Review: Muster 25 Proves To Be A Major Success (Gympie Muster 2006)

14/08/06 - Muster 25 Proves To Be A Major Success

By Tim Holland

Evidence that country music enjoying a period of new found popularity could be found recently at Australia’s premiere country music festival, the Gympie Muster. In its 25th year, attendance figures and album sales from the event were up 30 per cent on the previous year. It was without question the most successful Muster in years. The outstanding line-up of performers and fantastic weather ensured that the thousands and thousands of attendees had the time of their lives at the week-long event.

All up over 30,000 people attended the festival – about 20,000 of which packed onto the main stage hill on Friday and Saturday night to see sets from the likes of Lee Kernaghan, Graeme Connors, Catherine Britt, Troy Cassar-Daley, Steve Forde & The Flange, Jimmy Barnes and Adam Brand. Brand’s electric set was my personal highlight and he took the opportunity to record a live video of his track for Cigarettes & Whiskey during the encore. I’m thinking that this will be a damn good video if the producer was able to capture the true vibe of the crowd on film.

Steve Forde also took the opportunity to record his Saturday evening Crowbar show for a live DVD he’ll release down the track. This show was another real highlight and like Mike Carr’s Crowbar gig last year, it got a little rough at times in the crowd! Forde’s big, black, shiny tour bus also proved to be a real attraction back stage. The reaction from some of the other artists after seeing the bus would suggest that a few of them might get their own tour buses in the near future – or perhaps they’ll just hire his!

Forde has arguably become Australia’s most entrepreneurial touring artist. He’s been able to earn a great living through extensive touring both in Australia and overseas while also investing in the only “mobile stage” of its kind in Australia, which is consistently hired by other artists. He’s also the only artist to own a tour bus. He now has five full time staff and seven casuals under his command and has many more projects in the pipeline.

The McClymonts, fresh from their performance at the ARIA Hall Of Fame event in Melbourne, also made a surprise appearance prior to Kernaghan’s set. Of the many young up and comers who performed at the festival, I was most impressed with Katrina Burgoyne. She performed on the main stage courtesy of her Talent Quest win the year prior. At just 18, she’s already a very polished performer and writer and I reckon she’ll be one of the artists to watch out for in the next couple of years. For the second year in a row, The Sunny Cowgirls were the highest selling artists at the Muster CD Store. Their new album went on sale at the start of Muster week.