REGIONAL artists, musicians and venues have been given a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel with the State Government\u2019s announcement of the outdoor festival Play On Victoria.<\/p>\n
Over 20 artists feature in the line-up, which takes place on outdoor stages in Ballarat, Castlemaine, Bendigo, Warrnambool and more on Saturday, 30 and Sunday, 31 October.<\/p>\n
In Ballarat, local artist Skyscraper Stan will be joined by Gareth Liddiard, Allara, Jess Ribeiro and Our Carlson at Volta on the Saturday for a street party.<\/p>\n
Venue booker for Volta Lachy Anderson said he\u2019s excited to close off Field Street and create a temporary event space to celebrate live music\u2019s return to the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a pretty difficult 18 months for music venues, and hospitality venues in general and we\u2019ve been open at a very reduced capacity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen this opportunity arose to put on a show, we were so excited to be a part of the whole program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love to have live music on four nights, five nights a week. We\u2019re excited, but hopefully this is just the starting point of us being able to open up sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jess Ribeiro said the event is hopefully the start of artists being able to do what they love, perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve lost lots of income as artists over the past two years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s part of how we live and survive so it\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very lonely time. I\u2019m really excited to be able to perform outdoors and reconnect with the public because it\u2019s been a really, really long time and it\u2019s part of our livelihoods.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mental health has been affected as well as our finances, it\u2019s just as important as the Melbourne Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event forms part of the State Government\u2019s vaccinated economy rollout, with only people fully vaccinated able to attend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
REGIONAL artists, musicians and venues have been given a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel with the State Government\u2019s announcement of the outdoor festival Play On Victoria. Over 20 artists feature in the line-up, which takes place on outdoor stages in Ballarat, Castlemaine, Bendigo, Warrnambool and more on Saturday, 30 and […]<\/p>\n