By NOEL MURPHY
ROCK fans rejoice, Motor City Music Festival will return to Geelong Showgrounds next Labor Day weekend with 40 thumping, grooving, roaring acts.
Director Hugo T Armstrong said the festival had secured major events funding from City Hall after a successful baptism earlier this year.
The first motor City saw tribute bands including Pearl: The Ultimate Janis Joplin Show, The Australian Doors Show, The Australian Queen Tribute Show, Shed Zeppelin, Appetite for Destruction, Thunderstruck and Kisstroyer.
Other performers at the three-day show included Chocolate Starfish, Nick Barker and the Heartache State, Geelong’s Diehard Dolls, Jimi Hocking’s Blues Machine and Chris Wilson’s Crown of Thorns. Blues aficionados rocked out Jimi Hocking Blues Machine, and Geoff Achison and Lloyd Spiegel belting out duelling guitars.
“We’re pumped to be able to reprise what we delivered at the inaugural Motor City Music Festival,” Armstrong told the Independent.
“In all my years running festivals I’ve received lots of compliments and been very privileged but I’ve never been so overwhelmed as I was at Motor City.
“People were telling me all weekend, ‘This is exactly what Geelong needs, this is great’ – that was the number-one comment all weekend. There were so many proud Geelong people.”
Armstrong said City Hall’s major events unit had underpinned the festival with support for the next two years.
Council’s major events portfolio holder, Ron Nelson, said Geelong deserved an affordable music festival.
“I went to the first festival and Hugo certainly knows how to run a music festival,” Cr Nelson sasid.
“He had a fantastic variety of bands indoors and outdoors and, now he has a product to sell, I’m sure we’ll get a lot more people.”
Armstrong said next year’s event would include new tribute bands and blues acts alongside some big names in country and rock music.
Motor City would release its first performer list next month, he said.
