Iconic Australian band Goanna will come home to its birthplace in Geelong to celebrate 45 years of protest through pop music for one night only in November.
The homecoming concert is the second last show of the band’s national tour and will be held at Costa Hall on Friday, November 18.
Goanna, which formed and first rehearsed in Geelong, will also celebrate the 40 years since the 1982 release of multi-platinum debut album Spirit of Place, which featured singles Solid Rock and Razor’s Edge.
The headliners will be supported by two Geelong artists: Luke Biscan, son of original Goanna guitarist Mike Biscan; and Ngarrindjeri and Gunditjmara man Mick Ryan, who has been working with Goanna frontman Shane Howard through the City of Greater Geelong’s Arts Mentorship Program.
Howard recalls the band’s genesis in the diverse and exciting Geelong music scene of the late 70s and early 80s.
“It was a dizzy mix of high employment in the industrial sector, headed by the Ford Motors factory, contrasted against the Great Ocean Road that led to the surf coast and surf culture and the wildly beautiful Otway Forest,” Howard said.
“Deakin University was just being established at the time and I had the honour of being Deakin’s first Student Council president.
“Goanna formed out of these rich cultural influences and all these elements informed the band and our music, in the midst of Geelong’s vibrant music scene.
“In the middle of it all was the Eureka Hotel, running five or six nights a week, bringing some of the best bands in Australia to our doorstep. They were heady times. Geelong provided the springboard for Goanna into music history.”
