Birdsville Big Red Bash 2025 returns to roots with John Williamson sunset gig
While this Queensland tourist attraction is taking a breather for its 2025 edition, organisers have booked one performer for a sunset concert to mirror the desert gig that set it all in motion.
The inaugural Big Red Bash in 2013 was a modest affair held atop the sand dune known as Big Red in far western Queensland.
The only performer that year was country singer-songwriter John Williamson, who was accompanied by guitarist Colin Watson as they played to a small crowd of endurance runners and volunteers associated with Big Red Run, a 250km fundraising ultra-marathon.
“I’d never performed on a sandhill before,” Williamson, 79, recalled with a laugh. “My first thought was, well, at least it’s not going to be bad sound here, with walls bouncing and everything; it’s going to be a beautiful, dead sound, which is what you like to record in. But it was great; there were people sitting on the sand dune all around me, and I don’t think it’s ever been quite as magic since – because then it got big, they invited all the rockers, and we ended up down the bottom, below the sand dune.”
In the years following its 2013 debut, the Bash would become an award-winning multi-day camping music festival drawing crowds in excess of 10,000 people thanks to headline acts such as Midnight Oil, Jimmy Barnes, Missy Higgins and John Farnham.
“I think the magic started with being on top of the sand dune; there was just something really different about it,” said Williamson. “I guess that was a real outback experience for everybody.”
Although festival organisers previously announced this major tourist attraction is taking a breather for its 2025 edition, the team behind the event – held near the tiny outpost town of Birdsville – has decided to stage a small-scale concert atop Big Red once again, and Williamson will return as the only musician booked for a special sunset concert on July 8 to mirror the very first desert gig.
“It’s an honour – but of course, the pressure’s on; if no one turns up, I’ll be bloody worried,” said the ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted country artist, laughing. “Hopefully, the sand dune (attraction) will do it as well. I think it’s become quite a thing to do for caravanners; it turns into a coliseum of caravans.”
Of the festival and its unique locale, Williamson said: “I always thought it was more about my kind of music anyway; my outback songs, and about what it is to be an Aussie, rather than rock ‘n’ roll. So I’m pleased they’ve come back to me, and not back to Barnesy or someone.”
Further details regarding ticketing for this one-off event will be announced in January.
“To have John Williamson performing again, after 12 years, on top of the iconic dune, along with the boost that it will provide for tourism in the outback, is truly is a win/win,” said festival founder Greg Donovan.
For Williamson, the Bash appearance will sit amid big plans for 2025.
“Next year is my 55th year since (breakthrough single) Old Man Emu; I also turn 80,” he said.
“It’s a big year for me, and I’m going to bring out a brand new album, too. I’ll be doing all the big venues once again; I’ve just done the Palais in Melbourne, and we virtually sold it out – pretty good for a 79-year-old.”
The True Blue singer’s tour dates announced so far include Tamworth (January 24), Brisbane (February 14), Hobart (April 11), Adelaide (July 25) and Bundaberg (September 13).
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