MUNDI MUNDI BASH 2024 – Broken Hill 15/08 to 17/08/24

Written by HEAVY

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Words by Jimmy Glinster

Pix by Sarah Gilpin

Where to begin with this one… Let’s start with a 6am flight into Melbourne followed by a 9.5hr drive North halfway back home into New South Wales and then out to Broken Hill. Well, that’s 9.5 hours as per Google Maps that doesn’t include Breakfast, Lunch and “Rest Stops” or the half-hour lesson we got on how to treat our Campervan Rental. But I digress, and as the story goes, we arrive in Broken Hill at around 10:00pm Wednesday night, eager to land somewhere that we can rest our weary eyes.

After a few phone calls with our connections at the Bash we managed to get late entry into the campgrounds. Not before we get lost halfway on what’s already a 30+ minute drive and end up on a road to nowhere only to spot a stack of tyres with Google Maps is Wrong or something like that written on it. So, we turn around, find the right path and we get on our way, again. At around 11:30pm we finally make it to the grounds and the overnight security are nice enough to let us in and we set up camp for a nap after a few laps getting lost again in the massive camping area.

The sun rises on Day 1, well Day 1 for us anyway. The previous day there were a few performers on including Leroy Johnson and the Water Bag Band, Tha Boiz plus Furnace and the Fundamentals as well as some filming for ABC’s Headliner Series. You’ll have to look into that all yourself though because as the story goes, we were stuck in a campervan all day dodging kangaroos.

Anyway, back to it, and after grabbing a coffee and some breakfast we hit the ground to catch the Big Blue Day – World Record Attempt. This involved 7,243 people, all dressed in blue crowded around in the shape of Australia. And yes, they even included the map of Tassie. The actual name of the record is The Largest Human Image of a Country and the previous record was held by the festival organisers other major event the Big Red Bash. This record-breaking attempt also managed to raise over $115,000 for Beyond Blue.

Now, it;’s time to get this show on the road after a rendition of the national anthem, a Welcome to Country, an Indigenous Smoking Ceremony, some comedy by the Crackup Sisters, and some fireworks. Yeah, they threw it all at the opening and The Pierce Brothers got the festival rocking with their blend of indie-folk and blues & roots. We also got to have a chat to these guys later on, and it turns out that they are into a bit of heavy stuff but also don’t mind bashing on acoustic guitars. And I literally mean “bashing” them. Fun stuff to watch.

Due to a couple of interviews, I missed Casey Barnes and Mark Seymour (Hunters & Collectors), but by the size and the reaction of the crowd they both put on one hell of a show. The reason for missing them was some interviews with the next artist Shane Howard (Goanna) followed by an interview with The Mundi Mundi Bash organiser Greg Donovan. We tried to get some inside info on next year’s lineup but we couldn’t manage to get an exclusive, so you’ll just have to wait for the official announcement.

Shane Howard put on one hell of a show which included a group of local school children from three “nearby” schools (Mundi Mundi isn’t really nearby anything) performing two songs with him including both English and Indigenous languages. And of course, he played the Goanna classic Solid Rock. It was a killer performance by one hell of a nice dude, and you can check out our chat with him on the HEAVY Interviews page.

Speaking of nice dudes, next up was Daryl Braithwaite who we got to catch up with on Rock The Boat last year, and which happened to be one of my favourite interviews so far. And just like the show on the boat, Daryl hit us with all the hits including the number one fan favourite Horses. And low and behold, there were people dressed as horses, and people holding up horse heads on sticks … not real ones, ya sicko. Daryl was followed by Ian Moss who delivered a mix of his solo works and Cold Chisel classics that completely engaged the crowd and got them ready for the Day 1 headliner.

Headliner I said, yeah, I did. And that headliner was the one and only The Living End. Now, like our videographer Squirty, a lot of people know the name and think they only know a couple of their songs. That’s until they hear them play and realise they’ve had more top 20 radio hits than most pop bands. And they played as many as they could squeeze into the set and even tried a new one on us as well as giving us the heads up about a new album in the making. More about that in the interview though … kind of …

Day 2 kicked off with a performance by Ash Grunwald. I don’t know much about Ash Grunwald but he is definitely a name that I have heard for many, many years on the Blues & Roots scene. As it turns out, I don’t really need to know that much because for a just a man onstage by himself with a guitar, God Damn he kicks out one hell of a jam.

Next up is Richard Clapton who I only get to catch a couple of songs from including Girls On The Avenue due to having to set up to interview him shortly following his set. Another awesome person to speak with, who had some awesome stories to tell that we chatted about prior to the camera rolling, and ones that I was never allowed to mention again in the interview. So, apologies for that edit right in the middle of it. The best stuff always happens off camera.

Richard is followed by Deisel and Tim Finn (Split Enz & Crowded House). Yeah, those are some big names, this festival is full of them in case you haven’t already noticed. Again, the crossover between interviews and sets cut my viewing of the sets short with the preparation for the Deisel interview cutting into his interview time and pushing back into Tim’s set. As you can imagine though, both sets were full of massive hits, and the crowd absolutely loved it. So much so that Krispy’s interview with Deisel got pushed back half an hour so that Deisel could attend to signing some autographs. It was all good though, and it ended up in a good chat, although a slightly short one.

The next act on stage was The Rolling Stones Review featuring Tim Rogers (You Am I), Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Tex Perkins (The Cruel Sea & Beasts of Bourbon). That’s one hell of a name drop right? You just can’t help it with this bash though because it is just stacked to the hilt with the best talent Australia has on offer.

Hold ya’ horses though, full Daryl pun intended, that wasn’t even the headline act. That title goes to James Reyne (Australian Crawl) who had the biggest crowd of the event so far. So big that it was almost impossible to make my way into the photo pit without having to squeeze my way through the crowd. I managed to get there eventually though in time for him to wrap up the show, and just in time for an announcement to be made that Tim, Tex and Phil would be returning to the stage to take on Evie Parts 1,2 & 3 with each of them taking on one part respectively and Phil finishing it off with one of the most convincing and entertaining performances that I’ve ever seen from him. I actually didn’t think he had it in him, but wow!

Oh, and I should probably stop and mention the interview with Adalita and Tex that happened in the middle of that. Or should I? We still aren’t sure if that one is ever going to make the light of day, but I sure hope it does. And if ya lucky, you may even get some footage from the Interceptor incident. That’s right, the Interceptor. You know that cool looking car from the Mad Max series. More about that later though, maybe …

Well, here’s a little bit more about it. Day 3 commences with a gathering of Mad Max fans all kitted out in costume attire and surrounding the Interceptor. For those who don’t know, Mundi Mundi is situated on Hallowed ground. The very ground that provided the location for the 1981 cult movie. Unfortunately, the World Record attempt for Most People Dressed in Mad Max Costumes was not reached but I can only see this getting bigger and better as the word gets around. And we are sure as hell are gonna try and push it over here at HEAVY with all you Mad Max fans!

Following that little bit of Mad Max fun, our day gets underway with an interview with Adam Thompson (Chocolate Starfish). Having caught up with Adam on a boat in the middle of the ocean last December, Krispy and I knew that we were in for an entertaining interview, and that’s exactly what we got. Well, that’s after we managed to clear my name as the reviewer that didn’t give them a scathing review. Yeah, I’m shocked too, it was a sure bet that I was the guy and we sure were sweating it out for a while though in the anxious wait. Luckily, it all came to an end with some kind of weird relaxation circle thing that had us all holding hands and humming. You’ll have to check out the HEAVY interviews page to check out that one for a laugh.

During the interview, and surrounding fuss, Fanny Lumsden & Hayley Mary played individual sets, and from all reports from our photographer Sarah Gilpin, and my wife Tash, they both put on a cracking fun show. Hopefully I’ll get to catch them next time around if they venture out for one of the bashes. Luckily for the third female superstar of the day, Sarah McLeod, we were able to make our way to stage and watch her smash out a mix of her solo material, covers and some Superjesus hits. The very last of which was Gravity and included a special guest appearance by original Superjesus guitarst and co-songwriter Tim Henwood. This was no doubt a massive highlight for the fans, as it was for me. A post set interview with Sarah meant that I missed Vanessa Amarosi, but I did get us some exclusive details relating to some news in the Superjesus and solo camp, but you’ll have to jump over to the Interviews page to check out that one too.

From one powerhouse to another, next up onstage were Baby Animals fronted by the one and only Suze DeMarchi. The band punched a smashing set including hits Rush You & Early Warning. They may have even hinted on some new tunes on the way, but I’ll neither confirm nor deny because to be honest every other artist was talking up some new tunes, so I may be confused. One thing is for sure though, there is some new music on the way from the Mundi Mundi artist camp.

Oh, and while I remember. There were some kids at the front of the stage holding a “Can I Have Your Guitar Pick” sign, and luckily for them at the end of the set Suze spotted the sign and came and handed me some picks to hand out to them. It was a special moment that made me feel a little warm and fuzzy, and not just like the lucky guy up front with a prime viewing position.

Speaking of warm and fuzzy, Chocolate Starfish were up next, and they kicked off their set more on the rough and heavy side with a few Meatloaf classics as a follow-on from their recent Bat Out of Hell tribute run. The show doesn’t end there though, and as a follow-up and celebration of thirty years of the fish, they finish with some of their own hits including a phone lit performance at sunset of Mountain, and of course that other song that you probably think is about you. It’s not, in case you were wondering.

And here we are, the final act. And who better to take it home than Jon Stevens, former frontman of Noiseworks & INXS, and Judas the betrayer of Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar. Like The Living End were to Squirty, Jon Stevens is like that to me. I know the name, and the band names, but I was sure I’d only know a handful of songs. How foolish was I to think that because of course I knew most of them, if not all of them with a mix of hits from both bands and his solo career. That wasn’t the highlight though, the highlight was Jon calling Sarah McLeod and Vanessa Amarosi onstage after his set to perform an unrehearsed rendition of Barnsey and INXS’s Good Times. And what a performance it was with all three of them giving it their absolute all.

And that was that for us anyway as we had to get out and get some sleep before needing to get up at 3am and make our way back to Melbourne. The show did continue after we left with a performance by Bjorn Again which I’m sure everyone partied along to before getting a rest and starting the rollout of 6000 vehicles the following day. Yeah, that’s right, I said 6000. 6000 Vehicles/Campers/Caravans to transport the 17,000 people that made their way to the event over the 3 days. And in actual fact, it was technically 4 days of festival and even more days of camping as they offer early roll in and roll out packages so that you can make a solid week out of it without having to deal with the usual festival exit cattle crawl.

If you’ve made this far, then good on you, you’ve obviously got the patience to be able to make the drive out to Mundi Mundi Bash next year. I mean, the HEAVY crew did it and loved it, and we are sure that you will too.

THE PIERCE BROTHERS