A CELEBRATION OF MELBOURNE - Born from our darkest hour

Melbourne in 60 Seconds

‘Melbourne in 60 Seconds’ is a collaborative effort, born in lockdown as a positive project during testing times, a bit of joy amid the frustration.

Firstly a challenge, a distraction and an opportunity to do what musicians do best – compose and perform music.

Secondly, as the doors opened once again and music slowly returned to the stages, the corners, the pubs and the footpaths, a reminder of what a great musical town Melbourne is.

You will find offerings reflecting on everything from the weather, the G, pubs and their clientele, Moomba, street lights, communication towers, lost love, lockdown, the lanes, the streets, the suburbs and the city.

The performers are as varied as the music – established acts, troubadours, careers spanning fifty plus years to the emerging and those yet to set foot on a stage.

The line up:

Rebecca Barnard

Mick Thomas

LIttle Wise

Charles Jenkins

Mark Ferrie

Sarah Carroll

Jane Clifton

Ian Bland

with MC JVG

and the house band the Melbourne in 60 seconds Club:

Pete Farnan

Clio Renner

Nathan Farrelly

Matt Earl

Melbourne In 60 Seconds is a bold and masochistic labour of love created by Ian Bland. Over Covid he convinced 62 artists to each come up with a 1 minute ditty about Melbourne. The logistical hoops were many and barbed. The finished package is a testament to the heart and talent of Melbourne’s music community.

To put together a live show featuring all the artists involved would be too fraught to contemplate. It would also be really long and most of the show would be spent preparing for the next act. A bit like golf.

So Ian asked me to put a show together for him. I decided to take Ian’s idea and expand upon the Melbourneness of it all. So, I drew names out of a hat and the chosen performers from the project will play the track they recorded and then sing about our town a bit more.

I mean it would be a waste to get Mick Thomas up there for 60 seconds when he has written and recorded some of the great Melbourne anthems of our time. Charles Jenkins recorded an album about the history of Melbourne written in conjunction with a historian. When Shirley Strachan left Skyhooks, Jane Clifton was very tempted to take up the offer and be their new singer. When you talk of songs about our city none are more iconic than some of those Skyhooks’ numbers. Jane will read some of her poetry and she may sing a Skyhooks song.

Rebecca Barnard’s opening track on the Melbourne In 60 Seconds CD is the opening track for a very good reason. Her voice sounds better than anyone else’s in Melbourne. Little Wise has put Carnegie on the musical map. Sarah Carroll is the Ukelele Queen of the Bellarine but she used to be a Fitzroy fixture and she knows all about the place in song. Mark Ferrie’s Punt Rd Traffic is a bonafide Melbourne underground anthem.

And the house band, The Melbourne Club are an elite institution. Pete Farnham from Boom Crash Opera is the MD, he reckons BCO’s big hits were all about Melbourne. I will try and stop him singing one, but I don’t like my chances. Clio Renner is on keys, the most sought after keyboard player in town, she has a song on Melbourne in 60 seconds, so does Nathan Farrelly on the bass. Matt Earl on the drums doesn’t have a song on the record. That’s because he’s a drummer.

And it goes without saying that Ian will be reading more than 60 seconds of poetry.

It’s gonna be like a theatre show, a bit like the Mother's Day gig I put together each year at the Ballroom. Old school variety entertainment. No ventriloquists though, sorry.