Valentine’s Day Weekend 2026

678 Kilometres

6 hours of live music

The most excellent company.

What a weekend.

Leaving on Friday after work, I stayed with my partner overnight before heading off to Geelong on Saturday. With plenty of time to spare (sorry, Sneaky Sound System, we just didn’t want to see you), we enjoyed a stroll around Geelong before heading to Torquay. And there’s a few things to say here (keeping in mind this is not music I typically listen to or overly enjoy – except BoT)…

Freya Ridings – wow, what a voice. Hurry up and release the new tracks you played.

Birds of Tokyo – every bit as good as expected. Entertainment plus. Can read the crowd and adapt. Clearly love being on stage still and every bit as good as they’ve always been. Ian Kenny singing his heart out was brilliant (sorry the mixing desk screwed up the vocal levels).

Eskimo Joe – matured since they burst onto the scene 20-odd years ago and did an impressive tribute to Iva Davies Icehouse (Flowers). Didn’t pay much attention (oops?).

One Republic. Dude. Seriously disappointing. Yes, funny. Yes, you can sing. Yes, get that you played Brissy the night before in sweltering heat and humidity… but an hour after Eskimo Joe with no word? A break every 15 minutes? Mate, just say you’re struggling and thank the thousands of people that came to see you. I hope you were feeling better and played better in Melbourne on Sunday night.

And unfortunately, after returning home Sunday morning, then travelling into Melbourne CBD to head to Northcote to see Lacuna Coil…we pulled out and went home. A toothache and ridiculously late start time not previously announced put an end to that.

Still, what a weekend. Back to work today – seems somehow inappropriate…