Sunday 12 April 2015 - Winmalee RFS Benefit Concert, Blue Mountains, NSW (#116)

On April 12, we travelled from Gosford up to the Blue Mountains to play a Bushfire Benefit Concert for the town of Winmalee. This concert was organised in conjunction with the Winmalee Rural Fire Service and was held at the Winmalee Secondary School.

This was a concert that many of the band had been waiting to play as a way of supporting another bushfire town, and had extra significance since one of the band members (Monica O’Malley, at right on Double Seconds) went to school here.

We played two 40-minute sets, with the first set being up on the stage (where the sound was great). For the second set, we moved most of the band down to the floor level to be closer to the audience, leaving the basses and drums up on stage. Although the sound was not as good (for the band), the interaction with the audience was great.

In between the sets, we had time for a cuppa (and scones from Monica’s mum), and this also gave us a chance to talk to members of the audience about the pans and their role in our recovery experience.

After a very satisfying two hours, it was time for many to head back to the airport for the flight to Melbourne, while the pan bus was packed with all the instruments for the journey down the Hume Highway to Melbourne.