Live music set to return

REGIONAL artists, musicians and venues have been given a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel with the State Government’s announcement of the outdoor festival Play On Victoria.

Over 20 artists feature in the line-up, which takes place on outdoor stages in Bendigo, Castlemaine, Ballarat, Warrnambool and more on Saturday, 30 and Sunday, 31 October.

In Bendigo, Benny Walker, Dallas Frasca and Harry Hookey will take to Handle Bar on the Sunday.

“I’m rapt to be a part of helping the state and all our artists be able to kick off again and get back into doing what we love doing and what we do best,” Walker said.

“It’s been a tough 18 or so months for a lot of artists and I’m really glad to see some light at the end of the tunnel because a lot of people felt a little hopeless seeing there was no roadmap for the live music industry.

“This has come around really last minute but at the same time it’s nice to see things starting to evolve for us again.”

Walker said he hopes the event is a sign of a way forward for people in the music industry that have struggled during the pandemic.

“I have a huge number of friends that are musicians or in the industry, the venue owners, the artist management, the bookers, the publicists I’ve seen a lot of people do it tough,” he said.

“You see a lot of people you love do it tough, I’ve even seen musicians get food donations dropped off at their door because they’re really struggling week to week.”

The event forms part of the State Government’s vaccinated economy rollout, with only people fully vaccinated able to attend.