ROCK THIS COUNTRY AND REPLAY 6 PROPEL MELBOURNE INTO 2018 IN GRAND STYLE

BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE

Rock this Country were a great set up.

Replay 6 with Marlon Amarasekera. One of Melbourne’s best.

Marlon Amarasekera thrills Melbourne on New Year’s eve at the Grand on Cathies Lane.

Rap-So-D. Very popular Melbourne dance band

Chris Mant, Lozaine Paul and Linden Boustead with Cloud 9 at the Walawwa.

Melbourne ushered in 2018 with a spate of dinner dances and several other celebratory functions that found little or no parallel to the Sri Lankan events among Australian migrants Down Under.

Of course the biggest crowd puller on this day is in the Melbourne city precinct where a fantastic fireworks display highlights the dawning of the New Year and hundreds of thousands of Melburnians flock to the city to watch the pyrotechnic spectacle unfold for several hours.

The Grand on Cathies Lane was a focal point for many reasons, one of them being the first appearance of virtually unknown Sri Lankan band Rock this Country who took dance goers by complete surprise for their outstanding performance and versatility.

Quite fortunately for Anne and I, we had every reason to be confident that the band would deliver as we happened to have had a preview of their capability at the Margarita Blue in Colombo a couple of years ago at the Galadari Hotel where the band was on fire in front of an appreciative audience.

Pitted with one of the best and most accomplished dance bands in Melbourne, Replay 6, who are second to none in fantastic versatility themselves, it laid the platform for one of the best 31st night celebrations for a long while.

Throw in the very talented Marlon Amarasekera, formerly from Mirage who has wowed Melbourne over the years, and the recipe for the delivery of the New Year could not have been more perfect.

Bertie Ekanaike has a flair for picking great talent and his inclusion this year was no exception as Rock this Country went toe-to-toe with Replay 6 to provide a varied musical performance that was completely enthralling.

Over 550 guests were treated to a great night of fun, frolic and fine dining as the venue hosts Jude De Silva and The Grand made sure that all bases were covered to give patrons a night to remember.

One thing that is for sure is that Rock This Country will be back in Australia after their stirring performance which highlighted another top class musical set up from the land of limitless talent, Sri Lanka.

Top cover band Rap-So-D were the other band that played to a sellout crowd at the Grand on Princes where a packed house of 380 guests saw the New year in to their exhilarating sounds.

Springvale Town Hall was also a sell out with Ron Meerwald in charge of things as an appreciative crowd enjoyed a similar culinary fare as the Grand Receptions had their hands full catering to three venues on the night. Cherrie Chamari and her band B Sharp had the crowd hopping with their own brand of music which has generated a special following.

The Walawwa was also sold out and had Chris Mant, Lozaine Paul and Cloud 9 in attendance as the rocked the night away and the review from dance goers was that they had a memorable time.