The Big Bonanza

The Big Bonanza

Coffs Harbour, NSW 05/11/22

On a gloriously sunny Saturday in November, a mixed crowd of people packed into the Education Campus of Coffs Harbour on the beautiful North Coast of NSW for the musical side of The Big Bonanza Music and Comedy Festival.


Under the giant big top, which is becoming a staple for festivals in the region, and also an inspired idea for both sun and rain protection for attendees, a great selection of Australian Bands and Artists had gathered to deliver a showcase of the variety of musical talent we have in this country. From a young indie folk singer who with her band had just returned from a European tour, to a band that no one could dispute has been one of our best musical exports in the last 20 years, to one of the originals of Aussie hip hop/rap culture.


The Home Grown stage kept the music playing during the breaks on the Main Stage with local bands Rear Wheel Drive, Black Pallas and The Downhill Bombers even impressing some of the “big boys” that came to chat and cheer after their sets.


The Big Bonanza was the second event staged in almost as many months by local event group, Gig Big and like its predecessor, River Sounds, this event was well run and well set out. The Big Bonanza had a good variety of food and drinks, plenty of seating and shade and amenities that still had toilet paper at the end of the night.

Congratulations go to Ben and his team for another successful event and thanks for having us along, we always have a good time at your shows.

Highlights:

  1. Gabriella Cohen and Band, The Buoys, DRAPHT’s band and Wolfmother’s Andrew Stockdale who all came out from the backstage area to support the local acts and talk to the locals.

  2. DRAPHT left the stage to interact with his audience, even coming out after his set to sign autographs and take selfies with his very appreciative fans.

The Big Bonanza

Our Ratings

Public Transport: 🎫🎫🎫

Line-Up: 🎫🎫🎫🎫

Amenities: 🎫🎫🎫🎫

Food: 🎫🎫🎫🎫

Bars/Alcohol: 🎫🎫🎫.5

Merchandise: N/A

VIP Package: N/A

Over All: 🎫🎫🎫🎫

The Lineup

The lovely Gabriella Cohen and her band started the day off, by playing her songs ‘I Just Got So High’, ‘Over Caffeinated’, ‘Music Machine’, ‘Baby’ and the hit that launched her career in Japan and Asia, ‘But I Wanted To’.

The Bamboos got the crowd up dancing with their funky beats, produced by a full band that included 2 Saxophones, a Trumpet, Keyboards, Guitars, Bass, Drums and even a Percussion section. The group, joined by the bubbly Kylie Auldist on vocals played their hits ‘Hard Up’, ‘The Wilhelm Scream’, ‘On the Sly’ & ‘Power Without Greed’.

Definitely one of the stand-outs and crowd favourites of the event was Western Australian-based Hip Hop/Rap legend DRAPHT. Bouncing round the stage like the energizer bunny on stimulants DRAPHT gave the fans what they wanted with huge hits like ‘Jimmy Recard’, ‘Don Quixote’, ‘Sing It’, ‘Down’, ‘The Money’, ‘Where Yah From’ and a special track he hadn’t played live for a while.

Wolfmother closed out the show, demonstrating why they are a world-class rock band. Andrew Stockdale kicked off the set with a Led Zeppelin cover before launching into a set list that contained all their hits such as ‘Woman’, ‘New Moon Rising’, ‘White Unicorn’, ‘Rock Out’ and ‘Joker and the Thief’. Bobby Poulton’s nifty little trick of running his keyboard through a guitar effects pedal was genius and left the crunch of Wolfmother running through you long after the music had stopped.

The Buoys cranked it up a notch with crunchy guitars and a whole lot of fierce girl attitude. The four-piece played their upcoming single ‘I Want You’, their latest release, ‘Red Flags’, as well as their tracks ‘Drive Me Home’, ‘Linda’, ‘Car Park’ and ‘Best Friend’.

The Beautiful Girls, the completely independent entity of Mat McHugh hit the stage next, bringing forth a new bunch of dancing punters to the front. The funky smooth coastal band played songs from their back catalogue that included ‘La Mar’, and ‘Periscopes’,, closing out the set with a cover of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers classic ‘Soul To Squeeze’

Ol’ Skool rockers You Am I had a loyal fan club waiting for them to take the stage, and frontman Tim Rogers displayed his experience, interacting with the crowd and keeping them entertained, even providing a little lesson on “twerking” at one point before delivering the classics the fans wanted to hear including ‘Heavy Heart’, ‘Berlin Chair’ and ‘Purple Sneakers’

Rear Wheel Drive closed out the local stage with some covers and some original material.

The Big Bonanza full photo gallery is available on this website

Mat McHugh, The Beautiful Girls

Gabriella Cohen

Tim Rogers, You Am I

Andrew Stockdale, Wolfmother





Michelle Symes