Under Western Skies Festival 2024

Every great music city needs a great music festival: Under Western Skies is Dubbo's own music spectacle celebrating the art of the Central West. After sold-out events in 2019 and 2021, and our biggest ever events in 2022 and 2023, we're back on September 21, 2024 at a new venue in the heart of Dubbo, Victoria Park.

Dubbo will once again play host to an afternoon and evening of music, food and craft beer! The musical lineup on the main stage will offer something for everyone from acoustic to rock, pop and more from the best local and truly extraordinary touring acts.

This Way North has previously been named Music Victoria’s Best Regional Act, and has continued their rise across Australia, New Zealand and Canada, supporting artists such as, Vika and Linda Bull, Ash Grunwald and Kate Ceberano. They’ve enjoyed killer sets at Australia and Canada’s favourite festivals, including Queenscliff, Mullumbimby, Wanderer, Woodford, Port Fairy in Australia and Mariposa, Ness Creek and Dawson City in Canada, sharing the stage with artists from Mavis Staples to Spider Bait. Full of rapturous nostalgia, their music takes you from moody, tremolo-tinged heart-tuggers to pounding driving alt-psych rock through a sonic landscape of reverb-soaked guitars and rolling rhythms. With odes to 90’s rock sitting on air-tight grooves and full, cinematic spaciousness, This Way North’s music is a portal to summer festivals, their love affair with the road, and an open invitation to turn up the volume and let loose.

“This Way North are such an impressive live duo! Their blend of genres is unlike anything else around. Great grooves, and they know how to rock!”
— Ash Grunwald

Northern Rivers based Matty Rogers Band doesn’t play music so much as become possessed by it; a conduit for the musical muse. They tap into the depths of the heart and weave it into a dynamic musical experience of Americana blues-rock drenched in soul. Matty has shared stages with musical royalty such as The Black Sorrows, Ash Grunwald, Toni Childs and Phil Emmanuel, and can count the likes of Xavier Rudd, Ocean Alley and Kasey Chambers among his many supporters.

Good Corn Liquor are a country, bluegrass & blues band hailing from Gunnedah NSW. They have performed at festivals such as Tamworth Country Music, Dashville Skyline, BMUP, Nimbin Roots, Butter Factory Blues and Roots, Sydney Blues & Roots, Newcastle Blues & Roots, Friends & Relatives and have and shared the stage with some of Australia's finest including; Tex Perkins, Dog Trumpet, The Snowdroppers, Dragon, Shane Nicholson, Adam Eckersley and Kingswood.

The outstanding bill continues with the genre-blending Pop Punk and Classic Rock stylings of Sydney’s Yoskos in the Cosmos’ and Bathurst’s psychedelic Liquid Culture. Rounding out the lineup are some talented local groups: Hope Held Hostage - a rapidly rising alt-grunge-rock act, Dubbo indie-rockers Tomorrow Forever, and blues-infused musers, Indistinct Chatter.

No festival is complete without an assortment of local fare and Under Western Skies is no exception. Craft beer and gourmet food vans round out the festival grounds. A kids area will keep the young folks entertained, with an assortment of activities on offer.

You can't stream it, download it, or save it for later. But you can be there.

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Under Western Skies is brought to you by the Songwriters & Original Musicians Association of Dubbo Inc (SOMAD), a grassroots not-for-profit incorporated association founded by Dubbo musos.

The festival is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW, Macquarie Credit Union, Triple M Dubbo, Monster Signs, Dubbo Regional Council, Dubbo Photo News & Ashcroft's IGA Dubbo.