For years, the Birdsville Big Red Bash in Queensland, Australia hosts a very special gathering. They do a massive line dance to Tina Turner’s largely autobiographical song, “Nutbush City Limits.” This line dance is so huge, it set a world record in with 4,084 participants back in 2022.
To honor the Queen of Rock ‘n Roll, who passed on May 24th at the age of 83, they decided to smash their own record. This year 5,838 people gathered at the event to bust a synchronized move to “Nutbush City Limits.”
“I think in Australia there’s just a sense of wanting to become involved in something and we love our kind of traditions,” festival operations manager Steve Donovan said. “And I think it’s just become a classic Australian tradition.”
He’s right- many Australians regard the tune as their unofficial national anthem since its release in 1973. The song is a semi-autobiographical tribute to Tuner’s hometown of Nutbush in Haywood County, Tennessee. It is one of the few she wrote herself.
The song became so beloved in the country, the dance was taught in schools in Queensland for a while. “Because we don’t know how to dance to anything else,” one local CNN reporter said.
Many participants in this event sported wacky wigs, big hats, and loads were wearing emblazoned with Turner’s face. Truly a fitting tribute to a woman who made a carter sized impact on the world of music. Check out a clip of this ground breaking line dance below:
