CherryRock, the titular one-day event of Melbourne’s Cherry Bar in AC/DC Lane, is set to rock this May with an impressive lineup of rare international visitors and homegrown favourites.
Co-headlining CherryRock 2014 are the legendary Meat Puppets and stoner rock domo Brant Bjork, as more acts join the bill today. But the good news of the festival’s expanded lineup also brings with it the sad confirmation that CherryRock 2014 will be the “last ever,” according to Cherry Bar co-owner James Young.
“The fine line is this is positively the last one of its type,” Young tells Tone Deaf, confirming his previously voiced concerns over the threat to the event owing to a residential complex at 108 Flinders Street, overlooking the AC/DC Lane live music venue, opening this June.
In addition, the bottom end of the lane – where CherryRock’s external stage is erected – will be taken over by a “Peruvian restaurant [with] al fresco dining. There’s literally no room for the stage anymore,” explains Young.
“So if we do another [CherryRock] it’ll have to be radically different… So the reality is there’s no way we’ll be able to repeat what we’ve done for the last 8 years ever again, and we’re not sure what the ‘go forward’ model will be.” “So the reality is there’s no way we’ll be able to repeat what we’ve done for the last 8 years ever again…”
“It’s because of the development, and in particular because of the restaurant which will now be occupying the downstairs area and the external area. We need every centimetre for that stage to be put down there, literally every centimetre, and we’re going to lose 3 metres coming out. But what the fuck are you going to do?” Young says.
That officially makes CherryRock 2014, taking place on Sunday 25th May, “definitely the last” in its current model but Young and his Cherry partner are already discussing plans for renewing the event in future. “My position is ‘over my dead body won’t there be another Cherry Rock’,” declares Young.
Some options include setting up a smaller CherryRock stage at the top of AC/DC Lane, “and have the people looking up… or transplant it to the car pack opposite the NGV or even Birrarung Mar,” Young speculates.
The other major move could involve transforming the event into a regional music festival, complete with camping, by moving it to the Tallarook site of the popular Boogie festival, which just completed its own eighth edition this past Easter long weekend.
“Does that mean we flip it and reduce the numbers with the stage at the top [of AC/DC Lane]? Does it mean we get bold and do it in Flinders Lane? Or do we do something really bold and say we’re actually taking Cherry Rock, which we’ve discussed in the past, to the Boogie site in Tallarook, and do Cherryrook?” ponders Young. “I’ll resurrect it somehow, and in some form, it genuinely will be nothing like what it’s going to be this last time.”
This year also marks CherryRock’s first expansion to Sydney, taking over the Factory Theatre for its launch on Saturday 31st May, the week following the native Melbourne edition of the rock event.
The Melbourne CherryRock also adds two more bands to the lineup today, with local rockers High Tension (featuring members of The Nation Blue and Young & Restless) plus Powerline Sneakers (featuring John Nolan, ex-The Powder Monkeys) joining a bill that includes Redcoats, Drunk Mums, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, Bitter Sweet Kicks, Child, and more. View the full lineup, dates, and ticket details below.
CherryRock 2014 Lineup
The Meat Puppets (USA)
Brant Bjork (USA)
Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk
King of the North
Redcoats
Beastwars (NZ)
Child
Drunk Mums
Bitter Sweet Kicks
The Harlots
Don Fernando
High Tension
Powerline Sneakers
Gay Paris* (*Sydney CherryRock 2014 only)
CherryRock 2014 Dates, Tickets
Sunday 25 May – Cherry Bar, AC/DC Lane Melbourne
12noon-9.30pm
13 acts, 2 stages, no clashes
Tickets $74 from www.cherrybar.com.au
CherryRock 2014 Sydney Dates, Tickets
Saturday 31 May – The Factory Theatre
2pm – 11.30pm
13 acts, 2 stages, inside and outside.
Tix $60 (+b/f) from www.factorytheatre.com.au
