By Luke Voogt
Australian country music legend Lee Kernaghan says he “can’t think of better place to than Geelong” to start his latest Victorian tour.
“It’s one of the ultimate places to play in all of Australia,” he told the Indy this week.
“It’s that legendary country crowd that keeps me coming back year after year.”
The Boy from the Bush has hit the road on his 25th Anniversary Tour and Geelong will be his first Victorian stop next month.
“You can usually tell the audience by the car park,” he said.
“I’ve seen the finest array of 4WD and utes at my shows in Geelong – it’s great talking with drivers of some of those rigs.”
Kernaghan reckons he might even get a few song ideas from the local crowd.
He wrote one of his favourites, I Milk Cows, after meeting a farmer in the car park at a Shepparton show.
“So many of songs I have written have come about from just meeting people and having a yarn,” he said.
“I carry a notebook with me all the time and I’ve got hundreds of ideas – you never know where the next song is coming from.”
Either way, the crowd will get some new songs with Kernaghan set to release him latest album next month.
“What’s really exciting about this particular show in Geelong is we’re there about five days before I release my new album,” he said.
Kernaghan expects his next gig, at the Gateway Hotel on 18 March, to be a bit more raucous than the previous theatre performances in Geelong.
“It’s more of a party atmosphere,” he said.
“But whenever I get on stage – whether it’s a little outback town in western Queensland or 50,000 people at the Gympie muster – the feeling is still the same.”
Kernaghan said age has not slowed him down. If anything the 53-year-old is a “bit more arched up” with the Wolfe Brothers Band in tow.
“Making music with them has been an absolute highlight of my life. The boys take no prisoners when they hit the stage and I’ve got to be up for it.”
Despite winning ARIAs and Australian of the Year, a pyrotechnic mishap the Gympie Muster remains the highlight of Kernaghan’s 25-year career.
To “impress the crowd” Kernaghan strapped devices to his guitar shoot sparks “40 feet into the air”.
“My roadie strapped them on back to front, so when I ignited them I also ignited myself.”
“I hoicked the guitar out into the mosh pit and I remember it disappearing like a smoking, flaming wreck from a Mad Max movie.”
Kernaghan assured organisers at the Gateway Hotel that there would be no pyro at his latest gig.
“But I’ve still got plenty of tricks up my sleeve,” he said.
