CherryFest 2013 kicks off later this month, on Sunday 24th November, with 13 local and international acts hitting two stages at Melbourne’s famed Cherry Bar. And right on cue, the set times for this year’s edition have been announced.
Following in the annual event’s proud tradition, the timetable for the one-day festival has zero clashes, meaning you can catch every moment of every set of the CherryFest 2013 lineup, as long as you’ve got the stamina.
The soul infused garage rock sounds of festival headliners The BellRays will close out the festival over at the Jagermeister AC/DC lane main stage, with the recently reunited Melbourne pub rock legends, The Powder Monkeys, warming them up with their early evening slot, along with international acts Kadavar and Blues Pills.
Meanwhile, the second stage inside Cherry Bar will play host to local favourites like rock outlaws Sheriff, Hobart-born Melbourne-bred heroes Legends of Motorsport, the mighty Hoss, and a closing 40 minute set from Chris Wilson’s Crown Of Thorns. And it bears repeating: zero clashes, maximum music.
In fact, Cherry Bar co-owner and booker James Young wouldn’t have it any other way. Speaking in response to the downturn of the Aussie music festival market of late, that’s seen major players like Homebake, Harvest, Pyramid Rock and Big Day Out suffering, Young explains that it’s the local lifeblood that keeps the smaller festival scale pumping healthily.
“Turns out people want to go to music festivals with a modest ticket price ($54-$64), modest capacity (800 people), great lineup (13 quality acts with no clashes), easy access to cheap booze and be part of an audience made up of genuine music lovers. That’s why we’re going to have another sensational sold-out event on Sunday 24th November and that’s why we’re going national next year,” reveals Young.
That’s not the only news the Cherry Bar co-owner has, with the venue announcing their very own Awards ceremony that will launch the month after CherryFest 2013 in a rock n roll ceremony that not only honours local acts, but features live sets from Aussie bands as well.
“I book over 1,200 different acts a year at Cherry, 99.9% have zero chance of even being nominated in Australia’s major Music Awards. Some of these bands are brilliant. And these bands really really need the leg-up,” says Young of the inaugural 2013 Cherry Awards, which were created because the venue operator “frustrated at most music awards because established acts win or one act wins all the awards and rock tends to get overlooked.”
A recent example being Flume, the Sydney beatmaker scooped up wins in all but one category he was nominated for at this year’s AIR Awards, and has also earned a J Award nod and leads the ARIA nominations pool (with eight) and already taken home the Producer of the Year Artisan Award.
A situation that Young is none too happy about it; “when Flume wins 5 this year I will neck myself… no act should be allowed to win more than 2 ARIAs in any one year.”
Ouch. In the meantime, check the CherryFest 2013 timetable, dates, and details below.
CherryFest 2013 Set Times
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CherryFest 2013 Dates & Tickets
Sunday 24 November 12noon- 9.30pm
Cherry Bar and AC/DC Lane, Melbourne
13 acts, 2 stages
18+ event
Tickets $64 only from www.cherrybar.com.au
Strictly limited to 800 patrons
