Mundi Mundi Bash - Part 6

Back to the Bash…….

The whole reason we were out there was for the music. The line up was rather impressive. Let’s s start at the beginning. 

WEDNESDAY

We headed over to the concert area in plenty of time to get a seat near the front. 

As it is quite a walk from the camp sites, and you need to take everything you need, many people had little trolleys. Rather than purchase one, which would have been bulky to cart in the ute, Mick custom made one to fit our esky……of course he did. 

Even though Wednesday was for early entry, we did have some entertainment in the afternoon and evening. 

We even snagged some shade in the hot afternoon sun. 

It started with a screening of the movie “Kenny”, which is always fun to see. 

We were treated to the first of our stunning sunsets.

We were then entertained by a local band “Tha Boyz”. Apparently, they were a last minute fill in, as Shannon Noll was unable to attend due to COVID. Tha Boyz were great. They consist of mainly teachers at the local schools. What wonderful exposure for them. 

This was followed by “Furnace and the Fundamentals”. Never heard of them. Well, what an incredible show they put on.  They performed cover versions of popular songs and were so high energy. There were little videos played on the round screen behind the stage that were hilarious. As you can see, it didn’t take us long to get up and dancing.

All in all a terrific night. If this was only the warm up, the next three days were going to be something to look forward to. 

THURSDAY

The concerts for the next three days started at about 1pm, going through to about 8pm.  The sets were generally only about half and hour, with half an hour break in between, when we were entertained by “The Crack Up Sisters”.  They are so silly…….. and I didn’t get a photo of them.

So what was the line up?

First up was Steve Baldi.  I’d never heard of him, as when you get down to it, I don’t know a lot of the details of bands.  He was the former front man of “Noiseworks” and is now the lead singer of “Misex”.  The solo performance was in place of Shannon Noel.  He mainly performed David Bowie songs, with great energy.  No decent photos to share.

Next, was Ross Wilson, originally from Daddy Cool.

And he did perform “Eagle Rock”, complete with eagle graphics on the screen.  He definitely is still a great performer.

Kate Ceberano was next on stage.  She is always a joy to see perform, with her beautiful strong voice.

By now the sun was starting to set and the crowd had grown.  We had worked our way to pretty close to the stage as well, which was great.

Kate was followed by Russell Morris.  He played some of his newer works as well as his original hit “The Real Thing”.  

The final act for the evening was once again “Furnace and the Fundamentals”, who continued to keep everyone entertained and their set was nearly all different songs from the previous evening.  A highlight was when Furnace was crowd surfing with a giant blow up flamingo and doll.  Too funny.

FRIDAY

We woke up to yet another glorious sunny and warm day.

Another stellar line up for the day.

So many hats.

Wendy Matthews always puts on a good show.

Steve Baldi did another set.

Followed by Dragon.

Next was Glenn Shorrock, formerly of Little River Band.  He just sat there and sang. 

His voice is still as good as ever. It was so good to still see him performing.

I loved seeing the crowd in the setting sun - about 8,000 of them.

Ian Moss, formerly of Cold Chisel, was next on stage.  What a great performer.

It was funny seeing him perform his old songs with his original film clip playing in the background.

The final act for the evening was Bjorn Again, the Abba tribute band.

We have seen them a couple of times before at the Abba Festival at Trundle.  The female performers this time have replaced the originals.

The performances are all over by about nine o’clock, so time to have a sit in front of the fire. We had eaten a decent lunch, so just some toast was all we needed.

SATURDAY

The final day of the bash, featuring the headline acts.

The sunrise was a little different with a few clouds.  Would the weather change on us?

We had learned that we needed to get over near the entrance to the concert area quite early if we wanted to get a seat near the front.  Let’s face it, you could sit anywhere and still have a great time, but we wanted to get near the front.  Even sitting in the queue was rather social.  We were sitting near some locals, so learned a bit about the area we wouldn’t have otherwise.

Our wait was worth it.  We snagged a spot in the front row, right in front of the stage.  We stood there for eight hours - from one o’clock until the show finished at about nine o’clock. My feet were a little sore that night.

The first on stage was Caitlyn Shadbolt. We hadn’t heard of her, but then, we are living under a rock.  She was a delight and has a beautiful voice.  She also writes lovely songs.

I haven’t mentioned the backup band and singers that performed for most of the event.

James was on guitar.  We were surprised to learn that he is actually a Bathurst boy.

Robyn and the other back up singer (I didn’t get a good photo of her) were both great.

I didn’t catch the base player’s name, but he was also a great performer.

The second act for the day was Vika and Linda.  It was great to finally see this duo perform live.

The other person I have overlooked mentioning was the emcee for the concerts, Mark Gable of the Choir Boys band.  Yes, he did perform some songs as well.

Misex were next on stage.  Murray Burns is the only surviving original band member.

Steve Baldi is now the lead singer.

He really engaged with the audience.

Misex actually performed at Bathurst  High School about a month before we saw them.  I wondered at the time how they managed to secure them, but once we realised that James the guitarist was from Bathurst it made sense.

Shane Howard, formerly of Goanna band was next on stage.  We were actually at a Goanna concert when Mick proposed to me…..way back when… Even then, we didn’t go too much on ceremony.

The addition of didgeridoo to the performance was really good.  I didn’t get a photo, but from mid afternoon that day, a young aboriginal man occasionally was on stage doing some impromptu dancing.  It really added to the atmosphere.

We had heard of the next band, but knew nothing more of them - yep, we live under a rock. Chocolate Starfish.

This wasn’t what we expected.

They mainly performed covers.

What an energetic band and the lead singer Adam Thompson got up close and personal with the crowd.

After such a high energy band, the next on stage was John Williamson.  A true Australian icon, but we felt that he would have been better slotted into an earlier place on one of the previous days.  The crowd were all pumped and John’s style was a bit too laid back for the penultimate performance of the event.

The person we were all looking forward to seeing was on last - Paul Kelly.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to use, as we were near the stage and it was blocking our view, a storm was brewing to the east. As they were setting up for Paul, it started to rain.  We didn’t get very wet, as were being protected by the stage.  However, there was a frantic time as the production people tried to get equipment and instruments covered.  Fortunately, it blew over fairly quickly and the concert was able to proceed.  Those clouds seen first thing in the morning did mean something.

Finally, after that delay the man came onto the stage.

He came out on stage, just with an acoustic guitar and harmonica.  He was dressed in a grey suit.  No bells and whistles or showy outfits. His music is all that is needed.

Vika and Linda were his backup singers.

He finished his set, and as can be expected, the crowd cheered for an encore.  Eventually, he came back out on stage with no musical instruments and stood and recited the poem “Clancy of the Overflow”.  8,000 people, and you could have heard a pin drop.

A couple of more songs and it was all over.

Wow! what a fantastic day.  

As we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, it was time to find some food.  Only a couple of food vans were still open, so we found some loaded fries and ended up sitting and chatting to another couple for ages and didn’t get back to our van until quite late.

And that is the end of that part of our trip.  The following day saw us embark on the next stage of our holiday.

More soon.