Howdy again folks. So, if you like music and you’re in Melbourne during the warmer months, ‘A Day on the Green’ may be for you. They have regular concerts out in the Yarra Valley, particularly at Rochford Wineries, which feature all manner of musical guests and there usually is an event every month or so over the warmer months. They have one on this April, I’m not sure if something is planned for May, but I expect they run for 8 or 9 months a year.
Firstly, you’re at a winery. It’s a decent-sized estate and a pretty beautiful area of Victoria. It’s only just over an hour from Melbourne, and on event days you’ll find frequent buses getting people to the event. They have a huge stage and plenty of room for a few thousand people to attend. There’s also a restaurant there as well but, as my wife and I discovered, best to book ahead for that.
Car parking is also good there, however if you’re drinking think about how much you’ll drink of course! There is plenty of alcohol there on the day, it’s a winery after all but you can get ciders and beers and other drinks as well. The white was very nice!
BUT onto the show, which for me was awesome! There were four acts – The Machinations who were playing as I arrived, they sounded awesome. The Models, then the B-52s and finally Simple Minds. I was only there for one band though – The B52s. Hailing from Athens, Georgia (USA) they formed in 1976 and are best known for ‘Love Shack’ which was number one in Australia for like two months in 1989.
Hard to know really how to characterise a band like the B-52s, but for me they have always been unique. I’ve read that they are ‘new wave’, for whatever that means. They are quite crazy, and they are now all in their sixties, however they sure can rock a winery still. They don’t dance as manically as they used to, but they certainly had me dancing like a crazy Rock Lobster.
The crowd was an older crowd, as you’d expect with those bands, but it shook its funky things. Since around 1990 I really wanted to see the B-52s live, and now something else, which I thought it might be a bit late to happen, has been crossed off the ol’ bucket list. The weather was hot, but not too hot once the sun started to go down. I didn’t even have a spot of sunburn!
Below is a one minute video which I apologise – isn’t very good quality. I wasn’t close enough really so shot through a longish lens, blurry and unsteady. But – I wanted to share!
Well folks, here are few zany clips of the B-52s to show you what they’re like beyond ‘Love Shack’ and ‘Roam’, their two biggest commercial successes. Nothing, but NOTHING, rocks like ‘Rock Lobster’. May the Journey Never End!
How could, you, a traveling man, fail to include “Roam”?!
well there are just so many brilliant B52s songs!
I think you’re getting old, and beginning to “forget” things.