They are as sick and tired of mud and rain as they could possibly be, but that has not stopped thousands of Northern NSW residents from pulling on their gumboots and ponchos for a charity flood relief concert in Lismore.
More than 10,000 people from flood-affected parts of the region signed up for free tickets to the Sunday concert at the still-slushy Lismore showgrounds.
Artists included Paul and Dan Kelly, Daryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens, Lime Cordiale and home-grown band Grinspoon.
Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg said the day was to give people a small reprieve from the problems they faced recovering from the floods.
"Everyone's got major, major issues at the moment — be it financial, rebuilding, jobs, businesses," he said.
Tickets snapped up
The One From the Heart tickets were allocated within hours of being released and many residents hoping to score passes missed out.
Mr Krieg said he anticipated some people would not use their allocated passes, and people staffing the gates would use their discretion to let other residents in.
"If people who are [flood] affected want to come in that don't actually have a ticket, obviously we're human, we're not heartless, we'll use our discretion to make sure that everyone who wants to be here is here as much as possible," he said.
Grinspoon guitarist Pat Davern said it felt amazing to be able to give something back to Lismore during such a tough time.
"Hopefully it can go some way to repairing some of that mental and physical damage that's been done during this time," Davern said.
Davern said he knew people were taking a close look at how Lismore could be protected from floods in the future, but he hoped it would remain a "hotbed of creativity".
"Sure it's a low socio-economic area, but a lot of artists and musicians and people like that are drawn to this part of Lismore and unfortunately this is the part of Lismore that gets so heavily affected by the floods," he said of the flood-prone areas.
"It's cheaper to live here but there's more going on and it would be devastating to lose that."
'Can I play?'
All of the artists playing the concert were gifted banners that had the details of the concert embroidered on them.
Flags and banners showing a red heart on a white background have become a symbol of Lismore's flood recovery, with many hung from flood-affected homes and businesses around the city.
"We're just doing that as a thank you for all the artists for coming to support our community," banner coordinator, Rebecca Ryan, said.
Daryl Braithwaite said he signed on to play as a way to show his support to those who had lost so much.
"When the call went out, with all my peers and stuff, you sort of put your hand up and go, 'OK, yeah, can I play?'" he said.
"And it's just because you like to help any way you can."
