Twelve months ago, you may remember reading an article about Cherry Rock 2014. At that time it was quite an emotional piece,because it was the last festival to be held in AC/DC Lane. But no need to despair Forte Readers, because Cherry Rock will take place in AC/DC Lane once again due to the awesome business negotiations of Mr. James Young, owner of Cherry Bar. As you could assume, Mr. Young was very pleased to see that the event would be happening once again.
“Things are good mate! And I am very happy, I had a feeling in my bones that we would be doing it again, although it is a little sad we had to cancel CherryFest which is my November event, but we just had to line up a few ducks, get the neighbours on side, talk to the council and make friends with the local restaurant and strike some clever deals so that we could rock in AC/DC Lane,” James said.
The clever deal that allowed Cherry Rock to go ahead was that the local restaurant holds their annual staff party on the same day, and Young gives them all free tickets to Cherry Rock. “They’ll be sending me to the Gaza Strip next to solve their problems. The secret to every reconciliation is free CherryRock tickets and a free Cold Can,” he adds with a laugh.
Luckily, for all the Cherry Rock punters, the council has the same opinion as Mr. Young. Over the past couple of years, there has been considerable tension between local business and residents and Cherry Bar, which meant that noise restrictions were put in place.
“The council have the same viewpoint as me, and that is that everyone that dislikes CherryRock can suck it up. It’s once a year, we have been doing it for nine years, and we hold it at a relatively inoffensive time on a Sunday afternoon. I think there will be a lot more people hearing this year, because there has been so much residential development around us. We wont be touching the volume button, it will be as loud as usual you can bet on that!”
The line up as per usual, is stellar. This year it is to be headlined by US rockers Red Fang, who are coming out on their second Australian tour ever after playing at Soundwave in 2013. “We have 700 paying customers coming to the festival and I go for bands that I want to see on the line up. Hopefully everyone else likes it. This year, that was Red Fang, and the guys from Portland, Oregon have been out here for Soundwave, they immediately jumped at the offer to play this year.”
Beastwars from New Zealand are also making their second appearance at the festival after rocking out last year. The spectacle to this year’s festival however is the all girl power fronted rock group HITS from Brisbane as James tells me. “These guys are playing at Cherry in the lead up, they are playing at Golden Plains and let me tell you there is nothing sexier than a female playing a Gibson SG.”
For the full line up, head over to the Cherry website. What’s more to say then? Get your tickets and head down to rock out on the cobblestones of AC/DC Lane with a cold can in your hand.
When&Where: Cherry Bar, Melbourne – May 10
Written by Tex Miller (Pictured: Red Fang)