Red Hot Summer @ Seppeltsfield Wines, Seppeltsfield SA 23/11/2025

What a difference a day makes. On Saturday the Sounds By The River Tour rolled into Mannum for a day of festivities, only to be greeted by continuous rain and storms. By Sunday the circus moved into Seppeltsfield Winery to sunshine and a day topping thirty degrees. As Mark Seymour put it “last night South Australia really served the rain up to us and look at it today”. Considering the rain we had on Saturday, the grounds at Seppeltsfield were in pristine condition.

Jae Laffer kicked off the day with a stripped-back set of original songs, playing to an already almost full venue. Jae is obviously known for being the singer with The Panics. Well done to the punters getting there for the opening act. With just Jae on keyboards and a guitarist, the sound was smooth and endearing. His comment, “Perth was great but not as good as this venue” got the crowd on side. The Panic songs, Don’t Fight It and Weatherman were highlights of the set. A flawless start to a very hot November day.

The Waifs hail from Western Australia and the opening comment, “It was a long hot drive across the Nullarbor this morning,” raised a laugh. Highway One opened the set and right from the start it was Vikki Thorn’s harmonica playing that stood out. She was amazing. The rest of the band were no slouches either to playing and singing. Sister Donna Simpson on guitar and lovely vocals along with Josh Cunningham on guitar and vocals were on fire all afternoon.

Fisherman’s Daughter had Vikki doing acapella for the first half of the song, before the rest of the band kicked in for a fiery finale. Done and Dusted is “my latest break up song” Donna told us “But I love it”. The audience embraced the band from start to the wonderful finish of with the song Lighthouse.

“We are celebrating Australian Music” Mark Seymour told us as he and his band entered the stage, along with Vika & Linda Bull. Mark was the lead singer with Hunters & Collectors but now plays with his current band The Undertow. Vika & Linda were a great addition to his band, adding an extra depth to the sound with their powerful, soaring vocals.

The set was a mixture of Hunters songs, some like Still Hanging Around were sung by the sisters, songs written by Mark for the Bull sisters When Will You Fall for Me being one and of course the Hunters anthems in Holy Grail (“The most misunderstood song ever,” said Mark) and Throw Your Arms Around Me, which had the Countdown arm wave happening in front of the stage. Mark’s song Westgate was a standout highlight with a sonic guitar barrage from Cameron McKenzie in the final half of the song. The finale was Say Goodbye, but was sung by Vika from a female perspective. It was a powerful rendition, leaving many an audience mouth wide open.

I have to admit loving The Church ever since hearing the opening strains of Unguarded Moment forty-five years ago. Members may have changed over the years but the sound and integrity of the band have remained. They are as relevant today as they were back in 1980. Interestingly, the video screens on the side of the stage went from colour to black and white with the occasional psychedelic colour splashes throughout the set. Tantalized opened the proceedings and it was immediately obvious that this band would be the loudest of the day.

The Church are currently on their Singles Tour of Australia and Steve’s comment; “The hits keep coming” before Metropolis confirmed we were going to get a taster of that tour. With a” I feel like I’m losing my voice, it’s an occupational hazard” from Steve the band launched into Almost with You. The newer song in The Hypnogogue gave guitarists, Ian Haug and Ashley Naylor the chance to bring their talents to the fore with some amazing spaced-out soundscapes. The true Aussie beer anthem, Unguarded Moment got an airing to a very appreciative audience. “This song should be the Australian National Anthem. I wanted to sell it to Albo” Steve told us before playing Under the Milky Way. Yes, maybe it should be our Anthem.

Quote of the day from Steve. “Nothing like being at a festival when it’s hot, eating dodgy food and the Portaloo’s are overflowing. Then the band on stage announce they are going to play their new song”. Well Steve you had nothing to worry about with the new song, Sacred Echoes (Part Two) as it sits as well into The Church catalogue as any other Church song. Reptile closed out a great set. Bring on The Singles Tour in Adelaide in December.

When Angus & Julia Stone came on stage, Julia was blowing her own trumpet – literally. And the trumpet was used in the opening song, a cover of The Go-Betweens, Street of Your Town. The siblings know how to write a song with stories behind them and Julia’s voice is well suited to them, not that Angus is a slouch on vocals either. Benjamin Edgar gave some amazing banjo playing on Private Lawns and the aforementioned trumpet made its appearance throughout the set.

Angus and Julia duetted on a cover of Sam Smith’s Stay with Me with the crowd helping out and Julia told us the song For You was written for a boyfriend with whom she had broken up with and an attempt to win him back. In return he sent her a song he was working on called Go to Hell. Needless to say, it didn’t work out, but Julia loved her song so still plays it today. Big Jet Plane received great applause and Chateau finished their time on stage. I have never seen Angas & Julia Stone before, but after this performance will be seeking them out.

Crowded House are Australian Rock ‘n Roll Royalty. They certainly know how to draw a crowd with both South Australian shows sold out. The audience are enthusiastic with most not needing encouragement to sing along to the crowd favourites all evening. They are entertaining, not only with the classic songs, but the banter between Neil Finn and Nick Seymour all evening. Nick threatened to get his phone out at one stage, only to cop a telling off from Neil. All in good fun.

The songs speak for themselves, classics everyone knows. Distant Sun opened, quickly followed by World Where You Live, Fall at Your Feet and with the lights kicking in on stage as the sun set, Weather With You.
Spilt Enz’s, Message To My Girl went down a treat and even when there were some technical issues, the band kept playing along quietly while being fixed, Neil joking at Nick about his beauty products and that “Nic is actually eighty four years old”. This led to a song made up on the spot by Nick, “eighty four is the new fiftteen”. Clever and very funny.

When You Come had the guitars turned up to eleven, Private Universe was perfect and Four Seasons in One Day had people scrambling for their phones. Another “technical issue” had an embarrassed Neil having to confess, “well if you plug the lead in, it might work”. A wrong note to the start of Something So Strong had Neil awkwardly have to start the song over, but all was forgiven from the crowd.

I Got You gave us a wonderful taste of what is to come with the Split Enz reunion next year before the run to the end. Don’t Dream It’s Over, Chocolate Cake (with a snippet of Talking Heads Road to Nowhere) and Better Be Home Soon put the icing on the set. There was no encore. You couldn’t follow after what we had just witnessed.

While Neil is front and centre of Crowded House, he has a fine set of musicians joining him with sons Liam and Elroy and Mitchell Froom. Crowded House is a band after all, not just a foil to the front man.

It was great to be out in the sun again watching live rock ‘n roll. The name Red Hot Summer lived up to the brand name, despite being just short of summer. It was a delightful roll call of names playing out the day and the great thing about it was, they were all Australian bands.

Roll on the next event.

Live Review By Geoff Jenke