Australia Day Live 2011 @Parliament House Mall,Canberra (25/1/11)

Fri 28th Jan, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Australia Day often gets tainted by violence, drinking and unnecessary bravado. While this may be more than enough of a reason to stay indoors, it’s often best to overlook these less-than-savoury factors in hopes of making something of the day. 
The same can be said for the annual Australia Day Live concert, held on the lawns of Parliament House. Year after year I’ve avoided going, in fear of muscle-bulging men dressed as caped crusaders and teenage girls dressed in not much at all. 
 However, in the pursuit of investigative journalism, I decided to put aside my judgement and immerse myself in this rowdy patriotism and the best word to describe what followed? An experience.

To the relief of parents everywhere, the country’s favourite turtlenecked tenors The Wiggles were on hand to provide early-bird entertainment, rousing the kiddies and simultaneously placating them for the rest of the evening. 
Not that I’m an avid fan of Murray, Anthony, Jeff and Sam, but this was definitely one of the strong points of the night, purely because it made the younger generation smile and it didn’t require parents to empty their pockets to keep their kids happy.

Following a brief intermission, host Myf Warhurst took to the stage to announce the line-up and to deliver something to think about – while the party may have been happening in Canberra, there was still a state a few doors down in need of serious support. This point was reiterated by the SES volunteers collecting money throughout the night and the dramatically cut together video montage of the devastating floods.

But as always, the show must go on. On hand to ensure that it did, was Season 2 X-Factor winner Altiyan Childs, who seemed to use his four minutes of stage time to writhe and pout as much as possible, while somehow still singing.

Little Red were up next and even though they were one of the only acts I was properly excited for, it was a bit of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair. True to the formula of Australia Day Live, the boys performed their obligatory two songs, including hit Rock It, wished everyone a happy Australia Day and took off. I suppose when you’ve got Big Day Out to worry about, you can’t just hang around.

National treasure Jimmy Barnes dropped in, via satellite from his gig in Nowra and sent the 40-plus set (as well as yours truly) into a bit of a hollering-along frenzy with the infamous Working Class Man. Apparently, Jimmy Barnes is as necessary to Australia Day as a pool and a barbeque.

Fresh from the Country Music Awards, The McClymonts popped by with their hit Wrapped Up Good, every part as polished and fresh-faced as you’d expect an award winning, country-pop band to be.

Dance was also on the bill for the evening, with Justice Crew and Youtube sensations The Chooky Dancers amping up the already pretty excited crowd. 
Australian Idol’s Stan Walker trotted out his pretty standard RnB, to the delight of teenage girls everywhere and Jessica Mauboy appeared, only to perform one song, probably to the disappointment of those same teenage girls.

The night was brought to a close with Thirsty Merc playing their new single Mousetrap Heart and Mr Daddy Cool himself, Ross Wilson.
 Pretty soon after it was off to bed for all small children, tired parents and underage hoodlums.

As open-minded as I was trying to be, I didn’t really enjoy myself at the concert. It’s free and it’s nice to see national artists pitch in for what should be a family event, but the stench of pot and beer and the battle cries of ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie!’ tend to leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. 
However, maybe that’s an issue of national psyche and one best left out of a music concert.

Besides, it’s an event that keeps happening thanks to people who are passionate about getting live music out there and at the end of the day that can only be a good thing. Who said Canberra was boring?