A Love Letter to the Nannup Music Festival
By Bob Gordon
It didn’t take me four hours to get to Nannup from the city, it took 36 years.
But boy, was it worth the build-up.
Why so long to make it down for this Weekend Of Discovery? I’m a career music journalist who’s been going to seemingly everything for over three decades. My good friend Nigel Bird was the festival patron for humpteen years and the way his face lit up every time he talked of the festival elicited a hundred good reasons to go.
Hell, I even worked for the festival in 2016, helping to secure grant funding. Somehow though, I didn’t go. The March Long Weekend didn’t seem to pan out for me, or work dragged me the other way.
2026 (and every year that will now follow) was to be different. Beloved festival manager Phaedra Watts’ words – ‘you have to come check it out!’ – rang in my ears and indeed we were going and indeed we went.
My partner Selena and I were lucky to accompany WA music consigliere Michael Tucak down to Nannup on the Friday afternoon. It was the kind of drive that should always precede a music festival arrival, with plenty of great music and good humour.
We rolled into town in the late afternoon and were immediately embraced by a feeling of belonging. People from all different walks of life, all with their own different ways of walking, made it clear that this was a festival for everyone. Every dress sense, bar formal, was accounted for – the best fashion was worn by everyone who was wearing clothes. It was a cultural mélange soundtracked by the most amazing lineup of musicians both well-known and imminently knowable.
The artisan and food markets offered all sorts of goodness and the curbs were lined with little kids playing ukeleles, ocarinas, kazoos and all manner of toy instruments. It sounded beautiful whether they could play them or not as the music from surrounding stages floated in the air above.
From music scene to Thylacine – the Nannup Tiger is a beloved historical animal in the town, an avatar even. The folklore is celebrated by Flint Edwards’ statue and now complemented by the Nannup Geopark’s Thylacine Trail. The Nannup Tiger may be extinct but on the land of the Bibbulmun people is spiritually at everyone’s side.
And like the Thylacine, the Nannup Music Festival also has many stripes. These stripes speak of diversity, inclusivity, spirituality, friendship, talking, laughing, dancing, music, art, culture, food, country and an estimated three to seven other things. Feel free to add your own, as freedom is also one of these stripes.
With 10 free and ticketed stages featuring artists and bands for the better part of three days it’s impossible to mention anywhere near the vast majority in this trail of words that is more love letter than review. However the music is not only confined to the stages. The artists walk the streets, corridors and tent sites of the festival and are fans as much as any of the impassioned punters.
With so much goodness individual festivalgoers walk their own path and have their own cheerful and cherished memories. Formmer Tinpan Orange singer Emily Lubtiz shone at The Amphitheatre on Friday night, followed by Irish indie-folk darlings The Ocelots around the same time Perth country-pop fave Siobhan Cotchin became the Queen Of Tigerville.
On a personal note, on the Saturday afternoon at The Secret Garden I was honoured and privileged to act as MC for A Random Act Of Guyness, a tribute in words and song by friends of the late Guy Ghouse AM, who sadly passed away following a brace cancer battle in November 2025. Dave Mann, Roy Martinez, Mick & Mon, Wil Thomas, The Gray Brothers, Scott Adam, Rupert John, Jarrad Inman and Lucy Poi played songs and spoke of the friendship and profound influence Guy had on so many people in his too-short years.
Gina Williams-Ghouse AM stepped onstage to close the proceedings with a rendition of Djidi Djidi, celebrating her late husband. It was beautiful. It was all crying and laughing. Laughing and crying. Crying and laughing again. Later on, I saw Gina and Helen Townsend – whose son also tragically passed away in 2025 – sharing a moment and a hug. I’m not sure too many words were spoken but as they held hands their faces spoke not only of the shared experience of immeasurable heartbreak, but the knowledge that somehow they will carry on. They were together in music.
On early Sunday evening in the Town Hall Gina performed a full set without Guy, backed by their band. Gina later told me it was the hardest gig of her life, but she felt Guy’s presence, and it was he who got her through it.
We also witnessed the quirky genius of Steve Poltz – either rehearsing songs at the Nannup Hotel or at The Amphitheatre on Saturday night – and it was a brilliantly odd and compelling thing to behold. As were his audience participation capabilities, disappearing into the middle of the Amphitheatre audience for a spur-of-the-moment rendition of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, helped along by fellow artists AC Saunders and Rachel Laven.
From the balcony overlooking the Nannup Hotel’s outdoor stage on Sunday I watched my friend Cameron Charles and his band The Bambusea Rhythm Section bring the curtain down on their joyful history. For over a decade they declared ‘The People Must Dance’ and they did indeed until the very last note.
It’s utterly unique moments like this that make the Nannup Music Festival so very special. Well, that and many more…
… remember, the Thylacine had a shitload of stripes.
It took 36 years for me to go to the Nannup Music Festival for the first time. It will take me one year to go for the second.
See you in 2027!
