Australia Celebrates Live @Parliament House Lawns,Canberra (25/01/12)

Mon 30th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

In Canberra, the Australia Day celebrations don’t start on the 26th. Instead, celebrations are kicked off on the 25th with the newly-named Australia Celebrates Live concert. The name wasn’t the only new thing about the concert this year: a new stage set up and a killer rundown of Aussie superstars, including Sneaky Sound System, Spiderbait, The Potbelleez, Katie Noonan and the Captains, and rock legends INXS tore up the stage with their vivid sound and classic Australian hits.

A record crowd swamped the lawns of Parliament House to witness these home grown artists perform at the ninth concert. Families, teens and workers straight from the office were securing their spots early in front of the stage from 4:30pm. By 7, the Australian of the Year Awards had concluded with performances by Jack Vigden and Judith Durham. Host Paul Mercurio provided entertainment with some crowd-pleasing gimmicks, and was joined on stage by James Mathison and Myf Warhurst to begin a night of family fun, entertainment and music.

First up in the rapturous line up was ARIA award winning songstress and her band Katie Noonan and the Captains. The renowned indie folk artists eased into the live atmosphere with some hypnotic and mellow tunes from their latest album, Emperor’s Box. Katie came back later on to perform a humble version of Midnight Oil’s timeless hit Bed’s Are Burning, earning great plaudits from the crowd.

Next on stage was INXS, who lived up to their rock legend reputation, getting the crowd to their feet with One of My Kind, Pretty Vegas, and their eighties hit I Need You Tonight. New front-man and singer-songwriter Ciaran Gribbin and the band got the crowd rocking with their newly released single We Are United. Since Gribbin joined the band in 2011, INXS have continued to tour across the country, writing and recording new songs for their next album, something the Australian crowd will be eager to get their hands on after INXS’s rocking performance.

Following INXS were Sydney artists Sneaky Sound System, whose breathtaking light show helped usher the evening in as the sun fell below the lawns of Parliament House. Flaunting her inimitable fashions on stage, lead singer Connie Mitchell kept the crowd dancing with the band’s catchy chart toppers, including UFO and their latest single It’s Not My Problem.

With the crowd already on its feet and screaming for more, Aussie rockers Spiderbait lit up the stage once more with their catchy guitar riffs and solo’s, owning the stage with their head banging and floor stomping hit Black Betty, a cover version of Huddie Ledbetter’s original song.

And last but certainly not least, were dance music sensations The Potbelleez. The boys well and truly earned the attention of Australian audiences with their first single Don’t Hold Back in 2007, and have since then claimed the ARIA charts with Junkyard and Duuurdty Dreemz. With five more top twenty singles, The Potbelleez captured audiences at the concert and are sure to go on dancing for many years to come.

After another energetic performance from INXS, the concert was officially brought to a close with Australian actor Geoffrey Rush, who thanked the crowd for his new title as Australian of the Year.

The Australia Celebrates Live concert did not disappoint audiences with its all-star Aussie line up. As a precursor to the celebrations of the next day, it lived up to its reputation of being one of the best free live sources of entertainment, and has well and truly kick started the nation’s capital in 2012.