Ferocious Storm Fails To Dampen CMC Rocks Spirit

A brief yet brutal storm could not derail the final day of the CMC Rocks The Hunter music festival yesterday as the elements forced both stages to be closed for 45 minutes for safety.

One of Australia's top country music events, alongside the Tamworth week and the Gympie Muster, the worst of the storm hit at approximately 2.30pm on Sunday, as Jedd Hughes was wrapping up his set. Lights on the main stage were damaged and the back window of a van in the backstage car park was smashed as people held on to tents that threatened to blow into the surrounding vineyards.

With an hour of leeway on Sunday between the end of headliner Toby Keith's set and the main stage curfew of 11pm the schedule was moved back 45 minutes and organisers managed to fit the intended program in.

Signage took a battering in the wind

The weather – which threatened all weekend – also had an impact on Saturday during Morgan Evans' set, one of the festival highlights. A storm of lesser severity than what would be seen the next day not only had punters scrambling for covers, but also American artists Craig Campbell and duo Love & Theft who were due to perform as guests.

“We'd organised for them to come out and sing this song Mercury Blues with us,” Evans told theMusic.com.au. “And that was almost about the time that that storm came over… Last year there was this really horrendous accident in the States when Sugarland were playing and the stage actually fell down, people died and it set new precedents [for safety].

“So now if there's lightning within eight kms of a stage in the States [they] shutdown for at least 45 minutes, get off the stage… so when the lightning came they scurried off the stage. I'm gonna say 'scurried' because I'm a bit dirty on them, nah I'm just kidding [laughs]. We made up last night.”

In the end Jim Lauderdale and Hughes – who worked closely with Evans on his record – joined him on stage.

Security keep people away from the stage during the wind

Despite the issues it caused, the weather couldn't dampen the spirit of the festival, which is steadily gaining a reputation as one of the country's top festival experiences – across any genre.

Evans had a big festival – an event he is tied to in a number of ways by being a host on Foxtel's Country Music Channel, the naming sponsor of the event, and counting co-promoter Rob Potts as part of his management team alongside veteran publicist Kerry Roberts. His set on Saturday night was the main stage highlight as he gave the tracks from his debut a real showcasing live. The album came out on Friday, and he cleaned up at the annual CMC Awards that night as well. Even if the record isn't the strongest debut ever, his showing here was proof that he's headed in the right direction.

He overshadowed international guest Gretchen Wilson, who was struggling with a strained voice during interviews throughout the day and didn't seem to utilise the stage as well as she could have during her Saturday headline set.

In fact the way Toby Keith's performance divided opinion you could say that on both Saturday and Sunday the highlights came before the international headliners took the stage. Those who have waited years to see Keith spent last night and this morning expressing their opinions on his stage presence on the festival's Facebook account – with few alleging that he might be treating this Australian visit as a chance to live out some of the themes in his hard-partying songs rather than focusing on the shows.

Lee Kernaghan the best of the three headliners?

The same couldn't be said for fellow American Clay Walker, who proved himself to be a consummate and experienced performer on Saturday during a set that passed far too quickly.

Evans wasn't the only act celebrating an album release at the festival. The Adam Eckersley Band's The First Album was released Friday and marked with an energetic rock'n'roll performance on the Australian artist stage prior to Toby Keith's headline set. They'd also played a three-hour stint at the Campers Bar into the wee hours of Sunday morning the night before. Modern day bush balladeer Luke O'Shea dropped Sing You Up as well, his Sunday set an ode to the people of Australia in the wake of increasing American influences.

Another group celebrating a record – and one of those American influences – were the Eli Young Band, whose latest record 10,000 Years is just a week old. They straddle the pop-country thing better than most and 10,000 Years is about as close to what mainstream country sounds like in 2014 as you're going to get.

One of the best received internationals of the week, the band's Chris Thompson told theMusic, “Ten or 15 or 20 years ago, country was just this one thing. A lot of country artists have pushed the boundaries and it's extended to something much larger and that attracts a larger audience.”

Jon Jones added, “It feels like there is a bit of the changing of the guard in country and there have been a lot of artists in the halls in waiting for a long time, it's nice when you see [the likes of] Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean do these huge headlining tours.”

Other mentions must go to Brisbane's indie-pop pushers We The Ghosts who played a great set – their last under that guise before a name change as well – but didn't seem to quite connect with the audience. We should be encouraging that type of adventurous programming though.

Blackjack Billy's party-country may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they can't help but whip an audience up into a frenzy. Love & Theft also had the crowd eating out of their palms, their live show much rockier than they come across on record.

The storm passing into the distance

FIELD NOTES FROM THE FESTIVAL

- 8,000 tickets sold across the festival.

- Kellie Pickler's bubbly personality was infectious to everyone backstage, even after she took a tumble during the storm.

- Crowd for We The Ghosts didn't seem to get the indie-pop thing, despite it being one of the best sets theMusic has seen them play.

- Gretchen Wilson seemed out-of-form, conditions weren't in her favour though and had to play after Morgan Evans.

- Lee Kernaghan had to cut about four songs out of his set due to the stage curfew – still a rousing set though.

- Even as the storm pummelled the festival the fans held their ground… and stayed in line for the Jasmine Rae signing.

- Love & Theft had a mammoth line at the signing tent and put in an epic two-and-a-half hours stint.

- CMC Awards really upped the ante this year, with much bigger production (although The McClymonts backing track didn't work and they announced the winner of the main award on the screen before it was read out).

- Head to CMC Rocks' Facebook page to see the Toby Keith argument play out.

BEST OF THE FEST

Morgan Evans
Clay Walker
Kevin Bennett & The Flood
Blackjack Billy
Lee Kernaghan
Kellie Pickler
Adam Eckersley Band
Luke O'Shea

All photos taken on a Lumia 1020