Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Pix by Sarah Gilpin Photography
Mundi Mundi Bash attendees awoke to a crisp but clear blue sunny sky on Thursday, the second official day of this fantastic outback festival. Those who were keen stretched out to start the day at the sunrise yoga ritual. Other people rushed to get ready for a full day of music – with a country tinge – as eight bands were ready to do their thing.
The world record for the Beyond Blue Shape of the Country was broken. The Bashers were told, as Mi-Sex’s Blue Day played in the background, that they had raised over $250,000 for the charity. There was a Welcome To Country performed with a smoking ceremony and choir and dancing. And, with that, the Mundi Mundi Bash had officially started. Mick Thomas with Squeezebox Wally on piano accordion, Brooke Taylor on guitar and vocals, were joined with the house band guitarist Jak Housden, keyboardist Colin Coorie, bass player Dario Bortolin, and Gordon Rytmeister. There were two great backing singers in Robyn Lau and Miranda Carey.
Mick Thomas (Weddings, Parties and Anything) shouted: “Let’s get this party started” as he commenced his set with Father’s Day, then Monday’s Experts followed. Thomas’ voice was in fine form as he performed Our Sunshine and then the fabulous ballad Rain In My Heart. The whole ensemble were in fine form and didn’t disappoint. The performance of Hobart in the Australiana-style roots rock style was an absolute classic. Then the song Away, Away ended the set, and they were gone.
Local children’s choir Subtext came out onto the stage and joined in the cover of the Screaming Jets song Helping Hand with Mick Thomas. It was a wonderful song to hear live. The choir stayed on stage and were joined by Caitlyn Shadbolt to perform The Voice in the local indigenous language while Thomas and his crew slipped quietly off-stage.
Gympie’s Caitlyn Shadbolt and her lovely pink guitar stayed onstage and delivered a fresh set of her country-pop songs to the crowd. She played Edge Of The Earth, the terrific song Dumb Decisions, and for the first time played live her new song Wildflower. She then covered Miranda Lambert’s Little Red Wagon, which was a lot of fun and showed her great rock voice off.
Shadbolt closed out her set with the fantastic song My Breakup Anthem, which was a time of her life “that sucked” but as she said to her ex: “well mate – I am getting royalties off him now” and someone in the crowd said, “if he gave you up, he was stupid!” It was a fun, tight set.
The next musician to take to the stage was Shannon Noll. He has never been a musician who has impacted on me, but the rest of the large crowd were loving his live performance. He commenced his set with a mid-tempo country rock song in Learning To Fly. He performed a few country rock ballads like Do You Ever Get Lonely before he ran off the stage and climbed the big truck to deliver the song Let’s Try before returning to the stage to sing Lift. To Noll’s credit, he stuck with a set list of what he knows and showed off his fine skills as a performer. He closed out his set with the Moving Pictures cover that had made him famous: What About Me. It was the prefect Mundi Mundi sing-along moment.
Within 15 minutes, Ross Wilson, the Australian music legend, was on stage with the house band behind him, delivering his Era’s Tour in songs from his days in Daddy Cool, Mondo Rock and his solo career. His voice was still in great shape as he delivered Daddy’s Back to start the set. Then, the 1971 classic I’m Just Crazy About You, Babe was delivered in another sing-along moment.
Then, it was the 1980s with Wilson performing the Mondo Rock classics that dominated the Australian radio airwaves: the fabulous State of The Heart, Come Said The Boy, the amazing Chemistry, Summer of ’81 and of course the best Mondo Rock song, Cool World.
Without pause, the house band and Wilson kicked into gear and the seminal hit Eagle Rock was played to an ecstatic Mundi Mundi crowd. The chemistry of this set was a surprise and showed rock and pop sensibilities that Ross Wilson created from his love of 12-bar boogie blues and sweet guitar riffs.
Next, David Campbell, who plays in Daryl Braithwaite’s band, delivered a very short solo set of two songs from the huge caterpillar truck. The standout song was the country-rocker Silver City Highway.
Thirsty Merc hit the stage and brought the screaming guitars and good time vibes that they have done now for 23 years. The band – Rai Thistlethwayte, Phil Stack and Matt Smith, with help from house drummer Gordon – went straight into My Completeness, which drifted into The Good Life and The Hard Way. The crowd was treated to a short but sharp set from Thirsty Merc, who are at the very top of their game. They showed off their full range of skills with incredible jazz solos, great instrumentals and superb pop craftsmanship.
Rai Thistlethwayte is a great live performer, and he showed off these skills throughout the set, taking the crowd through the song Someday, Someday, which the crowd sang along to right to the last note. The fabulous Mousetrap Heart which was Angie’s favourite, and the biographical Tommy and Krista saw Caitlyn Shadbolt and Miranda Carey join the band on stage to perform the song.
Thristy Merc moved into a stirring delivery of In The Summertime that had the crowd singing along. The band closed out their set with the moving 20 Good Reasons where Thistlethwayte moved to keyboard before talking to the crowd: “We are going to play an old song, but it is the sing-along version, so hope you join in”, which, of course, they did.
It was a quick change of instruments, as Rose Tattoo were up to the Mundi Mundi Bash stage. The band put on a very loud and professional performance as they opened their set with Scarred For Life. Frontman Angry Anderson was in a restrained mood as the band dictated the flow of the set. He was very upbeat. The band’s guitarists Mick Arnold and Ronnie Simmons were fantastic, and the rhythm section of Steve King and Paul DeMarco put in the structure that underpinned the swing behind these bar-boogie rock songs that were delivered in full force, especially Rock ‘N’ Roll Is King.
Rose Tattoo played all their hits like Rock N Roll Outlaw and Bad Boy For Love, but it was great to hear their most recent single, which is a cover of Stevie Wright’s Hard Road. Simmons’ guitar prowess was just next level. His guitar playing skills are the modern oxygen in Rose Tattoo’s signature sound. The Tatts delivered their Australian pub rock classics We Can’t Be Beaten and Nice Boys that had the crowd singing along, and it was an impressive ending to their set. The old school rockers deliver rock: hard, loud and fun!
By now the evening had set in, and the chill was descending in as Kasey Chambers and her band: Bill Chambers, Jeff McCormack, Dingo Brandon Dobbs and Sid Green delivered country songs and vibe to the Mundi Mundi Bash. Her raw vocals and powerful and passionate lyrics flowed across the venue. Her songs have always been so relatable; it’s her manner of what you see is what you get, with her down-to-earth humbleness and kindness that is shared with every person and crowd she interacts with.
She commenced her set with Ain’t No Little Girl and followed it with Backbone (The Desert Child) and This Flower. The slide guitars and banjos were getting a workout as she delivered Pony, A Little Bit Lonesome, Runaway Train and a stunning solo take on Not Pretty Enough, which had the 15,000 strong crowd singing along. It was a beautiful moment!
Chambers then provided another standout moment with The Captain before she delivered the fun and engaging, We’re All Gonna Die Someday. But the set highlight was the intense and powerful delivery of Eminem’s song Lose Yourself. Chambers has managed to breathe new life into this song, and she delivered it with passion and energy. She shared stories of her life and her songs, and the crowd delighted in her humour. Throughout the set, Chambers went back and forth through her albums, and it was wonderful to hear and experience her genuine narrative songs.
Next up was The Angels, and to this day, John and Rick Brewster are the heart and soul of the band. Their raw and electrifying guitar work helped define the band’s powerful sound. John Brewster’s ferocious lead guitar riffs, paired with Rick Brewster’s solid rhythm, create an intense dynamic that has made them two of the best musicians in Australia. It is their guitar work and musicianship that has kept The Angels’ spirit alive. They have written some of the most iconic songs in Australian rock history like Marseilles and Shadow Boxer and show no signs of throwing in the towel just yet, revitalised by the presence of Sam Brewster (bass), Tom Brewster (drums), and frontman Nick Norton (vocals/guitar).
They kicked off their set with No Exit and followed it with their classic song After the Rain then delivered No Secrets, Fashion And Fame and Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again with its famous chant of “No way, Get f@%$d, F@k off!” sung loudly and passionately by 15,000 people as Norton directed the crowd from the top of the Caterpillar truck. Everyone was reminded in this moment why The Angels have endured for five decades as one of Australia’s best live rock bands.
They continued to deliver all the classics like We Gotta Get Out of This Place and by then, the whole place was going off. At that point came what felt like a high point of the night’s rocking energy with Down On Me, Face The Day and their new song 99. Each song bled into the next with little break, maintaining a high-octane energy that peaked with the best songs of the night such as Roll On, Take A Long Line and the wonderful Marseille, which was performed with Rick Brewster’s classic guitar solo embedded throughout.
The Angels delivered an unexpected encore in Straitjacket which was great to hear as it is often not played live. The legendary rock outfit still have that passion with their unmistakable raw and urgent tone. Their songs resonate immediately with fans in a live setting, as their sound is brooding and punchy, giving the Brewster brothers plenty of room to stretch out their signature guitar and harmonica sounds.
And then it was time to retreat to your campgrounds or retire to your caravan as the music faded into the beautiful silence that surrounds the Mundi Mundi Bash – at any time of year other than this…
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