‘Can’t stop crying’: Melbourne’s comeback concert gets emotional

Play On, Melbourne’s comeback concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, was a night of triumph and tears. Make no mistake, live music is back.

Footloose: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard performs at Play On, Victoria, at Sidney Myer Music Bowl on October 30, 2022. Picture: rcstills

Victoria’s music, arts and culture sector has more than earned the right to play on.

After enduring the world’s longest lockdown, and 19 months of dark and silent stages, live music — primal, raw, celebratory, and joyously human — finally returned to Melbourne on Saturday night.

Four-thousand vaccinated punters attended Play On Victoria, the state’s first live music event since pandemic restrictions shut down gigs, theatre, festivals and galleries.

Victorian-based acts King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard, Amyl and the Sniffers, Baker Boy, Vika and Linda, and Grace Cummings co-headlined the event at the Myer Music Bowl.

“It’s a very emotional day,” singer Vika Bull said on stage. “I can’t stop crying.”

The Play On line-up was a snapshot of homegrown success stories in 2021; thrivers and survivors, even in the face of brutal restrictions.

King Gizzard’s return to the spotlight at followed a stretch of scrapped residency shows where they planned to play 75 songs, across various genres, over five nights.

Vika and Linda perform at the Play On Victoria concert. Picture: Tony Gough

Amy Taylor, of Amyl and the Sniffers, at the Play On Victoria concert. Picture: Tony Gough

Baker Boy at the Play On Victoria concert. Picture: Tony Gough

The prolific and proficient Melbourne band, which has released 18 studio albums in its nine years of existence, played the gamut on Saturday.

Gizz was intense, unrelenting, and fun.

They dedicated one song to “sexy Sutton” — presumably a reference to Victoria’s chief health officer.

Amyl and the Sniffers’ latest album recently charted at No.21 in England, and No.2 in Australia, and the band will soon leave to play shows in Europe and the US.

“We made it out of lockdown,” singer Amy Taylor, said before the Sniffers launched into a blistering rock set.

Baker Boy, fresh from stealing the show at the 2021 AFL grand final, brought the same energy to the Bowl, infusing his soul and funk repertoire with Indigenous flair, native language and traditional instrumentation.

Linda and Vika’s upbeat show was also a belated celebration, after they scored a No.2 hit with their latest album in September.

King Gizzard & TLW. Picture: Tony Gough

Roger Field, of Live Nation, which co-presented the concert with Frontier Touring and Arts Centre Melbourne said the event marked the “dawn of a confident return” to live shows, adding: “It’s definitely time Victoria played on”.

Punters had to check in to the event using a QR code and show proof of vaccination with a Covid-19 digital certificate.

Music fans Sarah D’Angelo, Enya Jasinski and Niamh Crowe, of Reservoir, arrived early to stake out a spot on the lawn close to the stage.

“We’re so happy, so keen and so glad to be here, respect the land we’re on, and love the music,” Ms D’Angelo said.

Enya Jasinski, Niamh Crowe and Sarah D’Angelo at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Picture: Tony Gough

Arts Centre Melbourne chief executive Claire Spencer said lessons from the event, which is part of Victoria’s vaccinated economy trial, will be shared with related industries, as music venues and theatres reopen.

Victoria’s Creative Industries Minister Danny Pearson said the Play On concert “symbolises Melbourne’s reawakening.”

He added: “We’re coming back. We’re reclaiming and remembering the things missed out on. It’s a renaissance and a rebirth of live music.”