Music SA launches new push to amplify music scene

Morgan Sette
Alana Jagt will headline the first *Parks and Rockreation* concert

With its annual winter festival Umbrella Winter City Sounds scuppered for 2020, Music SA has outlined a new initiative to encourage South Australians to embrace our music scene over the coming months.

2 September 2020

It’s been three months since live music began to slowly return to pubs and music venues around South Australia, with the growing volume of all-local line ups going some way towards drowning out all that ghastly COVID-enforced silence.

But, with current restrictions forcing licensed gigs to be largely seated and at half-capacity, it has hardly been smooth sailing for many venue operators and artists.

Dubbed GO LIVE, Music SA’s new initiative will attempt to jump-start a groundswell of audience support for the scene through a series of curated events, and an opportunity for venues and artists to promote upcoming gigs through the Umbrella website.

The indefinite delay of a national touring circuit has turned Adelaide’s live music scene into an all-local affair

Parks and Rockreation will bring a series of three Sunday ‘picnic’ shows to the park lands from October to December, with headliners Alana Jagt (18 October), Heaps Good Friends (22 November) and Stellie (13 December) and guests popping up in Lot 88 Nantu Wama, City Skate Ityamai-Itpina and Whitmore Square Iparrityi.

Other COVID-safe programming will include the Adelaide Botanic Garden’s twilight audio-visual attraction Botanica Lumina, and Blak Nite 2020, a NAIDOC Week concert featuring J-MILLA and Katie Aspel.

“GO LIVE is a wonderful initiative to encourage people to go to gigs and support our invaluable industry,” Music SA general manager Kim Roberts explains. “We are proud to be a UNESCO City of Music, so championing the Adelaide music scene is an important step towards rebuilding what has been lost over the last few months.

“GO LIVE will also highlight regional events across the state, supporting intrastate travel during what has been a difficult time. It will be an inclusive and exciting period of live music for existing and new music lovers alike.”