Aussie musos protest NSW health orders after viral video of singing and dancing at Hillsong youth event

As Hillsong Youth event attendees sing and dance without masks, Aussie musos band together to form Thrillsong to call for health orders to apply equally.

More than 20 Australian musicians have banded together to form the supergroup Thrillsong to protest the NSW Government’s health orders banning singing and dancing at festivals after a viral video showed thousands of unmasked people celebrating at a Hillsong Youth Camp.

Chartoppers including rapper Illy and electronic duo Peking Duk have protested their festivals being cancelled because of the ban yet religious and sporting events have been allowed to proceed.

The “supergroup” which also features Lime Cordiale, The Jungle Giants, KLP, Alex The Astronaut and WhatSoNot, issued a statement advertising it was “ready to take bookings for religious and sporting events around NSW, because at the moment they can’t play anywhere else.”

“We firmly support measures to protect our fans and communities and to safeguard our health care workers, we simply ask that if rules are made, they apply to everyone equally.” the supergroup said. “We need to be in this together.”

The protest came as a video circulated on social media of festival-like scenes from the Hillsong Youth event in Newcastle dancing and singing without masks or social distancing.

“If it looks like a gig and sounds like a gig, guess what, it’s a gig. Health workers, communities and fans come first, we need one rule for everyone,” the supergroup said.

Rod Stewart’s Australian tour in March is another casualty of the Omicron outbreak which is again decimating the music industry as health orders shut down concerts and festivals.

Stewart originally booked his The Hits! tour for October 2020 but was forced to postpone the tour until March 2022 because of the pandemic.

But with the Omicron outbreak sweeping the world, the 77-year-old rocker announced on Thursday the tour was off.

Rod Stewart is the latest artist forced to cancel his tour because of Omicron outbreak. Picture: AFP.

“My dear friends, once again I feel we’ve all been cheated by this evil disease, so it is with great regret that I announce my shows for 2022 have had to be cancelled,” he posted.

“My thoughts are with all your families at this difficult time as we come out of the joyous and hopefully safe holiday season and I look forward to returning to Australia as soon as the health situation permits.

“I’m absolutely gutted with disappointment and when I do eventually get there we‘ll have the party to end all parties. Guaranteed!”

His cancellation comes as the embattled Australian music industry has begged the federal and state governments for an insurance fund, as festivals and concerts are cancelled or postponed again because of the raging Omicron outbreak.

The federal government yesterday announced a $50 million extension to the “Temporary Interruption Fund” set up to give the film and television sector the confidence to go ahead with big productions, including Nicole Kidman’s Nine Perfect Strangers, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis movie and Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor 4: Love and Thunder.

Nine Perfect Strangers was one production which could go ahead, because of government backing. Picture: Supplied.

But the music industry’s plea for a similar government-backed scheme has fallen on deaf ears despite the relentless interruptions caused by lockdowns and restrictive “Footloose” health orders against singing and dancing at outdoor events.

Victoria also ordered dancefloors closed this week, effectively shutting down nightclubs and other entertainment venues.

It’s shaping up to be another cruel summer for live music.

This week the Grapevine Gathering event starring Peking Duk, The Veronicas and The Jungle Giants, to have played to 16,000 fans on Saturday, and the Full Tilt hard rock festival in Adelaide for late January were cancelled.

Full Tilt has rescheduled this weekend’s event in Brisbane to April.

Peking Duk was due to entertain 16,000 punters in the Hunter Valley this weekend. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“We are extremely heartbroken to share with you that just four days out, we must cancel this weekend’s Grapevine Gathering NSW following a decision by the Government to amend the Public Health Order overnight which been amended to ban singing & dancing for outdoor events (until last night the ban was only for indoor activities),” organisers posted on Tuesday.

The Jungle Giants told fans they were “thinking about starting a church in NSW so we can play some gigs” after the new restrictions allowed people to sing and dance at weddings and other indoor settings.

The Jungle Giants joked they would become a “church” so they could play gigs in NSW. Picture: NCA.

Exhausted after two years of rescheduling tours and festivals into 2022, industry bodies including ARIA, APRA, Live Performance Australia and the Australian Festival Association on Wednesday issued a public plea for help.

“The Temporary Interruption Fund for the Film industry was today extended by $50m, yet the live music and entertainment industry’s calls over the past 18 months for a similar national scheme have fallen on deaf ears,” the statement read.

“Australia now lags behind New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Estonia in delivering a solution to this issue.

“Victoria has already delivered an insurance scheme that is now set to be tested by the Omicron-related disruptions, but a national approach is needed if the live music and entertainment industry is going to ‘ride this wave’, survive and play its role living with the virus.”