Sound Relief

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Sound Relief
Location(s) Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Founded by Michael Gudinski,
Michael Chugg, Amanda Pelman,
Joe Segreto & Tom Lang of IMC / Homebake Festival and
Mark Pope of Mark Pope Music
Date(s) 14 March 2009
Genre pop, rock, country, Hip Hop
Website www.soundrelief.com.au

Sound Relief was a multi-venue rock music concert held on 14 March 2009, which was announced by the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby on 24 February 2009.[1][2] The event was organised by Michael Gudinski, Michael Chugg, Amanda Pelman, Joe Segreto & Tom Lang of IMC/Homebake Festival and Mark Pope to raise funds for those affected by the February 2009 Victorian bushfires.[1][2]

The event was held simultaneously at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Sydney Cricket Ground.[1] All the proceeds from the Melbourne Concert and half of the proceeds of the Sydney Concert went to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal.[1][2] The other half of the Sydney proceeds went to the Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal to help flood victims.[1][2]

A special presentation was held mid-way through the concerts, with a satellite link between the two venues. At this time, Kylie Minogue, at the Melbourne event, performed I Still Call Australia Home and Australian actress Toni Collette introducing Princes William and Harry who sent their support via satellite. It is interesting to note that the Princes' speech at Sound Relief was their first ever to the nation and as such, made Australian Consitutional history. Jet and Wolfmother flew interstate to play at both concerts.

Footage was released on DVD on 9 October. It contains partial 9-hour footage of the concert but every artist who performed at the event is represesnted. The DVD debuted at #2 in the Australian ARIA Top 40 DVDs, has been certified 5× Platinum.[3]

The Concerts

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The line-up for the Melbourne concert featured:[4]

A number of celebrities shared the MC duties between performances, including music industry icon Molly Meldrum, music producer and event co-organiser Michael Gudinski, Victorian premier John Brumby, skateboarder Tony Hawk and announcers from a range of radio stations, including Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee, Hamish and Andy and Red Symons.

Hunters & Collectors reunited for the first time in over 10 years for the concert. Midnight Oil also made a comeback with lead singer Peter Garrett, who was then also Australia's Minister for Environment and the Arts.

Some members of Crowded House made a surprise appearance with Liam Finn to perform three of their hits. Kings of Leon chose not to perform their popular #1 hit, Sex on Fire, out of respect for the bushfire victims.

During Split Enz's performance of "I See Red", Red Symons walked across the stage, so vocalist Tim Finn literally did "see Red"

The MCG concert sold out quickly,[5] with over 80,000 tickets sold.[6] That makes the Melbourne event the largest paid concert event in Australian history.[7]

Sydney Cricket Ground

The line-up for the Sydney concert featured:[8]

Coldplay singer Chris Martin memorably ran into the crowd towards the end of their song "Fix You" and did not make it back for the end of the song, but the crowd continued to sing anyway. Once he made it back to the stage he then repeated the end of the song, but was so exhausted that he let the crowd sing the final line. He was then unwell after the performance and spent the afternoon vomiting, still managing to play a second show that night.[9]

Eskimo Joe, Wolfmother and Jet all premiered new songs that had not been released yet. Eskimo Joe sung "Foreign Land" and "Inshalla", Wolfmother Sang "Back Round" and Jet sang "She's A Genius"

Little Birdy sang "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" in Sydney and Split Enz would sing it at Melbourne later that night. While Jet and Wolfmother played most of their songs at both concerts, this was the only song to be played at both concerts by two separate artists.

Australian actress Toni Collette introduced Princes William and Harry who sent their support via satellite.

The Presets performed parts of their song during the middle of a lightning storm.

Media coverage

ABC radio network Triple J broadcast live music from both venues using their own live music team.
The event was also screened on Max and Channel V, covering the Sydney and Melbourne concerts respectively.

Triple M, Nova and Vega broadcast live from both Sydney and Melbourne.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Brumby, John (24 February 2009). "Artists Unit For 'Sound Relief' Bushfire Benefit - Premier of Victoria, Australia". Premier of Victoria. Retrieved 25 February 2009. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mitchell, Geraldine (24 February 2009). "Coldplay, Kings of Leon to headline bushfire relief concerts". Herald Sun (The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd). Retrieved 25 February 2009. 
  3. ↑ "Award for bushfire gigs". 28 July 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Sound relief :: melbourne lineup". 
  5. ↑ http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=5&ContentID=128150
  6. ↑ "Midnight Oil rebuff rumours of a gig with Kylie at Sound Relief". 13 March 2009. 
  7. ↑ Adams, Cameron (9 March 2009). "Kylie Minogue to MC Sound Relief". AAP. 
  8. ↑ "Sound relief :: sydney info". 
  9. ↑ http://www.coldplay.com/post_popnews.php?id=362

External links

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