The announcement this week that Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is to headline the 2015 AFL Grand Final’s pre-game entertainment was met with the usual heckles and jeers of the AFL getting it wrong and being out of touch.The line up, that includes US crooner Chris Isaak and English singer Ellie Goulding, has irked some well-meaning Aussie music fans but while Adams walking through "Summer of 69’" is far better than Daryl Somers lip-synching “Waltzing Matilda”, it seems that for many, the mediocre entertainment is just a distraction from the main event.In 2007, Mark Wilson played the Grand Final with his band Jet.At the time Jet were one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but for Wilson, who has shared his experiences on the football and music site Presentation Night, the day was one of mixed emotion. His hometown team Geelong won their first premiership in 44-years by a record margin, but the Jet performance in front of 90 000 people was marred when a backing track dropped out of a mimed version of their hit "Rollover DJ".Noisey: What was it like to play the pre-game show?
Mark Wilson: When we played it you couldn't hear anything. It was pretty hard. Just by virtue of what it is it's not much fun to do. We're plonked in the middle of the oval, everyone else is 200-metres away and you know that nobody one can hear it.Why do you think that the AFL has gone with an Aussie-free line-up this year?
I understand what they're trying to do. They want this big entertainment event like the Super Bowl. That's their dream but there are a few factors that make it very different; one is that it's in the afternoon, in the bright sunlight. Also the ground is enormous. An NFL field is quite a bit smaller.Plus, it's before the game so everyone who's there to watch football is too nervous to care, and all the others are just talking to their friends at the bar.Does the AFL Grand Final need Australian music?
It's a hard one because I think that there should be a local act as there has been in the past but after our experience I feel like the whole thing isn't really worth it.Catch Bryan Adams, Chris Isaak and Ellie Goulding on a television screen while you are waiting in line for a beer and a pie at the MCG on Oct 3.
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Mark Wilson: When we played it you couldn't hear anything. It was pretty hard. Just by virtue of what it is it's not much fun to do. We're plonked in the middle of the oval, everyone else is 200-metres away and you know that nobody one can hear it.Why do you think that the AFL has gone with an Aussie-free line-up this year?
I understand what they're trying to do. They want this big entertainment event like the Super Bowl. That's their dream but there are a few factors that make it very different; one is that it's in the afternoon, in the bright sunlight. Also the ground is enormous. An NFL field is quite a bit smaller.Plus, it's before the game so everyone who's there to watch football is too nervous to care, and all the others are just talking to their friends at the bar.Does the AFL Grand Final need Australian music?
It's a hard one because I think that there should be a local act as there has been in the past but after our experience I feel like the whole thing isn't really worth it.Catch Bryan Adams, Chris Isaak and Ellie Goulding on a television screen while you are waiting in line for a beer and a pie at the MCG on Oct 3.