Carribean Gardens – Scoresby – November 3 – 2024
Artists appearing:
- Riley Green
- Cooper Allan
- Austin Snell
- Josh Ross
- Mackenzie Porter
- Tanner Adell
- Casey Barnes
- Bella Mackenzie
Ridin Hearts In Scoresby
It was the eve of the Melbourne Cup but most of the fillies and stallions were heading way out east on the Sabbath to the Caribbean Gardens in Scoresby where the main scores were handled by the mixing desk.
I left the leafy dales of Glen Iris shortly after high noon but traffic on Monash Freeway and Ferntree Gully Road to this 100-acre market gardens, lake and amusement park was more like peak hour in the big smoke.
It seemed mass ended early for these Christian soldiers, agnostics and atheists who were lured by the sound of country music.
I missed the opening act by Queensland belle Bella Mackenzie but she returned later as a guest of Alabama headliner Riley Green.
The other homegrown heroes were headed by Van Diemen’s Land escapee and chart topper Casey Barnes who is managed by fellow Tasmanian born Michael Chugg – also one of the Ridin’ Hearts festival promoters.
Casey Barnes Ignites Fire
“I've been buried deep, six feet down drank the devil's tea, I was down for the count know the Reaper well, won't stop knocking told him, "go to Hell, I'm a keep on walking I was dead and gone/ long way from home I was knocked to the ground but you can't keep the good ones down light it up, light it up/pour some diesel on the fire/ turn it into the sun light it up, light it up/ don't you worry about the burn Cause it's half of the fun/ light it up” Light It Up - Casey Barnes Casey Barnes lived up to his island roots when he opened with his seventh album title track Light It Up.
Barnes, clad in footy shorts, ensured his bassist Mick Crawford shared the footy flavour by wearing a Hawthorn jumper with the number 13 on it.
It was not current star Jai Newcombe.
Casey sang of California Moonshine and Lone Stars after urging fans: “don’t tell anyone but you guys are better than in Sydney last night. Make some noise Melbourne – the sun’s out here.”
He didn’t let on the Sydney concert, staged by his manager Chuggie, was plagued by heavy rain for all artists and fans.
But he revealed he met expatriate Novocastrian Morgan Evans at a CMC Rocks festival and they wrote his chart topping eighth album title track May Day that was delivered with gusto tonight.
“Morgan’s a ripper bloke” Casey, now 46, revealed before performing the Goanna smash hit Solid Rock.
“I first heard this when I was 13. It’s one of the best songs to ever come out of this country.”
It was a fitting tribute to Dennington born singer-songwriter Shane Howard whose elder brother Eric and this reviewer were team-mates in the Warrnambool under 18 team in the Hampden League in 1965.
Barnes cracked a gag about a hens’ night out as he introduced recent hit God Took His Time On You before segueing into dreams drenched recent single Boys Like Me.
He finished his strong set with nods to his saviour – Jesus – not Chuggie – as he sang of an angel with memorable imagery “a girl is thunder, hot chili mama.”
Tanner Adell Bucolic Buckle Bunny
“I'm a buckle bunny ate the whole cake, left 'em no crummies (so yummy) bottle bleach blonde, but I'm no dummy big back porch but a little tummy can't take nothing from me no I'm a buckle bunny.” Buckle Bunny - Jesse Thomas-Cameron, Michael Bartolini, Liam Kevany, Tanner Adell, Anderson, Sean Yedid, Cameron Bertolini Beatific blonde bombshell Tanner Adell may have been raised in Manhattan Beach, California, and Star Valley in Wyoming but she evened the score in Scoresby.
She hit the stage in a scant pale blue costume with a pink ribbon bra and matching cowboy boots that reflected the afternoon sun, her rodeo roots and sensual splendour.
Tanner, backed by her hot young band, had the crowd surging to the mosh pit as she launched into entrée Do-Si-Don’tcha and followed with her delicious Strawberry Crush.
She explained her next song Love You A Little Bit opened her gateway in her move to Nashville.
Tanner, just 28, also drove her Silverado and Throw It Back.
“I couldn’t not do this song in Australia” was her entrée to her revamp of expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban’s Somebody Like You.
Equally uplifting was her liquid fuelled Whiskey Blues and a guitar burning anecdote in Cowboy Break My Heart.
Tanner quipped about Trailer Park Barbies from her rodeo days in the song of that name.
“This is my last song y’all,” was how she introduced her 2023 album title track Buckle Bunny as she sang,
“gassed up, throw me in the saddle spin me like a spur, make my snakeskin rattle sassed up, round 'em like cattle looking like Beyoncé with a lasso I’m a buckle bunny.” Adell proved she was more a bucolic buckle bunny than rampant rabbits that invaded these adjacent gardens at night.
Mackenzie Porter Rough Ride For A Canadian
“He's a lone-star Casanova
puts the south in South Dakota
he ain't ever met a mustang he ain't broke
put a ninety on a bucker
he's a one-night one-and-doner
he's a runner, but he's running out of rope.”
Rough Ride For A Cowboy - Lauren Hungate, Luke Niccoli, Lydia Vaughan, Mackenzie Porter.
Canadian chanteuse Mackenzie Porter ensured the glamour of cowgirls far from home kept the crowd on their toes.
“I grew up on a cattle ranch in Canada,” the singer-songwriter-actor told fans.
“This is a most beautiful day.”
Porter, now 34, opened her set with These Days and Chasing Tornadoes and revealed she played the violin in school in Medicine Hat in Alberta.
“You know the lyrics” she said as she ignited her Rough Ride For A Cowboy.
The audience lifted their cans and stubbie holders as she performed Drinking Songs and 2018 single About You that she wrote with Michael Hardy.
“I went to a Dixie Chicks concert and one of them was playing fiddle,” Porter recalled for her fans today, “I thought that was cool and began playing fiddle and violin.”
Porter is wed to singing spouse-actor Jake Etheridge who appeared in her About You video.
“Are there some redneck women in the house today?” she shouted after performing Thinking About You.
Porter revealed she had appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel TV show and Grand Ol Opry before finishing her energised set with her revamp of These Boots Are Made For Walking.
Some of those boots headed for the Jolene bar but there was no sign of another singing actor Dolly Parton sipping and singing.
Crowd Swell For Austin Snell
“I think me and god are a little tighter than you might think I talk to him all the time he knows that I drink to drown get lost to get found it won't work forever but its working for now I empty the bottle and empty my soul I sleep with the devil and I wake up alone I'm kicking myself while I pick up my clothes I make the same mistakes and I pray all the way home.” Pray All The Way Home - Anderson East, Cameron Walker, Andrew Petroff, Devin Dawson, Michael Whitworth, Andrew Marcus Baylis, Austin Snell. When Georgian singer-songwriter and former United States Airman Austin Snell hit the stage fans were greeted with a large backdrop that could have been a late Halloween hangover.
The Dracula like montage was not a flashback to late blues legend Muddy Waters.
It was the title of Snell’s entree song Muddy Water Rock Star.
“This is my first time in Australia,” Snell, now 27, revealed.
“Thanks for coming out so early. Are you ready to party?”
Austin’s rocking country band revved up his Wrecking Ball and Wildfire tunes with a vengeance.
He also revived Morgan Wallen hit Up Down.
“I grew up in small town Georgia near where Jason Aldean did,” Snell revealed, “some called it a hick town. Don’t try that in a hick town Jason sang.”
Austin told an evocative anecdote as he introduced ruptured romance requiem Wasting All These Tears.
But he had a higher being to thank for his finale Pray All The Way Home.
This is my final song he told fans as he sang “Jesus Christ is my saviour.”
No, not Muddy Waters.
Josh Ross From Canada To The Carribean
“I want our stupid fights
I wanna kiss all nights
those hate you, love you tears
I don't even want this beer
no, I ain't gonna lie
can't drink you off my mind
what the hell am I doing here?
I don't even want this beer.”
Want This Beer - Hillary Lindsey, Julia Michaels, Michael Hardy, Zach Abend.
Ontario born rugby refugee Josh Ross showed no sign of his injuries that ended his sporting career at university when he hit the stage.
“This show for us is our fourth here,” he told fans as they surged forward.
His stage back drop showed a car radio sliding along the radio dials playing a range of hits that Ross recalled from his childhood.
The former construction manager who moved to Nashville in 2019 to follow his music dreams proved the journey was worth it.
He opened with Ain’t Doing Jack and Red Flags before announcing “this is off my EP Complicated” and performing the title track.
There was no danger of Josh being decimated when he performed the 3 Doors Down hit Kryptonite but he thanked Michael Hardy for sending him songs.
They included his hit duet with Julia Michaels for Want This Beer that preceded his Same Old Movie.
“I wrote this song on top of a roof in Nashville,” was how he introduced On A Different Night and Single Again.
He also announced his revamp of Goo-Goo Dolls hit Iris as one of his favourite songs.
More challenging was the source of his finale Trouble.
“I first went to Nashville at 18 and got into trouble sitting on the street,” Josh now 28, joked.
It was less painful than the football injuries that ended his sporting career back in Ontario.
Cooper Allan Shooeys And Boots Galore
“She got that boot stomp, stomp doing that dosey doe
she got that honkytonk going out of control
She got them cowboys' jaws all hitting the floor
all I know is this ain't her first rodeo.”
First Rodeo - Cooper Alan, Karl Ola Kjellholm, Sam Bergeson, Seth Ennis, Tyler Filmore.
North Carolina cowboy Cooper Alan demonstrated his Australian baptism from up north by doing a shoey early in his set with entrée To The Bar.
“It’s great to be in Melbourne on a Sunday night,” he shouted to revved up fans who sang along to Feel Like Hell Today, First Rodeo and Can’t Dance.
He also revealed that his Fridge song emanated from beer he found inside a fridge back home.
But he also tempered his tempo with a family member’s death that inspired his Never Not Remember You.
“I got married a year ago,” may have been his inspiration for Take Forever as he gave credit to fans dancing on their partners shoulders on all sides of his every growing mosh pit.
Allan, 28, also paid tribute to his love of Australian music by doing a medley that included Jesse’s Girl, Down Under, Back In Black and Torn.
But the biggest crowd reaction was their singalong on Angels classic Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again with absolutely no editing of the f-fuelled climax that rarely hits daylight TV shows.
It seemed fitting Allan finished his sensational set with another shoey and threw his wet boot deep into the audience.
Jesus Saves Riley Green
“And I wish high school home teams never lost and back road drinking kids never got caught and I wish the price of gas was low and cotton was high and I wish honky-tonks didn't have no closing time and I wish grandpas never died.” I Wish Grandpas Never Died - Riley Green, Buford Green, Lendon Bonds. Alabama show headliner Riley Green was anything but green in his festival finale with his septet that included a slide guitarist who also played violin, banjo, mandolin and keyboards.
Riley, now 36, proved a worthy headliner as he opened his set with Different Around Here and If It Wasn’t for Trucks.
“I see a lot of trucks in the parking lot here,” Riley revealed before igniting Damn Good Day to Leave and Georgia Time.
Riley revived love songs When She Comes Home Tonight and Rather Be.
Josh Ross and Cooper Allan also returned to add their vocals to crowd pleasers.
Queensland opening act Bella Mackenzie boomeranged for a duet with Riley on his song You Look Like You Love Me that he originally recorded with Ella Langley.
Green also performed a tribute to late Oklahoma star Toby Keith who died at 62 on February 5 this year with Should Have Been A Cowboy and Courtesy Of The Red, White and Blue.
He delved into love with his #1 hit There Was This Girl before revealing a sad saga of his dad leaving home for L.A. as he recalled writing songs at school and when he was a home builder.
It was an apt entrée for his Biblical belter Jesus Saves before Mackenzie Porter joined him for a duet on Don’t Mind If I Do.
But the highlight was tear-jerking finale I Wish Grandpas Never Died where he urged fans to raise and light up their phones and sing and dance along.
Green was a hard act to follow and luckily the only followers were the traffic controllers leading to lost highways and Monash freeway.
Photos by Andrew Friend – www.countryrockshotz.net
Review – Nu Country TV
Producer David Dawson
