Adelaide singer and activist Lenin Marròn seeks to channel the spirit of generosity and the epic guitars of the late 1960s with his Meet Me At The Woodstock Crossroads festival, which runs as part of Adelaide's Umbrella: Winter City Sounds programme.
The event, which also draws inspiration from a guitarist nicknamed Slowhand, has assembled the cream of the blues, rock and roots community, including legendary guitarist Chris Finnen and iconic rock ska band Bunna Lawrie and Coloured Stone on their 40th anniversary Australian tour.
While it is a celebration of an era of music, the festival also encourages audiences to embrace the ethos of that time by emphasising the plight faced by the most disadvantaged during the ravages of winter, as Lenin explains. “It’s inspired by the first Woodstock Festival and also the Crossroads element of Eric Clapton doing things for his charity organisation.
“So I’m blending those elements together with a local & national line-up to sort of relive that in Adelaide and the theme of it is to raise awareness for homelessness in winter time. It’s a blues, rock, folk festival with a positive cause!”
Headliner Chris Finnen and Lenin, the frontman of local roots outfit Local Revolution, have collaborated on multiple occasions, including 2016’s Guitars In Bars with their Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix tribute show ‘Sacred Fire’.
Material from that show will be revived for the Umbrella evening. Chris has been an inspiration for Lenin since their chance meeting a few years ago. “The whole friendship started a couple of years ago at Blenheim Festival,” Lenin says.
“We jumped on stage after Chris and he heard us play and came backstage and said he really liked it. He’s really humble, he really expresses music and it’s been so good to learn from him.”
Lenin’s inspiration to curate such an event stems from a personal association with Adelaide’s charitable community. “I work a lot with Adelaide Day Centre [For Homeless Persons] in the city with my family and we’ve grown up with that, which is a very important charity for the city. They do soup runs where they go out six nights a week and give out food for the homeless.”
It should be stressed that the festival seeks to raise awareness, not funds. “We are going to be encouraging people to think more about the homeless, to donate blankets and warm clothes. We are hoping to have various info-stalls at the festival.”
Meet Me At The Woodstock Crossroads takes place at The Producers Bar (Adelaide) 15 July.
