Concert Review: C2C COUNTRY 2 COUNTRY AUSTRALIA 2019, Brisbane Entertainment Centre

Having attended C2C Country 2 Country London since its inception in 2013, I was thrilled to attend the inaugural C2C Country 2 Country Australia which took place across two days in Sydney and Brisbane. I was surprised by the crowds already there by the time I got to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre about two hours before the main show was due to start, with hordes of people watching performers at the Big Entrance stage or in the Town Square.

The latter was my first port of call as it was inside the Sports Centre and therefore out of the baking hot Australian sun. The dark room contained a cluster of stalls selling quite frankly some of the tackiest clothes I’ve seen in a long time (whatever happened to nice Stetsons and denim shirts?), a signing area, although I was a bit disappointed to see that artists would only be signing official merch, meaning that you would basically be paying $50 or more to meet any artist; and a stage where Reverie Lane was currently playing.

Most of Nashville-based duo Reverie Lane’s songs were satirical honkytonk tracks like Hay Boy about, you guessed it, having a roll in the hay; redneck wedding song Before The Rice, and love song (?) Less Is More with lyrics like ‘I’ve thought it through / When it comes to you / Baby, less is more’. I enjoyed their thoughtful ballads like South of Sober and When Love Walks In, each packed with clever lyrics and pleasant harmonies.

Next up was the Aussie Adam Eckersley Band who played groovy tracks that melded right into one another. Their high energy performances on songs like Long Enough To Disappear and Wheels certainly kept the audience engaged and amped up before the main show. Certainly worth a listen to.

Heading back out into the heat with some time to kill before it was time to make my way into the arena, I took a moment to watch another Aussie, Casey Barnes whose modern country rock reminded me of the likes of Kip Moore and Brantley Gilbert. He rocked out to Be Mine and new single A Little More, playing with the crowd and trying to convince them to download the track right then and there.

Even before the main show, I’d already seen three vastly different acts, which boded well for what was still to come. I made my way into the arena just before Aussie sisterhood The McClymonts were due to come on stage. Honestly, I liked that the BEC was a smaller arena venue than the ones I was used to, as it meant that no matter where you were, you’d get a good enough view.

The girls kicked off with great harmonies on Wrapped Up Good and Here’s To You & I. Their pop country style was right up my street and I knew that I was going to like them from that moment on. The three had great stage presence and proved that they were talented musicians too, as each played a different instrument across the different songs.

Most of their songs were fun anthems like Going Under and Like We Used To, but they showed off their range on tracks like Here’s To You & I which gave me Mumford & Sons vibes, wedding song Forever Begins Tonight which they dedicated to a happy couple in the audience; and a fantastic cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Little Lies.

Their set was very passionate and ended on a high with everyone getting up to dance to House and Kick It Up. Even being the first act to perform that night, I knew that they were going to be a highlight of my evening and will certainly become a new addition to my playlist.

As with C2C London, the night was split between the Main Stage and the smaller Spotlight Stage at the back of the arena, and I particularly liked that we went straight from one to the next, rather than having an act on the Spotlight stage and then a 20 minute wait for the next Main Stage act as was usually the case in London. This allowed Spotlight performers to have a proper half hour set, which really allowed us to get to know them better.

First up on the Spotlight Stage was Lacy Cavalier whose impressive vibrato vocals shone on a mash up of original track Every Time It Rains and Stand By Me. I was shocked to find out she was only 22 years old and already making waves within the country music circuit, having already toured twice with Chase Rice, although her young age did become clear through song Tea, all about drama and gossip. Of course there’s nothing wrong with embracing one’s age, I’m just not sure how relevant songs like this will be a few years down the line.

She then encouraged the crowd to join her in a ‘Power Hour’ drinking game where the aim was to drink every time she started a new song in a mashup with songs like How Country Feels, The Middle, She’s Country, Check Yes Or No, and This Kiss. This was a fun idea in itself, and also allowed us to hear how she dealt with various songs. It’s no easy task covering songs by others, but she did all the artists proud.

She finished with a song from new EP called Single and finally her proudest song Cheating On U, which she edited and released on YouTube singlehandedly. She really does have quite phenomenal vocals which would suit both country and other genres. I’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t go far with such a talent.

Back on the Main Stage, we had the epitome of nice guy, Eric Paslay, who started off with rock anthem High Class, followed by crowd favourite Song About A Girl. Eric is not only a spectacular singer but also songwriter, and he showed this off by performing some of his (many) hits that he’s written for others, including Love & Theft’s Angel Eyes, Eli Young Band’s Even If It Breaks Your Heart, and Jake Owen’s Barefoot Blue Jean Nights. It’s undeniable that they are all great tracks, and the fact that the writer for them is just so pleasant makes me love them even more.

Eric seems well aware of his status as ‘country’s nice guy’, naming this years tour ‘The Nice Guy Tour’ and treating us to an upcoming song which I’m pretty sure is titled Nice Guy, all about how he sometimes wishes he was a jerk, just so that people would talk about him. However, my favourite moments of his set was the earth-shattering Amarillo Rain, which having since listened to the recording, I can tell you sounds even better live; and She Don’t Love You. Take a listen to those lyrics, and if you’re not crying by the end, you should probably see a doctor.

Of course, to make everyone happy, he finished up with party hit Friday Night, and was even the only artist of the night to do the coveted Aussie ‘shoey’ (aka drinking some form of alcohol from a shoe), without even being asked. Way to get on the Aussie’s good side, Eric!

I headed back over to the Spotlight stage to watch Raelynn, who I genuinely think is up there with some of the best vocalists in the industry (and there are a lot!). Most of her set was girls night out tracks like Queens Don’t and Tailgate, along with a few new tracks from her upcoming album, like Keep Up and Bra Off, which again kept in theme with pop party.

I would’ve liked to have heard some more of the tracks off of last album Wild Horse, as it’s genuinely a great album, but sadly we only got to hear Love Triangle, which I’d say was the highlight of her set. I certainly am looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us in future, as I think there’s still a lot more to come from Raelynn.  

We moved from pop country to cowboy country with three piece band Midland who are certainly one of the most unique groups in contemporary country music. The trio played lots of songs from latest album Let It Roll including Playboys, 21^st Century Honky Tonk American Band (that’s a bit of a mouthful) and Cheatin’ Songs. I couldn’t help but think that their songs sound just like songs should, each cleverly written and with some darn good instrumentals underneath.

I would’ve liked a few more songs from On The Rocks, because quite frankly I hadn’t had the time to learn all of the words to their latest album, but enjoyed that each of the band members were given the opportunity to shine – Mark taking the lead on most tracks, but handing over to Jesse for Roll Away and to Cameron for a haunting version of Lost In The Night.

I like just how out of the stereotypical commercial country Midland are, and you’d best believe that I was singing my little heart out to tracks like Burn Out and Drinkin’ Problem. If you’re looking for something a little different, then Midland might just be the perfect band for you.

The next act had been a last minute addition to the lineup following Drake White dropping out due to health reasons, and an interesting choice considering (as far as I was aware), he had only very recently entered into the country scene, albeit in a big way with The Git Up. Blanco Brown certainly has Lil Nas X of Old Town Road fame to thank for paving the way for country rap, but to be honest, it does make sense. I’ve always said that modern country is a mix of pretty much whatever it wants to be, so why not add a bit of rap into that too?

In my mind, slightly strange that an act with one known song would be asked to perform at a festival like this, but I was extremely pleasantly surprised when he started singing. Blanco has a fantastic gospel voice, and can even do whistletones a la Mariah Carey, which I don’t think any of us were expecting. He did an interesting mashup between Chris Stapleton’s Tennessee Whiskey and his own TN Whiskey, the genre of which I’m not even sure. RnB? Hip hop? Country? You tell me.

I could see the crowd quickly falling in love with him as he showed off his fun side, dancing around stage to Georgia Power with its bizarre lyrics (eenie meenie miny mo) before doing a big mashup of country and hip hop / rap songs like Walk The Line and Ms Jackson.

As expected, he did of course throw The Git Up into the mix, and at this point I’m pretty sure he was lip-syncing along with a one or two songs before (but happy to be proved wrong!) However, if you’ve read some of my reviews before, you’ll know that I have little problem with this when the performer puts on a show, which Blanco certainly did as he performed the dance to the track. Plus, he’d already proved to us that he can sing, and then some, so more power to him. A surprise act indeed, and someone I look forward to hearing more from in future.

Next on the Main Stage was the act I was most excited to see – Kelsea Ballerini. She strutted on stage to perform rock anthem Miss Me More featuring angel visuals up on the big screen behind her. With a start like this, I couldn’t help but loosen up and dance, and remained that way for the whole of her set.

After this energetic start, Kelsea paused to greet the audience in a very cheerful and engaging way. This wasn’t really something that any of the other acts had done, and I remembered that she had been the same way when I saw her perform in London way back in 2017, so I was pleased to see that her authentic personality had not changed one bit.

She asked us then if we wanted to get a bit sassy (is there any other answer but yes?) and launched into perhaps my favourite track from album number 2, Get Over Yourself. Again, after this she spoke to the crowd again, explaining that Australia has become something of a second home to her being where husband Morgan Evans is from.

Speaking of Morgan, she commented that she’d had many doubters when she announced she would marry Evans at a reasonably young age, which inspired her to write Unapologetically, about knowing that nothing can change the way you feel about someone when your heart is set on it. Kelsea then picked up a guitar for an acoustic rendition of Yeah Boy and I Hate Love Songs (tell me if you know of a song with better lyrics than this one)

We took a trip down memory lane for a mashup of Dibs and Lauv’s Like Me Better before the first song we ever heard from Kelsea, Love Me Like You Mean It. Things took a more serious turn with Legends, first single from KB3 Homecoming Queen and Peter Pan as she continually smashed the vocals on track after track.

She finished what had been a great set with the most pop-inspired of her tracks, her collaboration with The Chainsmokers, This Feeling. Kelsea is a great example of what country music has become – a mix between traditional and contemporary, full of well-thought lyrics, and a top-notch performer to boot.

The last act on the Spotlight stage was Aussie Travis Collins who had scored himself the coveted slot right before the headliner. He seemed to have a fair few fans who joined in as he sang Just Another Girl and a cover of John Denver’s Thank God I’m A Country Boy, which he proclaimed was ‘one for the hillbillies out there.’

His team had made the strategic decision to drop a new single just in time for C2C, so Make Up was up next, followed by Call Me Crazy, a song about losing someone to suicide which had him tearing up before the end. We had High Horse next, towards the climax of which he invited a lady in the front row to sing the final chorus. She was well rewarded for her efforts, as he then called up a crew member to hand him a spare guitar which he signed and gave to her. Not bad for a couple of seconds of singing!

Finally, Tim McGraw entered the Main Stage to a roar of sound as he kicked off with Truck Yeah, complete with flame visuals burning on the screen behind him. This was followed by Southern Voice and All I Want Is A Life, although I’ll admit that I found his whole set a bit unpleasant to listen to, just because it was so very loud. Even one of his band members was wearing earmuffs on stage, and I wished I had some too. The sound quality would have been much better and way more enjoyable had the guitar and drums not been penetrating everyone’s skulls and drowning out Tim’s voice.

Alas, I tried my best to enjoy the show for what it was, as he moved on to a song he dedicates to wife Faith Hill every time he sings it, Shotgun Rider, although he did make some pretty weird jokes about her later in the set. But who am I to comment on someone else’s relationship… With such a long career in the industry, Tim certainly had his choice of songs to play, so we got a mix of old and new with Where The Green Grass Grows, A Little While, latest single Thought About You and new song Hallelujahville which he preceded with a slightly strange church-service like introduction.

Highlights for me included his cover of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer, to which I think he did justice, and One Of Those Nights from my favourite of Tim’s albums. He also took a moment to entertain those further away from the stage by racing to the Spotlight stage for Felt Good On My Lips before returning to the Main Stage for Humble and Kind and Live Like You Were Dying.

It was a good set full of crowd favourite McGraw hits, and the audience were certainly having a good time. However, I’d be lying if I said some of his songs didn’t hit a nerve with me – Good Taste In Women felt a little objectifying, and Indian Outlaw perhaps has lyrics that Tim shouldn’t be singing. All in all though, I think Tim was a nice choice for the inaugural C2C Australia given his status as longstanding country royalty, and I look forward to seeing who gets that same coveted spot next year.

 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!

SKYDIVING 15000FT OVER NOOSA, AUSTRALIA

*You can watch my whole experience here*

Skydiving has always been on my bucket list. I’m a big of an adrenaline junkie, so the idea of throwing myself out of a plane into the ether appealed to me quite a bit, but I’d always promised myself that my first skydive would have to be somewhere truly stunning. That way, at least if I found I didn’t enjoy the jump itself, I’d enjoy the view.

I hadn’t actually intended to jump in Noosa, instead preferring to wait until somewhere like the Whitsundays, but when a friend of mine expressed an interest to go, I thought ‘why the hell not?’ Almost $300 lighter ($500 if you count the photo and video package I opted for), and I’d booked myself a one way ticket in a plane.

On the morning of, we headed to the designated meeting point where we were collected in a branded Skydive Australia car and whisked down the coast to Sunshine Coast Airport. Checking in smoothly, we were then advised to wait while the rest of our planeload arrived. Once all six passengers were there, we were suited and booted with a lifejacket and harness before our tandem buddy came and made sure we were properly strapped in and ready to go.

As ready as we were going to be, we were told we’d be heading to the plane shortly. So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. I think the delay was due to getting another planeload of solo jumpers ahead of us, but we ended up waiting for more than an hour, trapped inside our harnesses and not really knowing what was going on.

Eventually we got the go ahead and walked over to the runaway where our little blue plane taxied over and we hopped in – instructors first and then jumpers sat between the instructors legs. We took off and then rose, the view getting better the higher we went. Admittedly, I hadn’t thought the view was going to be spectacular (skydiving over Sunshine Coast Airport, wow…), but we were in fact flying over the whole coastline, stretching all the way from Mooloolaba up to Noosa Heads. If I looked hard enough, I could almost spot my house.

I wasn’t sure how I would react with the prospect of throwing myself out of a plane, but I found that I was actually incredibly calm. At this point, it just seemed like a nice pleasure flight above the coast, and I certainly wasn’t visibly shaking like I could see some of my fellow travellers doing.

We kept going and going, the ground getting further and further away. 15000ft didn’t really mean that much to me, but in retrospect, it is half the cruising altitude of an airplane, which is indeed pretty high. Our instructors attached us to them as we approached our jump location, and then with less than a minute to go, they pulled up the door.

Honestly, this was the worst bit for me as the icy cold air hit me like a tonne of bricks. It was excruciatingly cold, but thankfully I didn’t have to endure it for long as it was time to go. Jumper number one went (you forget that the plane continues moving as they jump, so it looked like they were whooshing off to the right rather than straight down), then jumper number two, and then it was my turn.

I swung my legs over the bench I was sitting on, and then outside the plane, tucking them underneath the metal. I was incredibly thankful for the pure speed that this whole encounter went, as leaving my seat to jumping probably lasted less than thirty seconds. Any longer, and I would have had time to look down, think about what I was doing, and who knows, panic? Head back, hands on my harness, and then we were falling, spinning upside down until we righted ourselves.

A tap on my shoulder indicated that I could let go of my harness, and then we were just in freefall. I found it pretty hard to breathe due to the cold air whistling through my teeth, but that wasn’t going to stop me from smiling. Freefall lasted a lot longer than I’d anticipated (the website says it was in fact a full minute, which is a really long time to just fall through space!), and then without warning I was yanked up as the parachute opened.

This was when my highlight started, as I had the opportunity to just sit back, float, and enjoy the view. I was glowing, having the time of my life as we cruised over the coast. My instructor even let me steer, and we did corkscrews as we descended. Our descent lasted about five minutes, and we landed right on the beach, right next to surfers and walkers out enjoying their day.

I waited for my friend to land so we could celebrate not having died, and commiserate that we were now deaf from the pressure change during freefall. And just like that, it was like it had never even happened. As we took the bus back to the airport, we revelled over how unreal it felt that we’d just jumped out of a plane. Definitely an addictive feeling, and certainly something I’ll be doing again soon.

I hope you enjoyed today's blog! Stay up to date on all my Aussie adventures by following me on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and feel free to drop me any questions below!

TRAVEL: Fraser Island Day Trip, Queensland, Australia

I’ve already been to Fraser Island once, and loved it (you can read about that here), so when offered the opportunity to check it out for a second time on a different tour, I of course said yes! This did however involve a pre-dawn wake-up, but for those who know me, you’ll know that my belief is that the only reason to be up before the sun rises is if you’ve got a flight to catch, and I suppose a tour bus also counts too.

I was collected by Brock as his first pick-up of the day, and we cruised through Noosa making a few more pickups before the real journey began. We took a different route than my last trip, this time through the Hinterlands, which really was truly beautiful as the sun rose with oranges and purples over the wide open spaces filled with greenery and the occasional cow.

It took us about an hour and a half to arrive in Rainbow Beach, where we were dropped off at a service station while Brock went to change our bus to a more ‘Fraser Island worthy’ form of transport. These moments were probably my least favourite of the trip, as we were pretty much stranded at a BP petrol station with very little to do. At least on the last trip, we were dropped on the Main Street, which gave those who wanted the option to buy some food from the various shops along the street, or to admire the pleasant views along the beach. We also weren’t entirely sure how long it would take Brock to pick up the other bus, which made standing in the cold even more frustrating.

It was very obvious which bus was ours as a huge grey monstrosity approached from around the corner. Inside were about 20 seats stuck into what felt very much like a theme park simulator, in that you felt so removed from the world outside you that it almost didn’t feel real. As it turned out, this truck was a retired Korean military vehicle, which made sense when you looked at it.

With the 20 passengers belted up, we trundled off to Inskip Point where we took the ferry across to Fraser. We raced along the beach, which acts the same as any other Australian highway, and I proved my worth as a valuable addition to the group by spotting a number of whales as we went along. This was definitely a highlight of the trip as whale watching had been on my Aussie bucket list.

We stopped at one of Fraser’s creeks for morning tea, which included tea, coffee or juice, delicious homemade lemon bars (which I’m still dreaming about), and Anzac biscuits for those wishing to get a real flavour of Australia. Bearing in mind it was winter at the time of my visit, it was pretty cold in spite of the sun, and I found myself wishing I’d worn something different to shorts as we stood on the windswept beach watching the light blue waves roll in.

Continuing onwards, we headed into ‘town’ (if you can call it that – it’s home to a resort and one shop) and closer to the centre of Fraser. I fondly remembered the bumpy roads which didn’t feel any less bumpy in our Godzilla-machine. Slowly but surely we began to catch glimpses of the blue water of Lake Mackenzie, aka the tourist hotspot of Fraser.

Parking up, we were given over an hour to spend at the water’s edge. With the sun shining down, in contrast to the rain showers we’d had the last time I was there, the dark blue fading into sky blue and then clear water looked incredibly stunning, so I entertained myself taking plenty of photos to capture such beauty that I felt unlikely to see again.

I’d packed my bikini, but even my adventurous side couldn’t convince me to dunk myself into the icy cold water. Nonetheless, the water colour and white sand was enough to make me convinced that Fraser really is a necessary visit for anyone up this neck of the woods.

We took a while for lunch (sandwiches as huge as the bus we’d come in) in a fenced off dingo-proof area along with the company of a friendly goana making his way up and down a nearby tree before we headed back into the truck and towards Central Station.

Upon arrival, Brock pointed out the impressive staghorns growing off of some of the trees, and then let us go on our merry way through the rainforest. Our thirty-five minute walk wove us through the forest beside a crystal clear creek, a pleasant time to reflect, think, and listen to the wildlife as we went along. We didn’t see many animals with the exception of a few birds, but the strangler figs and huge ferns much, much older than I am were pretty cool to see.

Our last sight of the day was a sign erected for Prince Harry’s visit last April to dedicate the forest to the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy – a gentle reminder of my old home in my new home. And just like that, our adventure on Fraser Island was over. In just a day, it seemed like we had barely touched the surface of Fraser, having spent most of the day in the truck which, I’ll allow, is nice in itself to cruise along the beach, but we did only end up seeing two of the Island’s highlights.

As quickly as we’d arrived, we caught the ferry back to Inskip and then to our beloved service station which was made bearable by the presence of a cockatoo perched on one of the electricity lines. We ended up waiting here for over forty minutes, due to an issue with the bus, but again, not knowing when we’d be picked up or having anything at all to do made for a particularly boring part of an otherwise good day.

We scooted through the Hinterlands as the sun set in colourful hues before arriving back where we were picked up at around 6pm. Over twelve hours on the road, and I was pretty exhausted. Fraser will always hold a special place in my heart as a reminder of feeling well and truly happy in my new home, but I would recommend anyone wishing to visit to spend more time there than I did this time.

To compare this trip to my previous adventure, I would wholeheartedly say that Brock was an excellent and informative guide, however overall I preferred my previous encounter. This was partly due to the mode of transport, as travelling around in our little SUV last time really created a sense of community with a smaller number of travellers, all of a similar age, and all having a great time bumping tunes as we bumped along the sandy roads.

The biggest difference for me, and the biggest pro of the other trip, was definitely the overnight element. Staying on the island overnight not only gave us the obvious opportunity to see more things, but I loved getting to know my fellow travellers over the campfire glow, sleep under the stars, and wake up early to enjoy the sunrise. So from one traveller to another, give Fraser Island a bit more of your time. You won’t regret it. 

I hope you enjoyed reading today's blog! To stay up to date with my Australian adventures, make sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry, and I'd love to hear your recommendations for where I must visit in Aus, so please drop me a comment below - thanks for reading!