Popular music trivia show RocKwiz celebrated 50 years of Mushroom Records, with a star-studded salute at the Palais Theatre in Melbourne. Hosted by the ever-charismatic duo of Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis, the sold-out spectacular combined our love of Australian music with a fitting tribute to the accomplishments of late Australian legend Michael Gudinski and the Mushroom Team.
As usual, the RocKwiz show featured contestants from the audience; with Leanne, James, Michael and Gerald selected to join the ‘who’s who’ of Mushroom on stage for various rounds of music trivia. With categories including, Who Can It Be Now and Million Dollar Riff to name a few, the teams battled it out with Mushroom-specific questions all night long.
The contestants were joined on stage by some of Mushroom’s most iconic artists over the years, with the part-concert, part-trivia contest transforming into a concert with all the hits, as the artists shared their songs, their stories and their memories of working alongside Gudinski. The line-up included Mark Seymour, Adalita, Vika and Linda Bull, Billy Miller, Scott Carne, WILSN, Shannen James, Didirri and Gudinski’s partner-in-crime, Michael Chugg.
Supported by the famous RocKwiz Orkestra, the audience were treated to some originals, a lot of covers and medleys, and a whole lot of Mushroom puns. It’s hard to describe the magic of the night, but some of our favourite moments included:
- Mark Seymour’s Say Goodbye and cover of Even When I’m Sleeping
- Adalita rocking out and being joined by Sunnyboy’s Richard Burgman
- Shannen James’ dance-pop cover of Kylie’s On A Night Like This
- The incredible vocal range of WILSN, especially in her cover of Pain and Misery
- Billy Miller of The Ferrets performing Don’t Fall In Love
- Didirri’s haunting performance of Begin Again
- Michael ‘Chuggie’ Chugg recounting some of his favourite Gudinski memories
The night had it all and was a fitting celebration of all things Mushroom and RocKwiz.
We will be counting down the days until we can catch RocKwiz live again in Melbourne.
Photo Credit: Tim Lambert