Festivals & Venues: February 15
INAUGURAL GROVE IN THE HEART FOR EASTER …
The inaugural Grove Is In The Heart will launch on Easter Saturday (March 31) at Ocean Grove Park in the Victorian surf coast of Ocean Grove.
The music component spans rock, pop, country, alternative, psychedelic and African music, competing with the crashing surf and the parkland setting.
Acts performing include The Church, Adalita, Sand Pebbles, Freya Josephine Hollick, Machine Translations, Closet Straights, Hollie Joyce and The Senegambian Jazz Band.
…AND GOOD SATURDAY
Good Saturday is another festival making its bow over Easter, on March 31 along Railway Parade in Marrickville.
It’s a family-friendly event focused on food and beverages.
Musica performances are split into two – all-ages and over 18s – with You Am I, Something For Kate, Augie March, Jen Cloher, CW Stoneking, All Our Exes Live In Texas, Cash Savage & The Last Drinks and Andy Golledge Band all on the bill.
The promoters are behind Bad Friday regular event, who hold the Marrickville Block Party the night before at the same venue with many of the same acts but with a secret headliner.
SYDNEY CITY LIMITS ANNOUNCES SET TIMES
The inaugural Sydney City Limits (Saturday February 24, Centennial Parklands) has announced its set times.
HARBOUR STAGE
Bad//Dreems: 12—12.30
Allday: 1.10—1.50
Dune Rats: 2.40—3.40
Gang Of Youths: 4.40—5.40
Future: 6.40—7.40
Justice: 8.40—10pm
HOUSE STAGE
LDRU: 12.30—1pm
The Libertines: 1.50—2.40
Young Thug: 3.40—4.40
Vance Joy: 5.40—6.40
Beck: 7.40—8.40
PARK STAGE
Pist Idiots (triple j Unearthed): 12pm—12.30
Mallrat: 12.45—1.15
Sigrid: 1.30—2pm
Winston Surfshirt: 2.25—3.10
Thundercat: 3.35—4.20
Oh Wonder: 4.45—5.30
The Avalanches 6—7
Graces Jones: 7.30—8.30
Phoenix: 9—10
BIG TOP
Ziggy Ramo: 12—12.30
Stella Donnelly: 1—1.30
The Head And The Heart: 1.45—2.30
Car Seat Headrest 3—3.45
Alex Lahey: 4.15—5
The Staves: 6—6.30
Ocean Alley: 7—8
Tash Sultana: 8.30—9.30
SOLBAR LAUNCHES PLAYHOUSE ON SUNSHINE COAST
The Sunshine Coast gets a new performance theatre with live music venue Solbar on Ocean Street launching its band room as the pop-up 150-seat Playhouse theatre venue with new sound and lighting set-ups.
Owner Dimi Limnatitis says that it’s allowed the business to expand its audience, with stand-up comedy, jazz, drama, plays, dance eisteddfods, fashion catwalk shows, awards nights and even seminars.
Events can be held between 6 pm and 9 pm, and the pop up takes half an hour to dismantle and for the bands to begin in the usual bandroom after that.
“I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a long time,” Limnatitis says.
The Playhouse venue will be followed by a 300-seat theatre in the same precinct that the Maroochy Revitalisation Association has been quietly working on for some tme.
US NAVY TO HIT PERTH VENUES
The Australian Hotels Association WA (AHA WA) welcomed plans by the WA Government to hold discussions in Washington with the US Secretary of the Navy to attract more US Navy vessels to WA.
AHA WA CEO Bradley Woods reckons that such visits generate $8 million, with a healthy flow-on effect to live music venues and nightclubs, as well as restaurants, bars and hotels as the sailors spend their cash.
“The 50,000+ workers who rely on a healthy and viable hotel and hospitality industry depend on new opportunities being explored and secured,” Wood said.
MORE ACTS FOR INAUGURAL JUMANJI
Noque Touring added US rappers Wale, Tyga and MadeinTYO (pronounced Made In Tokyo, his debut single ‘Uber Everywhere’ went double platinum) to join headliner Lil’ Wayne for the inaugural Jumanji Festival.
It is held on March 9 at Melbourne Showgrounds and March 10 at Parramatta Park in Sydney.
Already on the bill also are Metro Boomin’, DJ Mustard and Ace Hood.
TWO MORE ADDS FOR DOWNLOAD
Live Nation, UNIFIED & Secret Sounds Present this morning announced that Perth metalcore six-piece Make Them Suffer and Melbourne’s punk metal merchants High Tension have been added to the inaugural Download Festival (March 24, Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne).
This follows after two dropped out: as previously announced here, Alpha Wolf from Melbourne are off the road after sexual assault allegations were made against a band member.
Perth’s Cursed Earth are “currently without a vocalist (Jazmine Ludes) and as such, unable to perform to the best of our ability.”
RETREAT HOTEL FOR SALE
Melbourne live music showcasing The Retreat Hotel in Abbotsford’s Nicholson Street is up for sale, and goes under the hammer on March 2. The price tag is about $2.5 million.
Co-owner Noel Fermanis says “After 15 years it was time to move on.”
He still has The Edinburgh Castle in Brunswick and The Wesley Anne in Northcote.
The heritage-protected Retreat has its original tiling, timber panelling and leadlight from 1915 – which is why the post-war TV series The Sullivans was shot there between 1976 and 1983.
BASSINTHEGRASS ON SPOTIFY
The acts on Bassinthegrass (May 19, Darwin Amphitheatre) have got their own Spotify playlist.
They are, alphabetically, Client Liaison, Confidence Man, Dean Lewis, Dune Rats, Illy, Paul Kelly, San Cisco, Spit Syndicate and Vera Blue; with NT acts and Battle of the School Bands winners yet to be announced.
The Northern Territory Government, which has funded the festival from the start, will provide patrons with free bus transport and four complimentary water vouchers to stay hydrated throughout the day.
INAUGURAL BUSH TO BAY FOR COUNTRY MUSIC FANS
Bush to Bay is the latest event for country music fans.
The Hervey Bay gathering expects to draw 3,000 to the carpark of the Bay Central Tavern on Saturday June 30, with Kasey Chambers, Shannon Noll, Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont, Caitlin Shadbolt, Mickey Pye, Missy Lancaster, The Hillbilly Goats, The Swamp Stompers, Brad Schultz and CRVKS.
NZ VENUE SIGN STOLEN
One of Auckland’s best-known venues, the King’s Arms, has had its sign stolen.
The venue goes dark in late February after the death last October of its longtime owner Maureen Gordon at 86. Her family wants it back as a keepsake in her memory.
However, those wanting to legitimately get a memento of their own, the stage will be chopped up and auctioned off for between $200 and $250 a piece.
PERTH VENUES WARN OF POP UP BARS
The West Australian has reported that Perth venue owners Jon Sainken (The Leederville, Club Bay View) and Geoff Ogden (The Windsor) have written to WA Premier Mark McGowan warning him to tighten up safety and security at the pop-up music venues emerging around the city in order to protect young patrons.
The letter stated, in part, “Bypassing the web of regulations governing public safety has consequences.
“Those in charge turning a blind eye to a lower level of safety regulation in temporary venues officially sanction a double standard.
“Duty demands that those in charge end this fiasco before it becomes a tragedy followed by an argument, official inquiry and political scandal.”
Sainken said he’d recently attended a pop-up in the Northbridge entertainment strip, which could hold up to 5,000 but lacked the required exit and fire equipment standards.