Living in the 70s

29 Jan 2022

Sunbury Music Festivals – 50th anniversary

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On a January long weekend in 1972, 50 years ago, young people (predominantly) trekked from all over Australia to a valley with a creek running through it just outside Diggers Rest, near Sunbury, Victoria, to spend three days in the blistering sun listening to live music. Although it was conceived by investors and promotors as Australia’s answer to Woodstock, the Sunbury Pop Festival (later rock festival) was much more Antipodean in it’s flavour: more sunshine and less mud, more booze and mullets and fewer hippies. In fact that first Festival in 1972 is generally seen to have ushered in the primacy of Australian pub rock. In honour of this anniversary, on this week’s show Marty and Venetia play tracks from acts that performed at one of the Sunbury festivals from 1072 – 1975. Yeah, mate…