Live Review: One For The Road

In September, the Australian music industry was rocked by a car accident that killed much loved stage manager Shane Cooper and left hard-hitting talented drummer Mick Skelton in a coma with serious injuries. The Australian rock music industry, driven by the Support Act charity, all jumped at the chance to perform an all-star concert to raise money for the families of the victims.

A multi-talented house band, including Paul Gray (Wa Wa Nee), Jak Housden and James Christowski lined up to support the plethora of artists, starting with Russell Morris going back 46 years with The Real Thing. Mick Skelton is a drumming superstar, so it was suitable that two kits were set up side by side and we were treated to synchronised drumming for much of the night including 12 year old prodigy Jagger who performed with John Swan (Swanee).

Diesel showed he is ageless (the backwards cap proves this) with an acoustic version of One More Time before being joined by Jimmy Barnes for an emotional performance of Flame Trees. Excuse me, I have something in my eye.

One of the highlights of the night was the Hoodoo Gurus with Dave Faulkner declaring that this is one of the best organised benefit gigs he's ever done, with it being pulled together in little over a month. A Thousand Miles Away sounded as fresh as ever. An enigmatic performance of Under The Milky Way from Steve Kilbey lead into Jeff Martin smashing out his band's The Bazaar with usual intensity. The Mark Williams fronted Dragon handed the vocals to us for the crowd favourite Rain and April Sun in Cuba before Ian Moss' version of Georgia On My Mind with saxophonist Andy Bickers gave us goosebumps.

Eric Weideman from 1927 declared that Skelton and Cooper's accident has affected the entire musical family before launching into That's When I Think Of You. It was Thirsty Merc's turn next, giving us the upbeat In The Summertime and more feels with 20 Good Reasons.

Sarah McLeod entertainingly took over MC'ing duties from Triple M's Milly and Becko to declare that The Baby Animals are her favourite band of all time. Skelton regularly drums for the band and their performances of Rush You and Early Warning were impressively solid. More crowd sing-a-longs followed with The Moving Pictures' What About Me and a ukulele inspired version of Run To Paradise from The Choirboys' front man Mark Gable.

The evergreen Jon Stevens and Noiseworks lead into a huge full cast rendition of Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone. The finale was a rousing finish to an epic night of love, camaraderie and showmanship from some of the best in the biz. It's nights like this that help us appreciate what a great history of rock we have in this country and that we are all a part of the family.