Our article from sometime back on the Narara Music Festival of 1983 has proved to be one of our most popular with many folks leaving their recollections and memories in the comments. Many also commented that they’d like to see an article about the 1984 Narara concert. The problem has been a lack of reference material though. I still haven’t been able to find a full list of the acts that played. Rather than hold off, I thought I’d get the post started with the little information I have and let the commenters fill in the blanks once again.
Here’s what I’ve got so-far…
Like the 1983 concert, Narara ’84 was held on the Australia Day long weekend from Friday the 27th the Monday the 30th of January 1984. It was held at the same location, being Somersby NSW.
MC’s – Austen Tayshus, Rodney Rude
Friday January 27th
- Party Girls
- Eurogliders
- Real Life
- Eurythmics
- Simple Minds
- Mondo Rock
Saturday January 28th
- QED
- Zarsoff Bros
- The Johnies
- Kids In The Kitchen
- Hoodoo Gurus
- Machinations
- Sandii And The Sunsets
- The Models
- INXS
- The Pretenders
- Talking Heads
- Mental As Anything
Sunday January 29th
- Drop Bears
- Deckchairs Overboard
- Strange Tennants
- The Expression
- Dynamic Hepnotics
- Little Heroes
- Sunnyboys
- Jon English & The Foster Bros.
- Def Leppard
- The Radiators
- Australian Crawl
- Allniters
* Note: The show was washed out at this point & the following scheduled acts did not play.
Monday January 30th
- Mighty Guys
- Celibate Rifles
- Avion
The concert was marred by heavy rain and suffered reduced crowd numbers. Some say it was also due to the large number of overseas acts at what was an all- Australian event the year before.
This was the last of the Narara concerts.
* Update *
I got an update to the band list from John Vasey who wrote:
“The last act to perform at Narrara 84 was the Radiators on Sunday night. There were no acts on Monday.At that point it was decided that the stage was too dangerous as the water was washing away the soil under the scaffolding.
Andy Pollard was stage manager. Reg Dew built the stage.
Eric Robinson and Michael Coppel could tell you more. Kerrie Jarvis, Swampy’s widdow was also there with Swampy.
I was on the sound crew.”
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{ 66 comments… read them below or add one }
Mark, The Zarsoff Brothers played Narara 84 during the day on Saturday. Thats when the mudfights were happening in that big pile of mud right in front of the stage. There was a photo in the old People Magazine of the day (it was called Pix back then) of the mudfights, and you could clearly see me standing in the mud in front of the Zarsoffs! When the concert was abandoned on Sunday I hightailed it back to Sydney and caught the Zarsoffs at Auburn Baseball Club that night, and Izzy got me up onstage to show the crowd the Narara mud that was still on my Nose Pickin Boogie t-shirt! That shirt, by the way, has been signed at one time or another by just about every member of the Zarsoff’s (there have been quite a few over the years!), plus road crew members, and even a ‘groupie’ that was in the dressing room one night! Some of the very original ones washed off over the years, but last time I looked it still had heaps of signatures on it. It is currently somewhere at my Mum’s house in Sydney. I don’t know about you mate, but I would consider that shirt to be a genuine piece of Australian Music History! lol Come to think of it, do you remember that black Washburn B3 bass I used to play back when you were mixing Bandanna and we were supporting? I bought that bass off Izzy Foreal, and he had played it at both Narara’s, making it a piece of history too lol
That’s a genuine piece of nostalgia you have there JR.
Thanks for the tip about the Zarsoff’s too, I’ve updated the band list.
Mark, I just remembered seeing George Smilovitch there too.
I have pictures of the mud fight.
Matt Finish also played Narara.
I’m sure I have a program at home with a list of most of the bands that played. I think they published it and then more acts signed on.
Thanks heaps Bec, I’d love to see that photo and that program if at all possible.
Cheers, Mark
G,day there. I was just a youngan at the time, but I was at Narara in 84 to see Def Leppard. From my fuzzy memory (I was pissed and covered in mud) the rain meant that Def Leppard did no play. Is this correct?
The concert was awesome, I came on a bus from Briso and pitched my little tent as soon as i got there, never saw it again!! Did not sleep for days, when i did it was with people i did not know. I had a life experience of music, people, drugs and alchohol all mixed in togeather. I would not trade it for anything. First Hoodoo Gurus experience for me and became a steady fan of theirs after Narara. Loved Pretenders, Chrissy can sing. Ni ce site, lets build it now….
Cheers, Bretto. WA.
This was absolutely the woodstock of Australia. I will never forget it as well. It was the ultimate. I slept on the ground not far from the stage, and remember simple minds waking me up at 2am Saturday morning. It was that bloody loud. It was the only concert where everyone just did their own business, without any fuss. It was real music, (not this Britney shit).
They need to do it again before we get to old. Why didn’t Midnight Oil play?
I was there!
I watched the Sunnyboys in the pouring rain – ACE!
Hoodoo Gurus were there – I think Stoneage Romeos had just been released. I knew one song, thought they were good but seemed very loose new band still finding their feet.
The Johnnies played a fabulous shambolic drunken set – it was their singers last gig and he was absolutelty smashed – skulling cans instead of singing.
The models were there. I remember Hunters horn section came out and played a track or 2 with them so I’m guessing Hunters & Collectors must have been on the bill as well
Rodney Rude was there and came out at the height of the rain and told the audience “if I can make you guys laugh in this weather then I’ve gotta be the funniest c*nt on earth!”
Def Leppard did play. They were delayed for a long time as the rain had soaked the PA and they had to do a lot of work to make sure everything was safe. When they finally came on they played a good set but I think they were a bit unsuited for the crowd who didn’t really respond (or just didnt know the music). They ended up playing some standards – cant remember exactly what but might have been something like twist and shout or johnny b goode – stuff like that – which struck me the band were very conscious of the crowd not knowing their songs which was a shame
was at 83 and 84 as a young lad (13/14), My father was working the tattooing stall.
power was from car batteries as the power supply was stuffed, i have a memory that someone was killed /seriously injured in the mud pit in 84. anyone know the story?
one of the best gigs in term of acts and worse in regards to facilities, but being over 25yrs ago maybe time blurs the memory.
hi … yes, at Narara 84 I think it was a british tourist that drowned in the dam that everyone was hanging out in during the rain.
The facilities were nothing great but I think they suited the whole scene … what an amazing event … such a shame they only did 2 of them.
G’day, you’re right Roxy that tourist did drown in the dam my brother Pete (The Tracker) was in the dam and tripped on him on the bottom. He pulled him out. As you can imagine it freaked him out.
The last night of Narara ’84 was washed out completely. I think Aussie Crawl played their set then it was called off for the night because of relentless, driving rain.
Trying to get to sleep that night in a tent with a torrent running under it was one of the worst nights of my life. I obviously wasn’t pissed enough.
But the first two nights were great. Excellent atmosphere in an era of sublime Australian music which was created by the thriving live music scene of the day. How can we bring it back? Any ideas?
i went to both narara both 83 and 84 and i remember the no police policy and the signs up selling whatever you wanted and there was no problem ,..
had the most amazing time both years ,..unbelievable.
pm
i wish i took more photos,..was too busy having fun,.
Was there both times and got smarter with importing of bottles of booze into the festival the second time by digging out the inside of uncut loaves of bread and hiding them (first time we sat at the front gate and skulled two bottles of tequila with two beautiful women because they would let in glass … fair enough too… we were that pissed a friend had to set the tent for us)
Def Leppard made fools of themselves in front of an Australian crowd and got pelted with hundreds of plastic bottles when lead singer asked people to stop throwing them.. I think they walked off stage… it had been pissing with rain all weekend… fanbloodytastic
Doug Mulray and the Beetroots came on after Dragon to which they played three encores of ‘I’m a Real Cunning Stunt’ (I think)… in my opinion made Dragon look stupid… very very funny
The Mud Queen and her followers, The Mudmen, some of who were nude other than mud
Memories go on and on….
1983 all the ground in front of the portaloos was like a bouncing castle… maybe that was the acid
1984 walking down to the stage in knee deep water and passing tents with people sitting in the torrent having a wow of a time
What about Tanelorn, Werikimbe?
Hi Mark,
I was at Narara ’84 as lead guitarist & bv’s with the “Party Girls”. We performed on the same day as the “Eurythmics”.
Before their show the backing vocalists for Annie had run out of hairspray…couldn’t buy any, so they asked me could they use mine. Well, I got an empty can back & had none left for my hair….and you know what hair was like in the 80′s!!!! I watched the Eurythmics from side of stage & when Annie sang “Who’s that Girl” she pointed stage left, right at me, & I yelled out “Where’s my hairspray?”
They also smoked all my cigarettes! It was a real blast…unfortunately I don’t have any memorabilia left..all stolen by fans.
xx
“Where’s my hairspray?”
How funny, considering the break after “Who’s that girl?” is sung. Made me laugh out loud!
Hey Paul,
You didn’t happen to get any pics of a guy busking near the bar on Friday night at the 84 gig playing a miniature guitar and wearing welding goggles by any chance, did you?
I was at both Narara’s- Talking Heads were awesome, one of the best acts I have seen – the show followed the exact same format as in the Stop making sense film- minus the big suit.
It was one of the greatest moments of my life, I went there with some journo mates so I mostly hung out in the restricted area to the right if the stage, which was cool as it was a lot easier to truck fresh slabs in from the nearest town. The only downside was that one night I got so drunk I fell asleep and missed out on the tent orgy!
I can remember seeing Macinations and how the lead singer, so full of joy, jumped into the mud pit just below the stage, and danced and danced, and covered in mud continued to sing. The Models were also there, they were one of my favourite bands at the time. David Lee Roth was also there with Van Halen, they played on the Sunday. There were so many wonderful bands, there was one from Japan and they had a hit at the time but I can’t remember their name, perhaps some else will.
The food area was well run and there was even a vegie shop, and lots of toilets. The rain was outrageous.. I remember a tent that was pitched atop a little knoll and the rain and wind had filled it to the extent that it was bowing out from the rock looking a somewhat spherical shape.
Narara was one of the best weekends of my life.
i was there in 83 and 84 and van halen never played there .you might be thinking of def leppard who played on sunday night but they were great weekends and i miss those times
I worked on site as crew. Still have ‘ALL AREA’S PASS’ id. T shirt , cap and heaps of photo’s. What a wicked event ! Give me a while and l’ll send info. I got stories that ….well l wont be telling my chlidren about ! They gave me a motorbike to ride around on so l could be everywhere at any time. It was like the only big band in the world that wasnt playing was U2. Any one remember the Midnight Oil plane flying over advertising their off site gig ?????
Some things should be left unsaid …..but….. tbc
The Japanese band Melissa mentioned would be Sandii and the Sunsetz. They were there, and the song they had out at the time was Sticky Music.
anyone got any t-shirts they want to sell from that gig? My brother was the lighting director.. Jeffrey Merryweather… i would love to have some memorabilia to remember him by…
Hi Lisa, I don’t have a T shirt but if you give me a call I’ve got a poster from 84 You’re brother was a great lighting guy.
Recko- 0421851142
Check out the updated band list folks!
howdy folks i went to both Narara’s & both were fanbloodytastic!! Although some of the memories are a bit vague due to intake of drugs & booze! 83 gig highlights were The Angels, Austen Tayshus’s intro to Chisel & Chisel themselves were brill. I do remember some bloke wandering around with a garbage bag full of weed making some handy beer $$$, not finding my way back to my tent oops. 84 would have to be Talking Heads – wow! 84 we travelled on a bus all the way from Adelaide & getting that wet I remember arriving back there still damp.
I just found this site and wow! You’ve all sparked some great memories of the 84 festival…what a fantastic time it was and all those great bands in one place, awesome, and yeah Talking was a highlight as was The Pretenders and so was…well the list goes on! Jono…my boyfriend at the time and I were also on that bus from Adelaide, pretty sure on the way up we lit up a joint too….we were sitting right at the back very close to the toilets.
Hi , U2 were scheduled to play at the 84 gig but pulled out . my memories of the 84 gig are blured at best so iam sure i had funnnn, the pretenders were great as were the eurythmics but Talking heads were unbelivable .
Hey most of you guys have it all mixed up between Tanelorn and Narara. I did all 3 gigs and have the pictures and programs to prove it. Matt Finish definitely didnt do Narara only Tanelorn. I also have the mud pics of Fred loneragon and shots of Pretenders and INXS, Chisel, Rodney Rude, the dam and heaps of others. Anyone wanna see them??
Hi Jeff White i would love to see the shots of everything as i was there at all three ,would love to see them.my PS my email is wadepeter2@gmail.com
Would love to see pics as well.
My email is bjkj1969@bigpond.net.au
Pictures will be available here soon.
thanks
Jeff
narara 84 drove there in my ek panelvan great remember def leopard and austin tashsus in that superman put fit what aheadtrip great memories i was 17 year old got great photos and 8 mm movie footage all the best andy ward
i still have original t shirts and ticket stubs and concert program and great photos
Hey I am covering a story in september 09 for a local newspaper on the Central Coast on the Narara Festival (s) and need all the info i can get……need pix and anything that you people out there have – please email me (with your approval of course for printing) I am covering story and some of the bands then and where they are now……ANY INFORMATION WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. I need all this information ASAP.
LETS SEE WHAT YOU GROOVERS BACK THEN CAN GIVE ME EH.
hey debstar am very interested i n your story on narara as i was there and remember it well i can provide information as my two older brothers were there also regards andy ward
Didn’t Jim Kerr from Simple Minds propose to Chrissie Hynde from the Prentenders at a Newcastle beach the night after Narrara ended?
Hi Guys….didnt manage to do the story yet…need a lot of time and information to have this story done correctly. I need pix and info from as many people as possible to include….also any comments and pictures from members of bands who played would be greatly appreciated ………please email me directly to debstar.s@hotmail.com with any information (printable) and I will begin compiling this great memorable event.
thanks
i was at both shows , an over seas tourist drowned in the dam , rose tattoo kicked arse ! def lepard . were great as i had the first 2 albums how ever every one else hated them !! van halen did not play … never heard that ? how was jimmy barnes running through the crowd and climbing up the sound desk as a 14 year old my eyes were wide open blew me away !! i have some old photos some where i’ll up load them
Sadly I wasn’t there (being only ten years old at the time) but I have had in my possession for years a concert poster of INXS with special guests Sandii & the Sunsets at the Lismore Workers Club (of all places). The date on the poster is January 4 with no year, but looking at this info I surmise that it is from 1984. Cool huh & thanks!
I went to both 83 and 84 , the proof is my tickets that this site is using for the pages ! , thanks for the link to my site
@ AL 1983 all the ground in front of the portaloos was like a bouncing castle… maybe that was the acid
Ha ! you know I thought no one would ever remember that , but I do and I tripped out with everyone else on the squishy ground , the acid didnt hurt the experience either !
We marked our tent with a bed sheet with a large red cobra painted on it with the words ” Brain Damage – Woy Woy ” so we could find it in the sea of tents
People began using this as a waypoint to find their own tents and soon an acid dealer setup shop sellling superman trips , lots of people took photos of our banner
I also remember the cops amassing across the paddock in Old Sydney Town as folk were sneaking under the fence , a wasted young lad walked down the fence and gave them the bird , within minutes there were hundreds of festival goers along the fence yelling abuse , chucking browneyes , holding up bags of dope and generally having a grand old laugh , the cops never came in !
Great page !
BTW I have a Werrikimbe ticket stub and a couple of fuzzy pics if you want em
Steve, I would love to see anything you have at all on Werrikimbe.
It would be quite rare Id say.
Looking forward to seeing what you have. Cheers, Mark
jr : comment 17 …….the guy your talking about was called johnny bongwater: he went out of business when this guy smashed out of his head pissed all over his amp….on the sunday arvo , it was wrong but oh so funnnneeeee……crazy few dayz on the acid and hash and thai sticks ..
Hey Andy Ward – did you get any 8mm footage of my band The Zarsoff Brothers?
I went to both, and still have some great memories, including a t-shirt I purchased for 84. I so much remember the rain, the mud from that year. I am so sure that Men At Work headlined in the same year. I remember Colin Hay, his great vocal, and my introduction to Def Leppard. Great band and still going, near the same lineup. Fun times, great music.
hit random google button and bugga me look at this.was at both concerts 83 was awesome 84 a bit damp.me an some mates rented a house about 400 yrds from main gates so got to some organisers so we got a unresticed pass which allowed us to come and go any time any gate.so being enterprising young blokes we smuggled people in all weekend and as was the times for hash cash or gash.worked on the site for a month in 84 an had to drive my landrover to get arond site it was so wet.so when the weekend rained was a prob gettin fuel to gennies to supply power to all areas. some vendors of tucker lost big time. crowds were down so the third year opion was never taken on
I’ve got some piccies from Narara 84 – great experience – I remember walking through the mud in the great exodus and feeling something extra squishy underfoot – it was an abandoned sleeping bag under the mud.
i enjoyd 83 the best especially with aussie crawl and the angels and the summer heat.i remember angry anderson threatening to jump in the to crowd and punch someones head if they didn’t behave.
I heard they are trying to revive this concert again. Has anyone heard!!!!. I’ll be there…..
I was mixing FOH for Jon English & the Foster Bros in those days, Scoobie was doin stage, my son was 2 days old, we were on about 6ish, on Sunday night, possibly before Def Leppard, who were obscenely loud. The rain flogged down for hours and backstage was a pig sty, mud eveywhere, me an Scoob were glad to get it over with, pack up the stage gear & piss off.
Reminded me of Sunbury ’75.
Cheers,
Mark Edwards,
my name is kevin wheatley ( 53) i was a stage roadie for radiators,eurogliders,dynamic hepnotics and d.d. smash. i attended narara 83 e 84 as a punter (83) with mick frost light operater for church + jimmy and the boys . in 1984 i was a stage roadie for the eurogliders,my my last gig for them was narara 84 .we were touring through january from noosa to gosford then narara we were given t-shirts and our backstage passes in QLD. people would say things like ” was it a great festival man” and other smartass coments, at narara itself unlike the previous year bands and crew had to leave the backstage after the day of performances. i had met up with my flatmate in a tent which got flooded out. the concert ended with the radiators,chris tagg($2000 ludwig kit)was angry his kit was setup and left in the rain.myself,on the day ,we arrived early to setup i had a bass synth whitch grace played ,that needed to be powered for about an hour before hand to stay in tune i had it powered for 4 hours. during the performance it kept dropping out of tune. this was bad for me i never had to run on stage to repair anything.i did my job so well. from there it became a disaster every thing started going wrong. this culminatd in bernie lynch stopping mid song as i was trying to again tune the synth introducing me to the 20,000 punters as our inept stage roadie kevin wheatley i was booded of stage.this was my last gig for them there was going to be a little gathering for them to say goodbye this didnt happen of course .i was justified later though, real life came of stag and asked the eurogliders whatb went wrong. when informed they said they had the same synth but had got rid of theres because it was garbage going out of tune.narara site manager roger dan my tour manager with radiators, who was always on my back to do a good job came up to me and said it was a case of murphys law and not my fault i never had problems with any other band i worked for. my expeirience at narara still hurts today because i loved the eurogliders
I was there both years, and had an absolute blast (helped along by some fine substances).
The highlights for me was Talking Heads in 84! Fantastic concert! Awesome. The lowlight was Def Leppard who were woefully ill suited to the audience and the culture at the time.
Pretenders were great, INXS were as well. Angels were awesome.
So many bands. The two years have blurred together in my mind, but I will always have fond memories. I hung out in the mud up front for the entire weekend in 84. Got lots of great shots, but have lost them all now I think.
Thanks to the cute girls who let me sleep in their tent on Saturday night after mine was washed out. I’ll never forget it
Yeah Geoff..I totally agree with you Talking Heads fantastic, The Pretenders, INXS wow, I feel blessed to have seen really up close and personal some of the best bands in the one place at the same time. All up Narara was one of the best experiences of my life.
was there…and had the most awesome time. Was with the “Terrigal” crowd (where I lived at time) near stage sound mixing stand. Remember drinking bucket loads of the aweful “Prefect” wine on sale there,and partakeing of some other equally wicked substances in copious amounts (guys were GIVING it away!..lol) swimming in the water hole to right of stage on hill where a tourist drowned, walking ’round with an “imaginary” pet on a lead (a novelty that was sold there)…and the truckloads of mud at front of stage. When we left on Sunday night we left our tent and belongings behind…largely because I was too trashed and zoned out to care by then (as did so many others because of the horrendous conditions) and went back the next day (Monday arv – took a whole day to eliminate the hangover etc.) to find scalpers everywhere and the shipping container which held all the seized “weapons”(knives, axes etc.) had been broken into and cleaned out.
But most of all I remember the legendary line-up and Austen Tayshus as MC – tho Def Leppard were forgetable. I still have heaps of photos taken then…..and the Central Coast Express Weekender Narara ’84 programme pull-out dated 20th January. Went to Tanelorn too….which was absolutely amazing (still have pics & slides of that too)… was a totally different experience to Narara, but equally amazing band line-up.
It was definately a defining time AND experience (was 31 then)…feel sorry for those that missed it.
Wow, only did ’84 as a 21 year old, concur completely with comments on talking heads, still blown away all these years later incomparable! me and two mates drove all night and were in the first twenty through the gate with our 18′ X 12′ auto tent that we set up straight in front of the stage on the crest of the hill, thousands more after that, i still remember all the ones in the gullies washing away and the 80 to 100 people that sheltered that night. why do i think susie and the banshees were there, based on the stuff posted i must have been on drugs! cheers!
I was at 84 festival with my cousin. Had such a blast, was 16, and remember catching the train. So many bands and so much fun. Not sure if anyone rembers, but when Talking Heads was on stage there was a tent that caught on fire, as it happens just as Burning Down the House was playing. We had a prime tent spot right at the front of the main paddock, just before the concert field. It all happened so quickly, but the things i remember are, that my hair was saved by a wet Japanese headband, I got 2nd degree burns on my hands(as i had to rip open the tent as my cousin wa trapped in side, after the gas burner leaked and turned the tent in to a flaming inferno.) Unfortunately I am off to Sydney this week to give a eulogy for my cousin, as he passed away last week, so now I don’t have anyone that can corroborate my story. But I still have the memories, and the moment the blood stopped pounding in my ears the lyrics of “Burning Down the house” coming through…will be memory that is etched/burned in to my mind.
I don’t remember much about the whole weekend. I do remember the Zarzoff bros and Talking Heads. I suppose the rest must have been good though.
Hey I have some live footage of my band Kids in the Kitchen at Narara 84
see it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrJlVVL1vOQ
Yeah,what a great weekend will never forget these tiny bits of memorys that are still here,the blurry bits coulda been anywhere,went up especially to see Talking Heads,my favorite band,stopped at the pub at west gos ,6 of us and got charged up a bit,3hour session, and headed up,got to the turnoff to sydney or narara to find 5 cops stopping traffic ,thought i was gone ,they said Narara or Sydney ,and 6 pissed people all screamed NARARA and they pointed the way,that was the start,Remember being 9 parts to the wind when i heard {after Crisse Hynds and the Pretenders the next band will be Talking Heads}mate charged down to the front row,and stood and watched the biggest and best live band rip i have ever seen ,it was awesome,joints coming from left and right passed along,will allways remember everyone was so friendly ,even with the rain,Fantastic time in my life so glad i went…………………………..
SUPERMAN ( THAT’S ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID….)
Came across this site, and the memories came flooding back. Our tent’s were pitched on a hill over looking the valley down to the stage. We where High and dry -so to speak. loved the Music and the people..I recall seeing a guy in “Foil” wondering around.(Tripping) on “supermans” . Not washing for two days, not eating. Watching Def Leppard standing in water up to my knees. A guy trying to dance with me ,he had a unbrella with, just the frame. Wading back through Knee high water trying to find our tents .What a great time, i was 19 .
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