Your & Owls green-lighted, Gippsland Country sells-out as festival fever heats up

Yours & Owls

Festivals are showing a strong recovery around the country as the live sector returns and more events reveal their plans.

Yours & Owls

Yours & Owls is set to stage on April 17 & 18 at Stuart Park in Wollongong after the NSW Health Department approved its COVID Safety Plan.

The proviso is that no outbreak happens in the region in the next few weeks.

The two-day event, which normally draws 10,000 each day, was shifted from October 2020 to January, and then again to April.

Promoters said: “To ensure we have every angle covered and our eggs spread across multiple baskets, we have developed plans for a number of different format options, to ensure we are in the best possible position to run the event within whatever parameters are in place come our event date.

“As we get closer to the event date and have a clearer idea of where NSW is sitting with COVID-19 cases, we will reveal the final format and site location.”

According to the Illawarra Mercury, organisers are waiting for the City of Wollongong to agree to their application to hold the event at Fairy Meadow’s Thomas Dalton Park.

Its COVID-Safe Plan allows for a total capacity of 14,000 who will be separated infour separate zones capped at 3,500 patrons per zone.

Gippsland Country Music Festival

The inaugural Gippsland Country Music Festival in regional Victoria has sold out.

Along with a strong music bill of Lee Kernaghan, as well as Brad Cox, Casey Barnes, Felicity Urquhart, Andrew Swift and The Davidson Brothers, the April 24 event also has whip-cracking demos, line-dancing classes, rides, market stalls and local food traders.

It is organised by the crew at Red Hill Entertainment, including brothers Aidan and Rhett McLaren who grew up and live in Gippsland, and also put on the popular The Hills Are Alive and NYE on the Hill festivals.

One Tropical Day

After being sidelined by COVID in 2020, Darwin’s One Tropical Day returns on April 24 at the Darwin Ski Club. It’s announced Daryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens, Rose Tattoo and Mahalia Barnes and the Soul Mates.

Angry Anderson said it would be Rose Tattoo’s first performance since COVID pulled it out of the middle of a European tour last March.

Inverted

The punk and action sports event Inverted will host 10,000 patrons at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday May 1.

Organisers said: “The event will be held with a commitment to a COVID-Safe environment, with a total capacity of 24,000 and two distinct zones to keep fans safe.”

Skegss, Spiderbait, The Chats, Trophy Eyes, WAAX, Stand Atlantic and Fangz provide the music, while FMX, BMX and skate battle head-to-head.

WAAX frontwoman Maz DeVita announced: “Inverted will be the first festival we’ve played in over a year and we’re so excited to get back in front of a crowd, especially at a massive venue like Metricon Stadium.”

April Sun

Live Nation is introducing April Sun, held April 16 to May 2 in the Melbourne bayside suburb of St. Kilda, next to the Palais Theatre which the promoter operates.

Future Classic curates the opening event with G Flip, Touch Sensitive, Sycco and Thomas Headon.  The much-anticipated Poof Doof Day Doof features Sneaky Sound System, Electric Fields and Jawbreakers.

Other acts through the series include You Am I, Cosmo’s Midnight, Hiatus Kaiyote, Magic Dirt, Dallas Crane, The Casanovas, CHILLINIT and Thick As Thieves.

Great Keppel Island Hideaway

Country music returns to Great Keppel Island, off the Queensland coast, for a second time between July 16 to 18.

First acts are Jasmine Rae, SaltbushSix, James Blundell and Cornell & Carr.

Organisers hold a talent quest, with the winner invited to play the festival over the next two days.