It was the first time one of his daughters had been to a concert. And she was able to watch one of her favourite bands at the front of a mosh pit in her home town. It was indie pop band San Cisco.

“That was something special. That really, really was,” Tuppurainen said. 

“For my daughter to see something like that in town and see the live music effect, that’s something I will never forget.” 

Triple J’s sound equipment was “top notch” and were masterful at bringing on each bands’ set in such short periods of time, he said. 

The concert hosted by Triple J at Tony White Oval had a line-up including San Cisco, Thundamentals, Tash Sultana, The Smith Street Band, and Lucky Luke. 7000 people attended the concert and traveled from across Australia to be there. 

Tuppurainen was motivated by the concert and by a North West Star opinion piece which questioned whether the concert could inspire Mount Isa’s struggling music festival Isa Fest. 

Tuppurainen sits on the Isa Fest committee but had no authority to comment on behalf of it when speaking to Fairfax Media.  As typical for a regional Queensland community he had many roles, but could only speak his views as a local musician and father. 

He acknowledged the struggles that Isa Fest had but that these could be overcome.

“Triple J definitely cemented in my mind that we can make it work,” Tuppurainen said.

“We need a unique hook. Something that would attract them (people) here. Whether acts or something different, because we are unique out here.” 

But he said that Isa Fest would need the sponsorship of stakeholders and businesses to support the event, as well as volunteers. “If we put on a show that’s too big, if it’s got support we have something to fall back on,” he said. 

The committee would also need to know from the Mount Isa community what it is they wanted from a music festival.

This included the genres of artists and what the line-up should be.