The short hike out to The Hill Winery at Waurn Ponds, south of Geelong, was a fairly pleasant one. I started to wonder if I’d gone too far when, plonked in the middle of an unassuming section of field, a huge marquee and stage sprang up in front of me – A Day On The Green – this year, headlined by those mighty scions of Australian rock, Hunters & Collectors.
While the ambience at The Hill isn’t exactly what you imagine when you think of rock music at a winery, the feeling of endless amounts of space swallowing up booming guitars was keeping spirits high, helped by liberal doses of the house wines.
Supported this year by the ‘we’re hoping to capture a slightly younger crowd this year’ lineup of You Am I, Something for Kate and British India, Hunters and Collectors arrived onstage punctually at 8.35pm.
Launching into Talking To A Stranger, Mark Seymour’s voice was clearly still fairly awesome, although as the set went on it was clear that the Aussie icons were somewhat going through the motions. Things heated up a bit with When The River Runs Dry, and the evergreen Holy Grail before the band left the stage, only to return for the inevitable rendition of Throw Your Arms Around Me, accompanied by thousands of voices.
BY JOSH FERGEUS
Photos by Kerry Kissell
Loved: When The River Runs Dry.
Hated: Portaloos.
Drank: Hill’s Shiraz.
