The Meltdown PLAY RAY at The Jazzlab

The Meltdown was born out of a mutual love for Ray Charles music by Lachlan Mclean and Simon Burke. The idea was hatched listening to Ray on the long drives home from other gigs that Lachlan and Simon had started to do together around 2011 – Musicians were wrangled, a set of music was chosen and the Meltdown was born.

The Meltdown’s first gig at the famous Melbourne Jazz Venue Bennetts Lane happened in 2012 and was completely sold out – The band having gone out for dinner around the corner came back to the surprise of a line down the street – clearly there was a thirst to hear the great music of Ray – Bennetts lane had a quiet policy for the audience to focus and allow all members of the audience to enjoy the often quiet and introspective shows there – not necessarily a raucous venue for jumping around, but by the time half of the first set was completed the audience were up dancing and clapping and stomping and the band were away lifted by the experience....

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The Meltdown was born out of a mutual love for Ray Charles music by Lachlan Mclean and Simon Burke. The idea was hatched listening to Ray on the long drives home from other gigs that Lachlan and Simon had started to do together around 2011 – Musicians were wrangled, a set of music was chosen and the Meltdown was born.

The Meltdown’s first gig at the famous Melbourne Jazz Venue Bennetts Lane happened in 2012 and was completely sold out – The band having gone out for dinner around the corner came back to the surprise of a line down the street – clearly there was a thirst to hear the great music of Ray – Bennetts lane had a quiet policy for the audience to focus and allow all members of the audience to enjoy the often quiet and introspective shows there – not necessarily a raucous venue for jumping around, but by the time half of the first set was completed the audience were up dancing and clapping and stomping and the band were away lifted by the experience.

In 2018, The Meltdown had the great honour to Play with the legendary Maceo Parker for the Melbourne Jazz Festival. Extending the band to a full big band and led by Ray’s former Musical Director Steve Sigmund along with the Raelettes, they played an amazing one of show at the Melbourne recital centre.

Now doing the show only a handful of times a year, they are often a joyous and fun experience – often with special guest singers but always staying true to the heart of Rays music which was about taste, space and fun!

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