Following a month of celebrating the biggest names and newest faces in Australian music, the inaugural Surround Sounds Geelong and the Bellarine Music festival ended on a high Sunday 8 May with the much-loved multi-award-winning Australian country music artist Kasey Chambers, supported by duo Busby Marou at Costa Hall.
The impact of Surround Sounds on the City of Greater Geelong is significant. A total of 840 musicians performed 90 events, in 35 different venues, to over 14,000 people, from Thursday 7 April to Sunday 8 May.
Highlights over the month long celebration of Geelong’s live music cultural heritage include the two nights of OK Motel’s latest music tourism event West Town Music Club at the Geelong West Town Hall; Billabong Songs, a celebration of First Nations music, culture and yarns in Johnstone Park; Ngubitj, Samgooan, Water – Songs, Stories and Connection Projection at City Hall; Geelong Jazz Day; Ocean Grove Acoustic Festival; Music in Exile at the newly refurbished Palais Theatre Geelong; Her Story, through Her Song at the Potato Shed; up-and-comers Mundane Jane, Foam St and Violet at Platform Arts; Australian Music Vault’s Geelong Music Bus Tours with legendary Geelong music icons Mick Thomas, Adalita and Maree Robertson taking punters on a nostalgic journey throughout the City of Greater Geelong, highlighting the rich music heritage that is embedded within Geelong’s cultural DNA.
From Captain Bar to Costa Hall, from Norlane Community Centre to the Potato Shed, Geelong and the Bellarine was awash with classical, rock, punk, folk, doom, hip-hop and jazz.
Accessible, diverse, inclusive, joyous and broad, the Festival also featured responses to music through visual art in Draw the Music at Creative Geelong; APRA AMCOS one-on-one sessions and workshops with Alice Ivy and Jini Maxell; the opportunity to write Geelong’s music history in a one-off Wikipedia Edit-a-thon writing session at Geelong Library and Heritage Centre, and to hear first-hand from musicians Lloyd Spiegel and Ali Barter how they have each carved out thriving career paths in the music industry.
Cr Eddy Kontelj, chair of the Arts, Live Entertainment and Hospitality portfolio
With the broad offerings and the activations of Surround Sounds that occurred throughout the City of Greater Geelong, we are one step closer to becoming the live entertainment hub of regional Australia. Giving residents and visitors to our region over 90 events to choose from over the last month has helped to reinvigorate the live music scene and local businesses alike.
Surround Sounds Geelong and the Bellarine Music Festival was proudly presented by City of Greater Geelong and the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
