Tour de Force - Middle East 6

December 19, 2006 to January 4, 2007

TDF MEAO 6 consisted of a series of 12 concerts held over a 15 day period in eight different locations across the Middle East.

The TDF MEAO 6 artists were:

- The McClymonts, all female country music trio;

- Tom Gleeson, comedian;

- Allan Caswell, country music artist;

- Adrian Ross, Indigenous Didgeridoo player; and

- the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Command Band.

The basic format of the shows were:

- opening by RAAF, Air Command Band for approximately 45 minutes;

- Didgeridoo player Adrian Ross performed for 15 min

- Country Artist Allan Caswell performed a 15 minute set;

- Comedian Tom Gleeson performed a 20 minute set;

- Country Music Trio the McClymonts performed a 25 minute set; and

- a finale with all artists concluded each the show.

Originally, two shows were scheduled for Tallil and one small show in Basra; however security issues led to the concert at Basra being cancelled. This did not have an impact on the overall success of TDF MEAO 6.

This tour had a major first in that it was the first tour to go into Afghanistan with concerts being held in Tarin Kowt and Kandahar.

The crew of HMAS Warramumga, an ANZAC Class Frigate also received a concert.

The concert consisted of a small detachment of the RAAF Band and all civilian artists and was held on the ships flight deck. The concert was well received by the crew. The Ship's Captain made note of the contribution made by the civilian artists and emphasised the importance of receiving the concert for him and his crew.

Overall, the tour intensity was high and it was estimated that TDF MEAO 6 achieved attendance of about 80% of the deployed Australians in the areas visited.