List of AFL Grand Final pre-match performances

Last updated

The AFL Grand Final is held annually on or near the last Saturday afternoon in September. Each year, pre-match entertainment is provided by musicians from past and present.

YearEntertainmentAustralian National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair"
1977 Barry Crocker
1978 Keith Michell
1979 Mike Brady and John Farnham
1980 Peter Allen
1981 Jon English performs Waltzing Matilda
1982 Rolf Harris sang "Waltzing Matilda"
1983 Glenn Shorrock sang "Waltzing Matilda"
1984 Slim Dusty sang "Waltzing Matilda" Slim Dusty
1985 Diana Trask sang "Waltzing Matilda"
1986 Olivia Newton-John sang "Waltzing Matilda" Olivia Newton-John
1987 Daryl Somers sang "Waltzing Matilda" Daryl Somers
1988 Noel Watson sang "Waltzing Matilda"
1989 John Farnham sang "Waltzing Matilda" John Farnham
1990 Normie Rowe and Lucy Gale Normie Rowe
1991 Daryl Braithwaite. Angry Anderson performed "Bound for Glory".
1992 Joan Carden
1993 Maroochy Barambah, Archie Roach and Yothu Yindi Maroochy Barambah
1994 Debra Byrne. The Seekers performed "I Am Australian", "Georgy Girl" and "Waltzing Matilda". The Seekers and the Australian Youth Choir
1995 A celebration of Australian films, with John Paul Young performing "Love is in the Air" Tina Arena
1996 A collection of past singers to celebrate the centenary grand final, including Daryl Somers, Normie Rowe, Venetta Feilds, Slim Dusty, Lindsay Field, Maroochy Barambah, Glenn Shorrock, Diana Trask, Barry Crocker, Lisa Edwards, Noel Watson and John Farnham. They performed "Waltzing Matilda".
1997 Marina Prior
1998 Muhammad Ali made an appearance. Mark Seymour sang "Holy Grail". Rob Guest sang "This Is The Moment". Jane Scali and Michael Cormick sang "Waltzing Matilda"; Donna Fisk and Michael Cristiano sang "Rock 'N Footy (Rock The G)". Rob Guest
1999 Human Nature performed "Waltzing Matilda". Human Nature
2000 The Idea of North, Trish Delaney-Brown, Megan Corson, Andrew Piper and Nick Begie, Mike Brady, Russell Morris and Rick Price. Bachelor Girl performed "Waltzing Matilda". Bachelor Girl
2001 Men at Work performed "Who Can It Be Now?" & "Down Under", Vanessa Amorosi performed "Rise Up" & "Shine" and INXS with Jon Stevens performed "Kick" & "New Sensation". [1] [2] Julie Anthony
2002 Mark Seymour performed "Holy Grail", The Whitlams performed "I Will Not Go Quietly (Duffy's Song)" & "Best Work", Killing Heidi performed "Mascara" & "Outside of Me", Kate Ceberano performed "Waltzing Matilda" and Greg Champion & Mike Brady performed "That's the Thing About Football" & "Up There Cazaly". [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Kate Ceberano
2003 The finalists from the first season of Australian Idol performed "One Day in September" and "Up There Cazaly", Michael Falzon, Katie Hoolihan and the Australian Cast of We Will Rock You performed a medley of Queen songs including Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You, a Mashup of The Pride of Brisbane Town & Seven Seas of Rhye, a Mashup of Good Old Collingwood Forever & One Vision, We Will Rock You (fast version) and Bohemian Rhapsody and Christine Anu performed Waltzing Matilda. [8] [9] Christine Anu
2004 Guy Sebastian sang "Waltzing Matilda". The Ten Tenors, David Hobson, Kath and Kim. Guy Sebastian
2005 Delta Goodrem sang "I Am Australian". Michael Bublé and Dame Edna Everage performed "I Still Call Australia Home". The Whitlams performed "No Aphrodisiac". Kath & Kim performed with the Australian Girls Choir. Silvie Paladino
2006 Brian Mannix, John Paul Young, Sean Kelly, Irene Cara sang "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" with appearances from Brian Mannix, John Paul Young, Sean Kelly, Daryl Braithwaite and Shane Howard performing a medley including "Up There Cazaly", "One Day in September", "Solid Rock", "Yesterday's Hero", "The Horses", "Everybody Wants to Work" and "I Hear Motion". The Young Divas sang "You're the Inspiration". Daryl Braithwaite and Shane Howard
2007 Jet performed "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" and "Rollover DJ". Natalie Bassingthwaighte
2008 Powderfinger performed "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" and AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" accompanied by the City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band, Ian Moss performed electric guitar versions of "Up There Cazaly" and the competing club theme songs. Lucy Durack and Amanda Harrison
2009 Mark Seymour performed "Holy Grail" on stage, followed by Jimmy Barnes singing "No Second Prize". John Farnham then sang "You're the Voice", joined later by Seymour and Barnes. The QANTAS Choir performed "I Still Call Australia Home".The cast of Jersey Boys (performed a cappella)
2010 Pre-match entertainment was provided by INXS, who performed "Suicide Blonde", "New Sensation" and "Kick". Followed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra who performed orchestral arrangements of the Collingwood and St Kilda theme songs. Lyrics for the two songs were performed by Matt Hetherington (for Collingwood) and Paris Wells (for St Kilda). Lionel Richie was the grand final replay and post-match entertainment. [10] Cameron and Taylor Henderson
Julie Anthony (replay)
2011 Meat Loaf performed a twelve-and-a-half minute medley of his best-known songs. Vanessa Amorosi
2012 Pre-match entertainment was Tim Rogers and Paul Kelly.
Half-time entertainment was provided by The Temper Trap. [11] [12]
Marina Prior
2013 Birds of Tokyo performed "Lanterns". Mike Brady performed "Up There Cazaly". Hunters & Collectors performed "Do You See What I See" and "Holy Grail". Tina Arena
2014 Ed Sheeran performed "Sing" and "The A Team" and was then joined by Sir Tom Jones where they sang "Kiss", "Mama Told Me Not to Come", "Delilah" and "If I Only Knew". [13] Mike Brady performed Up There Cazaly. [14] Olivia Newton-John
2015 Chris Isaak performed "Great Balls of Fire", "Wicked Game" and "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing". He was then followed by Ellie Goulding who sang "Love Me Like You Do" and "Burn". Bryan Adams sang "Run to You", "Summer of '69" and "Can't Stop This Thing We Started". Mike Brady performed "Up There Cazaly". Kate Ceberano
2016 The pre-match entertainment started with Mike Brady performing "One Day In October", followed by Vance Joy who sang "Fire and the Flood" and "Riptide", thenThe Living End performed "Keep on Running", "Prisoner of Society". Sting performed "I Cant' Stop Thinking About You", "Message in a Bottle". With his appearance, Sting became the first artist to perform at both the NFL Super Bowl (in 2003) and the AFL Grand Final. Vika and Linda
2017 The Killers performed "When You Were Young", "Somebody Told Me", "The Man", "Forgotten Years" (a Midnight Oil cover), "Read My Mind" and "Mr Brightside". Mike Brady then performed "Up There Cazaly". Dami Im
2018 Jimmy Barnes and Black Eyed Peas Mahalia Barnes
2019 Tones and I performed "The Kids Are Coming" and "Dance Monkey", followed by Dean Lewis, who performed "Be Alright" and "Waves". John Williamson performed Waltzing Matilda, followed by Paul Kelly who performed "Leaps and Bounds" and "Dumb Things". [15] Mike Brady also performed "Up There Cazaly". Conrad Sewell
2020 Electric Fields, Thelma Plum, Busby Marou and Queensland Symphony Orchestra opened the pre-match entertainment with a cover of Paul Kelly's "From Little Things Big Things Grow". Cub Sport performed a cover of Powderfinger's "These Days". The DMA's performed their Like a Version cover of Cher's "Believe" and their song "Criminals", Wolfmother's Andrew Stockdale performed Joker & the Thief, and Mike Brady performed "Up There Cazaly" from the MCG. Sheppard performed their songs "Geronimo" and "Coming Home" at half-time. [16] Tim McCallum
2021 Abbe May performed "Thunderstruck", Baker Boy performed a cover of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and "Meditjin", John Butler performed "Ocean" before being joined by Stella Donnelly, Vicki Thorn, Donna Simpson, Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse for a cover of Icehouse's "Great Southern Land". Eskimo Joe performed "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" and then a cover of "Kick" by INXS. Colin Hay performed a version of "Down Under" via video from the USA. [17] Amy Manford (performed a cappella) [18]
2022 For the first act, Mike Brady performed his iconic song "Up There Cazaly". Then, Robbie Williams performed a few of his hits, including "Let Me Entertain You", "Angels" and "Rock DJ" as well as "You're the Voice" to pay tribute to John Farnham, who was suffering from cancer. A tribute was also paid to the late Shane Warne. This was then followed up with Delta Goodrem joining Williams on stage to sing "Kids". [19] Katie Noonan [20]
2023 Mike Brady performed "Up There Cazaly", and then KISS performed "I Was Made for Lovin' You", "Shout It Out Loud" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" as the main act. [21] [22] Mark Seymour & The Undertow with Kate Miller-Heidke provided half-time entertainment. Kate Miller-Heidke
2024 Christine Anu & Zipporah Corser-Anu performed "My Island Home", Mike Brady performed "Up There Cazaly", and Katy Perry performed "Roar", "Dark Horse", "Gorgeous", "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "I Kissed a Girl" (with Tina Arena), "Chains" (with Tina Arena), "Lifetimes", and "Firework". [23] Cody Simpson

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References

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  2. Adamson, David (29 September 2001). "Footy Rocks". AFL Record. Vol. 90, no. 26. AFL Publishing. State Library of Victoria. pp. 52–53. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  3. "Hunters and Collectors HOLY GRAIL at the 2002 AFL Grand Final". www.youtube.com. 28 April 2022.
  4. "The Whitlams singing at the 2002 AFL Grand Final". www.youtube.com. 29 April 2022.
  5. "Killing Heidi singing at the 2002 AFL Grand Final". www.youtube.com. 30 April 2022.
  6. "Greg Champion and Mike Brady THE THING ABOUT FOOTBALL - 2002 Grand Final pre-match entertainment". www.youtube.com. 16 April 2022.
  7. Lovett, Michael (28 September 2002). "The magic of it all". AFL Record. Vol. 91, no. 26. AFL Publishing. State Library of Victoria. p. 45. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  8. "WWRY cast/band at 2003 AFL grand final". www.youtube.com. 30 March 2021.
  9. Callander, Sean (27 September 2003). "Rocking the MCG". AFL Record. Vol. 92, no. 26. AFL Publishing. State Library of Victoria. p. 64. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  10. Quinn, Karl (30 September 2010). "Richie to hit high notes at grand final replay". The Age. Archived from the original on 1 October 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
  11. "Paul Kelly, Tim Rogers And The Temper Trap To Headline 2012 AFL Grand Final Entertainment".
  12. Te Koha, Nui (30 September 2012). "Tim Rogers, Paul Kelly and Temper Trap owned the stage for AFL Grand Final entertainment". Sunday Herald Sun.
  13. "Tom Jones and Ed Sheeran ready to rock the MCG". www.afl.com.au. 25 September 2014.
  14. "She's the one they want: Aussie music icon to sing national anthem at Grand Final". www.afl.com.au. 31 August 2014.
  15. Rogers, Samantha (28 September 2019). "Footy fans slam 'worst' AFL Grand Final pre-game entertainment". PerthNow . Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  16. Twomey, Callum (12 October 2019). "Gabba set to 'Glow': AFL locks in locals to rock historic Grand Final". AFL . Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  17. "How good was THAT? Eskimo Joe, Baker Boy send fans wild". PerthNow. 25 September 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  18. "From the West End to the AFL Grand Final: Amy Manford to lead national anthem | Features". AussieTheatre.com. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  19. Murray-Atfield, Yara (24 September 2022). "Robbie Williams rocks AFL grand final pre-match entertainment with Delta Goodrem and Shane Warne tribute — but no Kylie Minogue". ABC News. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  20. "Five in five: Aussie line up to be revealed for Telstra Pre Match Entertainment". AFL. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  21. "Rock band Kiss stuns MCG crowd with pyrotechnics and bedazzled dancing kids at AFL grand final". ABC News. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  22. "KISS slammed over AFL Grand Final performance: 'Disgraceful'". Yahoo Life. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  23. "'G roars for electrifying Katy Perry performance". AFL. 28 September 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2024.