Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has more than 100 mastheads across Australia. Today’s is written by ACM national editorial trainee Anna Houlahan.
WATCH: the annual talent show, Castlemaine Idyll, in the Goldfields region of Victoria.
Encouragement from a willing crowd can make any performer feel like a rock ‘n’ roll legend.
Audience members can choose to dance, laugh and cheer – or not.
A good crowd has the power to cleanse performers of their fears, Castlemaine-based actor and singer Dwin Lavery said.
It’s like a trust fall with hundreds of people.
This ethos is core to Castlemaine’s talent competition, the Castlemaine Idyll.
The annual “homage to Australian Idol” is held under belting-hot afternoon sun at Lot 19 arts precinct, a sprawling farm on the outskirts of town, run by artist Mark Anstey.
Castlemaine isn’t your average country hub. The community prides itself on promoting a supportive and creative atmosphere for residents of the small Victorian town.
They take audience participation very seriously.
Conversation in the crowd stops and people turn their attention to the performer who’s up next.
The audience in Castlemaine is sure to clap along to the beat and laugh-out-loud at jokes.
Mr Lavery said the talent showcase “gives average people a chance to be a rockstar for a day”.
“It’s not like it ends once they get off the stage,” he said. “You go down in history.”
Watching this bunch of people from all ways and walks of life creating and celebrating together, you realise it all encapsulates what is so wonderful about country town living:
Everyone with the courage to brave the stage gets the same treatment – whether they nail it or not, Mr Lavery said.
The audience at Castlemaine Idyll knew the deal before they arrived. They came with big grins and a willingness to start the dancefloor.
This year’s concert saw more than 50 people form a conga line dancing to a cover of Renee Geyer’s feel-good tropicana hit Say I Love You.
But the crowd at Castlemaine Idyll were just as ready to cheer for a ballad.
A girl, no older than 12, stepped onto the open air stage and turned to 300 people from her community. She took a deep breath and, accompanied by a piano and violin, crooned an ethereal version of Billie Eilish’s 2022 song Lovely.
For three minutes and twenty seconds she had everyone in the field transfixed.
When she finished the crowd erupted in whoops and cheers and rushed forward to embrace her.
One of three Idyll judges said “the stage suits you” and “you should stay there”.
With a foundational memory like that, chances are she will.
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