Musicians and crowds sound off about concert’s success

THE musicians on stage and the watching crowd alike showed their appreciation for the return of outdoor live music at Saturday’s Sounds Better Together concert at Mount Duneed Estate.

The event, announced less than a week beforehand by Visit Victoria and the Mushroom Group, saw the usual maximum crowd of 20,000 capped at an all-seated 5,000 in a new COVIDSafe format.

New measures included more widely spaced chairs, entirely separated food and drink outlets for each side of the venue, and increased cleaning throughout the day.

The crowd gave a warm reception to all four artists on the bill – Missy Higgins, Tones And I, Gordi and Didirri – who likewise all showed their gratitude for being able to perform live again after a long 2020.

Warrnambool singer-songwriter Didirri opened proceedings with his band. “It’s good to be back on a stage that’s not a lockdown stage,” he said.

Gordi was next and was similarly receptive to the audience’s enthusiasm – “I love crowds that haven’t been let out in a while; best kind,” she said. Gordi switched between keys, looped beats and acoustic guitar, and brought on surprise guest Alex Lahey to duet on a song they wrote together while visiting the United States.

Tones And I injected a massive burst of energy to proceedings, dancing around the stage and getting the crowd out of their seats with a set that included covers she first performed as a busker and her more recent hits including “Dance Monkey”, “Never Seen The Rain” and “Fly Away”.

Missy Higgins closed the night and was by far the most chatty, sharing anecdotes with the crowd between songs – including that she had to find an entirely new band in Melbourne for the gig and they only had a week to learn her songs – and expressing her thanks for the massive effort at short notice that made Sounds Better Together possible.

“I literally found out about this gig about six days ago; it’s amazing,” she said.

“It’s so bloody good to be here with living, breathing human beings who are giving back … it’s like we’re in a relationship!”

Higgins also brought back Gordi to share lead vocals on the title track from 2004 album The Sound of White.

Earlier in the day, A Day on the Green promoter Michael Newton revealed that performances from Saturday would be part of a TV special featuring all of the Sounds Better Together concerts being held across Victoria, to be broadcast on Channel 9 this Saturday, January 30 at 7.30pm.