he joined Groundwater star James Blundell onstage and revealed he will headline the country music festival next year.
A TSS old boy who counts the Coast as his home away from home, Blundell delighted a huge crowd on the festival’s Surf Parade stage last night when he led an all-star tribute to his career called 30 Years of Pride.
This year’s festival was a game changer that saw event organiser Broadbeach Alliance become the newest promoter on the Australian music scene when it formed the Groundwater Touring company to help subsidise the cost of bigger and better acts.
Broadbeach Alliance CEO Jan McCormick said the touring company promoted all shows on US festival star Granger Smith’s Australian tour – all of which sold out.
Also known by his alter ego Earl Dibbles Jr, Smith, 38, is one of the hottest talents on the US country scene.
“To afford Granger’s fee, we set up Groundwater Touring to disperse the costs,” Ms McCormick said.
“We knew he had a heck of a lot of fans, so we weren’t exposed too much.
“We went direct to IMG WME, the largest country entertainment booking agent in the world, and said ‘what have you got, this is our budget’.”
Granger’s four-stop tour with Aussie star Jasmine Rae featured sold-out shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Townsville before his rocking set in the festival’s big top tent in Kurrawa Park.
Ms McCormick said the new touring company had the potential to help Groundwater become “financially self-sustaining” and eventually overtake Tamworth and Gympie Muster as the country’s largest country music festival.
“We want to be No.1 in Australia in three years,” she said.
“After this weekend, I’d say we’re pretty close to No.2.”
Mrs McCormick said the success of Groundwater Touring could see the Alliance adopt the model for other events including its awardwinning free Blues on Broadbeach music festival.
“We’ll look at doing it for all our events and festivals now we’ve worked out we can do it,” she said.
She said any proceeds generated by tours would be poured back into the festival.
“We didn’t lose money, but we didn’t make much money,” she said.
“The potential is certainly there for the festival to become financially self-sustaining.”
Mrs McCormick said country was one of the most rapidly growing music genres in Australia.
“That was demonstrated last night with the crowd and the excitement,” she said.
“Combined with Granger’s sellout shows around Australia, it’s proved country music is alive and well and we’ve got to get out there and push it.
An estimated 65,000 people packed into Broadbeach across three days for the country shindig – the first since the event formerly known as Broadbeach Country Music Festival rebranded.
The record crowd is expected to see the festival top the $6 million last year’s event tipped into the local economy.
Last night’s tribute to Blundell was a fitting finale to the weekend.
The first young Australian country act to sign a major record label deal in Nashville, Blundell’s success in the US helped forge a path for Aussie artists including Keith Urban, Catherine Britt and Kasey Chambers.
Back on home soil, Blundell has also helped promote scores of rising talents including a young Kerngahan (a former member of Blundell’s band) and penned hits for everyone from Kernaghan to Slim Dusty and Jimmy Little.