The weather forecast was ominous - heavy rain in Victoria North East with predicted severe flooding. Much lighthearted talk about bringing the boat or inflatable rubber dinghy instead of your favourite hot rod to Bright for the 2nd Rockabilly, Ink & Oil Festival. Indeed water, water everywhere driving past flooded farmlands and swollen creeks and rivers but was it ever going to stop the music, dancing and parading of rockabilly culture? Not unless it's the second coming of Christ, and the world's coming to an end.
But jokes aside, with knowledge of the inclement weather the organising committee quickly put into action a "wet weather" plan with activities organised indoor at the Alpine hotel and the community centre. I missed the opening Friday night gig but from all reports the music was pumpin' hot and the billies and rockers stompin' and dancin' the night away. The constant, heavy rain came on Saturday as predicted but so was the infectious atmosphere at the Alpine hotel which was packed and buzzling with non stop music, dancing and drinking. There were even a few brave stall holders and hotrods on the main street of Bright. It was a great afternoon of entertainment with several bands in attendance, including the crowd's favourites - Itchy Fingers, Scotty Baker (backed by Hank Jalopy Demons), Tommy and the Lucky Strikes and "Australia's Got Talent" finalist, the Red Crown Radio. In the evening, a full line up of bands played at two venues, the Rockabilly HQ (community hall) and the "Lucky 13 Garage" at the basketball stadium. The Rockabilly HQ was again packed, as was last year, and bravo to all the die hard rockabilly aficionados who braved the wet and rainy condition that persisted all night long. Another good night of entertainment.
Come Sunday - the "Show & Shine" day. Guess what? The rain stopped and the sun shone brightly. Unbelievable! Some merchandise stalls and plenty more hotrods on show. And a tatts competition as well. The bands played inside the hall as the football oval was still damp from all the rain. Not as big a crowd as most were worried and left early not wanting to be stranded in Bright due to the rising flood water in rivers and creeks in the surrounding towns. I was one of the lucky (brave?) ones who stayed on in Bright, and therefore also attended the "after party" Sunday night gig at the Porepunkah hotel. It was staged in the "beer" garden but was really a glorified large "tin shed" at the back of the hotel. But it did not detract from the fantastic atmosphere and music on offer. Indeed, one big party and icing on the cake for rockabilly music lovers on the night.
Let's hope for better weather next year. But even with the rain and flooding in surrounding towns, I still enjoyed a fantastic weekend of rockabilly festival in Bright. It was also quite heartening to see quite a few more "young" rockabilly bands in action on the weekend such as Red Cown Radio, Road Ratz, the Rechords, Tommy & the Lucky Strikes, Sonyta & the Incinerators etc. The future looks bright indeed for rockabilly music in Australia.
Well done Jitts, nice movie's too. I also went to Bright it was a last minute decision Friday afternoon, I rang to find out if there were any tickets available for the night and yep the Rio people arranged it on the phone, fantastic service, so we cruised on over about 11/2 hrs drive got there in time for a lovely counter meal at the hotel watched a few Classics and some rods cruise the main drag, and then wandered around to Rockabilly HQ.
Ignition was just warming up, wow what a great dance floor the night was warm and no rain in sight, the punters were few, just a nice crowd plenty of room to dance, the music was as expected, fabulous, Ignition & Itchy alternating between sets.
About half way through the night we decided to travel via the free courtesy bus (wasn’t that Bus a great idea), to the main hall for a glimpse of the “Convertibles” & Scotty Baker and yes they were good, we’ve never seen them before so it was interesting to be enlightened, Scotty as you said was backed by some of the boys from Hanks JD.
We weren’t over fussed with the condition of the floor, only had a couple of dances and decided to hot foot it back to Rockabilly HQ, where the floor was much easier to the knees feet and ankles.
We enjoyed ourselves immensely on Friday night it was really a one night stand we figured Saturday was going to be wet, wet, wet so we left Bright in the wee hrs of Saturday morning, the stars were still shining, and took the hr and a bit journey to the that bed which was calling me, to come home.
Bookmarks