With the new highway almost complete, it was very easy driving to Bendigo to attend the Bush fire charity gig on Sunday. I was late arriving so unfortunately missed out on seeing the first two bands – local Bendigo band, the Corvetts, and Melbourne 1950’s style rock & roll band, IC Rock. But I did catch up with IC Rock when they played their second set later on in the afternoon.

On arrival, it was also good to see a number of hotrods & Kustoms cars parked outside the Kangaroo Flat’s leisure centre which added to the “rock & roll” atmosphere that afternoon. Gorgeous gears and other merchandise stores were on display in the hall for those interested in a new pair of dance shoes, clothes etc

One couldn’t get a friendlier host than Jukeboxrocker2007 as she greeted me with a big smile & hug at the door. The Leisure centre itself was easy to find, has good parking facility and a large dance floor. There was a good crowd inside and I could see rockers there from Castlemaine, Ballarat and other surrounding country areas. There was also a small contingent from Melbourne including Marg, Kathy, Jazza & Saffron, Little Maria and Michael etc. I was hoping to catch up with Roknray and Gjo267 (two of our regular Vicrock’s forum contributors) there but was told by JBR that they hadn’t turned up? But I did get introduced to “Swampman” and his lovely female friend.

Before I had time to settle down with a nice cup of tea, Jump n Jive was up on stage belting a mixture of rock & roll and rockabilly. Just about from their first song to the last, the dance floor was unsurprisingly packed full with dancers. This was followed by raffles with lots of prizes on offer. Also on offer all afternoon was good old country hospitality – free cups of tea and coffee, yummy sandwiches, hot pies, sausage rolls and fruits.

Soon after, the MC excitedly announced a special treat for everyone in the hall - the Atomic Hi Tones on stage next! For a moment, I was thinking to myself – are these country rockers ready for a full dose of radioactive, hi-octane rockabilly? Would they be game enough to dance to “rockabilly” music? The truth is it was really very silly of me to even think of this. My fears very quickly dissolved into the thin air as the dance floor again filled up with rock and rollers. Yes – I think the Atomic boys did sort of start off with slower tempo songs but soon built up to full blown rockabilly like what you would normally hear of the band at Monash and the Gully. I think the country rockers really enjoyed the Atomic Hi Tones!

More raffles, more cups of teas & yummy goodies followed. It was then IC Rock again on stage with their more “traditional” 1950’s style rock & roll. I haven’t seen this band before but hey, I thought IC Rock were good. It was good listening rock & roll music and the tempo was such that it was easy to dance to their music all day & all night long.

The day finished with Jump n Jive on stage again. Whilst their first set was a mixture of rockabilly and rock & roll, their last set was full blown, hardcore rockabilly. As usual, the band finished the set with its signature stage performance – with Jake in full flight, perched on top of his double bass, Sammy doing his sexy “Elvis the pelvis” gyrations on stage and filled in drummer (Ignition’s “Dizzy” Hudson) doing his best impersonation of Slim Jim Phantom. It was great watching these guys in action!

It was a very enjoyable bushfire charity gig. I think under $3,000 was collected on the day. Lots of happy rockers, well done to the bands donating their time to a worthy cause and to Jukeboxrocker2007 and the Bendigo rockers who have helped organised the gig. Everyone’s a winner on the day.