Mushroom 50 Live: Emotionally-charged gig a big hit with fans
An all-star mega concert to celebrate 50 years of Mushroom records was a hit with TV viewers.
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The Mushroom 50 Live celebration of 50 years of some of the finest songs and artists to shape Australian pop culture was a resounding success with Sunday night viewers, with more than half a million fans tuning in to watch the show.
Seven played a numbers game with Sunday night’s show, splitting the broadcast into three ratings chunks.
The main broadcast came third for the night behind the Seven and Nine news, claiming 557,000 metro viewers.
According to the ratings report, 490,000 also watched Mushroom 50 Concert Live – Late and 350,000 tuned in for the Finale.
The slick production and big name entertainers from Ed Sheeran, Hunters and Collectors and Jimmy Barnes to heart-stirring performances from Dan Sultan and Leonardo’s Bride demonstrated that live Australian music does have a willing and sizeable audience on free-to-air television when it is done right.
It was a passion project of the late Mushroom Records founder Michael Gudinski to get live music back on Australian television, with the late impresario pouring millions of dollars into his pandemic series The Sound showcasing the best of Aussie artists and new music before his passing in 2021.
It is understood that after the recent ARIA Awards, which unfortunately didn’t strike a resounding chord with television viewers but was well received by the industry that its Roving Enterprises executive producer Craig Campbell is keen to develop a new live music show for Australian screens.
SUPERSTAR PERFORMANCES
Nostalgia may have got bums on seats but it was the emotionally-charged performances from artists including Dan Sultan, Leonardo’s Bride and a career-making tribute to Renee Geyer which stole the spotlight of the Mushroom 50 Live celebration.
The 50 songs for 50 years themed-concert delivered superstar performances from Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Ian Moss, Miggy Higgins, Yothu Yindi and Kate Ceberano.
HUNTERS AND ED SHEERAN TEAM UP
With a technological assist, Ed Sheeran paid tribute to his mentor and Mushroom founder Michael Gudinski by singing Throw Your Arms Around Me via a pre-recorded video with Hunters and Collectors frontman Mark Seymour on stage at Rod Laver Arena.
H&C #Mushroom50pic.twitter.com/XLnA89lwgl
— Josh Rowe 🤖🧑â€ðŸ’» (@joshrowe) November 26, 2023
Their voices meshed well and mostly in sync, before Seymour was joined by the rest of the “Hunnas” to rip through Do You See What I See? and Holy Grail to close the show.
The big hits with fans watching the four and a half-hour concert broadcast on Seven belonged to artists who have emerged in the second half of Mushroom’s illustrious 50 years as an indie Aussie music powerhouse.
SULTAN SLAYS WITH SOLO
Sultan, who just won his seventh ARIA award with his recent self-titled album, absolutely slayed his tribute to the late Archie Roach and his Stolen Generation anthem Took The Children Away.
“They took the children away “
— Ella Cooper (@EllaCoo55777104) November 26, 2023
Powerful performance by Dan Sultan
🤘#Mushroom50pic.twitter.com/xKlyYk1zOA
With just the power of his compelling voice and piano, Sultan cut to the soul of the song, building to a heart strings-pulling crescendo as the band and string section kicked in. It was a magical, once-in-a-lifetime performance.
ABBY DOBSON’S VULNERABLE VOCAL
Another act which lit up social media viewers was Leonardo’s Bride, the sensual, vulnerable vocal from Abby Dobson, singing the cherished 90s altpop song Even When I’m Sleeping with bandmate Dean Manning playing guitar, proving a spellbinding set.
There was so much love for Dobson’s beguiling moment, which served to not only remind music fans of her singular talent but that she remains a recording and touring artist more than 25 years after that song swept the Australian airwaves.
STARMAKING TURN FROM WILSN
And for those who may not have tapped into Triple J in a while, there was some fresher talent to discover, most notably emerging soul and blues singer songwriter WILSN who scored universal approval for her handling of Heading In The Right Direction in tribute to the late great Mushroom artist Renee Geyer.
The inspired pairing of Gordi with new singer songwriter Lotte Gallagher for a breathtaking piano and vocal harmonic duet of the Split Enz perfect pop ballad Message To My Girl was mesmerising.
KYLIE GIVES AMY HER BLESSING
But the couch critics weren’t kind to Amy Shark for her reinvention of Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.
It appears she may have had some technical issues hearing her vocals. Minogue has already given her approval to Shark’s take which was released a week ago so she will bank that win.
Another surprise in the long show’s final hour was the appearance of Red Symons to perform the Skyhooks classic and Gudinski motto Ego Is Not A Dirty Word with Ross Wilson, who produced the track in the 1970s.
Symons concluded his cameo by “giving something back” to the audience by throwing a pair of old underpants into the crowd.
Skyhooks #mushroom50pic.twitter.com/8wMm04iBHy
— Josh Rowe 🤖🧑â€ðŸ’» (@joshrowe) November 26, 2023
DEBORAH CONWAY’S ISRAEL STATEMENT
Earlier, songwriter, performer and author Deborah Conway and her partner in life and music Willy Zygier made a sartorial statement in support of Israel at the Mushroom 50 Live concert, which divided social media watchers who either applauded her support of Israel or protested using the concert as a political platform.
The revered singer introduced her performance of It’s Only The Beginning, her 1991 hit solo single, by sharing how Michael Gudinski had not approved of her retro golf look for the video.
Wearing an all-white suit with a blue shirt and a Star of David pendant on stage, Conway closed her intro saying Gudinski would have approved of her outfit
“Plus fours were perfect on a golf course but it’s not exactly what he’d envisioned for his new signing’s debut single (video). ‘Where’s the miniskirt and sequins?’ We got each other’s measure over the years and with fondness and respect, I think Michael would love this outfit,” Conway said.
CEBERANO CELEBRATES FIRST KISS
Some of Australia’s entertainment careerists, whose early songs are indelibly stamped into the soundtrack of the past few decades, starred in the concert’s midsection. Kate Ceberano sang Pash dedicating the song inspired by her first kiss at a shopping centre in Melbourne and Gudinski.
Master songwriter Paul Kelly served up his unmistakeable backyard BBQ classic Before Too Long before paying a faithful tribute to The Sunnyboys’ Alone With You.
Angie Hart won hearts with her joyful rendition of the beloved Frente song Ordinary Angels from 1992.
And The Temper Trap, who renewed Gudinski’s passion for the recording arm of his business when Sweet Disposition blew up worldwide 15 years ago – it remains a global favourite summer anthem – stretched out on The Church’s internationally popular track Under The Milky Way before performing their signature hit.
BARNSEY GETS THE CROWD SINGING
Jimmy Barnes turned back the clock 40 years to mark the moment it all began for him as a solo rock superstar in Australia, performing his debut single No Second Prize to open the Mushroom 50 Live concert on Sunday.
Barnes, who shared the stage with wife Jane, daughters Mahalia and Eliza Jane and son-in-law Ben Rodgers, then conducted a huge crowd singalong as he gave the audience exactly what they wanted, his signature hit Working Class Man.
The concert at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Michael Gudinski’s culture-shaping independent music company, demonstrated the breadth of its talent roster of recording artists, songwriters and touring musicians.
The Seven broadcast opened with the forward-facing pop favourite Forever Young, a prerecorded rendition featuring Youth Group, who reached No. 1 with their version in 2006, recent tourist Sam Smith and emerging artists Budjerah and Mia Wray.
The fast-paced telecast kept the stars coming with Missy Higgins reprising her rendition of the 1986 revered altrock song Wide Open Road by The Triffids.
Soulful sister duo Vika and Linda scored rave reviews on social media for their bluesy Living In The 70s by the Skyhooks, the band who took Mushroom from the brink of collapse to pop culture powerhouse in the mid 70s.
Christine Anu and her daughter Zipporah struck a meaningful note in the four-hour show with their stirring rendition of My Island Home, the crowd giving a rousing cheer as Torres Strait Islander Anu sang “Our home is Australia!”
The Rubens, who the late Michael Gudinski championed before his death in 2021, won the Triple J audience online with their performance of Hoops, the song voted No. 1 on the 2015 Hottest 100.
Barnes’ good mate and Cold Chisel brother Ian Moss performed Tucker’s Daughter, his 1988 debut solo single released by Mushroom.-
DANNII MINOGUE FLEW THE FAMILY FLAG
Pop icon Dannii Minogue flew the flag for her family at the Mushroom 50 Live celebrations in Melbourne on Sunday to mark the legendary indie label’s 50th anniversary.
Minogue is one of thousands of Aussie artists and songwriters nurtured by the Mushroom group, the passion project of homegrown music champion Michael Gudinski and now taken it into its next decade by his son Matt.
She followed sister Kylie to sign with Mushroom in 1989 and released her debut single Love and Kisses in early 1990, recording for the label until 1995.
The sisters “appeared” during the live concert broadcast on Seven via one of the show’s tribute packages with Dannii, a guest at the big gig, who stopped by to pay tribute to Gudinski at his bronze statue with his signature No. 1 pose.
“We love this man; and we miss you,” she said.
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Originally published as Mushroom 50 Live: Emotionally-charged gig a big hit with fans
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