I get interesting phone calls every other day from people wanting to book us, a bit like this one that I got one morning while having breakfast:
“We’d like to book your band”….. Sure
“For three hours of Australiana”……. Sure. Any dancing?
“Nope, just music, 4.30pm-7.30pm”…… Ok.
“It’s in relation to the Asian Cup”…….I see….<put down the newspaper>
“It’s for this Saturday”….ok <spill the coffee>
“It’s at Stadium Australia”…..No way! <standing up escaping the spilt coffee and almost choking on the bagel>
So that was it – after 30 seconds – we were booked to play to 80,000 people at Stadium Australia for three hours, to energise the crowd as they arrived to see our Socceroos take on South Korea!
We were set up at the main entrance to the Stadium on the concourse as part of the Spectator Activation – organised by the “Twenty3 Group”.
The Asian Cup organisers had engaged the Twenty3 Group to put on activities and entertainment for each game as part of the tournament and they wanted some Australian music to get everyone fired up and put some Australian culture on show.
And that we did!!
We played everything from Waltzing Matilda through to Paul Kelly, Men at Work and Jimmy Barnes and plenty in between – it was the day for Australian music to be played, along with greetings of “Anyong Haseyo!” for all the Korean supporters!
Having spent a few years in Seoul – some of it during the 2002 Soccer World Cup – I’d had plenty of time barracking for South Korea with the millions (yep- literally millions) of fans in red near Namdaemun gates and in the central square of Seoul during that tournament yelling “Dae Han Min Guk”.
It was a great opportunity to rustle up some of my Korean for the day to help everyone feel a little bit at home. Lots of great memories brought back for sure but this time with the Socceroos playing, and in our own backyard!
Fantastic day to say the least with such an epic game of football. Thanks to Sarah from the Twenty3 Group for booking us and also to Billy on the day for looking after us. Check out our photos which you can also share through the Swamp Dawkins Facebook page.