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  • deb nankervis 2025Attending 80 gigs this year might seem a lot but imagine if I hadn’t cancelled a further 80 due to perpetual bronchitis and various bouts of flu. Thankfully, no Covid this time. Clearly four was enough.

    I generally enjoy all music events so picking a Top Ten was quite a feat. If I’ve liked a band enough to see them more than once, I’ve included those gigs.

    No. 1 - Bart Willoughby, No Fixed Address on two occasions
    One at The Tote on Jan 3, and again at Yabun festival Jan 26. Their distinctive Aus/reggae rock has moved me since we came back to Melbourne from London in 1979. When my son Vyvyan’s godfather, Louis McManus, sadly passed away in 2004, NFA’s drummer and lead vocalist, Bart Willoughby, stepped up to the plate, his friend and mine being Maxine Briggs, his godmother.

    I never tire of hearing Bart’s anthem “We have Survived”, beautifully delivered on a sunny Sydney afternoon at the Yabun Festival in Victoria Park, “Music to a Beat”.