By Mikayla van Loon
Australian indie rock musician Ruby Fields made her way out to Mount Evelyn on Thursday night, playing a gig as part of the ALWAYS LIVE Gonna Be Good series.
Debuting two new songs, while playing a selection of her hits like ‘Dinosaurs’, ‘Kitchen’, ‘P Plates’ and ‘Ritalin’ the crowd was buzzing with excitement for the local York on Lilydale show on 7 December.
As one of the final performances to hit stages on the outskirts of Melbourne and in the regions, ALWAYS LIVE CEO Steve Smith said “it’s been tremendous”.
“It’s a statewide, major event and we place a large focus on the ‘burbs and really it is about getting artists out into the pubs,” he said.
With the entire lineup of shows running over 17 days from 24 November to 10 December, the Ruby Fields performance closed out the Gonna Be Good series, which also saw bands like Holy Holy and Temper Trap travel to venues across the state.
“Seeing the Temper Trap at the Pier Hotel in Frankston really shows the scale of what this major event can do to help local markets from an economic point of view and in terms of employment,” Mr Smith said.
Despite the economic benefits for smaller townships and businesses, Mr Smith said post-Covid, events of this kind are more important than ever.
“Music is a great tonic and is a great way for people to gather, especially in the current economic situation, it can put a smile on faces just for a moment.”
Mr Smith said ALWAYS LIVE was the brainchild of the late music industry stalwart Michael Gudinski, who in 2018 brought the idea to the table and “convinced the Victorian government to support the live music capital”.
Unable to get the event going prior to the pandemic, Mr Smith said they “kept developing” throughout the lockdowns to bring the Foo Fighters to Geelong at GMHBA Stadium in 2022.
“They played to 40,000 and there has been nothing quite like it at that venue. It was the kick start to ALWAYS LIVE.”
This year’s program saw 400 artists perform, 300 from Victoria, across 63 live events in 30 different suburbs.
“The breadth of what we’re doing makes this event unique. Sometimes it might be the very first stage an artist has performed on, so it gives garage bands and emerging acts a chance to perform,” Mr Smith said.
“We’re trying to have a program for everyone, so emerging artists get a slot.”
“Attracting visitors” for the “local benefit” meant the bigger artists like Christina Aguilera and Zach Bryan bolstered the schedule of performances and gave support acts the opportunity to open for some of the biggest American artists.
Mr Smith said ALWAYS LIVE “is intended to be an annual event” with the dates for next year already picked for 22 November to 8 December and artists locked in for 2024 and some for 2025.
