If you’ve never been to a One Night Stand, you’re really missing out.
Having said that, it makes complete and total sense if you’ve never made it to a One Night Stand — they’re hard to get to and that’s kind of the point. Our travelling regional gigs are played in towns across the country, towns that don’t typically get a lot of touring action. For whatever reason, bands find it hard to make it out to them. (CC: Mount Isa). We've already looked back at the musical memories we'll never forget, so now we turned to the artists and triple j staff for stories about the ghosts of One Night Stand’s past and the parties that happened along the way. Here’s the stuff they were willing to share remembered:
Feelin' far from home
"The first sign that this wasn’t going to be a regular gig? Being told that our set time would have to be pushed back to accommodate a rather loud mine blast that would have interrupted the broadcast of the show. Driving into Mount Isa for the first time immediately gave me the sense that we were in a far away place. We watched the red dirt, the enormous sky, the empty lakes and the hulking mining machines pass by from the window of our rental car and talked excitedly about how different things looked and whether anyone from this town had even heard of our band.
After a night off at the local night spot, where we all fell in love with Thundamentals, we rose early and went to the festival site. From then on it was a hot, lovely blur. I befriended Lucky Luke, we talked about rap music in the shade, everyone joked about Fatman Scoop being in town, and people started showing up with stories of 15 hour drives and flights on tiny planes. There was a palpable sense of community and such a positive atmosphere around the festival, both behind the stage and in front of it. The rest of the night we felt light and carefree, as people danced and kicked red dirt into the sunset."
— Wil from Smith Street Band
One sick Sultana
It was amazing being able to go to a place in Australia where people usually don’t get to see a concert and put on a wicked show. Even though I was really sick that night, I’ll still always treasure that experience.
— Tash Sultana
That sax guy
In 2014, Veronica and I were doing the weekend arvo show the day after the Mildura ONS and saw an incredible snap of a man standing on someone’s shoulders in the crowd just wailing on a saxophone. People kept calling in to tell us about this incredible sax player, so we decided to track him down. First we found a man who had met him in a carpark and helped smuggle in the sax by throwing it over a fence, then a woman called up who was keen to get his number for some sexy sax time, if we found him.
Eventually someone called in who had his number and we finally spoke to him. He was one of those surprising and inspiring people; he was an abalone diver, a salmon fisherman, a trained musician and when he wasn’t traveling around the world finding weird jobs to do, he was living in South Australia helping his friend’s paraplegic mum to surf by duct-taping her to his back. Getting to meet the most incredible people in the country is a huge part of why I love the One Night Stand and why I’m so freaking excited to be doing it again.
— Lewis Hobba, Drive presenter
That sh*t cray
As someone who hasn't spent a heap of time driving in Western Australia, it was incredibly cool feeling — after six+ hours of nothing but sand, shrubs and rock formations — to drive into the beautiful town, Geraldton, only to be greeted by overwhelming love and enthusiasm for the One Night Stand. There were posters of our sailboard-riding cray in every window. Surf shop? Cray. Beachside toastie kiosk? Cray. Double vacant lot next to the pizzeria? Heaps of crays, plus a bunch of locals getting lit before the One Night Stand. It was cool to be reminded that there’s people listening to triple j all over our stupidly huge country. What a vibe.
— Max Lavergne, Breakfast producer
Fatman Scooped
After a pumpin’ night at the Isa One Night Stand, I ventured down to the unofficial after party…. Fatman Scoop at the Irish Club. Hot damn, what a night! I caught Jordy from San Cisco having an absolute time on the D-Floor and all of the locals and triple j fly-ins were living it large. Fatman Scoop had no shirt on and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sweatier man. A definite highlight was seeing Unearthed winner, Lucky Luke, performing an impromptu rendition of ‘Be Faithful’ on stage with Scoopy.
— Liam Stapleton, Breakfast presenter
Bernard Fanning out
One Night Stand in Geraldton was amazing. Having been touring relentlessly leading up to the show, the whole vibe and experience of the gig was such a fun departure from the norm. Collaborating is always one of the most rewarding and challenging things for musicians, and sharing the stage with Bernard Fanning was a privilege. The whole day was just a generous refill of energy and positive vibes from all the bands, artists, stage techs and triple j crew. The appreciation from the locals was abundantly clear, which made it the easiest, most heckle-free festival we've ever done!
— Killian from Boy & Bear
Dalby gets drenched
360 raised his middle finger to the air, as the rain cascaded down on the thousands of sopping punters who rocked up to the Dalby showgrounds for the triple j One Night Stand. Regional Queensland was getting a drenching, and after huge sets from Stonefield, Matt Corby and the aforementioned tattooed rapper, music had suddenly cut out — apparently the generators beneath the stage were beginning to go underwater. I was standing just to the right of the stage with my breakfast co-host Tom Ballard and triple j manager, Chris Scaddan, as someone told him it would be too dangerous to continue, that we should cut the night short. With the Temper Trap yet to even set foot on the stage, Chris turned to me and Tom – 'Can you guys go out and tell them?'
Wireless microphones in hand and heart in throat, we stepped onstage to be greeted by a sea of emergency ponchos. 'Sorry, guys. The generators are underwater, we have to cancel.' I remember the boos. I remember the jeers. I remember having to catch a soaking, muddy t-shirt thrown at my face. In the end, though, it may have been the One Night Stand with the least amount of music but it was certainly one of the most memorable!
— Alex Dyson, Lunch presenter
After what was gearing up to be one of the biggest One Night Stand gigs we had ever pulled off, the storm clouds that had been steadily building that evening over the Darling Downs forced us to shut down the concert. This was some of the most torrential downpour I have ever witnessed. Spirits were low around the triple j camp and I was pretty heartbroken, thinking that all the local legends who had made the trek to Dalby Showground would leave feeling disappointed. After packing down, though, we entered one of the nearby watering holes to find a local crowd still brimming with excitement. We ended up spending a good portion of the night singing karaoke with half of the town and everyone's spirits were well and truly lifted. It proved that, regardless of what had been thrown at us, the people of Dalby made the absolute best of the situation that had been thrown at us.
— Nick Findlay, triple j Music Director
Party at the back
I remember there being such a buzz around Mt Isa for One Night Stand; I don’t think there are too many events in Australia that can galvanise a whole town quite like it. For us it was so dope to have The Smith Street Band, Thelma Plum, San Cisco and Ben and Liam — in fluro 80s activewear, fake mullets and all — come out and join us on stage while we were performing our song ‘Sally’. The Australian music scene is a beautiful thing and jjj are at the heart of keeping us all connected. Cheers to that!
— Jeswon from Thundamentals
Thnks fr th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy
Some of my best memories of the Geraldton One Night Stand was the fact that I could hang out with some of the coolest people I’ve ever meet for a day! From the backstage laughs, to the free hugs everyone was giving out; not only was the ONS one of the best live music events I've ever been to but because it was free even my stingiest friends could come along. Such a great event for triple j to put on!
— Az, local Geraldton hero
Come party with Vance Joy, Peking Duk, Tkay Maidza, Middle Kids and Alex the Astronaut at this year's One Night Stand in St Helens, Tasmania! You can find all the details here.