TCMF 2022: Behind the scenes working on the biggest music festival in the country!

The Tamworth Country Music Festival celebrated 50 years last month!

In our latest blog, Account Coordinator Chelsea recaps her first Tamworth Country Music Festival as part of the C7EVEN Comms Festival team. Our huge week of managing PR and Media for Australia’s largest music festival, Toyota Star Maker, the Golden Guitar Awards for our fantastic client Tamworth Regional Council.

Once a year, Tamworth becomes a hub where artists across the country can come together to celebrate the industry, collaborate with each other, and memorialise the pioneers of Australian country music.

As someone who has grown up locally, I’ve always loved the Tamworth Country Music Festival. The busy crowds, the constant echo of live music from buskers, pubs and bars as you walk down Peel Street. The town’s CBD comes alive. It’s the biggest festival in Australia, and I’ve always wondered how the wheels turn behind the scenes to make it all happen. So, when I joined C7EVEN’s festival team working alongside Tamworth Regional Council for the 50th anniversary, I was thrilled.

We kicked things off bright and early with a Today Show live cross, starting from 4:30am. Live crosses move fast, brainstorming content ideas and moving to different locations in between weather and news. We coordinated 5 locations for the Channel 9 team to cross from, with busking talent performing at each spot.

Images: Left: Behind the scenes at a live TV cross for The TODAY Show. Right: Chelsea with fellow C7EVEN Festival team member Maddie Kulk.

The next day included national media shoots with artists, and a final site visit to the TRECC ahead of the Awards. Then, we were off to the Toyota Star Maker Grand Final to capture content for social media and begin managing media once the winner is announced.

The Star Maker competition has launched the careers of stars like Keith Urban, Lee Kernaghan, Gina Jeffreys, Beccy Cole and Travis Collins to name a few. So, once the winner is announced, it is all systems go. Max Jackson was announced as the winner and backstage, photographers and content creators gathered to capture these first moments after Max’s win.

Day 3 and it was another early morning start at 6:30am with back to back media interviews and performances for Max late into the afternoon. Max receives her brand new Toyota Hybrid at our first media call, then we squeeze in radio interviews in the car between performances, and after each performance Max is straight into more interviews backstage.

Images: Left: Toyota Star Maker Grand Final.   Right: Chelsea and the C7EVEN Festival team

After a full day of media, we aren’t finished just yet – it is also Golden Guitar Awards Day, the festival’s night of nights.

Planning for the Golden Guitar Awards starts months before, and I had been in charge of the red carpet scheduling, so when we headed out to the TRECC, I was excited to see all the preparation come to life. Kicking off with the first car of artists stepping onto the red carpet. The Red Carpet moves fast and has a tight schedule, fitting in over 100 artists in under 2 hours.

Once the awards start, there is a constant buzz backstage. Winners accept their award and walk straight into photo, TV, and radio interviews. Local and National media are lined up in booths backstage, artists make their way through each interview before heading back out to their seat. Afterwards, artists gather, and it’s a special opportunity for old friends to catch up, and for some of country music’s biggest legends to share stories and experiences with the next generation of artists.

Images: Left: Troy Cassar-Daley doing media interviews backstage at the Awards.   Right: Chelsea and the C7EVEN Festival team backstage at the Awards event.

Amongst all of these events, our team also coordinated national media arriving to the festival across the week, organising interviews, photo opportunities and features. We also squeezed in the filming for Destination Tamworth’s Country Music Trails, a tourism campaign promoting the most iconic landmarks for country music within the city. We even managed multiple activation sites for major sponsors.

Before we knew it, it was end of the week, and we’ve made it!

Once the closing concert wrapped up, and our final media releases were sent out, pack down begun. And now, we’ve already started planning for bigger and better things next year. Bring on January 2023!

Chelsea Roper
Account Coordinator