FIVE bands performed at Red-C Events last weekend as live entertainment on the Coffs Coast shows green shoots of optimism following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

Although there is a long way to go, local bands are seeing an uptick in interest following an annus horribilis.

Lead singer of local band The Orlandos Simon Gardiner told News Of The Area, “2020 was like a doomsday movie, we were very lucky here in Coffs to have a venue like Red-C, which gave a few lucky musos the opportunity to play some gigs, although with some restrictions.

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“Some musician friends of mine in Melbourne were not so fortunate and some venues down there have closed the doors never to return.

“Things will never be the same after 2020, there’s some green shoots just starting here in Coffs, the phone is starting to ring again, we can only hope that 2020 will be a distant memory of a nightmare that we never expected,” said Gardiner.

Red-C Director Jane Reidy told News Of The Area what the easing of restrictions means.

“Asking people to sit down and not to dance was really challenging for us, music makes you feel happy and you want to move, so having to tell people to sit down was really frustrating for everyone.

“It was important we remained COVID compliant, but it was a tough conversation to have every day and we are really pleased to be moving forwards, and that our patrons can dance again.

“We are also optimistic about the NSW Dine and Discover scheme which is just starting to trickle through, that will be a helpful addition to move forwards as we are registered for both the Dine and Discover vouchers.

“For the first time in over a year, with restrictions starting to ease, we have been able to plan further ahead and for bigger events, we are holding a 3 day Blues weekend called C-Side Blues on 23, 24, 25 July, with a fantastic lineup, and will be releasing details about that very soon, and Floyd Vincent and the Temple Dogs this Saturday night as they are awesome to dance to.

“We also have lots of other projects in the planning stages, so it is great to be able to finally get moving on those,” said Reidy.

By David WIGLEY