The Festival launch pad

Sydney band, ‘Faker’ spent five years doing gigs, such as the Purple NYE party, before
they hit the big time this year with ‘Heart Attack’ from album Be The Twilight. The
track did the rounds on non commercial radio stations such as Triple J and Sydney’s
FBi before being picked up by the likes of Nova which has seen the band lifted into
the mainstream.

Pictured above, left, ‘Lost Valentinos’ at Splendour in the Grass 2007 is supported
by the crowd during his performance. With an interactive performance the singer,
bored of the confines of the stage decided to sit upon the shoulders of the crowd.
Not to be an absolute pain in the arse for the tech guys but it drove the crowd crazy
with a surge forward all wanting to reach out and touch band member.

Festivals such as Splendour in the Grass pictured above, are a good way for up and coming
bands to reach their target audience. The first line-up is the one with the big stars, but
it is the second line-up announcement which gives rise to the smaller bands, albeit not on the
'it' stage but nonetheless guaranteed to pull a crowd. Despite the face the rush of summer
festivals is over, line-ups for next years festivals are already being announced, hopefully
giving some local talent the ability to get their sound out there.

Sydney's Live Music Scene

The recent dramatic increase in the cost of playing music in clubs, bars and pubs,

it is predicted that such venues will look have more live music to reduce running
costs.
Sydney already has many venues which have live music nights which draw in crowds.
Whilst live music has generally been confined to Friday and Saturday nights venues
there has been a noticeable expansion in these dates with the Annandale hosting an
extensive line-up on Sunday nights for just $5, as well as other venues such as The
Metro on George street offering more well known acts throughout the week.
One would hope that this increase in the charges associated with playing recorded
music will boost local up and coming artists who struggle to gain an audience. The
Mona Vale Hotel and The Exchange Hotel are venues known to support such artists, with
bands regularly performing throughout the week, gaining support and recognition in
the music-listening community.
Indie night-out ‘Purple Sneakers’ hosted at the Abecrombie Hotel branched out for
it’s New Years Eve ‘House Party’ 2007-08 which took place at Sydney University’s
Manning bar. Live bands performing all night in conjunction with its regular D.J.s
providing a much more diverse experience for patrons from the bog standard D.J.
sets one can hear week of the year.
Australia is a country which a strong patriotic pride and by seeing local acts perform
it allows them to not only diversify music tastes but to allow people the ability to
support local talent rather than mainstream American musical influences.