Fresh from a semester of practice, eight TasTAFE bands and accompanying sound production students will be hitting the big stage for a free four-hour concert. 

Entitled Banana Bae, which pays homage to outgoing TasTAFE teacher Bill Kelly’s fondness of fruit, the concert will showcase experienced musicians as well as first-timer performers. 

“Some students are quite confident and some have never been in front of an audience, so it really is a big night for a lot of people to experience playing in a live environment,” event manager and diploma student Norbert Julen said. 

“That’s one of the wonderful things about music is that it does get you out there and exposes you to an environment you probably wouldn’t normally be used to.”

Julen said bands were hoping for big crowds at the biannual show, which gets under way at 7.30pm.

“Last year it was packed out, a lot of the younger kids like bringing their parents to give them an idea of what they get up to during the week.

“For some people it’s very unnerving because they know they’re going to be playing in front of a whole group of people for the first time, but everyone’s excited.”