Music From The Home Front draws 230,000 metro viewers, with more tributes for Michael Gudinski

The pre-ANZAC Day concert Music From The Home Front had an overnight metro audience of 230,000 viewers.

It was a relatively quiet night for TV, with the highest-rating program – Seven News – bringing in 802,000, and the best-rated non-news program, the AFL, having 408,000.

With the addition of regional viewers, Music From The Home Front had 353,329 viewers. Its peak average was 604.805, and it claimed a total reach of 1.499 million.

The 2021 version was also livestreamed on YouTube, but final figures have not been made available yet to factor those in to the final tally.

Performers such as Jimmy Barnes have suggested that Music From The Home Front should become an annual event as a tribute to Michael Gudinski.

“It was Michael’s passion, as it was his whole career, to champion Australia and Australian artists,” Barnes said.

More tributes came during the show.

The Rubens’ Sam Margin sported a white T-shirt with the message ‘MG #1’ during ‘Masterpiece’ and said: “Michael Gudinski changed the music industry forever, he made Melbourne what it is today, we miss him so much.”

Delta Goodrem performing

You Am I and Hayley Mary teamed for ‘Living In The ‘70s’, the title track of the Skyhooks album whose phenomenal sales prevented Mushroom from going belly-up.

Bliss n Eso featured the Mushroom founder in a video presentation for new single ‘Good People’, while footage of Melbourne venues included a flash of the Espy with a message out front after his death: “Thank you for the music, Michael.”

Vance Joy said from the stage: “Thanks Michael for dreaming it up, it’s so awesome to see it on this scale” before going into ‘Fire And The Flood’, one of Gudinski’s favourites.

Barnes chose new family-themed single ‘Flesh And Blood’ and ‘Flame Trees’ for that reason.

Last year’s Music From The Home Front was pulled together in nine days, with all sets done virtually.

This one was officially at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl before a COVID-capped 3,000-strong crowd, which was rain drenched but enthusiastic.

Bliss n Eso on stage

The gig also featured Lime Cordiale’s ‘Robbery’, Tash Sultana with ‘Willow Tree’ accompanied by hit writer and producer Jerome Farah, the teenage Budjerah with ‘Higher’, the five-billion streaming Dean Lewis with ‘Be Alright’ and ‘Falling Up’, and Mia Wray who put in a raspy blues performance with her band which explained why Gudinski took her under his wing.

Many performances were pre-taped to include The Kid LAROI, Crowded House and Augie March with the Australian Children’s Choir from far-flung places.

There were also one-off collaborations. Tina Arena, on top of the Crown building, shared vocals on her ‘Sorrento Moon’ with First Nations opera singer and songwriter Jess Hitchcock.

Mark Seymour and Abby Dobson tackled Hunters & Collectors’ ‘What’s A Few Men’, a war song inspired by Albert Facey’s memoir A Fortunate Life.

The format of the show was always to focus on Australian classic songs.

Opener Delta Goodrem, filmed at the Botanical Gardens, did a piano-themed ‘You’re The Voice’ with her boyfriend and guitarist Matthew Copley, strings and bagpipes.

Mahalia Barnes, Kate Ceberano and Nikka Costa blended soul-blues on ‘The Real Thing’.

Two songs about homesickness made the cut: Morgan Evans on Peter Allen’s ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ and Sam Fischer on Savage Garden’s ‘Truly Madly Deeply’

Gudinski was always a sucker for big finales, in this case it was pre-taped Ben Lee and Gordi on a reworked ‘We’re All In This Together’ with backing on the Bowl stage by the Royal Melbourne Hospital Scrub Choir.