The massive
three-day CMC Rocks the Hunter music festival went off with a bang over the weekend
with fans and media calling it the best CMC Rocks the Hunter festival to date.
Held at the
beautiful Hope Estate in NSW’s Hunter Valley, the country and roots festival
boasted a spectacular lineup of thirty-eight international and local performers,
headlined by US superstar Toby Keith and
also featuring Gretchen Wilson, Clay
Walker, Eli Young Band, Thompson Square, Kellie Pickler, Lee Kernaghan,
Blackjack Billy, Morgan Evans and many more.
Minister for Tourism and Major Events and Minister for The Hunter,
George Souris, said: “Congratulations to the organisers of CMC Rocks the
Hunter on another successful festival and for once again bringing so many
people to the Hunter Valley to experience all that this wonderful region has to
offer.
“The NSW Government is pleased to support this festival, which is a
major event on the NSW Events Calendar and has an enormous impact on the local economy.”
The intimate
International Songwriters Shows in the Campers Bar, which were first held at
last year’s festival, proved a major hit once again with the venue packed out
as legendary hit songwriters including Jim
Lauderdale, Craig Campbell, Paul Thorn and more told stories and performed
acoustic versions of their biggest songs.
Festivalgoers
came from throughout NSW and all over Australia, with a few international
travelers making their way to the Hunter Valley. Hotels in the region were
booked out and thousands of ticket holders took advantage of the festival’s
excellent on site camping facilities, with increased camping sites this year
seeing more people choosing to camp than in any previous year.
On Sunday
night, a special presentation was made on the main stage to a lucky couple who
were winners of a festival competition, open to all ticket holders, to win a
trip to Las Vegas to attend one of America’s biggest award shows – the Academy
of Country Music (ACM) Awards. ACM CEO Bob
Romeo made the trip out from the US to present the prize with US TV host
and festival MC Storme Warren. The
awards will be broadcast on the Country Music Channel for the first time this
year.
The event has
become a touchstone on the yearly music calendar, with many artists using the
festival as a launch pad for new album releases including US “redneck rock
band” Blackjack Billy and Australian
artists Morgan Evans, Adam Eckersley
Band and Luke O’Shea. Morgan Evans, who
won a record three CMC Music Awards at a ceremony on the Friday night, smashed
the previous festival CD sales record with his debut album over the weekend.
When massive
windstorms whipped through the festival site on early Sunday afternoon, safety precautions were put in place and performances
soon resumed, with all artists playing their full set times.
CMC Rocks the
Hunter will be held again in 2015 on March 13, 14 and 15.
