The 2014 Sapphire Coast Rock & Rodder's Dance Festival was held on the Labour Day weekend for the fifth year running in the NSW South Coast holiday seaside town of Merimbula. It was my first time attending the festival and enjoyed it very much. The festival combined 1950's style rock & roll bands, dancing, dance classes, merchandise and display of hotrods and Kustoms classics. Just like Barham Festival, it is based exclusively at a local club which is Club Sapphire in Merimbula. There are however plans in the horizon to stage some events outdoors such as the hotrod run (like in past years) and even bands & dancing in the main street of Merimbula so as to generate more publicity and participation from the general public but I understand local council support is required for this purpose.
Three bands were on show last weekend - Shadoogie (ex Melbourne band), Fender Benders and the Midnight Drifters from Sydney. Dances were held each night with Shadoogie playing for the "Meet & Greet" dance on Friday. On Saturday, all three bands played in two different rooms with a Jam session extravaganza at the end of the night. And Sunday was staged as a dinner & dance night with Shadoogie and Fender Benders rotating on the stage and a final Jam session to finish off the festival. Whilst commonly seen at rockabilly festivals, it was quite an incredible sight for a "rock & roll" scene to see most of the rockers stopped dancing and just standing in front of the stage to watch the bands performed together. Just shows many rockers love their music and band performance as much as dancing itself.
Other attractions during the festival were dance classes for both beginners and advance dancers on Saturday afternoon, more lunch time dancing to Glen Stannie in the "Rock Pool" bar area and a display of hotrods and Kustoms classics on Sunday. There was clothing & merchandise on sale by Alleycatz's Bopjohnny as well as an informal but fun dance competition on Sunday night that all dancers are encouraged to participate in plus dance demos from the dance teachers, Jonathan & Zoe as well as Adam & Dee-Anne, who were last year's dance comp winners.
Merimbula is such a relaxing seaside town and combining it with a rock & roll festival just it made it a very worthwhile trip for all rockers. This year's festival was well supported by rockers from all over Melbourne, country Victoria, NSW and the ACT and probably a few from other states as well. Lyndon (leader of Shadoogie) & Kerry have worked very hard to stage the festival which is growing year by year and, from all the reports and feed-backs that I have heard, they have certainly done a fantastic job to keep it going and expanding the support base as the festival promoters. Credit should also be given to Club Sapphire in Merimbula in supporting the event for the last few years. I shall definitely be going again in 2015 and strongly recommend all rockers to consider planning for this trip if you have never been before.
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