For the first time ever, Australia’s (other) favourite music quiz show, RocKwiz, brought their Australian tour Rockwiz Live! to the gorgeous alfresco surrounds of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens as part of the Live At The Gardens sessions. The evening was picture perfect, with Melbourne’s weather behaving admirably, as fans gathered to see which surprise musical acts were to grace the stage (and which questions they could muffle their answers to!).

Much-loved RocKwiz hosts Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis were accompanied on stage by the legendary RocKwiz OrKestra and a panel of die-hard music fans that had fought their way from mere audience members to the sacred buzzers of the RocKwiz desks to compete for musical glory! The first in a dazzling lineup of surprise musical guests was the amazing Phil Jamieson from Grinspoon. He opened the show with iconic alt-rock song, Chemical Heart, taking us all back to our 2002 post-grunge heydays. Joining Jamieson on the panel was the wonderful Casey Donovan, whose powerful vocals were met by rapturous applause.

The set-up for the event was fabulous – with well thought-out seating, an array of yummy food trucks, bars close by and toilets aplenty. The kind of comfortable and easily accessible music event Gen X/Millenials and Boomers alike are very pleased with!

Next on the Aussie music icon list to perform and answer trivia was the incomparable Marcia Hines and Screaming Jets frontman, Dave Gleeson; both showering the audience with their showbiz magic and decades of talent reflected in the adoring crowd’s reaction to their appearances.

The very funny questions (and answers) came thick and fast, as everyone enjoyed classic segments like Who Can It Be Now?, Million Dollar Riff and the Furious Five, to nostalgic crowd favourites like First Gig and First Album (Michael Jackson History Tour 1996 at the MCG and Salt-N-Pepa’s Greatest Hits cassette in 1991, for those playing at home). The epic ensemble performance to close the night was Lean On Me, as the crowd sang along and thanked the RocKwiz gods for such a perfect and funny evening.