It seems like rockers from the southern states just couldn't get enough of Coolangatta's mainly sunny & dry weekend weather for Cooly Rocks On 2018. Not quite beautiful one day and perfect the next, but it was close enough. How could anyone complain when the Cooly rock n roll festival is mainly free entry to all music & dance events with the exception of a couple of gigs at the upstairs room in Twin Towns, South Tweeds Sports Club or at Seagulls. And what a bonus too this year when you can combine Cooly Rocks On with Wintersun 2 which started a weekend earlier at Murwillumbah, and later, on the same weekend as Cooly Rocks On with live bands staged at Seagulls.

The 1950's style festival at Cooly had fewer interstate bands this year but on the positive side, it gave interstate visitors an opportunity to sample lots more local Brisbane bands such as Twang, Lock N Load, the Argonauts, the Walters, Little Stevie and the Tailfins, Cherry Divine & Linelockers just to name a few of those bands. Lance Lipinski from Texas, USA was the headline musical act with his trademark showmanship and his extravaganza performance on stage. It was obvious everyone loved & enjoyed Lipinski's performance on stage. Personally, I also enjoyed seeing Aussie "rockabilly" and rock n roll legend from the 1960's - Lonnie Lee & the Leeman.

Cooly Rocks On is much more than just rock n roll. There was blues, swing and rockabilly on offer too to suit your music genre preference or style of dancing. Of course, Cooly Rocks On is also about kustoms and hotrod display & cruisin' plus the usual attractions like the street parade on Saturday morning, Miss Cooly Rocks On competition, dance competition & classes and merchandise galore on the beachfront at Marine Parade.

Not as many band stages this year but there were other venues staging gigs during day time and in the evening such as Coolangatta Sands hotel, Greenmount Beach Club, Coolangatta Surf Club, Currumbin RSL but the biggest venue has to be (again) Twin Towns where it was packed with dancers every night for the duration of the festival.

I enjoyed my weekend at Coolangatta this year and I am sure many others did too. The festival enables many to catch up with friends & family from interstates and to share a dance, a meal & drinks or simply enjoy watching the cars or bands on offer. Whether it was better this year is quite debatable but I am sure it could be better again next year if more rockers and the general public support & attend Cooly Rocks On. From reports I have heard, over 80,000 people attended the festival the year before and more people again attended this year which is good news. Increase attendance not only add to the festival's atmosphere but also results in more businesses participation and hopefully also encourages increase funding from the Council to run the event to its full potential. So together lets support rock n roll and keep it going for many more years to come........