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
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.
Videos
INXS performing “Original Sin” at Narara 1984
Images
{ 43 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.
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.
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
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 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…
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.
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?
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