Celebrate her Majesty’s birthday with Roland Tings

It may be a little cheeky, but one of the greatest things of being part of the Commonwealth is the fact that Australia has a public holiday each year to celebrate her Majesty’s birthday – even if it isn’t actually on her birthday!
At Forté, we believe there isn’t a better way to celebrate the Queen’s day of days than checking out some killer live music, and boy, do The Inn Hotel have an absolute pearler happening.
Known around town for throwing the best parties in the parking lot, the legends threw their first live car park event over Easter featuring Didirri, Mdrn Love and Residual which was an absolute belter. Now they’ve upped the ante with their second ‘All Live’ car park event featuring one of Australia’s most in-demand DJs, Roland Tings, for Queen’s Friday (yes that’s a thing!).
Known for being retro without being reverential, Roland Tings, the moniker of producer Rohan Newman, makes luscious, club-ready dance music that’s slyly experimental and crammed with hooks that has you dancing throughout the night.
After years playing solo, the Roland Tings live show expanded to a two piece with the addition of a drummer, allowing for visceral freeform excursions into house, techno and beyond. This saw Newman bring singles like Higher Ground, Devotion, Hedonist and more to life in tours with Chrome Sparks, RUFUS and Laneway Festival.
Proving he’s not one to settle, Newman expanded (again) to a three-piece live band last year, adding Julian Sudek on a hybrid kit of acoustic drums and electronic pads, and Yama Hondow-Wellby on keys. He’s now even incorporated ethereal processed guitar and textured layers of keys to evolve dance music further into uncharted territory. He even rounded out last year by supporting Todd Terje, embarking on a nationwide DJ Tour and releasing his new, stripped back house track, ‘One Hundred’ ft. HIGH HØØPS.

Lucky for us, the legends at The Inn managed to lock Roland Tings down for a night ahead of his tour with The Presents. Joining the party will be Melbourne indie dance rockers I Know The Chief, along with supports from a local lineup of acoustic greats Abe Anderson, Luke Biscan and Jake Hunniford. It all goes down on Friday from 6pm.
But wait, the party doesn’t stop there. Taking place on the Sunday (Queen’s Birthday Eve), The Inn are throwing ANOTHER party this long weekend with the queen of Australian dance music herself; Nina Las Vegas.
With Nina headlining the Block Party (which is like their famous ‘Party In The Parking Lot’, but in a Marquee and bigger) punters will be treated to one of the most influential figures in the Australian music scene, who started DJing during her time as a host and programmer on triple j. She has since played every major music festival in Australia including Big Day Out, Stereosonic, Splendour In The Grass, Groovin’ The Moo and Parklife, as well as a collection of international festivals, and has embarked on her own headline tours in Australia and the US, UK and Europe.
Nina will be supported by local talent BALTA, Ben Chook, Chook & Moluck, Dawson, Dean Turnley, Dirge, Max McKay, Merv Clarke, Mitch J. Loughnan and SLAX.
This one goes down on Sunday (June 10) from 4pm – 11pm.
The Inn Hotel’s carpark parties are an event to remember, where music is the focus and no detail is spared in creating an area in which everyone can drink, dance and enjoy all that is best about summer in the city of Geelong. With two epic parties going down, things are looking up – just not the queue for drinks. Cheers to public holidays!