After another year of pandemic closures and lockdowns, 2022 is set to restart the live music and festival scene and to help kick it off, we’re pleased to announce Play on the Plains is returning to Deniliquin on Saturday, 12 March 2022, supported by triple j.
For the second time, the iconic Deni Ute Muster site will turn into a dancefloor when eight of our best and shiniest young artists take the stage for Play on the Plains.
With gates opening at 12 noon, licensed bars, food vans and free, on-site parking, Play on the Plains will be a fully COVID Safe event and comply with all current health department guidelines in place at the time. The event will be fully cashless with RFID wristbands and top-up stations on site and the opportunity for online top-ups prior to the event. Once the festival is over, attendees can retrieve their unused funds online.
Tickets to the Play on the Plains 2022 are $120 plus booking fee and go on sale at 10.00am tomorrow, Friday, 12 November through Oztix, with children under 13 free. Local bus company, Dyson Group, will be operating charter buses to and from Echuca/Moama, Mathoura, Hay, Cobram, Barooga, Tocumwal and Finley as well as a shuttle service to and from Deniliquin Town Centre. For bookings and further information, go to playontheplains.com.au or click here.
Headlining the 2022 Play on the Plains is multi-ARIA Award winning singer/songwriter, Amy Shark.
They say the key to success is often perseverance, and when it comes to the rise of Amy Shark, the statement could not be truer. After honing her craft and self-producing her music for years, Amy became a household name in 2016 with the release of her breakout hit, Adore. The emotive single put Amy on the map as one of Australia’s most formidable emerging songwriters.
Adore went on to achieve 5 x Platinum certification in Australia, a streaming count that surpassed 111 million and 2nd place in the influential listener-voted 2016 triple j Hottest 100. This was followed by 4 x Platinum and #1 Airplay Chart hit, I Said Hi, cementing Amy as an artist who not only had the ability to share her nuanced truths and connect with a wide audience, but was here to stay.
Soon, the international music community came knocking, leading her to work with Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus, pop heavyweight producers Jack Antonoff and Joel Little, among others. In 2018, Amy released her debut album, Love Monster to a ravenous global audience. The album debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts. With Love Monster, Amy scored 9 nominations at the 2018 ARIA Awards and 4 wins, including Album Of The Year, Best Female Artist and Best Pop Release.
2020 saw Amy Shark release the first offering of new music from her sophomore album Cry Forever, with Everybody Rise. The now platinum accredited single is nearing 20 million streams globally, spent 12 weeks in the top 10 Australian airplay chart and earned Amy an ARIA Award for ‘Best Pop Release’, her 3rd win in the category.
No stranger to the big stage, Amy has headlined many major festivals, along with winning over the 70,000 strong crowd at Fire Fight and wowing a huge audience at the NRL Grand Final. Amy’s regional tour in 2019 picked up the ARIA award for ‘Best Live Australian Act’ and 2022 will see Amy hit the road once again including her headlining slot at the 2022 Play on the Plains festival.
Fremantle indie rock foursome Spacey Jane have well and truly cemented their position as one of Australia’s most-loved bands over the past few years and we’re thrilled to welcome them back to the Play on the Plains stage.
Their debut album Sunlight, released in June 2020, entered the ARIA chart at #2 and four tracks would be voted into triple j’s Hottest 100 including fan-favourite Booster Seat landing at No.2, just behind Glass Animals’ Heat Waves. Booster Seat would also soar into the ARIA Top 10 singles chart, achieving platinum sales while the band have accumulated over 88 million streams to date.
Spacey Jane spent the first half of 2021 finally getting to playing sold out COVID safe shows across the East Coast of Australia, including the Play on the Plains festival. “Streaming numbers and chart positions are great, and they’re exciting to watch,” frontman, Caleb Harper says, “but we’re a live band. To engage with fans like that, to see the music having that reach, that means everything.”
Spacey Jane will finish recording their second album this year and have international tours slated for early next year in addition to their encore Play on the Plains’ appearance.
In the six years since their inception, Skegss have emerged from their laid-back, Australian small town roots as unlikely anti-heroes of the country’s vibrant rock scene. Their riotous releases have sparked circle pits and stage dives all over—from dingy pubs and skate parks to 20K capacity festival stages—and led the lads on countless world tours. They’ve even topped the ARIA singles charts numerous times and, their debut LP My Own Mess reached #2 on the album charts and earned an ARIA Award nomination for Best Rock Album. More recently, Rehearsal, their second studio album – a 13-track thrill ride through modern disillusioned youth, claimed them their first #1 record.
Rehearsal also features triple j Hottest 100 voted singles Under the Thunder (#27) and Fantasising (#66). Make sure you don’t just fantasise about seeing Skegss under the big southern sky at the Play on the Plains.
High-energy party starters Northeast Party House have moved on from warehouse parties in Melbourne’s inner city to national festival stages. Northeast have built a loyal fan base around three self-produced, guitar-driven, dance-heavy LPs Any Given Weekend, Dare and 2020’s Shelf Life, which have seen the band tour constantly in their home country as well as internationally, playing sold out headline shows and showcase events at The Great Escape (UK), CMJ (NY) and Culture Collide (LA). High energy and deep bass – what a way to kick off the 2022 Play on the Plains festival!
Whilst many of us took up hobbies and just tried to get through lockdown, GRAACE was quietly undergoing a musical metamorphosis. Now, after a year of personal growth, this butterfly is ready to spread her wings and it’s time to watch her soar.
Inspired to create, this Sydney based singer-songwriter journeyed back to her piano and acoustic guitar to unearth a brand-new project, her upcoming EP Self Preservation. Forever anchored by heartfelt, goosebump-inducing lyrics that first won GRAACE a legion of global fans, the EP innately captures songs about grief, loss, and the journey in-between; and for the very first time, GRAACE pens the passing of her dad who she sadly lost at the age of 14.
Having fallen back in love with her piano and guitar last year, GRAACE has enjoyed bringing a more natural, acoustic sound into her music and she finally feels that she has found her true voice. Alongside her new musical direction, GRAACE will also be stepping out with an all-female live band. She’s keen to integrate more of a live sound into her music and more importantly, surround herself with female energy.
Beddy Rays have been making music together since they first met on the primary school oval back in the day, but the release of weekend anthem, Sobercoaster, in 2020 really started shaking things up for these fun-loving larrikins. The cracker of a tune has amassed over 2 million streams on Spotify and echoed throughout backyards around Australia during triple j’s Hottest 100, receiving a spot at #57 and truly cementing the four-piece as one of Australia’s most loveable groups. The boys backed it up with the isolation anthem, Better Weather, and Wait A While, an ode to picking yourself up and putting yourself first. The track quickly became a fan favourite reaching #1 most-played on triple j in April 2021.
These days it’s almost impossible not to recognise a Beddy Rays track as their music has become a carefully curated recipe involving all the right ingredients: powerful lyrics, strong hooks, mosh-worthy riffs and a lingering sense of comradery and good vibes which remains prevalent in everything they create. Their latest belter, Week On Repeat, follows the feeling of rolling into another working week while trying to break away from the plain and mundane. After winning the 2021Levi’s Music Prize and coming off a sold-out east coast tour, these four young tradies are on their way to becoming the next big Australian export. With a growing loyal fanbase, tracks that leave you desperate for a summer festival and humble, down-to-earth personalities – everyone wants to be friends with Beddy Rays and you can be too at Play on the Plains 2022.
Sydney teens The Rions are earning their badge as ‘ones to watch’, taking out triple j’s Unearthed High 2021 off the back of their latest single, Night Light. The 4-schoolmates from Avalon are turning heads with their spin on indie-rock, with songwriting and musicianship well beyond their years, and the scary thing is they’re only just getting started.
Following their Unearthed High win, the band rocketed up the Shazam charts (peaking at #36 in Australia) and triple j fans hammered the text line with praise, leading to Night Light being the 5th Most Played song on the station.
Fresh from earning a spot on this year’s postponed Bluesfest as Grand Finalists in the Bluesfest Busking Comp, The Rions added to their growing catalogue of ear-worms Head Still Hurts, Sadie and Halfway Out which have amassed over 800K Spotify streams already.
Destrends is a Melbourne based post-punk collective, creating an angular, bass-driven sound. They have built a reputation as a distinctly theatrical live outfit. With a sound influenced by early 80s new wave, Destrends produce a confident mix of gloomy punk with some real Aussie grit. 2022 is set to be a breakout year for the band as they prepare to release their highly anticipated debut album and open Play on the Plains 2022.
Play on the Plains’ General Manager, Vicky Lowry, said today:
“Thanks to the support received for the inaugural Play On The Plains, we are excited to be announcing our return for a second year in 2022. What a line up we have for you!
“There are many changes planned for our second year including extra shade and beach volleyball. We welcome triple j as a festival partner, thank Edward River Council and all Sponsors for their support in what is proving to be the festival not to be missed.”
Tickets to Play on the Plains 2022 go on sale at 10.00am tomorrow (Friday, 12 November 2021) from www.playontheplains.com.au.
