Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
It was an absolutely stunning evening for the opening night of the Riverboats festival at Echuca in rural Victoria. It was a balmy 28 degrees and everyone was out and about with their folding chairs, picnic blankets, eskies and beverages soaking up the country air and enjoying some home grown Aussie music with the stage set up just near the Murray River. The cockatoos were out in numbers singing along with the artists. It doesn’t get much more Aussie than that!
The layout of the Riverboats Festival was perfect with market stalls, food trucks, bars, merch stand and toilets close to everyone but just far enough away from the stage so you could enjoy the music and either stand up front or sit in chairs.
The festival kick started with Welcome to Country and then The Pleasures opened the music festival with their fresh sound of country blues music. Fronted by Lachlan Bryan and Catherine Britt, this duo harmonise incredibly well together creating a mix of smooth, sublime country-folk and some gritty dirty blues. Their storytelling songs warmed up the crowd with songs such as Three Star Hotel and The Beginning of the End. Britt’s vocals were outstanding and Bryan’s guitar work completed their sound.
The Southern River Band (SRB) came out blazing on stage with Cal’s high energy, stage antics, humour and stories. The shirtless Cal is a true rock star reminding me a bit of the late great Bon Scott. Cal is mesmerising to watch and had the crowd in the palm of his hands right from the get go. As for the band, they play so tight together and look like they have so much fun performing. Highlight songs were Second Best, Stan Qualen, Vice City II, Cigarettes (Ain’t Helping Me None), and F*ck You (Pay Me). There were loads of families in attendance with young kids and Cal kept apologising for swearing and would then swear again straight away. He talked about smoking cigarettes, taking drugs, drinking booze to help with his singing voice and tried to be a good role model for all the kids in the crowd by saying don’t smoke and take drugs. There is so much to love about the charismatic Cal. I’ve seen them half a dozen times now and they just keep getting better. My favourite song Chimney is a ripper!
The legendary Ian Moss headlined tonight and did not disappoint all the Cold Chisel and Ian Moss fans in the crowd wearing their Chisel tees and singing along to Chisel songs like Bow River, One Long Day and Never Before. Mossy performed several songs from his new 2024 album Rivers Run Dry such as Nullabor Plain and Rivers Run Dry. Ian Moss re-arranged some of the songs with his band and having Ollie and Zoe providing backing vocals made for a different sound. Much to the delight of the crowd he played songs from the Matchbook (1989) album, opening his set with Such A Beautiful Thing. He also sang Mr Rain, Telephone Booth and Tuckers Daughter. Hearing Mossy sing Georgia On My Mind in the encore was a highlight and finishing the show with crowd favourite Bow River was icing on the cake.
Day One was an absolute ripper and we have so much more good music to come over the next two days, it’s going to be a blast. If you are in the area and looking for something to do, grab a ticket and come along to see artists like Pierce Brothers, The Cruel Sea, Dan Sultan and John Butler.
https://www.riverboatsmusic.com.au/
