DAY 3-RIVERBOATS FESTIVAL – ECHUCA

DAY 3 – RIVERBOATS – ECHUCA – 15.02.2026
Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.

It is now Day 3, the final day of the Riverboats Music Festival in Echuca and yet again we’re being blessed with another perfect day featuring a wonderful mix of upcoming and established Australian artists.

Daisy Kilbourne is an Australian folk singer-songwriter and musician from Daylesford, Victoria. Daisy’s smooth and gentle vocals, along with her delightful storytelling was a revelation and I found her music to be heartfelt and sublime. Daisy plays acoustic folk and is influenced by 70s folk music icons like Joni Mitchell. Her songs such as Someone to Hold, Mother, and Alice are tales about love, family, resilience, loss, and self-discovery.

The Counterfeit ft Freya Josephine Hollick were a breath of fresh air, playing the music of spaghetti westerns. They are a nine-piece outfit, decked out in cowboy hats and looking the part. The band consists of a violinist, trumpeter, four guitarists, keyboardist, drummer, and a harmonica player, who wore a leather shoulder holster that held a number of harmonicas that he played during the show. The band performed a number of classic spaghetti western instrumentals including Day of Anger, The Vice of Killing, Burn Them Alive!, Until the Last Shot, Goodbye Colonel, and Farewell Helldorado. I was super impressed with their wonderful cover of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly with the trumpet player whistling and the keyboardist playing an ocarina. It sounded amazing! Freya Josephine Hollick joined them on stage for Arizona Colt, Ringo Come To Fight, Hurricane Lilah, The Olde River Grande, Django, and Violent Night. Freya immersed herself in the music featuring her raw, heartfelt, and haunting vocals. They finished with an instrumental of The Trio and announced they are about to release a new album of original spaghetti westerns.

Rhiannon Atkinson-Howatt, known professionally as Merpire, is the musical project of the Naarm/Melbourne-based singer-songwriter. Merpire began releasing music back in 2017 and has released two studio albums, Simulation Ride (2018) and Milk Pool (2025). Merpire came out on stage with a lime green electric guitar that matched her mini skirt and played a dynamic show, with her music being a blend of indie pop and alt-rock. Merpire’s vocals stood out to me as she can sing both intricate and soaring melodies that evoke a dreamy, melancholic atmosphere. Merpire played quite a number of songs from her recent release, Milk Pool (2025), like Premonition, Leaving With You, and Bigger, which had me hooked. Then, hearing Merpire perform a solo without her band on You Are Loved won me over, and I am now wanting to delve further into her music and follow her as an artist.

Paul Dempsey (frontman and guitarist with Something for Kate) performed his acoustic Shotgun Karaoke show. Dempsey came on stage and announced he would be singing a collection of his favourite songs. He opened with a wonderful cover of Losing My Religion (REM). Ship of Fools (World Party) followed, which the crowd loved along with Never Tear Us Apart (INXS). I personally think Dempsey could make any song his own and would be the kind of guy you want on a camping trip sitting around a fire, singing and playing acoustic guitar. He also performed Light Pollution (Bright Eyes), which the crowd weren’t as familiar with. Other standout songs were The Last Goodbye (Jeff Buckley), Caroline (Concrete Blonde), and I Want to Break Free (Queen), then one of my favourites, Against All Odds (Phil Collins). Merpire joined Dempsey on stage to perform a wonderful duet of The Chain (Fleetwood Mac). The show continued with If I Could Turn Back Time (Cher) and ended with a fabulous version of Boys of Summer (Don Henley).

Xavier Rudd is an Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is made for outdoor music festivals and was the perfect choice to headline and close out the 2026 Riverboats Festival with his one-man band show. Rudd blends a diverse mix of reggae, folk, blues, and roots music. He is a very spiritual man with a deep connection to the land, indigenous culture, and is a passionate environmental activist. Rudd had an instant, positive connection with the crowd, creating a feel-good vibe. Rudd noticed all of the kids in the crowd jostling to watch him and told security to lift them over the barrier and join him closer to the stage in the photographers’ pit. Rudd sings and plays a combination of instruments, including lap steel guitar, didgeridoo(s), percussion, stomp box, djembe, harmonica, and drums. He also performs intricate, real-time live looping, allowing him to create a full, rich soundscape. Rudd’s music is strongly influenced by his ‘way of being and beliefs’, and this stems deeply into his music with earthy songs like Spirit Bird, Storm Boy, We Deserve to Dream, Better People, and Let Me Be. During a didgeridoo solo, Rudd had a kookaburra laughing as part of the song’s soundscape, and at the end of the song, Rudd waved an indigenous flag. Xavier Rudd finished with crowd favourite Follow The Sun, which was quite fitting considering it was still 32 degrees and fans were baking, while waiting for the sun set.