Tamworth Country Music Festival: full steam ahead for 2022 event in 50th year
‘We’ll send a great signal not only to the rest of Australia, but to the industry generally that we’re back, and we can manage this,’ says festival manager Barry Harley.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival is poised to become one of the first major music events to be held with high national vaccination rates, and organisers are pressing ahead for the annual event to return in January.
“We’re buoyed by the percentage of vaccinations, and buoyed by the conversations that seem to be suggesting that by December, we’ll be in a much better place than what we currently are – and so we’ve elected to go full steam ahead with our planning,” festival manager Barry Harley said.
The NSW festival, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary, usually attracts about 300,000 country music fans across 10 days to take in a program comprising some 2000 concerts held at pubs, halls and parks in the city.
“It’s not a one-area, gated festival – it’s spread across more than 80 venues, all of which have the ability to manage their capacities, regardless of what restrictions may still be in play,” Harley said.
“We’ll send a great signal not only to the rest of Australia but to the industry generally that we’re back, and we can manage this,” he said. “Living with the virus takes a little bit of extra management – but we can do it.”
Its absence from the calendar earlier this year because of Covid restrictions was keenly felt by local businesses, as well as musicians and their crews, who had for decades based the start of each working year around performing at Australia’s home of country music.
In line with the NSW government’s reopening road map, which will see much of the state fully reopened by December 1, organisers will be making a few changes ahead of its January 14 opening.
The festival’s major outdoor venue of Bicentennial Park will be fenced for the first time in an effort to control crowd numbers, while queues at artist signing events will be monitored to ensure that each gathering is Covid compliant.
The festival was awarded $150,000 under the NSW government’s Regional Events Acceleration Fund, which will be put towards paying artists and crew for free concerts held in Bicentennial Park.
Country star Adam Brand will headline a show on January 20, while Travis Collins will appear the following night.
For singer-songwriter Ashleigh Dallas, who lives in Tamworth, cancellation of this year’s festival was a major disappointment. “It hit me a lot harder than I was expecting it to,” she said.
“The energy the festival brings to the town was clearly missed, even in the lead-up.
“Being a local girl, every time we went into town from early January onwards, it was deflating for me personally, and quite sad.”
On January 19, Dallas will perform her first headline show at the city’s iconic Town Hall, which also hosted the first Golden Guitar Awards in 1973.
“As a little kid, I always dreamed of being able to play there, so I think it’s really special that we’re doing it this year with the 50th [anniversary],” Dallas said.
“Our kids have been disrupted just as much as any industry, so I really love that families will be able to gather at the festival again.
“Hopefully it will give some kids a push to follow whatever it is that makes them feel good, and to know that they can weather the storm and come out the other side.”
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