DAY LIKE NO OTHER
Twenty-six songs, 39 artists, 1.8 millions viewers and just nine days ... inside the breathtaking rush to deliver Music From The Home Front
Music From the Home Front should have taken at least a month to deliver – 26 songs by 39 artists, more than 1.8 million viewers and touch two nations, all in nine days.
A show that would spawn an ARIA No.1 album, a new triple vinyl collectors’ keepsake and bring mainstream Australian musicians back to primetime TV. An event etched in history.
When COVID-19 hit Melbourne in March promoter Michael Gudinski was devastated, as was his whole live business. For a week he distracted himself. Then he got on the phone.
THURSDAY APRIL 16
At 8.34am Michael Gudinski AM, the biggest figure on the Australian music scene contacts his COO Dion Brant and former Channel 7 sport heavyweight and TV industry veteran turned freelance producer Saul Stein. They are discussing technical requirements, TV production methods and composing questions to ask Hugh Marks, the CEO of the Nine Network to gauge his interest. Gudinski’s idea has been bubbling for the past 36 hours, a televised TV concert of great Australian and New Zealand artists, performing unique performances of well loved songs, all from isolation, into lounge rooms, across the two countries on Anzac Day.
Gudinski spoke to his friend and Australian music legend Jimmy Barnes, who said he’d play and help curate, and Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews, who was encouraging and pledged support. Gudinski resolved that music industry chart Support Act would be the primary charity to benefit from this as yet unnamed television event.
FRIDAY APRIL 17
At 8.45am Gudinski received an SMS from Channel 9’s Hugh Marks — “WE’RE IN”. The project was away. A working title Never Forget – Music Cares was used — the concert would honour the memory of the Anzacs and all armed forces who followed them.
Calls went out to managers, artists and trusted confidants in the booking agencies and record labels.
SATURDAY APRIL 18
Gudinski called Brant at 8.10am — he’d been up most of the night, made lists and was firing. Communication to New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern, seeking her support, was drafted — support on both sides of ‘the ditch’ symbolic of Anzac togetherness. Calls, brainstorming, list development, more calls, more ideas, Gudinski hadn’t stopped.
SUNDAY APRIL 19
The pitch to artists was refined, lists were pruned, expanded and re-cut. The name was debated and a much better title surfaced, Gudinski loved the double meaning — Music From the Home Front with the military connotations of the Home Front combined with the focus on frontline workers and isolation of the community at home were all covered. The brand was born. Gudinski started to connect with the Returned Services League (RSL) in Australia to ensure their blessing for the Anzac Day event.
MONDAY APRILPRILP 20
Gudinski took to starting calls with “Right, I don’t want to panic anyone but we’ve got 132 hours to go...”. Missy Higgins was locked in. Birds rds of Tokyo would bring the West Australian Symphony Orchestra with them for Unbreakable. Jimmy and Michael discussed two songs, one of Jim’s and one of Cold Chisel’s, it had to be When The War Is Over as the finale and Ian Moss would do it with him. Ben Lee could record in LA, his track We’re All In This Together had become a theme of the lock downs.
TUESDAY APRIL 21
Tuesday started poorly, Brant logged on to an email from Channel 9 saying they thought the Music From the Home Front name was too passive and they had something better, We Salute You – Musicians 4 The Frontline, an Anzac Day concert for the Fight against COVID-19. It was agreed that Nine could add the tagline ‘An Anzac Day Concert for the Fight Against COVID19’ and the issue was put to bed … temporarily. But the stress ramped up again quickly. Lorde was out, the New Zealand connection was becoming more tenuous. Midnight Oil were out, supportive but unable to make logistics work in the time frame, and in isolation. At 4.45pm on Tuesday, less than 100 hours to airtime Nine got their first run through of who was locked in from the artist side. They agreed to rising Melbourne artist G Flip, Dean Lewis locked in from LA, Mark Seymour and
James Reyne would perform together, at a distance, Bliss n Eso had some incredible ideas for their hit Moments. Shane Howard would do Solid Rock with a contingent of Australian legends, William Barton, the country’s leading didgeridoo player would join them.
WEDNESDAY APRIL 22
Nine call saying they want more young acts, it’s too old they say, this delighted Gudinski. Crowded House is out and the trans-Tasman angle is becoming a serious concern. Missy is recording her song with Tim Minchin. Vance Joy is confirmed. The Rubens can record from a studio near their home without breaching lock down provisions. The artist with the world’s biggest song, Tones and I, confirms!
THURSDAY APRIL 23
The raw clips start to roll in, filming is done, first edits start to come together. News and snippets filter through. John Schuman’s I Was Only 19 is recorded and everyone loves it. Well past midnight the DMA’S demo of Crowded House’s Better Be Home Soon arrives in Gudinski’s inbox and it is magic.
FRIDAY APRIL 24
Jimmy Barnes calls Gudinski to say he’s convinced Neil Finn that Crowded
House should at least give it a go. Finn, previously reticent about how to record a track with band members in five different locations spread across the world, agrees. A joint Anzac effort would not be the same without the Crowded House, a band acclaimed as both Australian and New Zealander.
ANZAC DAY SATURDAY APRIL 25
An Anzac Day like no other. At 7am the phone calls and emails start, Gudinski has to do a live cross to the Today show at 7.35am. He is completely shattered, spent and yet still anxious. More clips are finalised. Gudinski drives to Channel 9 studios in Melbourne where he will sit in a private studio and listen to the show being called live. At 7.30pm sharp James Morrison opens the show with the haunting Last Post, flanked by a World War II veteran and a nurse. The program runs for more than three hours. No one wants to interrupt it, no one wants to end it. The realisation comes that not only have they put Australian and New Zealand musicians on prime time TV and watched them shine …. they’ve fulfilled a need for the people of Australia and New Zealand to feel good, to feel positive, to be thankful for the sacrifices made in response to the pandemic and to be entertained.