Concert Review: CMC ROCKS FESTIVAL (Day 1), Ipswich, QLD, Australia

What’s the country music scene like Down Under? I decided to find out by heading to the biggest country music festival in the Southern Hemisphere, CMC Rocks, held every year at Willowbank Raceway in Ipswich, QLD, just outside of Brisbane. After a shuttle ride from the station, I arrived at the site which was pretty much a city in itself. I wandered past all of the delicious (if overpriced) food stalls, the Ariat store selling cowboy boots and hats, the merchandise store with a line winding its way out of the entrance as punters tried to get out of the blazing sunshine, and the two huge stages right in the middle.

First up on the Main Stage was young Canadian singer Tenille Townes, whose excited and chatty nature was a great way to kick things off. She played a mix of original songs including latest single Somebody’s Daughter, as well as a few covers including U2’s Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and Keith Urban’s Love Somebody. Having this mix worked well in her favour as even those of us who hadn’t been familiar with her before were able to sing along and enjoy the show.

We then switched to the smaller Stampede Stage for Aussie Aleyce Simmonds. I appreciated that the festival had made an effort to support local artists as well as Nashville stars, as well as ensuring variety between acts. Aleyce was quite different to Tenille, being on the more ‘twangy’ side of country as she performed songs which had been hits on the Country Music Channel (CMC) such as Only On My Terms with its uplifting ‘stick up for yourself’ type lyrics, Rejected, Mighty Mighty Love and a cover of Pink’s Try.

Next was The Sisterhood Band, who I was excited to see having seen them perform at Nashville Meets London, and who had a great introduction by the MC at CMC Rocks, being described as ‘two kickass bad girls who like tequila and are going to melt your face off.’ Indeed, they certainly put in a good effort, starting off with the rock-fuelled Walk Away, both girls showing off the musical DNA running through their veins, being the daughters of Rod Stewart and members of 80s country music group Baillie and the Boys.

If you walked in at this point, you might indeed think that you’d arrived at a rock concert as The Sisterhood showed off vocals that would put Steven Tyler to shame on tracks like Thirteen, Closing In From Miles Away, Half Way, and some new tracks they wanted to try out on the crowd including Bullet, Get Up And Go, and Anywhere With You. Whilst not necessarily what my mind goes to when I think of country music, I really did enjoy the duos high energy set and am sure the rest of the crowd did too.

We had another Aussie in the form of Imogen Clark who was certainly a lot more country than the last. She played a bunch of upbeat pop tracks like Late Night Girl and a few ballads like slow-dance track You’ll Only Break My Heart. As any good country artist should, she told us about the stories behind some of her songs too, like High Tide, inspired by a poem her mum had penned about people experiencing life differently based on how empathetic they are.

By this point the sky had changed and the temperature dropped just in time for 6 time Grammy winner Brandy Clark to take to the Main Stage, wind whipping her hair as she performed a number of her satirical songs like Big Day In A Small Town, My Favourite Lie, Love Can Go To Hell, Get High, You’re Drunk. I wasn’t familiar with her music before this festival – or so I thought – only realising once I had left that she had co-written some of the greatest songs to hit country music, including Miranda Lambert’s Mama’s Broken Heart, The Band Perry’s Better Dig Two and Kacey Musgraves beautiful Late To The Party. A very talented lady indeed!

And then, the skies opened – and I mean weather as you’d never seen it before. The show was stopped as a severe weather warning was called out over the speaker system and we all ran for cover as the torrential rain pelted down and the wind ripped gazebos off their feet. I was supposed to have an interview at this point, but the huge cracks of lightning right outside the media trailer (which, in its tin can form, was no doubt very attractive to lightning) scared me right out of it and on top of a picnic table outside as the ground began to flood. It went on, and on, and on. Two hours later, and it was deemed safe for the show to go on, although Danielle Bradbery and Lindsay Ell’s set had to be cut.

We continued right on with Ashley McBryde, punters certainly a lot muddier than they’d been a few hours ago. I saw a lot of similarities between Ashley and Brandy in terms of their singing styles, although Ashley opted for a more serious route with songs about drug abuse (Living Next To Leroy), adultery (American Scandal) and the ever heartwarming ‘believe in yourself’ track Girl Goin’ Nowhere. Then the storm returned.

Knowing that I would see all of the acts on the remainder of the days bill at some other point throughout the weekend, and not particularly in the mood for hypothermia/saturation/electrocution/ruined electronics, I hedged my bets and decided the best action at that point was to return home and pray for better weather tomorrow. The show did continue in spite of the inclement weather, with the rain finally easing off as Luke Combs sang When It Rains, It Pours. How ironic.

I hope you enjoyed today's review! Make sure to leave me a message in the comments and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for even more reviews and interviews coming soon - thanks for reading!