The Monroes - The Show Must Go On

The Monroes have had many career highlights in their 12-year existence from performing in India, to backing ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons (twice!!), but they all agree Thursday, February 4 tops them all.

To celebrate the return of their stolen musical equipment, The Monroes want to give back in the only way they know how, by putting on a free concert on Sunday, March 14 at the Hamilton Lake stage to thank the public and to do what they do, which is entertain!

2020 had been a devastating year for The Monroes and the entertainment industry as a whole as the Covid-19 lockdown, and alert level changes shut down events and functions, the type of work which is ‘bread and butter’ for the Hamilton band. By the end of the year as Christmas parties filled their diary again, they were looking forward to a productive and hopefully profitable recovery in 2021.

However on the morning of January 20, disaster struck, when the band were alerted by the storage facility where the bands trailer was being kept over summer, that thieves had broken in overnight and taken the trailer which was unbeknownst to them full of over $100000 of musical equipment.

What happened next was simply amazing. A post on social media from singer Nicola Thomson, was shared over 12000 times, and the national media from TV, radio and newspaper all jumped on the story and spread the pictures of the equipment far and wide to help the police efforts to recover the gear. Two weeks later as nothing had come from various leads, a CCTV photo of the vehicle which had stolen the trailer was released on Facebook. Then a small miracle happened. While a farmer was moving his stock between paddocks on the outskirts of Hamilton, he spotted the road cases which ‘had’ to be from this band whose story he’d heard about, and within 30 minutes the band was reunited with their equipment and were back in business.

In that dark fortnight when the future of the band was in turmoil, many fundraising ideas were brought up in an attempt to purchase the equipment needed to keep going. Nothing felt quite right however as all they wanted to do was to recover their equipment, not take the generous offerings that were coming from people far and wide. Putting on a free show feels like the most appropriate way for musicians like us to say thank you.

Everyone is invited, it is totally free and family-friendly.

Bring your deckchairs, picnic blankets, food, water and anything else you need to have a fun summer party with The Monroes and special guests.