Three hours of Australian live music, back to back
Every year someone asks what the music situation is. This year the answer is: three hours of it, back to back, and all of it Australian.
All of it proudly presented by Cammisa Markel, our official immigration legal team — more on them below.
Here's who's playing, and when.
12.30–1.00pm · Australian Theatre Festival NYC
Amelia Cormack & Jenn Reed
We're opening with two voices that have carried Australian stories onto some very big stages.
Amelia Cormack is a New York-based singer, actor, musician and songwriter with credits across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US. She's just come off a run in The Last Ship with Sting and Shaggy. She was an original Diva in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert The Musical — playing the role for nearly two years across Australia and New Zealand before reprising it on London's West End — and has toured the States with Kinky Boots, Les Misérables and Come From Away. She also plays violin, piano, guitar, mandolin and hand percussion, which frankly feels like showing off.
Jennifer Reed is a New York-based Australian actor, raised in Laos, with a Bachelor of Music from the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. Her credits include Assassins, Children of Eden, The Who's Tommy and Nine.
Both are Festival alumni over multiple years. The Australian Theatre Festival NYC showcases Australian artists and stories in New York — through its annual festival, New Play Award, industry events and year-round programming, it's become a home for Australian theatre here and a meeting point for artists, audiences and the wider Australian-American community. Led by Co-Artistic & Executive Directors Mark Barford and Connor Delves, the 7th annual Festival runs September 29 – October 4. Tickets are on sale now at australiantheatrefestival.com.
1.15–2.15pm · The DownUnders
Then we turn it up.
The DownUnders are a New York-based Australian and New Zealand covers band, formed in 2023 by musicians who cut their teeth in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle before landing here. Their repertoire runs to 50 songs across five decades of Antipodean rock — INXS, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel and plenty more.
The line-up:
Greg Truman (vocals, guitar) — former Sydney indie artist and studio musician, with a long association with The Wiggles.
Kath Byrnes (saxophone, vocals) — New York-based since 2008, with the Beacon Theatre and Celebrate Brooklyn on her CV.
Benny Oastler (guitar) — former Melbourne indie guitar gun.
Simon Smith (guitar, keys, vocals) — crack Sydney muso with, by his own band's description, poor taste in rugby league teams.
Georgia Weber (bass) — of Georgia Weber & The Sleeved Hearts.
If you've ever wanted to hear Never Tear Us Apart sung by a few hundred Australians on a lawn in Manhattan, this is your hour.
2.30–3.30pm · Ben Butler & Sam Hawksley
And we finish with two old mates who first met on the Sydney music scene in the '90s, and have both been living in the States ever since.
Ben works primarily as a session musician and sideman, and has recorded and performed with Sting, George Michael, Suzanne Vega, Rosanne Cash, Kate Ceberano, Richard Clapton and Renée Geyer.
Sam is a solo artist, songwriter and producer who's worked with the likes of the BoDeans, Olivia Newton-John, Adam Brand, The Whitlams, John Farnham, Richard Clapton, Ian Moss, Wendy Matthews and Vanessa Amorosi.
Together they'll be playing some of their favourite Aussie songs — with, in their own words, “a healthy amount of guitar solos sprinkled on top.”
More at benbutlermusic.com and samhawksley.com.
The entertainment is presented by Cammisa Markel
Every one of those three hours is proudly presented by Cammisa Markel, the official immigration legal team of The Big Aussie BBQ.
If you are an Australian in New York, you have almost certainly had the visa conversation — the one about which letter and number you are living under, and what happens when it runs out. Cammisa Markel are the people who do that work for a living, and they have thrown their weight behind this event so the music, the games and the whole afternoon can stay free for everyone who walks in.
We love having them involved. Come and say hello to the team on the day, and if you have been putting off that visa question, there is no better place to start asking it.
More at cammisamarkel.com.
One thing to plan around
The Qantas flight giveaway is drawn at 3pm, right in the middle of Ben and Sam's set, with the winner announced at 4pm. You need to have checked in and be there for the draw — so the good news is that if you're standing there listening to the music, you're already exactly where you need to be.
Music from half twelve. Snags all afternoon. Saturday, August 15, Rockefeller Park.
See you down the front.