Sovereign Hill is a living, breathing museum of the Victorian gold rush days in the 1800s, but this weekend it will turn into a music festival showcasing some of Australia's classic folk and rock artists.
The festival will take over the whole makeshift town, set up with stages all over the place and events for the grown ups (mainly for the grown ups) and a few things for the kiddies as well."The interesting thing is, I'm putting together a historical DVD [on the Bushwackers] finally after 37 years and I came across a poster from the Victoria Theatre in Sovereign Hill 1977, and we're actually playing this weekend in exactly the same venue," Dobe Newton, singer from the Bushwackers told Undercover.
"I thought that's far out. There can't be many bands around who are going back to the same gig 30 years later. That's fantastic because my memory of Sovereign Hill was this small... well it wasn't called a museum then, I don't know what it was called... maybe it was... but when I went up the other day to check out the venue and I thought "My god it's huge! It's a big as it bloody well was when the diggings were happening!" but it's a great place for us and the amazing thing is that it's just such an amazing site for a festival of any description.
"Mostly festivals get plonked in urban areas or out in a paddock with a stage and a few marquees and stuff, which is great, but going into a living museum like that, it'll be a fantastic place to have music. It's wonderful!"
Other artists appearing on the bill include Shane Howard (ex Goanna), The Black Sorrows, Kate Cebrano, James Reyne, Jaime Robbie Reyne, The Waifs, Danny Spooner, Ben Smith Band, Mick Thomas, Monique Brumby, Mark Seymour and more.
Tickets can be purchased at the gate. For more information, including packages and ticketing info, visit http://www.sovereignhillmusicfestival.com.au/.
