It isn’t Shark Tank or a new Ridley Scott film set in 2060, it’s a real innovation that might transform festivals as we know it.
Good Day Sunshine is a festival happening in Busselton on 31 October, and its secret weapon? A rotating stage that spins as the artists play. It’s the first to use this ‘turntable stage’, ensuring the event can maintain social distancing requirements while also allowing large crowds to enjoy live music again.
Here’s how it works: there’s a big open field with a circular stage at the centre. Then there’s four divided quadrants, each with 1,250 capacity and their own bars, loos, entries and exits. Then, it’s go time.
“But, you’ll only see the band front-on 25% of the time!”, we hear you say. Well, there’s video screens in each quadrant so you don’t miss a moment.
Plus, if bands can get creative and alter their usual set up, you could see different elements of the live performance at all times.
It’s like a Lazy Susan except instead of cheese and twiggy sticks, it’s your favourite band on the menu!
With the live music scene coming to a grinding halt, with COVID-19 costing the industry hundreds of millions of dollars, an out-of-the-box option like this one could see festivals becoming a viable option sooner rather than later.
The Australian company behind the world-first format, Macro Music, are hoping other events will pick up the rotating stage structure they’ve put down.
“I would be flattered if this format was to be used by other events in Australia and across the world,” says CEO Ross Macpherson in a statement.
“The sooner we can get large scale live events back up and running, the better for everyone.”
So, as long as the turntable doesn’t break down mid-set or flick into overdrive and send the artist spinning into the crowd, this looks like an exciting innovation.
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Playing ‘in the round’
The line-up includes legendary Aussie acts like John Butler Trio, Josh Pyke and Xavier Rudd, as well as rising stars like Dulcie and Kyle Lionhart. For locals Dulcie, they couldn’t be more excited.
“We’ve all collectively spent a lot of time living and hanging out in the south west… It’s both exciting and terrifying, but there’s a first time for everything and we feel lucky to be involved.”
The WA live music scene is “starting to pick up again” according to Dulcie who say that “morale is on the up with more and more gigs on the horizon”. They reckon if the spinning stage is a hit, more festivals might return sooner rather than later.
“Hopefully it all goes smoothly and opens up the possibility of more festivals going ahead safely and effectively with these new ideas”.
One extra concern for the band isn’t safety or being rusty live, it’s a unique problem to this kind of stage set-up.
“We have been having a bit of a giggle about everyone having to look at our bums! We’ll be working really hard to make sure everyone’s feeling engaged and having fun.”
…And maybe sneaking in a few extra squats in the gym over the next month.
What do you think?
Bridget Hustwaite quizzed her Good Nights followers on what they thought of Good Day Sunshine’s turntable format, and it was a mostly positive and excited response.