Triple J marketing manager Louis Rogers said there was no reason why the Wimmera couldn't have an event like it again.

"It's just a question of whether people would pay about $40 each for a show like this," Mr Rogers said.

"But I think it would work. People have come hundreds of kilometres to get here."

An estimated crowd of 8000 people filled Natimuk showgrounds to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Stawell band Less Than Perfection kicked off proceedings with Eskimo Joe, Koolism, The Dissociatives and Grinspooon rocking the home of Mt Arapiles.

Mr Rogers said the success of Triple J's One Night Stand was 'exactly what it's all about'.

"It's designed to see which town will rise to the challenge," he said. "And Natimuk definitely has.

"It's gone exactly how I had hoped."

Mr Rogers said Natimuk and the Wimmera put on a magnificent night.

"It's awesome. The weather alone is great," he said, with the moon shinning clear in the background.

"The community has gone to so much trouble and the bands have been fantastic."

Organising committee event co-ordinator Shiree Pilkinton told the Mail-Times that weeks of long days of work had preceded the night.

"Tonight, I'm on a real high, I almost feel I could do it again," she said.

"People have asked me if we could make it an annual event, but you couldn't expect a community to pour $40,000 into it every year. Besides, there's something special about it being a one-off event."

Ms Pilkinton said she was 'so happy' with the outcome.

"I've been looking forward to this day for weeks and it's so much better than I expected," she said. "There have been no major problems. The weather's been kind, the crowd's fantastic and the music's good."

Ms Pilkinton said it had been hard to gauge what the atmosphere of the event would be like in the event's lead-up.

"The atmosphere continued to build as people came in," she said. "The thing that struck me is that it really was an all-ages event."

Horsham Mayor Bernie Dunn was pleased as he surveyed the crowd.

"The thing that's impressed me is that all the age groups are represented," he said.

"It's free and it's a spectacle - when else are we going to something like this again?

"I'm just so pleased with the amount of support the organising committee got from the community - it's been a Wimmera-wide effort and I can't fault it."

IT wasn't an average Wednesday afternoon in Natimuk.

But then it's not every day Triple J hosts a One Night Stand concert.

People slowly but surely milled through the gates of Natimuk Showgrounds from 4pm, as a bevy of security staff and police officers kept a watchful eye.

A stage took pride of place on the oval while food and drink stalls dotted the surrounds.

The sky was clear, but a crisp breeze blew around the ground, making beanies a fashionable accessory.

People seemed quietly excited as they waited for music to begin.

Finally, the hushed buzz faded as Stawell band Less Than Perfection hit the stage and belted out a fast, loud number to begin proceedings.

A crowd in front of the stage continued to grow as Eskimo Joe arrived ready to rock while others were happy to sit back and watch.

The event attracted people of all ages.

Crowd-surfing teenagers stayed close to the stage as they watched their idols perform, while young children lounged on their parents' shoulders above the crowd and older people reclined at the crowd's edge.

Anticipation continued to grow as Koolism then The Dissociatives proved popular entertainments, especially among teens.

But they were waiting for Grinspoon.

In front of the stage the crowd swelled as the Lismore boys set them rocking with a rendition of Lost Control.

The mosh pit was no place for the faint-hearted as the occasional concert-goer spilled over the barricade into a three-metre gap between the crowd and the stage.

And as the last strains echoed over the ground, people started drifting towards the gate, leaving a littered, trodden Natimuk Showgrounds behind.

Mount Arapiles had been well and truly rocked!

IT'S likely to be a birthday that Beau Dickerson will never forget.

The Natimuk youngster celebrated his 10^th birthday in style at Natimuk's One Night Stand concert on Wednesday night.

Mum Kellie said her family partied all night long at the concert.

"I told Beau we're never giving him a party like this again," she said.

"It's such a good thing to have on his birthday - he will always remember it."

WHILE the music was outside their usual selection, Clear Lake couple Graham and Maureen Wegener were keen to enjoy Wednesday night's One Night Stand concert at Natimuk.

The avid country music fans, both 63, went along to 'see what it was all about'.

"I've got a very open mind," Mr Wegener said.

"There's a huge age gap here but there's also a huge music interest gap as well.

"I'd like to understand it."

The Wegeners head to the Tamworth Country Music Festival each year and would like to see a country music event in the Wimmera similar to the One Night Stand concert.

"The atmosphere's the same here as in Tamworth - it's a music festival," Mr Wegener said. He congratulated a Wimmera organising committee for co-ordinating the event in a short time frame.

"I heard we'd won it but I had no idea it was going to happen so quickly," he said.

"I think it's a credit to the people who put it together."

The Natimuk event also drew Steve Hornek, Michala Wright and Paul Copeland from Madison Lakes in Melbourne.

The group, which heard about the concert while listening to Triple J, drove four hours and camped at Mt Arapiles to be part of the event.

"I love it here - it's so beautiful," Ms Wright said.

She said she'd only heard of one of the bands before the event, but relished the opportunity to support a regional event.

STAWELL band Less Than Perfection is ready to take on Melbourne after a successful One Night Stand showing.

"We would get a few more gigs there," guitar player and vocalist Jay Taylor said. "It would be great to record an album and get a contract."

Jay said he was 'glad to put on a good show'.

"The crowd was good. We had a busload of guys from Stawell," he said.

"It encouraged us to put on a good show."

Bass player and vocalist Marcus Anyon said it was 'sick'.

"I'm stoked, yeah. I had a ball," he said. "But it went real fast. I felt like we played about two songs. I'd definitely like to do something like this again."

Drummer Rick Howden said the crowd increased as they performed.

"It was really good. It would be great to get a record deal out of it," he said.