Update, October 6: A major tour slated for a Warrnambool stop-off this month has been rescheduled to 2022.
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Australian youth music organisation The Push will bring the All-Ages Tour back on the road next year over seven weekends in February and March 2022.
The south-west will now play host to Alex Lahey and the Smith Street Band at the Warrnambool Showgrounds on March 4.
"After a devastating 18 months for both young people and the contemporary music sector, The Push is excited to have this opportunity to bring Australia's best artists to regional and outer-suburban Victoria," the Push chief executive officer Kate Duncan said.
Major all-ages tour coming to Warrnambool
Earlier, August 4: SOME of Australia's biggest artists will make their way around regional Victoria in a major tour aimed at supporting the live music industry hard-hit by the pandemic.
Australian youth music organisation The Push is bringing the All-Ages Tour back to 20 regional and outer-suburban locations across Victoria this September and October.
With the 2019 tour seeing Ruby Fields and Baker Boy take to sold out stages across regional Victoria, the 2021 All-Ages Tour will see Alex Lahey, Alice Ivy, Alice Skye, Allday, The Chats, Dallas Woods, JK-47, KIAN, Mallrat, MLBRN, Ninajirachi, The Smith Street Band, Sycco, Thelma Plum and Teenage Joans bring their talents to Victorian towns where you might not usually see live music.
The south-west will play host to Alex Lahey and the Smith Street Band at the Warrnambool Showgrounds on October 29.
Supported by the Victorian Government, each of the 20 events are being staged by teams of local young people, as a part of the FReeZA program - a youth development initiative that provides young people with industry skills and experiences in staging events in their local communities.
The Push chief executive Kate Duncan said the tour will bring thousands of young music fans to locations across the state, in what are hotly tipped to be some of the biggest and best all-ages events in recent memory.
"Not only does it act as a really important audience development opportunity for young audiences to see live music but its also a really important professional development tour that skills up young people in regional areas so that they can continue to stage live music events into the future," she said.
"Live artists have been hit the hardest; they were the first to be impacted by shutdowns and they'll be the last to properly return to any kind of COVID-normal world.
"So this has been such an important initiative to be supported by the Victorian Government to be getting those artists back out and into live music venues again and playing to audiences again."
The Warrnambool gig will also be supported by two local acts that will be chosen by the local FReeZA team, as well as a Triple J Unearthed competition which will also be supported by a local act.
"I think COVID is really shifting the landscape for contemporary musicians," Ms Duncan said.
"Pre-COVID it was pretty rare that you would see artists committed to doing regional shows and I think that's something that's really shifted over the last few decades.
"Back in the 80s and even some of the 90s regional tour routes was something that was really common practice but as the landscape has really shifted in terms of how artists make revenue now in terms of recorded music sales, which is very different to what it was back then.
"Artists will generally make up that chunk of income through playing major performances like festivals in major capital cities and the like, so regional has really seemed to drop off in the last few decades.
"But what I think is really interesting now is over the last 18 months lockdowns have been keeping us really close to home in our respective states and territories and I think we'll really see more of these artists see the benefits of being able to play these kinds of shows in regional areas.
"Through this experience they're going to see the benefits of how to really organically grow audiences by playing theses shows and the benefits long-term for artist sustainability."
The 2021 All-Ages Tour will take to regional centres and outer-suburban centres from Wodonga to Shepparton, Healesville to Hoppers Crossing across seven spring weekends.
Tickets on sale 10am Friday 6 August through Moshtix. Visit thepush.com.au to register for pre-sale tickets and find out more details.
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