Review: Greg Phillips Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
The Red Hot Summer touring juggernaut has to be one of Australia’s most successful music enterprises, constantly offering quality lineups, great punter conditions and generally selling out each time tickets go on sale. Such is the success of Red Hot Summer that in 2026 they’ve gone deep into April with dates, which for the crowd at Mornington Racecourse on Saturday ironically meant a wet, wild and cold Autumn day. However, as acknowledged by each artist that hit the stage, these punters were true music fans, dressed accordingly in waterproof attire and intent on having good time whatever the gods threw at them.
Australian Musician had already covered this line up when they played Werribee back in February in 30 degree heat. We enjoyed the music so much that we’d come back for seconds. How could you knock back another chance to experience Jess Hitchcock, Kasey Chambers, The Cat Empire, The Cruel Sea, Missy Higgins and Paul Kelly all in one day?
Jess Hitchcock opened the day and is a revelation, with so much energy and a powerful voice to back it up. Featuring a four piece band which included PK’s bass player Bill McDonald, Jess rocked us through some country tinged tunes as well as a couple of classic rockers such as Sheryl Crow’s ‘If It Makes You Happy’ and Blondie’s ‘Call Me’.
The ever-casual Kasey Chambers had already been side stage watching Jess Hitchcock, strolled on to do her own gear tweaking among the road crew and then stuck around for her performance. Telling the audience she’d be mostly playing old stuff, Kasey launched into a dynamic version of ‘Barricades and Brickwalls’ with dad Bill Chambers on a gold top Tokai Love Rock, a Japanese Les Paul style guitar. After a heartfelt ‘Not Pretty Enough’ she picked out a bald bearded guy down the front who she congratulated for singing so passionately. “You’re the prettiest bearded man here,” she told him! With Kasey donning a banjo and drummer Syd Green coming to the front on lagerphone, they kicked into a vibrant ‘Hey’, a song originally recorded with Paul Kelly. Finishing up with ‘We’re All Gonna Die Someday’ from The Captain album, Kasey and band managed to entertain the hell out of us while dodging much of the inclement weather which was to follow.
The Cat Empire weren’t so lucky as they hit the stage to horizontal rain. Yet the storm didn’t so much hinder but elevated the excitement level of their performance. After all, we were all in it together! Beginning their set with the classic ‘How To Explain?’ from their debut album, the band had the crowd pogoing from the get-go. ‘Oscar Wilde’ was an inspired follow up with the formidable Neda Rahmani making her presence felt on percussion and vocals. The brassy ‘Prophets in the Sky’ kept the party vibe alive and the spirit never waned throughout the band’s commanding ten song set. ‘The Chariot’ was a perfect tune to end their stint with it’s poignant lyric in these troubled times, “Our weapons were our instruments, Made from our timber and steel”
The Cruel Sea opened their set with Shadder, a gorgeous tex-mex, atmospheric instrumental, showcasing the band’s significant fretted instrument skillset before frontman Tex Perkins made his way to the microphone for a nonchalant delivery of ‘Anybody But You’. After a couple of newer tunes from their current album Straight Into The Sun, the band then hit us plumb in the nostalgias with ‘Delivery Man’ “Better Get A Lawyer, ‘4’ and ‘Black Stick’. The accomplished guitar duo of Dan Rumour and Matt Walker left a final, majestic impression on us all with a brooding ‘This Is Not The Way Home’.
With darkness now fallen upon the peninsula, Missy Higgins took to the stage to raucous applause and laid ‘Going North’ upon us, a notion we were all feeling on this freezing cold evening. Thanking the audience for braving the elements, Missy and band put their heart and soul into the performance that at least warmed the cockles of our hearts if not our exteriors. The set was pretty much a slice of greatest hits, with ‘The In-Between’, ‘Hidden Ones’, ‘Craters’ and ‘Peachy’ cranked out early. A fabulous ‘Total Control’, a Motels cover elicited a mass singalong and ‘The Special Two’, ‘Scar’ and “Steer’ were the motivation the crowd needed to move their bodies even more.
We’ve seen Paul Kelly perform quite a bit in recent years and never tire of his timeless songs, executed wonderfully by his imposing group of musicians. The Cruel Sea’s Matt Walker was on stage too as Kelly explained that he’d recently broken a finger and Matt was the perfect solution to fill the acoustic guitar spot in the band. Kelly eased into the set with ‘Words and Music’ featuring Ash Naylor’s guitar nod and wink to The Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’, followed by ‘Rita Wrote a Letter’, the sequel to ‘How To Make Gravy’. It was a restrained beginning to Kelly’s setlist but before too long, the hits started to appear. (See what I did there?) ‘Careless’, he told us was built on a chord progression borrowed from iconic Brisbane band The Go Betweens. ‘Every Day My Mother’s Voice’ brought Jess Hitchcock to the microphone, once again demonstrating her stirring vocal abilities. Realising that the audience needed to dance their way to warmth, Kelly presented many of his great rockers including ‘ To Her Door’, ‘Dumb Things’, ‘Deeper Water’ and ‘Darling It Hurts’, mixed in with Kelly staples, “How To Make Gravy, ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ and finishing up with a beautiful a cappella version of ‘Meet Me In the Middle of the Air’ surrounded by his bandmates. A wet, cold Saturday afternoon had been transformed into a joyous occasion by a group of Red Hot musicians and an audience who’d come to party hard. Bring on next summer asap!
