Well, it’s not truly a flashmob since they’re announcing it publicly, but it sounds cooler than random short lived free outdoor event to scare unsuspecting pedestrians…

Time to face it – summer is departing Sydney at a high rate of knots, as are our tans. Which is why, on one of the final sunny weekends of the year, The Cat Empire are heading out for some sun & surf around our fine city. This Saturday when it’s forecasted to be 31C & sunny, Harry, Felix (hello hello!), & the full Cat Empire crew will be rocking up to Bondi Beach at 11.30am and First Fleet Park at Circular Quay at 1.30pm. Only the most prolific live band on Earth could haul their equipment & instruments between sites in time.

The good lads will be busking to raise cash for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, so it’s not strictly free but who could begrudge that!?

The first time I saw The Cat Empire was at Circular Quay in The Basement club in 2002. A bunch of uni friends wandered into the club in a cynical beery fog late one evening, to discover the most fun and vigorous live acts I’ve seen in my life. I grabbed a CD from the merch stand and enthusiastically overtook DJ duties at uni parties. We didn’t need to recognise any of the tunes at the time to predict that the whole nation very soon would – and yes I’d like to take credit for being right. Success-o-rama.

Six years later, here’s a video of them playing their anthem The Chariot for a 30,000 strong crowd at Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne last Feb. It’s taken from their new DVD Live At The Bowl. Fingers crossed not so many people will turn up to the weekend shows, but it wouldn’t be surprising…

Catch you all on Saturday! For you unlucky non-Sydney peeps, we’ll have photos for you on Monday.

Download a free 25min version of The Car Song at www.thecatempire.com