Experienced hitmakers Sheppard returned to the Deni Ute Muster after more than a decade on Friday, but it was also the return to the stage for the sibling pop group after a family hiatus.
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Amy, Emma and George brought their star power to the Deni Ute Muster main stage but were boosted by the Friday Muster crowd, bass player Emma revealed ahead of their performance.
“I'm actually really nervous because we haven't been on stage as a full band doing a long set for a while now because Amy had a baby this year,” she said.
“So we've had a bit of a break.
“I'm actually really nervous, but we are like looking out right now it looks like a huge crowd out there, so we're very excited as well.”
Singer and guitarist George said the atmosphere of Deniliquin stood out to them, having last performed at the Ute Muster in 2014.
“Yeah, the energy at Deni it is always such a phenomenal place,” he said.
“I mean, we played here 12 years ago, and it still sticks in my memory just how wild the crowd was.
“So yeah, I'm pretty excited.
“I'm a little bit nervous, but that's mostly excitement.
“We've been rehearsing; it's all good, everything’s working, I think, so we’ve just got to get out there and have some fun.
“We haven't actually had a lot of chance to look around, but it's nice to come back 12 years later with a much bigger catalogue of music.
“Having the crowd, I think there's going to be what is it, 10,000 people out there, something like that? Having that amount of people singing our songs back to us is the dream.”
While not typical ute fanatics, singer and percussionist Amy said the band enjoy the supportive culture of the Ute Muster.
“I wouldn’t say we're ute people, but it's always a lot of fun because we don't get to see it every day.
“So it's great to see everyone really getting involved and the keybanging is sort of like new novelty for us.
“We think it's great, and just love seeing people in their element.”
Friday night’s show was a chance for the band to show the range of hits they’ve produced throughout their careers, and the band’s sound moving forward.
“I feel like we get booked for these kinds of gigs because we bring these like high energy, colourful you know it's pop music that everybody can sing along to, and it's so much fun to do,” George said.
“Moving into the future, we're going to keep on trying to write the best music we possibly can.
“We like to do a bit of what the fans know and love in terms of the anthems and the pop music, but we also like to branch off and experiment a little bit with each album.
“We've got an album coming out next year, called ‘Beautiful Everything’, which we're playing a few songs off tonight.
“But yeah, more of the same I think, it's going to be great.”
The performance showcased all of Sheppard’s colourful energetic anthems like Geronimo, Learning to Fly, Coming Home, Keep Me Crazy, Animals, Die Young, On My Way, Symphony, Daylight, Edge Of The Earth, Sunshine, Good Time and Beautiful Nothing.
It also had some of their slower songs like Let Me Down Easy and Sayonara, as well as new singles from their upcoming album.
While often referred to as indie pop artists, George said the Aussie group felt embraced by the Ute Muster festival experience and by the weather with the sun coming out on Friday afternoon.
“It is such a great atmosphere, and it's such a great festival to be a part of.
“I mean, we used to feel kind of awkward coming to these things, like these country music festivals.
“You know, we're like we're not country, like, ‘how are people going to like us, we’re pop music?’.
“But everyone is always so welcoming and loves our music, and we just we feel the love every time.”