Hoodoo Gurus Do BBQ

The Hot BBQ is a great event that manages to combine the best of both worlds – live band s and live DJ’s at a wonderful bayside setting. Last year the headline band was Jet who played a crowd pleasing set – this year that slot will be taken by Hoodoo Gurus, who have had a very successful 2010 and remain one of Australia’s best live bands. Other live bands on the bill that attract attention include Gypsy & The Cat and another band that played last year called We Are Fans.

This website doesn’t have a clue who most of the DJ’s are, although the names John Course and Mark James seem strangely familiar and that guy Grant Smillie gets his photo in the social pages a lot.

Regardless of our lack of knowledge of the DJ world, we can state with certainty that the Hot BBQ is an outstanding part of the summer calendar on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and is highly recommended.

The Hot BBQ 2011 Full Lineup
Saturday

22nd January 2011,

Point Nepean

Mos Def,
Roger Sanchez,
Hoodoo Gurus,
Blue Juice, Gypsy & The Cat,
Cash Money,
Hungry Kids of Hungary,
Boy & Bear,
Grafton Primary,The Jezebels,
The Holidays,
Illy
Cat Call, Owl Eyes
John Course,
Grant Smillie,
Canyons,
Zoe Badwi,
We Are Fans,
San Fran Disco,
Atlas Tone,
Wilfred Jackal,
Red Ink,
DJ Peril,
Mark James (super retro dj set),
Andy Murphy,
Tornado Walace,
Andee Frost, Nick Foley,
Jamie Reyne,
Feenix, Pawl,
Kris Baha,
Brightwhite
Edly, Rose
Jesus,
Aaron Trotman,
Nick Young,
Sean Rault,
Dwayne Thompson,
Jad Hamzi,
Ed Myer,
Chris Buchanan,
Craig Delmo,
Mark Bulger,
MGMC,
Electro Mafia

Hoodoo Gurus

Hoodoo Gurus are back with a new album Purity Of Essence and a tour that’s taking them around the country. It’s another milestone in a career that seems to be destined to outlast most of their contemporaries and quite a few of those that trod the path the Gurus made. The always happy Brad Shepard has the last laugh

HHMM : Well congratulations on Purity of Essence. How do you think it fits in the Hoodoo Gurus body of work?

BS : I really think that its up there with our best work. If you pick your favorite Hoodoo Gurus album, whatever that may be – Mars Needs Guitars, Stoneage Romeos – and this one will go toe to toe with it. We are thrilled with the results of this album.  You always try to do your best, but sometimes you just have better songs than other times I guess, which is just the way it is for art and creativity. But we realised very early on in the piece that we had set the bar fairly high with regard to the raw material. The songs that Dave showed us…it was actually magical. We started playing these songs as if we already knew them. Whatever part an individual bought to a song seemed to fit perfectly with what the other blokes were doing. We really just had one day like that and in eight hours we did eight or nine songs. That day set the bar high and once we did that – even before we started recording – we knew that we had a great responsibility to make the best of these songs at every step of the process.

HHMM : In my review of the album I suggested that it was probably more understandable that Hoodoo Gurus could make more successful “comeback” albums that a lot of the bands of their era, because even at the time they didn’t sound like a band “of the era”. Does that make sense?

BS : I know what you are saying. In the eighties we weren’t really an eighties band because in the eighties we were already revisionist! We were influenced by bands that had come before us instead of trying to be contemporary – I think that’s kind of self evident. So I understand what you are saying – its more complicated than saying “Hoodoo Gurus were an eighties band”, because even in the eighties we didn’t fit into that category at all. We’ve never really been in fashion so it hard for us to go out of fashion.

HHMM : The other thing that strikes me about Hoodoo Gurus is that you still play in a band because you are genuinely still fans of music rather than being fans of being rock stars. Is that the key to the band being able to endure?

BS : I think that is unquestionably one of the elements. I still get a huge thrill out of playing in the band and exploring new songs. I still get excited about playing Bittersweet and What’s My Scene. It really excites me. I just love being able to live in  that moment and to stand up there on stage and be overcome by what we are creating. It’s an enormous thrill for me.  You will still see me rummaging through second hand vinyl and sniffing around record stores and buying back catalogue – excavating like an archeologist. I think that plays a part. We are just not that interested in being celebrities. A lot of artists play to that. I’m sure it started out being creative but then they fall in love with being in New Weekly and that kind of thing. Its just not interesting to me and I know it holds no interest to anyone else in this band. We just love creating music and I love being in this band. Whatever crap you need to go through, it is worth it to stand on stage with those three other blokes.

HHMM : Hoodoo Gurus are often put in a bucket of bands, at least internationally, with the likes of The Plimsouls, the Flamin Groovies and The Fleshtones – an its interesting that most of those bands have had a similar longevity – they all release records and play shows and there’s still a lot of talk about them vis re-issues etc.
BS : I was actually saying to Dave the other day that the other band that I feel a kinship with is Cheap Trick. They were not an influence on us at all but I think we have evolved into something akin to what they do. There’s an enormous power in what we do live but it comes with melody. It’s not just about the power, there’s also a “tunesmithy” about what we do. I mean, obviously we love The Fleshtones but they are very obviously rooted in the 60’s in what they do. I think they are one of the most under-rated bands ever and I know they like a lot of the same stuff that we like, but I think we allow ourselves to be influenced by more different things than what they do.

HHMM : What is the perception of the band in the US and Europe now? Judging by the Facebook page there seems to be a deep seated love for the band around the world.

BS : I cant help but feel that it comes back to our love of what we do, that we are still deeply committed to what we do. When we get up on stage and play a show, we never really do a terrible show. Some are better than others but even the bad ones are pretty good! So wherever the play the world over, people are genuinely surprised at how good we are live. I suppose in the back of their minds people coming to the shows  might think “oh that band, they’ve been around for 30 years, if I hear a couple of hits I’ll be happy”. What they get is a fucking atomic raygun blowing them to oblivion!! I think they find that surprising. But we have been beating the drum and flying the flag and I think that over the past few years the word has got out that we’re not just a bunch of old codgers, but we’re actually on fire!

HHMM : For this album you have really embraced social media and the internet. Has it been a bit of an eye opener for you?

BS : It’s been a steep learning curve! I suppose it’s been a bit of an eye opener because I didn’t really want to join up on Facebook and be an administrator on a page, but I’ve been genuinely surprised. I mean, I see it night after night. We get up on stage and there are people there and they dig the band, so I know people are interested, but when they when they get to tell us what they are thinking on a web page it does bring home how well regarded the band is.

HHMM : Has it changed the dynamic with the record company at all. Now the fans speak to you directly and you speak to them directly and its not being filtered through a record company.

BS: I don’t know that we ever really got our perception of how our fans think from a record company, but what’s interesting is that the record company are using that feedback as a tool themselves. It’s valuable information.

HHMM : On a completely different subject, what was your reaction to the death of Alex Chilton?

BS : I’m starting the get used to it Andrew.  Mick Cocks shuffling off, that took me by surprise because he was only a couple of years older than me. Thorpey, Ian Rilen, Pete Wells – I’m starting to get used to it which is really sad. The years that those chaps were born in is getting closer and closer to the year I was born in! It’s quite sobering. I was really saddened by Alex Chilton’s death and funnily enough it actually put me on a Replacements bent for about a week. I did play Big Star the night I found out while we were having dinner but really I was listening to The Replacements a lot. Make of that what you will. The Pleased To Meet Me album got played a lot.

HHMM : That scene that spawned The Hitmen and Died Pretty and Beasts of Bourbon – which was your original scene – a lot of members of those bands are still active in different capacities today. What was it about that group of people?

BS : I’m not entirely sure. That scene in Sydney in the early eighties was particularly creative and probably the equal of New York in 1975 or London in 1976. The Scientists and Radio Birdman a couple of years earlier initiated a lot of that stuff. Maybe it was just sheer dumb luck. There was a convergence of people from around the country, there was a lot of people from Perth and Brisbane and Adelaide. Melbourne had their own thing going on. Maybe we all grew up in the seventies when there wasn’t an internet, there wasn’t a mobile phone and so you had to make your own fun. That’s what was happening. Music was what was happening to us when we were  teenagers and all those people in Sydney in the eighties had grown up like that in the seventies and it really moulds your personalities.  It made us the people we are.

MAY
Sat 1 May – Yamba Bowling Club
Support : The Break

Fri 7 May – Governor Hindmarsh (Adelaide)
Support: The Break

Sat 8 May – Hi Fi Bar (Melbourne)
Supports : The Break and Gun Street Girls

Fri 14 May – Level One Newcastle Leagues
Supports: The Fumes

Sat 15 May – Waves Wollongong
Support: The Fumes

Thu 20 May – Oxford Art Factory(Sydney)
Fri 21 May – Oxford Art Factory (Sydney)
Supports: The Fumes

My First Interview Ends In…..

My first ever interview ended up with me sharing the stage with one of rock’s most iconic characters.

Well, kind of sharing the stage.

My first ever interview wasn’t even with a musician.

When The Cure (not the band, but a cool name for a student political ticket) swept to power in the Monash University student elections I found myself part of a loose alliance of interests left running the student newspaper, Lots Wife. I hadn’t really planned on this I thus I had no real idea what my role would be.

I was obviously interested in music and I tended to spend more time in the record shop than the lecture theatre but the idea of writing about music hadn’t really occurred to me. Somehow I stumbled upon an idea of writing a series of articles about jobs that existed in the music industry when you weren’t a musician.

In retrospect that idea probably had a bit to do with the fact that my only attempt at playing music (lessons on an electronic organ) had ended in absolute failure. I was hopeless.

I thought an interesting place to start with my series (brilliantly entitled And The Beat Goes On) was to interview a music journalist. Call it student irony, if you will.

The unfortunate soul that I thrust myself upon was a Sydney music journalist named Stuart Coupe. I was a regular reader of Stuart’s articles and I was most impressed by the fact that he had been flown to America to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. That seemed like my kinda job. This Stuart Coupe guy must have some serious clout.

I got in touch with Stuart and he agreed to be interviewed – he must have been struck by the turning of the tables that that represented! Either that or I was the first person that had ever asked.

Stuart was going to be in Melbourne that week as a band he managed had scored the support spot on an international tour. The band he managed was Hoodoo Gurus. We arranged that I would come to the venue where the concert was (the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre – better known as the old Olympic Pool). I would find Stuart and once his band had finished soundcheck we would find a quite spot and he would subject himself to my incisive questioning about his career choice.

Sound easy enough.

It started to go wrong when I arrived at the venue (with my little red tape recorder and my detailed list of questions) only to find the doors shut. Fortunately I was a regular in them parts with big connections. My Mum worked part time in the offices of Victorian Athletics which was located in the grandstand of Olympic Park which backed on to the old swimming pool.

Thus I entered the precinct via the athletics track. I was inside the fenced off area but I still wasn’t inside the actual building. There were a lot of doors but none that were open. I tried all of them, until at last I hit paydirt.

I opened the only unlocked door and behind it was….a corridor. What followed was a one man (well… boy) re-enactment of the Cleveland scene from Spinal Tap. I followed any number of dark corridors, long passages, open doors and curtained off areas but I didn’t really seem to be getting anywhere.

I could hear music though, familiar music and it wasn’t Hoodoo Gurus. This actually made me more nervous because I thought I was running late and had probably missed Hoodoo Gurus and thus Stuart. I wasn’t aware of the fact that the support act actually didn’t start soundcheck until after the headliner had finished. Who knew?

Surely I’d find someone soon that I could ask about the whereabouts of the manager of the support band.

Finally I climbed some stairs, opened a door and pushed aside another black curtain.

I found myself about five metres away looking at a man with a guitar strumming the chords to a song I knew very well.

Lou Reed was looking back at me.

I was on stage. Lou Reed was playing Sweet Jayne and he was looking straight at me.

He wasn’t smiling.

Also not smiling was a very large, very black and very intimidating man. He was not smiling and he was approaching me.

“You are not supposed to be here”, he said in a voice that would have struck fear into a much larger and braver man than I.

He was also correct.

As he gently (well as gently as a man with the size and demeanour of a grizzly bear) escorted me back from whence I came I tried to explain that my mission was neither to assassinate the singer nor record his soundcheck on my little red tape player. Fortunately he believed me.

Even more fortunately he believed my story about being a writer from a student newspaper being at the venue to interview the manager of the support band about his other career as a music journalist.

Either he believed me or took pity on me.

He directed me to the foyer, told me to stay put and told me he would find Stuart and direct him my way. I agreed. A gonzo journalist I was not.

Of course the story ends with Stuart appearing, me conducting a genuinely interesting interview and ending up doing probably a thousand more interviews over the course of the next couple of decades.

Stuart remains a good friend and colleague until today. He still writes, manages and has a very cool record label called Laughing Outlaw. I don’t think I’ve ever actually told him this story.

Hoodoo Gurus went on to be one of Australia’s greatest rock bands and they continue to release great new albums as recently as last month. I’ll probably see them again in concert next week.

Of course Lou Reed is still Lou Reed.

And I was on stage with him.

Purity Of Essence – Hoodoo Gurus (Sony)

Hoodoo Gurus probably had more chance of making a sustained “comeback” than any band of their era, simply because they were never a band “of their era”. Even when they were dominating 80’s and 90’s rock radio in Australia they were always flavoured with the essence of retro and thus when they release an album in 2010 they don’t need to worry about sounding dated.

They do sound dated but they always did and it was never something to worry about.

Given that the Gurus decorate the album art for this new release with images including panel vans, Paul Hogan (as “Hoges”), greyhounds, tractors and early versions of exercise bikes,  they  clearly aren’t too perturbed about relying on the retro vibe yet again.

Really its just comes down to the songs and Dave Faulkner has come up with plenty enough good ones here to amply justify the exercise. Crackin’ Up has already found favour on the radio and it’s a good rock n’ roll song but its probably eclipsed by the rollicking What’s In It For Me as the albums primo rocker. A Few Home Truths isn’t far behind.

The album is produced by Charles Fisher and the band and together they do a good job of avoiding fixing what’s not broken.  There’s flourishes of horns on a couple of tracks and some nice female backing vocals on a couple of others but really its about guitars bass and drums. One of the songs with the brass and the bv’s is Only In America which takes a very cool groove and kind of lets it down with a fairly predictable rant.

The requisite drinking song Somebody Take Me Home Tonight is also fairly predictable but its “good predictable”, in that it captures the familiarity of the local with good cheer and resignation.

One of the more unusual songs is I Hope You’re Happy which actually recalls a 70’s Greg Macainsh/Skyhooks song with Faulkner lamenting friends who try to re-invent their stalled lives via new religions, cosmetic surgery or transcendental meditation. It’s funny and angry at the same time.

There’s no doubting the value for money here – 16 new songs and a live DVD for under twenty bucks. There’s a few songs on here that would sneak on to a Hoodoo Gurus ‘best of’ and very few that don’t serve any useful purpose. With a strike rate along those lines there’s no reason why they shouldn’t keep releasing albums on a regular basis.

Hoodoo Gurus Do A Day On The Green

Hoodoo Gurus seem to be popping up all over the place in the coming months but just about the best place to see them will be at A Day On The Green concert.

The Gurus will be headlining a really interesting bill of Australian artists at the Seppelt Great Western Winery, not far from Ararat in Victoria on Saturday February 13.

Evermore will join the Gurus with The Whitlams’ lead singer Tim Freedman, and indigenous singer/songwriter Dan Sultan to open the show.

Hoodoo Gurus have been  pumping out their high octane brand of garage pop/rock for more than twenty years, with hits like What’s My Scene, Bittersweet, Come Any Time, One Thousand Miles Away, My Girl and Like Wow – Wipeout.

The band were a popular inductee into the ARIA hall of fame in 2007 and in their testimonial were described as “one of the most inventive, lyrically smart and exciting rock ‘n’ roll bands Australia has ever produced…”

The band recently signed a major deal with Sony Music which will see them release their first studio album since 2004 early 2010.

Kiwi brothers Jon, Peter and Dan Hume – better known as Evermore – have sold in excess of 250,000 albums, been nominated for six ARIA Awards and have topped charts with each of their three albums. Following 2004’s debut Dreams and 2006’s Real Life, they unleashed the epic new tunes on Truth Of The World: Welcome To The Show in March and shortly after won the highly sort-after support act slot on Pink’s massive Australian tour.

When he is not out front of the multi award-winning Whitlams, Tim Freedman is very often performing solo accompanied by piano. Tim’s songs like No Aphrodisiac, Fall For You and Blow Up The Pokies resonate beautifully in solo mode.

Dan Sultan is an interesting addition to the bill. His sound can best be described as roots music, equal parts blues, soul and country, and in the past two years he’s performed at nearly every major festival in Australia. His debut album 2006’s Homemade Biscuits displayed his ability to tell evocative stories through his songs and the follow-up album is due in November.

Playing times are:
4.15pm Dan Sultan
5.30pm Tim Freedman
6.45pm Evermore
8.00pm Hoodoo Gurus

TICKETS ON SALE FROM MONDAY OCTOBER 19

The Stems Farewell Again

Australian band The Stems have been a critics and fan favorite for many years, even in times when they were not playing as a band. In a way they were one of those bands whose legacy seemed to grow in importance in their absence.

The band split in 1987 and they say there was always a sense of unfinished business about the band. Now though after reforming and touring they are able to describe their mood as having a “warm sense of completion.”

The original Stems line-up of Dom Mariani, Richard Lane, Julian Matthews and Dave Shaw will perform around the country for a final time in October 2009.

Their website gives a sense of their history to this point and much of the following is lifted shamelessly from there!

In the four years between 1983-1987 The Stems epitomized 80’s indie rock, giving it a wider currency. They are one of only a handful of bands (among them the Hoodoo Gurus and The Sunnyboys) that cracked the mainstream charts with an indie approach in the 80’s.

Initially The Stems released a series of independent records on Sydney’s Citadel Records with each release reaching #1 on the Australian alternative charts. But it was their debut album, released on Mushroom Records,  At First Sight Violets Are Blue in 1987 that received national and international critical acclaim and would be one of the best selling Australian albums of that year despite an almost total lack of commercial airplay in the corporate FM dominated 80’s.

Rolling Stone named their album “At First Sight” one the top 100 releases of all time. It eventually went Gold  and continues to sell strongly today.

Appearances on Countdown, magazine covers, sold out shows – the world seemed at The Stems feet – however due to the pressures of non-stop touring and the usual “personality differences” the Stems mysteriously imploded on the eve of a massive European tour in late 1987…

Rising from the ashes of their 1980’s breakup The Stems reformed in 1997 to perform a reunion show in their beloved hometown of Perth to an enthusiastic response. This event would see them return to the live scene in 2003. It is fair to say they were all surprised – even amazed – how popular they still were. They toured Australia, Europe and the USA including an incredible one off show at the invitation of Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist (and Sopranos TV star) Stevie Van Zandt, who lists himself as one of the Stems biggest fans, where they shared the stage with Iggy Pop, Bo Diddley, Big Star, Nancy Sinatra…, and 60’s underground bands The Chocolate Watchband, The Pretty Things, Creation and the Electric Prunes that were an influence on their sound in the early days.

Things seemed to gain momentum. At the urging of Little Steven and a host of others the band made plans to record an album of new material ultimately titled Heads Up – released on Shock Records in late 2007. Recorded in Perth on all analogue equipment and mixed in Cincinnati by producer John Curley (White Stripes, Afghan Wigs, Greenhornes and Ronnie Spector) the album was released to rave reviews and sells solidly around the world.

The promotion of Heads Up began in earnest around Australia in late 2007 with a sold out “CLASH OF THE TITANS” tour with Radio Birdman and the Hoodoo Gurus. Two successful tours of Australia soon followed.

Since then they have played their brand of R & B based 60’s garage rock in around the world touring overseas extensively. Highlights include sold out shows in Spain, Italy, The UK, The USA, Norway and a two amazing sold out tours of Japan where it seems fans have only recently discovered them. In 2008 the Stems also played at Austin Texas’s SXSW Festival to much acclaim.

A local review by an Austin writer during the SSW festival proclaimed “Seeing them at South By Southwest this year was a life changing event. For many of you who were lucky enough to see them or at least, heard them for the first time this year, you might feel the same”.

But now the ride is over and the band members will return to their lives. Perhaps they will reform again in another twenty years.

WA
Fri 2nd Devilles Pad • Perth

Sat 3rd Mojos Bar • North Fremantle

Sun 4th Mojos Bar • North Fremantle
1pm matinee & 6pm night shows

VIC
Thu 8th Barwon Heads Hotel • Barwon Heads

Fri 9th Corner Hotel • Richmond
special guests Huxton Creepers

NSW
Sat 10th Cooks River Motorboat Club • Tempe

QLD
Sun 11th The Step Inn • Fortitude Valley

Sound Relief – Benefit Concerts Announced

Australia’s music community have banded together for two stadium benefit concerts scheduled to run simultaneously in both Melbourne and Sydney on Saturday March 14, 2009 under the unified banner of SOUND RELIEF.

There are some remarkable performances announced. Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors and Midnight Oil are reforming for the Melbourne show while Icehouse are reforming to play in Sydney. Jet and Wolfmother are playing both shows, crossing paths in mid-air as they fly between cities. Jack Johnson is flying in to play.

The concert is also remarkable in that it sees the reunion of Michael Chugg and Michael Gudinski.

Michael Gudinski, Managing Director of The Frontier Touring Company said;
“The Sound Relief concerts are for the survivors of the bushfires. The sad reality is that rebuilding their lives and communities will be a lengthy and costly process. It has been phenomenal seeing everyone pull together in this horrific time. Without doubt these concerts will be once in a lifetime events that will live on in the memories of everyone who attends.”

Michael Chugg, Managing Director of Chugg Entertainment said;
“Around the world, some of the words that are used to describe Australians include “big hearted”, “generous”, “battlers and “troopers”. These concerts will honour all of those characteristics of the Australian people, both those who have suffered so much through this terrible tragedy, but also saluting the heroes who fought against the fires, and the courageous people whose fight is just beginning. With the help of the Australian Music Community, these concerts hope to bring people together, not just on the hallowed turf of the MCG and SCG, but around the country as we share the joy of live music. We will remember those who have lost so much, and celebrate the heroes of this devastating story.”

Both concerts will be held in their city’s most iconic venue; in Melbourne at the MCG and in Sydney at the SCG.

Some of Australia’s most legendary artists will be joined by leading International and Domestic chart-toppers. In city by city alphabetical order the line-ups are:
MELBOURNE
Augie March
Bliss N Eso with Paris Wells
Gabriella Cilmi
Hunters & Collectors
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson with Troy Cassar-Daley
Jack Johnson
Jet
Kings of Leon
Liam Finn
Midnight Oil
Paul Kelly
Split Enz
Wolfmother

SYDNEY
Coldplay (ACOUSTIC)
Eskimo Joe
Hoodoo Gurus
Icehouse
Jet
Josh Pyke
Little Birdy
The Presets
Wolfmother
You Am I
+ more acts to be announced

The concerts will be a celebration of multiple music genres, with artists playing short sets packed with hits. Concert goers are encouraged to attend the concerts from start to finish as major artists will be spread across the bill right from the very start of the day.

Coldplay and Kings Of Leon, who both have sold out concerts on March 14 in Sydney and Melbourne respectively, have kindly donated time from their busy schedules to perform 3-4 songs in the early afternoon.

Tickets will be sold for $75 and will go on sale from Ticketek 132 849 www.ticketek.com.au on Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 9am. GA Standing on the field and reserved seating in the stands will be available for both concerts.

100% of the profits from the Melbourne concert will be donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

For the Sydney concert 50% of the profits will be donated to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal and 50% will be donated to The Premier’s Disaster Relief Fund Appeal in QLD to aid the victims of the Queensland floods.

Particular thanks is extended to the Victorian Premier’s Department, Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria for their magnanimous decision to move the Sheffield Shield final out of the MCG, in turn freeing this iconic venue to be used for the Melbourne Sound Relief concert on March 14.

Tickets to Sound Relief go on sale from Ticketek 132 849 or www.ticketek.com.au on

STOP PRESS : Midnight Oil will do two warm up shows in Canberra on March 13 and 14 at the Royal Theatre. Someone was cheeky enough to suggest that this will be the most useful thing that Peter Garrett has done in the nations capital in several years.

Review – A Day On The Green – Oz Rock Legends

A Day On The Green has had a couple of weather issues in Victoria this year with John Mellencamp’s Rochford concert already having been abandoned before it started. Dark clouds greeted fans rolling up for last weekends Oz Rock legends concert and Hey Hey My My’s Andrew Rutter was amongst them.

The 20th A Day on the Green concert was kicked off in fine style by Melbourne three-piece Even who rolled out material from the past 14 years with an emphasis on tracks from their recent release including  I Am the One, I Walk On and the brilliant Keep On Burning. Alongside  The Panics’ Cruel Guards and Nick Caves’ Dig Lazarus Dig, Even’s album would be in my top three Aussie releases over the past year.

Next up was the familiar figure of Richard Clapton. With VB in hand, Clapton serenaded the crowd with his timeless slices of Australiana such as Deep Water and Glory Road before Distant Thunder appropriately ushered in a torrential downpour transforming Rochford Winery into a scene reminiscent of Woodstock.  Clapton, who may well have personal flashbacks to the aforementioned Woodstock, was undeterred and finished with an incendiary version of  I Am An Island.

After a DJ set of well selected ‘rain’ songs Mark Seymour backed by an awesome band played a blistering set, opening with the excellent title track off the album Westgate, Other offerings from that album included  Jerusalem and Love is a Heavy Load but the best crowd response was reserved for classics such as Throw Your Arms Around Me, Say Goodbye and When the River Runs Dry. Seymour finished with the song that has paid the rent for the past 16 years via its adoption as an unofficial sports anthem Holy Grail.

After a another stormy interlude and a delay caused (mysteriously) by “ Doc coming straight from hospital!!”, The Angels hit the stage around dusk opening very appropriately with After the Rain and proceeded to wind back the clock with the legendary Take a Long Line and Marseilles. Shadow Boxer had the crowd punching the air in delight, while Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again drew the predictable but no less entertaining response from the crowd. After enduring some less memorable tracks such as We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place and Dogs Are Talking the set stampeded to a conclusion with No Secrets and the cracking Comin Down.

Topping off the day in fine style, the Hoodoo Gurus rolled out the songs that have made them one of Australia’s great party bands. Most memorable were I Was A Kamikaze Pilot, Bittersweet, Like Wow-Wipeout, My Girl, What’s My Scene, Come Anytime, The Right Time, I Want You Back and 1000 Miles Away. That list says it all really – after all that you realize they do have an impressive discography of undeniably fun-time songs.

Damp, pissed and hoarse from sing-a-longs we tramped to the mini-van for post-match reviews. All were in favour that Even were great, Clapton was ok, Seymour was fabulous, the Guru’s great fun but the Best On Ground belonged to Doc Neeson and his Angels.