The Gympie Muster 2007

Update: At Gympie, north of Brisbane,
8000 people camping at the Gympie
Muster event are stranded with roads to
and from the area closed.

More as news becomes available.

Well folks it’s the last weekend of August so it’s Gympie Music Muster time
again,there is a small anomaly this year in that the funds raised are to go to via
Apex to “drought stricken Australians” the anomaly arises because here in
Gympie it has been raining pretty near non-stop for the last three days.

This has been by far the best rainfall we have had in the last ten years, there has
been significant run-off into the storage dams and things are on the improve….
but wait Queensland is a huge State and only a small section has had the rainfall
that Gympie has received, there are still lots of areas that have had little or no
rain.

Just to get a little more focus on our water storage situation, South East
Queensland now has a touch over 17% capacity in the dams overall, sure a few of
the small ones are at 100% but the overall figure is only 17%.

How are the crowds reacting to this rain at the Muster? it’s a bit early to tell
what the attendance figures will be like over the three days, but radio interviews
of people on the site already sound like they are ready to party and the rain is
just another reason to celebrate, it has already been christened the 2007
Gympie Mudster which illustrates perfectly the Aussie sense of humour.


The Main Stage is where all the headline acts get a chance to perform
their 30 or 60 minute set, dependent on their popularity with the crowd

The main stage is set in a natural amphitheatre which is referred to as "The Hill"
there is a wide access track up the centre and off to either side about 1/3 of the
way up the hill there are large projection screens, these screens give the patrons
further back a close up view of the stage area.

The stage itself is split in two halves, while there is an act performing on one side
the other side is being prepared for the next act, sets, musical instruments etc.
and the necessary sound checks.
At the same time the crowd sorts itself into the various groups, the real party
animals who want to sing, dance, and drink the most take the front spot, known as
"The Pit", those who feel a little more sedate but place no value on their hearing
take up the next area, the next group which starts from about where you can get
a fair view of the stage but can also see the side screens (this is my chosen
territory and my hearing seems to return to normal in about three days) the final
sector of the crowd is at the rear of the seated patrons, (where the Bar is
located) these are the folk who are still working on the tankfull that will get them
down to "the Pit" or have retired from the competition due to inability to
proceed.

A pleasant memory from last years Muster, Favourite Daughter and SIL visited
even in this "different" environment it wasn't possible for them to escape the
evils of their mobile phones!!

Loved the play on words here with "The Bitchy Chix" promoting their range.

As the sun sinks slowly in the west the night time part of the show is about
to kick off.




A hard man is good to find.
Mae West