Revered musicians come together for Phil Emmanuel memorial show

Major names and wall-to-wall guitarists will be performing at a memorial concert for top guitarist Phil Emmanuel, who died on May 24 from an asthma attack.

It will be held on Tuesday, August 7 at the Tivoli in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.

His good friend, comedian Chris Franklin, will host the night.

The bill includes younger brother Tommy Emmanuel, Doug Parkinson, Graeme Connors, James Blundell, Normie Rowe, Mick Pealing (Stars), Peter Cupples (Stylus), Doc Span (USA) and Judah Kelly (The Voice).

The Fargone Beauties are reforming for this concert with their original drummer – Tommy Emmanuel.

The wall-to-wall guitarists, led by Tommy, include Rex Goh (Air Supply), Mal Eastick (Stars), Tim Gaze (Tamam Shud/Ariel), Phil Manning (Chain), Terry Murray (Fargone Beauties/MMM) and Michael “China” Walker (John Paul Young and the Allstar Band).

Joining her father’s colleagues is Phil’s daughter Jessica. The last time she performed at the Tivoli was with her father and uncle.

All proceeds from the night go to Support Act.

Concert organiser Michael “China” Walker said, “Circumstances did not permit a public memorial for Phil at the time.

“So after the dust had settled, Mandy (Emmanuel’s wife) asked me if I could help put something together that would be fitting to publicly honour him.

“Once we started making enquiries about who might want to be part of this, the floodgates opened – everyone wanted to show the world, what Phil meant to them, and to be part of the send-off from his musical family.”

The concert format will be a chronicle of his journey, with band members and colleagues joining in on the timelines.

At his funeral brother, Darcy said, “Phil didn’t chase fame – it chased him…but he managed to get away.”