Watch Camp Cope Reunite At Georgia Maq Melbourne Show

The reunion marked the first time Camp Cope had performed together since their final show in October 2023.

Camp Cope — singer and guitarist Georgia Maq, bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich, and drummer Sarah “Thomo” Thompson — reunited this week at one of Maq’s sold-out shows at The Tote in Melbourne.

In April, Maq revealed a surprise run of homecoming solo shows — she currently resides in Los Angeles. She hasn’t played any shows in Australia since Camp Cope disbanded in October 2023, with their final show taking place at the Sydney Opera House.

Due to phenomenal demand, the singer and multi-instrumentalist ended up locking in three nights at The Tote, following shows in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane, and Hobart.

Upon the tour announcement last month, tour promoters Select Music teased that Maq would be performing new songs alongside “everything you’ve missed.” But we doubt that fans in the room on Thursday (28 May) expected Camp Cope to stage a full-blown reunion, reportedly playing five songs together.

American publication Brooklyn Vegan captioned their video of the performance, “Georgia Maq got the band back together! In the midst of a solo tour of her home country of Australia, at a show in their hometown of Melbourne, Kelly and Sarah joined Georgia for a full Camp Cope reunion!”

Not much footage of the band’s reunion is available to watch online, but you can check out a couple of clips below.

In other Camp Cope news, Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich is releasing her debut book, It’s Not For You, this August.

It’s Not For You features interviews with a who’s who of Australian music. From the trailblazing careers of Marcia Hines and Vika & Linda Bull to Elly-May Barnes, who advocates for awareness of artists with disabilities, the book also features many of Hellmrich’s peers.

She speaks to her Camp Cope bandmates, Georgia Maq and Sarah Thompson, plus Amyl and the Sniffers’ Amy Taylor, Angie McMahon, BARKAA, Courtney Barnett, Fanny Lumsden, Julia Jacklin, Kira Puru, RVG’s Romy Vager, Sampa The Great, Sarah Blasko, music journalist Sosefina Fuamoli, and others. The book also features a foreword by acclaimed Australian broadcaster and journalist Zan Rowe.

A quote from Hellmrich on the official synopsis reads:

From our very first show in Brisbane in 2016, when we stopped mid-set to call out a guy who was pushing to the front and shoving women aside, we knew exactly what kind of space we wanted to build. One where women and queer people didn’t have to shrink themselves or brace for impact if they didn’t. And if you had a problem with that, it was not for you.

You can pre-order your copy of the book here.

In January 2024, the pioneering Camp Cope released their final-ever show—filmed at the Sydney Opera House in October 2023—as a full-length concert film, available to watch for free.

Drummer Sarah Thompson said of the surprise release, “Camp Cope fans have always been the reason we have loved playing live, and this night was no different. You made it a show (and career) we will never forget. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your support over the past eight years; none of this could’ve happened without you.”

In 2023, Camp Cope were nominated for the Australian Music Prize for their third and final album, Running with the Hurricane, released in 2022.