THE eclectic acoustic duo Sam+Sam have taken their guitars along to venues all over the country, from countless local pubs to the MCG.
But before they perform at the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, they hope to get people at Swan Hill Club grooving on Sunday.
Former The Voice finalist Sam Ludeman and singer and guitarist Sam Russel have been performing for more than 20 years.
The two met and became friends at school at Shepparton and started performing together in high school, naming their act Sam Sam But Different.
“We began performing at 17 and we had our first gig at Flanagan’s Irish Bar, which is now the Victoria Hotel,” Ludeman said.
Since then they have performed hundreds of shows, sharing the stage with acts like The Veronicas, Daryl Braithwaite, Olivia Newton-John, Birds of Tokyo, Jon Stevens, Vanessa Amorosi and Thirsty Merc.
Last year they sang the national anthem in front of 96,000 people at the MCG for the AFL semi-final between Carlton and Melbourne.
With their upcoming show at the Swan Hill Club sold out, Ludeman said they were grateful for the reception regional audiences had given Sam+Sam.
“We really love coming out to regional towns and plan to tour there a lot more,” Ludeman said.
“We just find the people so lovely and very receptive, and we do find ourselves selling out or coming very close to selling out in the regional areas.”
While the group has been performing since they were in high school, their popularity skyrocketed during Covid-19 lockdowns when they live-streamed their laid-back acoustic performances on Facebook.
“A lot of people now seem to know us from those live-streams which kind of just blew up organically,” Ludeman said.
Ludeman added that they would be performing their original songs along with lots of acoustic covers of beloved songs.
“We like to perform songs that will get the crowd singing along and dancing,” he said.
“We did the band thing a lot, but we find that most people just want that stripped-back, acoustic version of us which is what they watched on those Covid live-streams.”
