Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne
Day 2 of Riverboats Music Festival in Echuca had it all from the 6′ 6” tall Skyscraper Stan to the not-so-tall Katy Steele of Little Birdy. It was another beautiful day in Echuca, ideal for an outdoor music festival. Brian Nankervis from Rockwiz is the perfect MC, as he entertains the crowd with his frisbee throwing, rock quizzes and artist introductions. An incredibly funny and charismatic guy!
Skyscraper Stan & The Commision Flats opened todays festival with their unique brand of music featuring elements of country, psychedelia, and folk rock. Stan says he is a troubadour of rock’n’roll. He has a rich, deep baritone voice and the best way I can describe his music is Nick Cave meets Johnny Cash. Skyscraper Stan is an ominous figure on stage and quite the storyteller. Some of the songs we enjoyed were – Always Thinking of You, I Fell Over, Talk To Me and Down the M8. Their latest album Those Were Days (2025) is well worth a listen!
Emily Wurramara was on next and began her set with a special Welcome to Country and talked about how beautiful the land is around Echuca. Emily is a proud indigenous Australian singer, songwriter and activist and throughout her set she talked about her life experiences, indigenous heritage, how much family and country mean to her and the importance of valuing our beautiful country. Emily’s music is powerful, enchanting and soulful. A softly spoken woman with a beautiful voice. Emily’s music is heartfelt and varies between folk, indie, country and blues. Stand out songs were – Lady Blue and Carry Me Home. Her 2024 album NARA is wonderful.
Grace Cummings walks on stage with a can of GOAT beer, takes a swig and launches straight into her first song. Grace blew us away with her incredibly powerful and expressional performance alternating from keys to guitar. Grace has a vocal trope of starting down low, then building up and her beautiful vocals reminded me of the band London Grammar. There is certainly a wow-factor about Cummings live performance and I now understand what all the hype is about. Her performance of songs such as Everybody’s Somebody, Common Man and Work Today (and Tomorrow) was stunning.
Pierce Brothers are one of those ‘must-see’ live bands with their energetic stage presence and being identical twins, it’s fascinating to watch how in sync they are with each other. Jack is the multi-instrumentalist jumping around the stage playing anything he can get his hands on, from the didgeridoo, bongos, mandolin, drums, electric and acoustic guitar, harmonica, percussion and lute instruments. His brother Patrick plays acoustic guitar and is the main singer with Jack also providing backing vocals. There’s so much to love about them and their music and standout songs – Amsterdam, Golden Times, It’s Alright, Genevieve and Flying Home. They have a new album coming out soon!
Little Birdy with Katy Steele have had a 14-year hiatus. I last saw them about 15 years ago and it was wonderful to see them perform again. Hearing Katy sing Beautiful To Me was a crowd highlight. Other crowd favourites were – Baby Blue, Hairdo, and Brother.
Riverboats Festival is all about connections. I caught up with numerous friends throughout the day and much to my delight I unexpectedly ran into Paul and Debi who are my second family from Warrnambool and we got to enjoy watching Dan Sultan together.
Dan Sultan is an incredible Australian indigenous singer/songwriter who I have seen loads of times over the past 15 years. Dan sings an eclectic mix of and blend of country, blues, soul, rock’n’roll. He is mesmerising to watch as he sings heartfelt songs about love, life, family and his country. Hearing him perform two of my favourite songs Old Fitzroy and Kimberley Calling made my day. The crowd loved Dan’s performance and songs such as Walk Through My Dream and Every Day My Mother’s Voice.
The Cruel Sea we only recently saw last year support Cold Chisel on their 50th Anniversary tour. Tex Perkins is an enigmatic frontman with that distinct deep baritone voice backed with an incredible band that showcased their excellent musicianship with several instrumental songs. Hearing them sing The Honeymoon is Over was the crowd highlight. They played a few new songs such as Straight Into The Sun along with some deep cuts from their earlier days. Tex joked in between songs about a woman that jumped out in front of him in the street drinking a can of VB. She said to Tex that she had a poster of him on her wall for 20-years and only recently burnt it. He laughed and then led into the song Delivery Man. Other stand out songs were – You Are Gone, Woman with Soul, Deadwood, This Is Not The Way Home and Anybody But You.
Riverboats has an incredible feel good vibe to it and day 2 provided another epic day of wonderful home grown Aussie music. It all happens again on Day 3 of Riverboats with John Butler, Bic Runga, Dan Kelly’s Regional Crisis, Owelu Dreamhouse and Hana & Jessie-Lee’s Bad Habits.
