While there may not be many music festivals or gigs this year, residents will have the chance to see the likes of The Beatles, Dave Grohl and Silverchair on stage in a new art exhibition in the city from this month.
WE CAN BE HEROES: a backstage pass at Newcastle Art Gallery will feature almost 400 images of national and international musical royalty, including some rarely seen and previously unpublished photographs. It will display the largest amount of images in a singular exhibition ever shown at the art gallery.
The works will take audiences into the epicentre of festivals such as Austin City Limits, Big Day Out, and Lollapalooza, featuring the work of leading Australian music photographers including Newcastle's Charlie Hardy and Luke Kellett, as well as Sydneysiders Maclay Heriot and Sophie Howarth.
The exhibition will also be supported with artworks from the gallery's collection.
Gallery director Lauretta Morton, a self described "music nut", said the show was originally going to include external works, but COVID-19 made her rethink how to showcase it.
Related: Isolation photo exhibit capturing an historic moment
"I always wanted to do a big rock and roll photography show," she said.
"I had Luke (Kellett) in the gallery one day. I didn't know he was a photographer and I was telling him about this really cool show coming up. He was telling me he's shot festivals and was instrumental in bringing in the other three artists.
"We're a public gallery so we wanted to show them as artists with photography as their medium. They all jumped straight on board."
Ms Morton said the works depict everything from the atmosphere of a big festival to intimate moments side of stage the crowd doesn't get to see.
"There's something for everyone," she said.
Sophie Howarth has about 150 photographs in the exhibition, and described the extensive process of choosing pieces from her archive as "epic".
Howarth was once the official photographer for Big Day Out, went on the road to the Northern Territory with Saltwater Band and has photographed some of the world's biggest musicians.
Her pieces, which were taken roughly between 1991 and 2011, include a "homage to chicks", photographs from the 1995 Summersault festival, images from her tour with Saltwater Band and even some early shots of Silverchair.
She said she hoped the works take the viewer on a journey, particularly given the current situation with the lack of live music.
"Photography is a perfect medium to transport us," she said. "A photograph can capture an experience for the viewer. I'd like my photographs to give people a reprieve, an escape."
Charlie Hardy's works are slightly more recent - taken between 2014 and the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Related: 15 years, $3m and money still flowing for Newcastle Art Gallery design
"I love telling people's stories, I'm fascinated by it," he said. "To be able to capture the energy and emotion and put it all together."
Some of the photographs were taken at intimate gigs, including here in Newcastle, which Hardy said created special points to capture.
"To see an artist reach down to touch the crowd or jump out into it - they're such great moments," he said.
Councillor Carol Duncan described the launch of the live music exhibition as "emotional" given the impact COVID-19 has had on live music.
"It feels like a distant memory at the moment," she said.
She said she expected the exhibition to be a "beautiful sensory overload" for viewers.
"These were from shows that a lot of people will have been at," she said. "Everybody has that personal connection."
WE CAN BE HEROES: a backstage pass opens on November 14 and runs through to February 14.
IN THE NEWS:
- Rescue helicopter boss Richard Jones flies past 25-year milestone with the service
- Supercars wants Newcastle as 2022 season-opener, Chevrolet Camaros' championship debut
- Ammunition, milling machine seized from Belmont South by Strike Force Roche police as part of bushfire fraud investigations
- US Election 2020: Trump falsely claims election has been stolen from him, as race narrows in battleground states
