There’ll be musicians everywhere you look through Orange on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
From the Robertson Park rotunda to the Blind Pig to taxis – yes, taxis – travelling around town, more than 50 local musicians will be playing in over 20 different venues as part of JAM Saturday.
JAM Saturday is an initiative between JAM Orange, Orange City Council and Live Music NSW to get as many musicians on as many stages around town as possible in the one day.
Planning has been bubbling along since late last year, and JAM Orange’s Paul Kelly said it was all about trying to spread the word of music in Orange.
“We’re really trying to encourage local businesses to have a lot more live music in venue and show them there’s a lot to be gained from musicians playing live,” he said.
“We’re also trying to get people listening to the region’s musicians.”
Mr Kelly said nearly all of the 50-plus musicians taking to the stage on Saturday were locals, with some from surrounding villages like Millthorpe and Molong and a few from Bathurst.
“All of them regularly play in Orange,” he said.
JAM Orange has been the curator of the event, with their Open Mic nights one of the main sources of finding talent.
“It’s how we identify a lot of musicians we didn’t know about who got up and played and we said ‘more people need to hear them’,” Mr Kelly said.
“That’s the benefit of Orange is that there’s a wealth of talent in the area.
“It will all be great and there’s something for everyone because it’s so varied, acoustic to rock and a lot of it is activity based.”
There will also be crowd participation acts, with workshops such as Anne Hulak’s flute lessons at Collins Booksellers to Boomwhacker Percussion for Kids at Southcourt, which involves a whole bunch of plastic pipes of different lengths, all knocked on the ground to make different notes.
The standout, different – weird even – event will be the taxi rides, where listeners book a taxi calling 131 008 between 11am and 1pm to have a ride with a musician in the back seat.
Mr Kelly said the idea had been floated in a meeting and everyone had latched onto it as something a bit different.
“How many times can you jump into a taxi and have someone in the back playing music to you?” he said.
The festival will also be the biggest event JAM Orange have run, and also their first full-day event.
For more information, visit the JAM Orange or Orange City Council Facebook pages.