First acts announced for Kate Stewart benefit concert

You Am I have assembled a star-studded fundraiser for their first manager, confidante and close friend Kate Stewart.

Stewart, who was in the Big Day Out and Splendour In The Grass teams, suffered a stroke last year that affected her badly physically and financially.

The fund-raiser is on Thursday, March 14 at the Factory Theatre in Sydney.

The first list of acts include You Am I, Bernard Fanning, Paul Dempsey, Phil Jamieson, Smudge, Peter Fenton and Sally Seltmann.

More acts will be announced over the coming weeks, as will be a list of memorabilia to be auctioned.

You Am I recall how when they began, they approached Stewart for advice on getting gigs and making records “because she had a reputation for being a straight talker, no bluster, and someone who thrived on getting stuff done. She was also a great late-night drinker, raconteur, confidante.”

She suggested she managed them, and went on to become “our centre of moral authority”.

They add: “We shared floors, vans, longnecks, fights and a thousand sweaty hugs.

“She was the first person to give us a chance, and the last person out of the venue for hundreds, maybe thousands of shows.”