Stages will be located outside Virgin domestic arrivals, inside PJ O’Brien’s bar and at the departures ‘wailing wall’ in the International Terminal. The sets take place during the airport’s busiest time of the day, 6pm to 9pm.
Thursday November 14: soul act Kylie Auldist & The Glenroy Allstars, and folk-country troubadour Fraser A Gorman.
Friday November 15: a reggae-tinged team-up by guitarist Ross Hannaford and drummer Bart Willoughby, and the surf’n’western mix of ‘the Balkan Elvis’ Mikelangelo.
Saturday November 16: indie pop band Second Hand Heart and multi-instrumentalist Georgia Fields.
“As a songwriter and performer, my life and work is all about connecting with people,” points out Mikelangelo. “Air travel makes the whole world my neighbourhood and like so many other people, airports are part of my day to day life. They can be places of high emotion – laughter, tears, anxiety, relief, and for those with wanderlust, the gateway to dreams. As the song says: ‘Have Love Will Travel’.”
The whole idea of this, ahem, flight club, is to provide a taste of the styles that can be heard at festivals, conferences and awards held in Melbourne during the last two weeks of November. These include Melbourne Music Week, The Age Music Victoria Awards, the Australasian World Music Expo (AWME) and Face The Music.
It is again a partnership between peak music association Music Victoria and City of Melbourne’s AirPlay project.
Music Victoria CEO, Patrick Donovan, said the ongoing project was building on the historical connection between airports and musicians, and greeted visitors with a soundtrack to Victoria. “Many band titles, songs, albums and labels have been inspired by airports – Angus and Julia Stones’ Big Jet Plane, Melbourne band Essendon Airport, record label Departed Sounds, and Brian Eno’s Music for Airports. Live music is one of Victoria’s greatest assets, so it’s appropriate that we are showing it off. We will also be handing out the Melbourne Music City guide to help steer visitors to their preferred styles of music.”
