'The Timing Just Felt Right': Night At The Barracks' Founders Talk Growth, And Their Expansion With Night At The Parkland
As Brisbane welcomes new festival Night At The Parkland, the co-founders of event agency Second Sunday talk their growth and success.
Night At The Barracks (Source: Supplied)
Ask any music fan and they'll agree that it's hard to get a festival right.
Not only does it need to boast artists that punters want to see, but it needs to be accessible, welcoming, and provide an experience that makes attendees want to return for a second outing.
Creating a successful festival can be a difficult undertaking at the best of times, but for the last four years, Sydney's Northern Beaches has been home to an event which only seems to be getting better each and every year.
First launched in 2022, Night At The Barracks has turned Manly's North Head into an annual celebration of music, with local icons coming out to perform some immensely well-received shows.
The positive feedback has only continued, with 2025 not only marking the event's fourth year but coinciding with the launch of another festival; Night At The Parkland.
An expansion which sees the franchise extend its reach up north to Brisbane, it's the latest addition to the roster of events agency Second Sunday.
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In the wake of the nascent festival's announcement, we spoke to Second Sunday's co-founders Cameron Coghlan and Brendan Maher to discuss the history of their professional relationship, and how it's grown to bring us not only Night At The Barracks but the forthcoming Night At The Parkland.
For Coghlan and Maher, their careers in the event space started many years ago, with the pair first crossing paths by way of the touring Nitro Circus action sports live events.
While Maher had a storied career in the world of live festivals which included the likes of the Good Vibrations Festival, Parklife, Big Day Out, and more, their intersecting paths led to the creation of a professional relationship which would allow them to spend a little bit more time at home rather than abroad.
"Nitro Circus was a good training ground for us," Maher remembers. "It toured 12 months of the year, and we were there for about 10 years each.
"But it was great training because it's large scale. We played Madison Square Garden, the O2 Arenas in London; it was proper touring which has given us a good handle on skills and things that we've brought back here to Australia."
"That's where our relationship started," confirms Coghlan. "But we always asked, 'What could we do at home?' We were traveling six months of the year, and our wives would prefer us at home, so that's when we created Second Sunday."
For the unaware, Second Sunday labels itself an "internationally recognised event agency," and one that has been behind some of the biggest undertakings in recent years, including the likes of the Souled Out festival, the X Games Sydney, and the 2023 ARIA Awards.
After years of international activity and hitting up locations like Madison Square Garden, Second Sunday's goals were a little more close to home.
"Our ambition was always to promote our own events, and that was something where you'd need to have your own company or go and work for one of the big promoters," Maher explains. "For us, there was a desire to set a base up in Australia and work on the events that we were interested in, which was a mix of music, action sports, big arena spectaculars."
However, it's the latter category – music – for which the average punter might know Second Sunday best, with their Night At The Barracks concert series having been running since 2022 and serving as a highly-anticipated annual event for Sydney music-lovers.
In theory, Night At The Barracks could also be used as a case study for how to effectively utilise a music grant as well, with the event being made possible thanks to their receipt of the RISE Grant in late 2020.
"We started in 2018 and one of our first events was the X Games, so we kind of hit the ground running and we were very busy," Maher remembers. "Then when COVID hit, obviously this whole industry stopped dead.
"At that point, we decided to pursue things that we really wanted to do, so we used that downtime to come up with concepts."
"We got to planning and there was an iconic venue at North Head – an old military parade ground that had essentially not been used for 20 years," recalls Coghlan. "We wrote to [Manly State Liberal MP] James Griffin and explained how that site could be used and showcased to people and bodies into Manly after COVID had really taken its toll on a tourist hot spot.
"So we put the concert series together, which runs over a month, and we've just seen that grow year on year, and we've been engaging with the local businesses on how we can work together to draw those crowds into Manly."
Somewhat ironically, Night At The Barracks positions itself as one of those rare bright spots to come out of COVID. Its debut year featured myriad names, including the likes of The Rubens, Tim Finn, Something For Kate, Jessica Mauboy, David Campbell, and much more. Since then, things have only continued to grow for the festival.
Hoodoo Gurus, Kate Ceberano, Missy Higgins, Icehouse, Birds Of Tokyo, The Presets, and much more have appeared in the ensuing years, with its 2025 event set to feature the likes of Cut Copy, Lime Cordiale, and Grinspoon, just to give a small taste.
Most importantly though, its continued growth is a testament to the impact of grants and how they can impact the wider community.
"One thing that when we reflect back on while looking at the RISE Grant, is that this event is something that did exactly what that was set out for, and that was to obviously help the industry at the time and provide funding, but also provide an event that is ongoing," Maher explains.
"And just being the two of us and not having the backing of big multinationals, that's exactly what that grant was written for and what has been achieved with Night At The Barracks, and now we're expanding out of it.
"Sometimes grants come out and don't really achieve exactly what they're meant to, but for us, without that initial cash injection, there's no way we could have sustained or even funded an event like this without it," he adds.
Maher's mention of an expansion is a prescient comment given the recent news that Night At The Barracks is receiving a sister festival up north by way of Night At The Parkland.
Harnessing that same ethos as its Sydney counterpart, the Roma Street Parkland will host the event this September, with seven shows scheduled across ten evenings. Featuring Icehouse, Lime Cordiale and Jack River, Xavier Rudd, Amy Shark, James Johnston, and more, it's slightly smaller than the Sydney edition, but a well-sized event for its first outing.
However, it's an undertaking that has been in the works for some time, with its origins aligning with the debut of Night At The Barracks.
"Probably from year one with The Barracks, we were hoping that it's a success and that we can grow this," Coghlan admits. "We also want to support the industry, it's given us so much for us to grow.
"So that was always in the plans. Did it happen earlier than we thought? Maybe, or probably, but the opportunity with Roma Street Parkland was too good to pass up."
"It's always difficult to know when to make that decision to expand because obviously it's a risky proposition," adds Maher. "But we felt like Sydney has established itself, and we're going into our fourth year, so the timing just felt right.
"But also, just noting a little bit of a gap in the market. I mean, we look at our event as a premium event where we spend money on production and really make sure that it's a great experience for not just the attendees, but also for the artists. And even in year one, when the numbers weren't looking great, we made conscious decisions to not cut LED screens, to not drop the level of production, amenities, and bars for attendees.
"We set ourselves up right from the very beginning to ensure we're delivering a premium product for all parties that are involved," he adds. "And that is reflected in comments we get back from attendees and artists. They feel looked after, they know we're going to have top level production and things like that, and that's really important to us as a brand."
Indeed, look at any reviews of the Night At The Barracks events and it's clear that the Second Sunday team are doing solid work in their delivering of memorable musical evenings. Much like a famous slogan from a noted automobile manufacturer, Second Sunday operates under the idea that quality is job one.
"We've been practicing for years," Coghlan says with a laugh. "For us to be able to finally do it on our own terms, we're really proud of it. We've got an incredible team that works really hard and, over the past four years now, have come to really know our brand and what we want to deliver to the public.
"We love what we do and it's really exciting that we can do this."
But with Sydney's Night At The Barracks having been such a success so far, and Brisbane's Night At The Parkland shaping up to follow suit, what's next for Second Sunday in this space? Obviously Coghlan and Maher can't say too much, though they're level-headed in their approach.
"We're very cautious in our growth, and a lot of factors have to be right," Maher says. "It's a very game we're in, so if it feels like there's the opportunity for something like this to happen in another market, we would definitely explore it. But we also want to make sure whatever we do, that it's sustainable.
"We aren't a festival and we're not a venue, but we still have the same issues and stresses that this whole industry's facing. So you can never rest on your laurels and never become complacent about how challenging it is to run an event of this nature in this current climate."
Likewise, are there any big plans for future line ups? Any bucket-list names they want to add to the bill at some point? Possibly, but the Second Sunday team are happy to utilise sustainable growth and celebrate the smaller wins instead of shooting for the moon too soon.
"There's been some 'pinch me' moments where Brendan and I have stood there on site at The Barracks over the last few years and thought about some of the acts that have played there," Coghlan remembers. "We just think, 'Wow, we've just had this person play at our event.'
"It's pretty incredible to think who we've had play and hopefully that results in a reputation where acts do want to come and play at our event. This year, particularly, we've had some really high-profile acts asking us if there's spots available and things like that.
"That's been really nice to hear," he adds. "We obviously want to keep supporting great Australian acts, but if there's some opportunities where we get some internationals in the future, that would be ideal as well."
With so many wins, with a nascent expansion, and with a growing reputation that glows with positives, the question of the key to Second Sunday's success has to be asked as well.
Why is it that events like Night At The Barracks are doing so well? Is it the calibre of artists on the bill? The effectiveness of the organisation? A combination of it all? Again, the team remain humble in their response.
"When we started, we identified that the big joke is that people from the Northern Beaches don't like to leave the Northern Beaches," Maher says with a laugh. "There's a lot of people that grew up in music, and there's some absolutely iconic pubs and bands that have come from the Northern Beaches.
"I think we identified that, but when it comes to our delivery we've also got a clear vision on what we want these events to be," he adds. "When we're walking around the site, we're thinking, 'What would we want this to be?', or if there's a particular area where it looks like something that could be an annoyance; 'How can we fix that,' or 'How can we lessen that?'"
"We get feedback from patrons as well – we absolutely see every bit of feedback we get and we're really conscious of it all," adds Coghlan. "We're trying to make sure that people that first came in 2022 are coming again in 2025 .
"We're really conscious that the experience needs to be the best for people. We go to events as well and we see experiences of other people and we pride ourselves on looking at how we can fix things or make them easier. 'How can we make transport to the event easier? How can we make queuing for bars better?'
"There's so many factors, every single night we're debriefing on every single show and looking at how we can make the next experience better every single time."
Tickets to the 2025 editions of Night At The Barracks and Night At The Parklands are on sale now.
Night At The Barracks 2025
North Head, Manly, NSW
Friday, September 12th – Cut Copy with KLP
Saturday, September 13th – ICEHOUSE
Sunday, September 14th – Kate Ceberano
Friday, September 19th – Hoodoo Gurus
Saturday, September 20th – Lime Cordiale
Sunday, September 21st – Amy Shark
Friday, September 26th – Ian Moss & Mark Seymour
Saturday, September 27th – Furnace And The Fundamentals
Sunday, September 28th – Yesterday’s Gone: The Fleetwood Mac Legacy
Friday, October 3rd – James Johnston with Zac & George
Saturday, October 4th – Grinspoon
Sunday, October 5th – Missy Higgins
Night At The Parkland 2025
Roma Street Parkland, Brisbane, QLD
Friday, September 5th – ICEHOUSE
Saturday, September 6th – Lime Cordiale with Jack River
Sunday, September 7th – Xavier Rudd
Thursday, September 11th – Amy Shark
Friday, September 12th – Grinspoon
Saturday, September 13th – Cut Copy with KLP
Sunday, September 14th – James Johnston with Zac & George
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