Sunbury Pop Festival

The Sunbury Pop Festival was an Australian rock music festival held on a 620 acre private farm in Sunbury, Victoria staged annually on the Australia Day long weekend from 1972 to 1975, attracting up to 45,000 patrons each year. It was promoted by a company called Odessa Promotions, which (according to writer Adrian Rawlins) [Adrian Rawlins: "Festivals in Australia - An Intimate History" (D.T.E Publishers, Spring Hill, Vic, 1986)] was formed by a group of television professionals from Melbourne.

Introduction

Sunbury was one of more than a dozen major outdoor rock festivals staged in Australia between 1970 and 1975, but it is by far the best known today and the only one to have become (at least for a few years) a continuing event. It has been claimed by some commentators that Sunbury signalled the end of the hippie peace movement of the '60s and the beginning of the reign of pub rock ref|beginningpubrock. In an interview for the Melbourne "Age" on the 30th anniversary of the first festival in 2003, Chain guitarist Phil Manning, who performed there, commented:

:"It was a time when the hippie thing was declining and the drunken afternoons of too much beer, sun and basic rock developed. The music went from being experimental to being just moronic entertainment for yobbos." ["Sunbury 1973: strike any chords with you?", [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/24/1042911549361.html "The Age", 24 January 2003] ]

Sunbury -- which has often been compared to America's Woodstock Festival -- has been accorded a legendary status in the history of Australian rock by many commentators. There have also been persistent claims that it marked a turning point in Australian music because it featured an all-Australian lineup, but this is misleading, since there had already been several "All-Australian" festivals by the time Sunbury took place.

Arguably, the main reasons that Sunbury has acquired this status is because its financial success enabled it to run annually for several years, and because the inaugural festival was comprehensively documented on film and multi-track audio, which has given it a privileged status in the visual media compared to other contemporary festivals.

It is not well known that another large festival, the Meadows Technicolour Fair, was staged near Adelaide over the same January long weekend on 1972. This event attracted almost as many patrons as Sunbury, and featured many of the same Australian acts, as well three imported acts (singers Mary Hopkin and Tom Paxton and pop band Edison Lighthouse). However the Meadows festival was evidently not filmed or recorded and has therefore remained virtually unknown -- indeed, it is not even mentioned in any of the major print references on Australian rock music. [Terence J. Stacey: "Meadows Technicolour Fair", "Milesago" website ( [http://www.milesago.com/Festivals/meadows-fair.htm] ).]

Music entrepreneur Michael Gudinski had some involvement with the first Sunbury festival -- as well as managing several of the major acts appearing, he operated a lucrative concession selling watermelon to festival-goers. British-owned record company EMI released a double-album of live performances from the 1972 festival, but Gudinski's and his new record company Mushroom Records, established later in 1972, became indelibly associated with Sunbury thanks to its inaugural release, a three-disc set of live recordings culled from the 1973 festival. Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs also released a live recording of their performance at the '73 festival on the independent Havoc Records label.

In 1974 the festival featured its first international act -- Queen, who were "booed off the stage to screams of 'go back to Pommyland, ya pooftahs'."ref|queenbooed Skyhooks were also booed off stage, and after watching a recording of their performance, lead singer Steve Hill quit and was replaced by Graham "Shirley" Strachan. ref|skyhooksbooed

From time to time calls are made to resurrect Sunbury, the latest being promoter Michael Chugg in 2005.ref|bringitback However the widespread success of alternative rock festivals of the 1990s (for example, the Big Day Out) make a successful resurrection seem unlikely.

Location

The four Sunbury Pop Festivals were held on on the same 620 acre private farm along Jacksons Creek, on the southern outskirts of Sunbury, between Sunbury and Diggers Rest. The Property was owned by farmer and local identity George Duncan, and the property has become known in the district over the years simply as "Duncan's farm". The entrance gates to the Sunbury Pop Festivals was off Watsons Road. Also because of its close proximity to the smaller township of Digger Rest, many of the attendees who traveled to Sunbury by train, actually alighted at Diggers Rest Railway station, and not Sunbury.

unbury Pop Festival attendances

Although the Sunbury was not the first pop festival to be held in Australia, it benefited from the highest levels of promotion and publicity of any festival and despite the flagging attendances at the end of its life, consistently attracted the largest crowds.It has been estimated that as many as 40,000 people attended Sunbury in 1972, although figures vary considerably depending on the source, and more conservative estimates place the figure between 30,000 to 35,000. Looking back in 1973, promoter John Fowler, who worked with property owner George Duncan in the management of the site, was quoted as saying "the papers put it from anything from twenty-fire to sixty-thousand people. How can you tell for sure?"

1972

The first Sunbury Pop festival titled "Rock Happening of 1972" and ran from Saturday January 29 to Monday January 31, 1972. The attendance was 35,000 - 40,000 and the entry fee was $6.00 (3 days), $5.00 (2 days), $1.00 (1 day).

Band Line-up

1972 featured 41 bands, and was opened by Madder Lake ref|open72. MCed by Gerry Humphries, one-time lead singer of the The Loved Ones.

* Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
* Max Merritt and the Meteors
* Spectrum
* Chain
* The Wild Cherries
* SCRA
* Pirana
* Tamam Shud
* Company Caine
* Friends
* Carson
* La De Da's
* Glenn Cardier
* Phil Manning
* Greg Quill & Country Radio
* Total Fire Band
* The Bushwackers and Bullockys Bush Band
* Barry McCaskell & The Levi Smith Clefs
* Blackfeather
* The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band
* Daddy Cool
* Friends
* Healing Force
* Mackenzie Theory
* Pilgrimage
* Spectrum
* Wendy Saddington
* Wild Cherries

1973

Sunbury '73 ran from Saturday January 27 to Monday January 29. The attendance was 25,000 - 30,000 and the entry fee was $8.00 (3 days), $7.00 (2 days), $5.00 (1 day). MCed by Paul Hogan.

Band Line-up

*Bakery
*Band of Light
*Carson
*Coloured Balls
*Country Radio
*Flying Circus
*Friends
*Healing Force
*MacKenzie Theory
*Madder Lake
*Max Merritt & The Meteors
*Johnny O'Keefe
* Sid Rumpo
* Matt Taylor
* The 69'ers
* Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs

1974

Sunbury '74 ran from Saturday January 25 to Monday January 28. The MC was former Masters Apprentices lead singer Jim Keays. The attendance was approximately 30,000 and the entry fee was $12.00 (3 days), $10.00 (2 days), $5.00 (1 day). A new concept of a second performing stage was added to include "alternative performances such as jazz recitals, theatre, dance, mime, poetry and acoustic musicref|secondstage.

This was the first appearance in Australia of UK band Queen. They were famously booed off stage after playing at Sunbury '74. Freddy Mercury bravely told the audience that when Queen returned to Australia, they would be the biggest band in the world. Queen returned to Australia to perform again in 1976 at the height of their fame.

Band Line-up

* Skyhooks
* The Dingoes
* Kush
* Buster Brown
* Chain
* Madder Lake
* MacKenzie Theory
* Ayers Rock
* Sid Rumpo
* Ross Ryan
* The 69'ers
* Daddy Cool - reformed especially for this event
* Queen (UK)

1975

Sunbury '75 ran from Saturday January 24 to Monday January 27. The attendance was only 15,000-16,000 and the festival suffered terminal financial losses. The entry fee was $20.00. A concept of a second stage was repeated for this year to cater for more "alternative" acts such as dance, mime, poetry and acoustic musicref|secondstage.

Deep Purple went home with $60,000, while most local bands went home empty handed. AC/DC refused to play after Deep Purple roadies provoked fights with them. ref|deeppurple60

EDIT - The fight between AC/DC and Deep Purple is actually a myth generated from a very real fight between the road crews and management of Madder Lake and Queen in 1974. The issue revoled around Queen refusing to go on at their allotted time because the light wasn't right - I remember it was sundown, so whoever went on stage wouldn't get the full benefit of their light show. It came down to a battle between management, which then spilled into a fracas between the roadies of our respective bands, as each crew jostled to set gear up. The MC (or some other promoter) goaded the crowd into an 'us and them' vibe, with the local band in favour over the unknown "pommie bastards." It ended with us going on stage first, and Queen redeeming themselves to the crowd and showing a hint of what they were to become. And that is how I remember it.

- Kerry McKenna, Bass Player Madder Lake.

Band Line-up

* AC/DC (did not perform)
* Ariel
* Ayers Rock
* Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs
* Buster Brown
* The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band
* Chain
* Daddy Cool
* Deep Purple (UK)
* Kush
* La De Das
* Linda George
* Matt Taylor
* Skyhooks

* Renée Geyer and Sanctuary
* The Keystone Angels

* Madder Lake
* Ross Ryan
* Sherbet

* Jim Keays (performing his solo concept album "The Boy From The Stars"; Keays and his band reportedly the only act to have been paid for their appearance, having arranged an outside sponsorship)

The girl group The Cookies sang as backing singers for various artists including Kush and Linda George (they sang at three of the four Sunbury Festivals).

Popular culture references

The Fauves in 1998 recorded a song called "Sunbury 97" on their LP "Lazy Highways". The lyrics, in part, read: "There's the tree where mum & dad conceived me / Do you believe that I'm a child of Sunbury '73?". Chris Wilson also recorded a track "Sunbury '73" on his 1998 album "The Long Weekend", that reminisces about a road trip south from Sydney to attend the concert.

As noted in the introduction, excerpts from John Dixon's 1972 film "Sunbury" have been featured in many Australian TV specials and series including the ABC's "Long Way To The Top".

References

* http://www.undercover.com.au/news/2005/aug05/20050819_sunbury.html
* http://www.milesago.com/Almanac/1974.htm#January
* http://www.milesago.com/Artists/madder.htm
* http://www.abc.net.au/longway/episode_3/#sunbury
* http://www.undercover.com.au/news/2005/aug05/20050819_sunbury.html
* http://www.milesago.com/Almanac/1975.htm#January
* Official "Sunbury '75 Souvenir Programme" Page 3.
* "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll? The Rise and Demise of the Australian Pop Festival Era 1970-1975" by M.S. Mackowiak (1991)

External links

* [http://www.dcita.gov.au/cgp/musiclitpages/musiclit14.html The Sunbury Music Festival Collection at the Performing Arts Museum]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/24/1042911549361.html Sunbury, 1973. Strike any chords with you? "Sydney Morning Herald", January 25 2003]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/longway/episode_3/#sunbury Long Way to the Top - documentary shown on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation]
* [http://www.milesago.com/festivals/sunbury73.htm Sunbury 73 - Milesago.com]
* [http://www.milesago.com/Artists/69ers1.htm The 69'ers at Sunbury 1974]
* [http://www.sunbury3429.com Sunbury Community Website]