Michael Gudinski’s state memorial service a star-studded send-off
The music industry kingpin’s state memorial was an unforgettable night in Australian music history, featuring Kylie Minogue, Jimmy Barnes, Ed Sheeran and Paul Kelly.
Michael Gudinski thrived on the vibe. Lived it, loved it; was obsessed by it, driven by it, spent his whole life chasing it, seeking to push it higher and higher.
In turn, his infectious enthusiasm was transmitted across and absorbed by several generations. Millions of Australians learned to love his business and creative instincts, which together formed five decades in music, cutting deals with some of the greatest musicians of our time to either put their songs out into the world, or bring them to our shores to perform, or both.
In turn, his Mushroom business empire gave Australian music fans incalculable pleasure and countless life-changing concerts at the same time as he made himself into a wealthy and generous captain of industry; a singularly charming, disarming and unforgettable figure in a sometimes shady, always risky business.
So how was the vibe at his state memorial service, held on Wednesday night at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena before about 7000 people?
Well, it ended with Jimmy Barnes screaming his heart out on lead vocals, while behind him, the night’s other performers – Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran and Paul Kelly among them – either shared microphones or banged away at tambourines, as Barnes’s top-shelf rock band ran through Good Times, the Easybeats song he covered in 1987 with INXS.
The vibe, then, was incredible. It was an extraordinary cap on an unforgettable night in Australian music history. There was only one man who could have gotten those artists to be on the same stage.
While there’s a sadness in the fact the man himself didn’t live to see it, having died suddenly on March 2, aged 68, it’s also true that such an unusual collaboration simply wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t been here in the first place.
The fact that Sheeran, the British pop singer-songwriter who is one of the world’s most popular artists, secretly left Britain to be there in Melbourne – after serving his two weeks in hotel quarantine, of course – speaks volumes of the power and pull that Gudinski had within the entertainment world.
Artists tended to love him, and while only Sheeran could be there in person, plenty of headline acts sent in video messages, which were shown on big screens throughout the service.
Taylor Swift, Dave Grohl, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, Rod Stewart: all were Frontier Touring clients of his at one time or another, but all were clearly fond of him beyond the bounds of any contractual obligations, and all mourning the Gudinski-sized hole left behind.
But those were just the international acts; although his lifetime global air mileage was higher than just about anyone, as he tirelessly pounded foreign pavements in search of record deals and lucrative touring contracts, Australia was where his career began, and the likes of Missy Higgins, Kate Ceberano, Deborah Conway, Amy Shark, Daryl Braithwaite and Ian Moss chipped in video tributes of their own.
Ahead of proceedings, which began at precisely 7.07pm – a start time chosen as a nod to Gudinski’s favourite wine, the Penfolds Bin 707 cabernet sauvignon – the vibe was more upbeat rock concert or lively footy match than what you’d expect to find at a state memorial service, complete with governors and former premiers in attendance, while Daniel Andrews’s wife Catherine was there on the premier’s behalf while he recovers from his recent spinal injury.
All this was to be expected, though, as music fans don’t come any bigger than he did, while the footy fandom was captured through the Mushroom-branded scarfs worn by current and former staff of the empire he built.
Everyone who walked through the door at Rod Laver Arena – thousands of them, in one of the biggest indoor gatherings held anywhere in the country, perhaps the world, since the pandemic was announced 12 months ago – was handed a cardboard record sleeve.
The front cover showed a smiling Gudinski near the end of his 68 years of life, index finger raised in his trademark gesture of triumph; the back cover showed him in his youthful prime, somewhere around the time he started Mushroom Records in 1972, aged 20.
Inside the sleeve was a collage of photographs that featured him with dozens of artists, as well as his wife Sue and children Matt and Kate. The night’s order of service was a paper insert in the shape of a Mushroom record.
Over the PA, a greatest hits of the record label’s artists – Kylie, Jimmy, Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors, Vika & Linda et al – was played loud and proud. Out on the concourse, long queues formed at merchandise desks selling one-off commemorative T-shirts marking the occasion with a couple of different designs.
Priced at $40, this was no gauche cash grab: all proceeds will be directed to music industry charity Support Act, the same organisation to which his family encouraged cash donations in lieu of floral tributes.
The efficiency with which the entire operation ran was no surprise, for blending the mechanics of rock ‘n’ roll with commerce was the mission to which Gudinski devoted his working life. In his absence, those left behind had been trained well, having also spent their working lives learning at the feet – and at the distinctive bark, beck and call – of a true master of this particular art form.
He had high standards in every aspect of his work, and he demanded the same from those who worked with him. As a result, it is highly likely that anyone who spent time in the orbit of his Mushroom Group of companies could think of few things worse than f..king up the boss’s big send-off.
They didn’t. Instead, the crew, technicians, planners and behind-the-scenes wizards ensured that somehow, a service which stretched toward three and a half hours contained no fluffed notes and no dull moments.
Expertly hosted by radio broadcaster and long-time friend Lee Simon, the ceremony contained light and shade, levity and gravity, laughter and tears, just like life itself. Put simply, his people did the boss proud.
So did his children, particularly Matt, who spoke in the precise opposite manner of his father – slowly and quietly – while also giving the longest speech of the night.
“Dad was never going to slow down and stop working,” he said. “He always wanted to go out on top, and he really went out on top: he was in the finest form of his life. The peak of his powers, dare I say. But sadly, he left us with so, so much more to offer so many.”
“One of the most remarkable traits of dad was his ability to walk into any room and completely change the energy with his infectious personality and vibe,” said Matt. “He was the king of creating the vibe. He loved the vibe, and it’s rubbed off on me. I love the vibe.”
Among the musical performances, Barnes and his band debuted a hard-rocking new song, Flesh and Blood, which he had showed to Gudinski shortly before his death. With his daughter Mahalia, the Barnes’ combined take on the Cold Chisel ballad When The War Is Over was among the most emotional moments of the night, as the pair threw their grief and pain into a spine-tingling version of a classic song.
In a move that felt like vintage Gudinski, new Mushroom signing Mia Wray was gifted with a platform to perform her recent single Never Gonna Be the Same while backed by a 10-piece band and choir. She owned the stage like a seasoned pro, while Matt and Sue Gudinski nodded in approval.
Paul Kelly put a spotlight on Gudinski’s long-time belief and support in Indigenous Australian artists such as Archie Roach – who contributed a video message alongside Troy Cassar-Daley, Christine Anu and Dan Sultan – before offering a beautifully understated acoustic take on his song Leaps and Bounds, whose lyrics name-checked the nearby MCG. “I remember you, Michael,” said Kelly in the closing bars. “I remember you taking a chance.”
In the front row, Sheeran’s distinctive red hair stood out like a beacon as he sat beside Matt Gudinski, but for those situated toward the back of the arena, his arrival on stage was one hell of a surprise, especially given strict international border controls in place due to the pandemic.
“I’m extremely, extremely grateful to be here,” he said. “I know it’s a difficult thing to get into this country, and I don’t take it for granted, all the hard work to get me here. I just appreciate the opportunity to say goodbye.”
Sheeran hasn’t played a gig since August 2019, and to hear his world-conquering pairing of voice and acoustic guitar, unadorned and unannounced, was a treat. In 2018, he became the first act to sell more than one million tickets on a single Australian tour, but his connection with Gudinski went back several years earlier.
As well as his mega-hits Castle On the Hill and The A Team, Sheeran aired a new song he’d written while in hotel quarantine, thinking about his friendship with the departed. Yet its words and truths proved too close, too raw; his voice faltered near the end, and he soon broke down in tears as he left the stage.
Sheeran later accompanied Kylie Minogue on guitar and backing vocals in a truly unusual pairing: first they played her 2010 single All the Lovers, then in a real surprise, she decided to go way back to reprise her first hit with Mushroom Records in 1987: The Loco-Motion, complete with audience participation.
It was fantastic to see these two playing and laughing together on stage: both were significant players in Gudinski’s life across the decades, yet until that night, they had never met before.
Near the end, Mark Seymour was accompanied by Vika and Linda Bull for a stunning version of the classic Hunters & Collectors song Throw Your Arms Around Me, with their three voices blending together beautifully.
After a standing ovation for the man we had all gathered to celebrate, the crowd stayed on its feet for that once-in-a-lifetime performance of Good Times: Jimmy, Kylie, Paul and Ed, rubbing shoulders and singing together.
What a vibe. As the thousands of mourners filed out into the night, each of them was holding the cardboard record cover tucked under their arms, complete with his smiling face and raised index finger. Forever No 1, as the inside sleeve noted.
It was an earlier video message from one of the younger Mushroom artists that really summed up who Michael Gudinski was, though, when the singer-songwriter Gordi, aka Sophie Payten, recalled an encounter with the man in the Melbourne CBD just a few months ago.
As Payten told it, they were standing there together on a beautiful summer night after she had played a gig in the city. As the trams dinged past them on Swanston Street, Gudinski looked around and said to her, or perhaps to himself: “I f..king love this place.”
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