Project Description
. . Bailey Zimmerman // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Darlinghurst // Photo – Tamcam Images . Jim Lauderdale // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Hayley Whitters // Photo – Tamcam Images . Cam // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Casey Barnes // Photo – Tamcam Images . Randy Houser // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Brittany Spencer // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Madeline Edwards // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Caroline Jones // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Travis Collins // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Cam // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Jordan Davis // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Zac Brown Band // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Zac Brown Band // Photo – Tamcam Images . . Zac Brown Band // Photo – Tamcam Images . . CLICK THE PIC TO VIEW THE NEWS
.CMC ROCKS
Day One
@ Willowbank, QLD,
17th March 2023
(Live Review)Review by June Carlile
Photos by Tamcam Images
“No doubt about it we ‘bout to have one helluva party….”
It’s been just 6 months since the last CMC Rocks, but it seems the drought of live music during Covid has left country music fans still thirsty for more, with 2023 sold out once again. Making this the 6th event to sell out in it’s 16 year history.
The party began a couple of days ago for the campers, with 2 nights of performances at the Tailgate Stage already behind them, not to mention the adventures encountered as they made their way to Willowbank Raceway from around Australia.
I’m a little jealous to see they had a bonus performance from Brooke McClymont & Adam Eckersley, who always bring a lot of laughs throughout their set.
I’ve already seen a weather warning for the high temperatures expected today, & as soon as I get out of the car the heat is like a solid weight. I wonder how the interstate travellers are going to go, but CMC’ers are used to weather being a part of the weekend.
After the obligatory pic at the CMC horseshoe I make my way to the Tailgate Stage to find a cool surprise for the crowd, misters set up throughout the ceiling, providing some cool relief. The Tailgate Stage is already bursting at the seams, with people eager to take their place for the Songwriter Sessions, which means Darlinghurst get to play to an eager crowd.
One of my favourite features of CMC is having the Rebel Stage & the Stampede Stage side by side, so there’s no FOMO, or racing around the grounds to catch the artist you want to see, and no long wait between acts. The only down side is choosing when to go for food & bathroom breaks!
Jim Lauderdale has deep roots in the history of traditional country, with 35 albums under his belt, & we get to journey through the decades with a mix of songs from the last two albums, Game Changer, and Hope, starting with Hole in My Head, That Kind of Day, The Opportunity To Help Somebody Through It & You’re Hoggin’ My Mind, before the classics We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This, recorded by George Strait, King of Broken Hearts, written as a tribute to George Jones, and Halfway Down, recorded by Patty Loveless. Just last week an Australian tribute album to Jim Lauderdale, called Halfway Down Under was released, featuring artists such as Shane Nicholson, Blake O’Connor & Adam Harvey.
Jim encourages the dedicated crowd clinging to the only patch of shade at the stage to join in on the chorus to his final song Headed For The Hills, & brings out Sinead Burgess, Blake O’Connor & Hayley Marsten to help us out.
The Songwriters session today features Hailey Whitters, Cam, Casey Barnes, & Randy Houser. Casey Barnes rocked the CMC stage 6 months ago, & it’s a treat to get a bonus appearance from him at the Songwriters session today.
They take turns sharing acoustic versions of their songs;
Hailey Whitters – Fillin’ My Cup .How Far Can You Go. Everything She Ain’t
Cam – ‘Til There’s Nothing Left. Diane. Burning House, which Randy joined in and harmonised.
Casey Barnes – Good Together. Sparks Fly, of which he says Thanks to you guys this is my first ever #1 single in Australia. God Took His Time On You
Randy Houser– Says he went a little hard in sydney last night so he doesn’t know what’s going to happen! Boots On. Like a Cowboy. Let Me Show You How.
For the next 2 artists it’s their first time in Australia & they both make a lasting impression.
Brittney Spencer tells us releasing her first album has been scary, exciting, nauseating, thrilling, & we get to share her emotional journey and smooth vocal runs with tracks like Damn Right You’re Wrong, Sober & Skinny, & a song she wrote for introverts called Night In, which is fun & upbeat, there’s nothing shy about it, & it reflects the sense of humour she shares with the crowd between each song. After acknowledging she has a lot to be thankful for over the past 2 years she rounds out her set with Thankful, & a cover of These Boots Are Made For Walking.
Madeline Edwards straps on a Keytar as soon as she hits the stage for Hold My Horses. Her first album, Crashlanded, came out last year. Her voice is at times fierce & strong, sometimes jazzy cool. A lot of her set features long musical intro’s where her band get to shine.
We hear Better Watch Yourself, I’ll Be Your Playground, & I Got a Heart You Can’t Break. She says “People think i wrote it about an ex, but it’s actually about an ex landlord. The best revenge is moving on.” Next is one of her favourites, Mama, Dolly, Jesus, & a cover of Childish Gambino’s Redbone.
The shade has finally filled the area in front of the stages, so people have made their way over from their previous refuges & begin to move to the front.
Caroline Jones is a multi instrumentalist, which she demonstrates throughout the set when she plays guitar, slide guitar, & harmonica. She has a smile on her face the entire time, & has the crowd clapping along first song in.
Tracks like Come In (But don’t make yourself comfortable), and Don’t Talk To Me Like I’m Tiffany are a taste at the humour in her lyrics. Gulf Coast Girl was written for her by Jimmy Buffet, and fittingly sounds like a holiday. Humour returns in Everyone’s A Rebel ‘Til They Fall In Love, a song she wrote poking fun at herself for doing something she thought she’d never do-getting married.
The crowd gets to sing along again with covers of Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road, & Fleetwood Mac’s Big Love, where she gets to show off her finger picking. Caroline will be returning to the stage tonight as a member of Zac Brown Band.
There’s finally a breeze now, & Travis Collins bursts onto the stage with Always Had a Thing For Curves. The energy stays amped up, introducing Ain’t Nobody Weekend Like We Can with a shoutout to the campers “This one’s for the people that were first in line, ‘cause we have a rule in the country that you don’t dare waste a weekend!” He keeps the crowd singing along with Just Another Girl, then shares a couple of tracks from his upcoming album, Any Less Anymore, and One of those things one of them nights, which are sure to become new crowd favourites.
Before Rainy Day he takes a moment to speak about being a proud ambassador for RUOK day, getting emotional as he encourages people to talk. He asks for an acoustic guitar, & we hear a hometown song, followed by High Horse, one of his favourites to sing live, “because the crowd sings it back so much better”, & I’d like to think we do a pretty good job when the band goes silent for the last chorus. As is tradition, Travis hands his guitar down to a lucky person in the crowd, & 4 giant beach balls are bounced around the crowd as we all sing along again to Happy, and the set is finished with Travis’ long standing cover, Thank God I’m a Country Boy.
Cam quietly walks onto the stage & promises to start the show nice & easy & end it rough.
The transition is so seamless it takes me a while to realise the chilled out vibe has become full fun energy.
We hear Redwood Tree, Forgetting You, & Classic, before she asks us to sing along to May Day one more time for all our exes. Next up is Changes, written by Harry Styles, that has a whistle part she’s nervous to do live – she nails it to cheers throughout. Her gorgeous, soaring voice takes centre stage on What Goodbye means, & Village, before switching to a more country twang for Half Broke Heart, which has the crowd clapping & na na na ing along.
The unmistakeable opening note of Dianne has the crowd almost drowning out the band, then we hear a cover of Patty Smith’s Because The Night, straight into ‘Til There’s Nothing Left, & finally, Burning House, which brings cheers so loud Cam’s brought to an emotional stop before bringing home the last chorus.
Jordan Davis begins with his first ever song, & first number 1 – Singles You Up, followed by Damn Good Time, & Slow Dancing in a Parking Lot. There’s a proposal in the crowd, making it the perfect time to sing Next Thing You Know, & certainly a memorable moment up on stage.
We hear Cold One, written with Aussie band Seaforth, & he takes a moment to acknowledge how much it takes to get to a festival like this, & how far people have travelled, & shares that the next track was written with his brother & earned them a CMA Award. Of course it’s Detours, which takes its own detour to a mash up of Coldplays’ Fix You.
Shortly after No Time Soon the crowd roars as Jordan does a shoey in a cowboy boot, signs the boot & tosses it into the crowd. Next up is Tucson Too Late, from the new album, & Part Of It, one of his favourite songs, about his Grandad.
The sentimental mood shifts to rocking big guitars for Take It From Me, leading into the phenomenal number one duet with Luke Bryan, Buy Dirt.
There would be no bigger song to end with – Jordan stops singing & the crowd is a loud choir for the chorus one more time.
The crowd turns their attention to the Rebel Stage one last time tonight for the headliners, Zac Brown Band, for their only Australian show, here at CMC Rocks.
Homegrown eases us in, then Knee Deep, featuring Jimmy Buffet, & Keep Me In Mind – Zac says we sound good & points to the crowd for us to fill in our part, but there’s been no need for any coaxing from the moment they stepped on stage.
Violin has been a feature in each song so far, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear The Devil Went Down To Georgia. What a cracking cover, you can see the concentration on their faces as we witness the blistering speed & great skill of the infamous duel, red lights adding to the atmosphere.
They pull back on the energy with a track off the latest album The Comedown, called Wild Palomino, which features Cody Johnson. Zac smiles & nods with the instant reaction as he barely strums the opening to Toes, clearly a crowd favourite as people hold their phones high to catch the moment, followed by As She’s Walking Away featuring Alan Jackson, & Out In The Middle.
My favourite moment of the night is an unexpected cover of the Rolling Stones Paint It Black, which was recorded for an upcoming Stones tribute album, & the single was released today.
It begins with a gorgeous violin intro, heavy on the drums, the footage on the big screens is in black & white, with flashing red lights just on the ceiling. Goosebumps! There’s a crescendo of drums, guitar, & violin, then the outro is just violin.
A moment that powerful could be mistaken for the end of the show, but we know there are still number 1 singles we haven’t heard.
Percussion get their chance to shine with a solo & it’s back into familiar territory with Free, which was inspired by a backpacking trip in Australia that led to a sunrise hike on Mount Warning, then Jump Right In. The crowd gets stirred up by another cover – Metallica’s Enter Sandman, with John Hopkins on lead vocals.
The three biggest tracks of the night begin with a piano intro, & it looks like Zac’s getting emotional singing Colder Weather, which segues into a cover of the Eagles Take It To The Limit, then back to Colder Weather, and the band’s 14th number 1, Same Boat.
It’s been a long day, yet the crowd is still enthusiastic to belt out Chicken Fried as the show comes to a close.
At the end of the night, the Zac Brown Band have confirmed for us all “it’s fun having fun….”
Check out Tamcam Images gallery of Day 1 HERE
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.AMNPLIFY – DB
