Live music makes up over 50% of total music industry revenue, mainly from ticket sales, but COVID has changed all that, for the meantime anyway. Venues have had to find alternative COVID-safe ways to support local music and entertainment.
Who doesn’t love a big music festival at a winery? A Day on the Green concert series is one such event that celebrates wine, food and music in stunning winery settings around Australia.
The event has seen some of the biggest acts from around the world play to huge audiences sprawled out among the vines, drinking the wine and taking in the tunes. Now with capacity restrictions in place, A Day on the Green has launched the Cellar Door Series.
Cellar Door Series
A stripped-back version of the epic Day on the Green concerts, the Cellar Door Series will present our favourite musicians in a COVID-safe intimate setting adjacent to the winery cellar door.
Artists will play acoustic sets while music and wine lovers soak up the close-up and personal atmosphere. The small shows will mean few tickets and no more than two artists per bill, they’ll start earlier and finish at sunset.
The first of the series to kick off in March is Ben Folds, supported by Gordi at the Hunter Valley’s Bimbadgen Estate on 20th March, 2021.
Ben Folds made the call to stay in Australia when the pandemic became widespread, and travel back to his hometown, Nashville, became difficult. A captivating performer, he is recognised as the alt-rock voice of his generation and the genius behind Ben Folds Five and tender tracks such as Brick and Luckiest.
It’s Folds’ second show since being in Australia. The first has long sold out.
The organisers plan to announce other Cellar Door shows in the future and promise that our favourite Day on the Green big-ticket events will be back on the live show circuit before long.
Live, Loud & Local
Meanwhile, Coopers Brewery helps enable live acts around the country by collaborating with Live Nation and delivering Live, Loud & Local events at a pub near you.
The Live, Loud and Local series supports Australia’s hospitality and entertainment industries and local communities hit by COVID-19 social restrictions.
With restrictions eased, the Live, Loud & Local is playing to real crowds at pubs across the country.
Aussie music acts such as The Rubens, Bad/Dreems and Crooked Colours have played live in pub venues in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide and on the playlist in April is Boo Seeka live at The Zoo in Brisbane, Birds of Tokyo at Hotel Rottnest, Perth, Client Liaison at The Tote, Melbourne and Baker Boy at The Curtin, Melbourne.
“Coopers has a long history of supporting the arts industry with sponsorships of events such as the Adelaide Fringe, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Malthouse Theatre,” Pearce said.
Coopers Brewery first launched the entertainment initiative to help pubs and patrons through the COVID lockdown. It started as an hour live stream on Friday and Saturday nights from key hotels across the country hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey and coordinated through the central website www.cooperslocal.com.au.
The virtual event showcased some of Australia’s A-list entertainers.
“From pubs pivoting to bottle-shops and takeaway restaurants, to comedians and musicians moving on-line, we wanted to create a platform where we could highlight and celebrate their tenacity to innovate and succeed,” says Cam Pearce, Coopers Director of Marketing and Innovation.
