In showground barns usually reserved for cattle on the outskirts of Orange in western NSW, Mitch Colton awaits hordes of hardcore punk and metal fans ahead of his inaugural two-day music festival, The Gig.
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Colton → reserve → festival
Speaking to the Herald under a corrugated iron roof two hours before the scheduled start time, Colton appears unbothered but is apprehensive.
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Colton → speak → time
“Two weeks ago, the ticket sales were awful,” the co-organiser and seasoned event manager says.
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organiser → say → ?
“Tickets are getting better now.”
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Tickets → get → ?
“I was talking to the guy that owns Mojos, which is a really famous live music venue in Fremantle, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, we do 80 per cent of our tickets on the day now’.”
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we → talk → day
Dozens of punters as young as 12, clad in leather garments, with spiked hair and face piercings, stream in throughout the first frosty Friday night.
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Dozens → clothe → night
“Even if it’s not packed out, as long as it’s a good turnout and there’s a good crowd [that’s a success],” Colton says.
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Colton → pack → ?
Colton had hoped for 500 patrons.
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Colton → hop → patrons
Instead, about 190 came through.
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190 → come → ?
The following Saturday night, 250 did.
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250 → follow → ?
“Obviously, we’d like it to be a commercial success, but the reality is, as long as it feels good – because the joke of the sign is that nothing ever happens in Orange,” he says, referencing the festival’s poster, which in the spirit of punk declares just that.
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which → like → that
Live music scenes across the state are evolving.
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scenes → evolve → state
Musicians are struggling to get stage time in the Northern Rivers’ once-bustling scene, while the Central West is remaking the model and Newcastle is emerging as a hotspot.
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Newcastle → struggle → hotspot
Meanwhile, in Sydney, venues are shutting as punters’ behaviour changes amid the cost of living crisis and the decline of alcohol consumption.
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behaviour → shut → consumption
Over the years, the regions have nurtured some big names.
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regions → nurture → names
Singer-songwriter Shannon Noll was born in Orange, while Lismore delivered Grinspoon and Skunkhour.
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Lismore → bear → Grinspoon
Country stars Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan, James Blundell and Beccy Cole got golden tickets at Tamworth’s annual country music festival.
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stars → get → festival
Byron Bay has cradled Parcels, Skegss, Parkway Drive, Tones and I and Pete Murray and Newcastle claims the likes of Silverchair, The Screaming Jets, Morgan Evans and Catherine Britt.
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Newcastle → cradle → Silverchair
Colton’s festival is one of the increasing number of independently organised cultural events in NSW’s regions.
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festival → increase → regions
On the festival’s first night, pub-rock Orange-born band Where’s Jimmy performs an electric set.
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rock → bear → set
The high-school mates moved to Newcastle for better opportunities after exhausting the “same two pubs” in Orange soon after forming in 2020 amid the pandemic.
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mates → move → pandemic
Now, they regularly book gigs in Newcastle, occasionally in Sydney and are fresh off a European tour.
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they → book → tour
“It’s special for our first show back to be at home,” the band’s bassist James Pansini says.
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Pansini → ’ → home
On stage, lead singer Hugh Westcott squirms erratically and jumps around barefoot, before launching into an acrobatic midair split.
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Westcott → squirm → split
In the band’s music video for the song KICK IN THE HEAD, he takes it further, running barefoot around a barn with animal faeces strewn across the straw ground.
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he → take → ground
Since the band relocated, Orange and the rest of the state’s Central West towns have embraced an experimental attitude towards their live music landscape, says Sophie Jones, the region’s Music NSW coordinator.
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Jones → relocate → landscape
“People are wanting to step away from the pubs and clubs where there are pokies,” Jones says.
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Jones → want → pubs
Orange’s Badlands Brewery’s ticketed gigs include acts such as Alex Lloyd, Meg Washington, Josh Pike and The Whitlams.
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gigs → ticket → Lloyd
But the most exciting event, says Jones, is the “little blues festival in the car park” the venue runs.
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venue → say → park
“It’s so cool to see these smaller venues doing these non-council-run little one-day festivals,” she says.
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she → ’ → festivals
“My band’s been playing together for 12 years now, and we started here in Bathurst, and there was nowhere for us.
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we → play → us
“Now it’s taken this kind of turn where a lot of people are really wanting to come to Bathurst and play at venues like Reckless, The Victoria and Keystone …
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lot → take → Reckless
There’s still a challenge of getting people along to ticketed original shows, but it’s definitely got better in the last 10 years.”
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it → ’ → years
Beyond towns and in the outback, music scenes are also pushing boundaries.
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scenes → push → boundaries
In Lightning Ridge, musicians perform, record and collaborate out of a “tinny”, or a performance space modelled on the housing in the typical 1950s Aboriginal “tin camp” and designed by First Nations musician Warren Mason.
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musicians → perform → Mason
“He’s got a permanent one set up at [venue] Hungry Spirit ... but he takes the tinnies all around and, oh man, it’s so cool!
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it → get → tinnies
And all original music,” Jones says.
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Jones → say → ?
“Warren’s toured all across the outback and then around the bottom of Victoria, like Mildura.”
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Warren → tour → Mildura
Newcastle’s talent pool and hunger for gigs has never been higher, Joab Eastley, that city’s coordinator for Music NSW, says.
“I feel like we’ve punched above our weight for quite a while here in Newcastle,” he says.
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he → say → Newcastle
“Every time you go somewhere like Big Sound and Music Conference, or get out to another city, everyone’s like, ‘Wow, what’s going on in Newcastle?’
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what → go → Newcastle
…and 41 more, not listed.
The Aporia
