Tamworth Country Music Festival
18 Jan, 2010
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27 Jan, 2010
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Festival Type:
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Country
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Events:
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Location:
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Tamworth,
New South Wales
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Website:
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www.tamworthcountrymusic.com.au/
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Australian Country Music Capital's annual January Festival runs generally through the last two weeks of the month.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival is recognised as one of the top 10 music festivals in the world and rivals America's annual Fan Fair in Nashville for size and attendance as the world's biggest country music festival.
More than 2,500 individual events and activities are staged in more than 100 different venues ranging from pubs, clubs, shopping centres and on the streets of Country Music Capital to major shows in huge clubs and the 5,000 seat Tamworth Regional Entertainment Centre. Entertainment ranges from street buskers to all the major stars. Virtually every country music artist in Australia performs annually at Tamworth.
General guide for festival first-timers
Possibly the biggest party in the whole of Australia, the Tamworth Country Music Festival is celebrated for 10 days from mid January each year. If you include the ten day Countdown to the festival you could Texas Twostep for twenty days straight and you wouldn’t be the only one, no siree.
In January, the population of Tamworth almost doubles in size to 100,000 and the festival generates more than $40 million to the local economy. They come by ute, bus, train, plane - some blokes used to travel each year by camel – to the large inland city on the banks of the Peel River.
The festival itself is a mighty, large beast and it seems that no one organization is able to wrangle it. Tamworth Regional Council is the hub in the wheel. They gather sponsorship and provide the massive infrastructure needed to cope with such an influx of revellers. They will truck in more water if necessary and monitor the poo-ometer (don’t ask) to record attendance levels.
Tourism Tamworth is the group charged with marketing the festival and start to sell some tickets online in October. The official program is available from newsagents at the beginning of January. Event information is published for free (as it becomes available) on our gig guide all year round.
Surprisingly, the festival does not have central ‘auditions’ for performers - each band or their management strikes their own deals with individual venues. Some musicians perform for free after all, it was good enough for The Chambers family band ‘The Dead Ringers’, Keith Urban and countless others who got their start at the festival by busking on Peel Street.
The spirit of Independence infuses the beat of Country Music and can be felt loud and proud amongst the campers. A semi-retired couple from Queensland build a walk-up stage at their own expense each year at the Cricket House Campground, providing free entertainment and a place to perform for fellow country music lovers. They do it because they love it and love being involved. Bless ‘em.
It is estimated that 75% of festival gigs are free and that makes the Tamworth festival a regular punters’ delight. There are no armbands or daily tickets required. Just grab your hat, the program for the day and leg or bus it around. Carry your folding chair if you plan to linger round the buskers.
You could splash out $100, dress up and go to the Country Music Association of Australia’s night of nights, the Golden Guitar Awards, or turn up for free at the same event in your thongs and shorts to line the red carpet and cheer on the stars – take your pick.
Country Music performers are the friendliest, most down to earth celebrities and when in Tamworth happily sign hats, CDs and even bodies. The stars use Tamworth to say a genuine ‘thank you’ to their fans who have bought their music year round.
With some 120 different venues showing about 4,000 performances, about 590 buskers on the ‘Boulevard of Dreams’ (Peel Street) and so many visitors, it’s a wonder that country hospitality isn’t stretched to breaking point but the smiles on the locals are as wide as ever.
Some locals rent their houses out - but increasingly it seems more locals are staying put and getting into the festival spirit. School and sporting groups rent out buildings and local footy fields to campers, raising much needed funds to carry the rural community through the rest of the year.
Legend surrounds the origins of the festival but however it started, it shows absolutely no sign of stopping and the variety of music on offer has rolled way past the songs that put tears in your beer to include alternative country, independent country, country rock’n’roll, rockabilly, rock, world music and blues. Name your genre… you’re likely to see it performed somewhere in Tamworth in January.
The most amazing part of the festival is the atmosphere - a testimony to country music’s renowned friendly vibe - getting involved in conversations with friendly strangers as you line up at the bar, strolling home in the balmy night at 3am wondering if you can possibly attend the poets breakfast at 7am, the music, the dancing, the freedom to move between venues.
“February is for sleeping” as they say in Tamworth. Some festival goers have booked the same accommodation every year for over twenty years - it honestly is one event every Aussie should go to at least once in their life.
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