Another year, another Earth Hour, another great reason to visit the Melbourne Zoo. On Saturday March 27, the Melbourne Zoo will play host to its second year of Earth Hour Unplugged, this time with the loveable Tim Rogers and band with support from Melbourne’s Wagons and Blackchords. Instead of sitting in darkness at home, round up the troops, arm yourself with a jam-packed BYO picnic basket full of goodies and wine and get ready to be enlightened on the grassy knolls surrounding the Zoo’s bandstand.

Melbourne’s favourite musical larrikin, charismatic and flamboyant front man of Australian band You Am I, solo artist and actor extraordinaire Tim Rogers will grace the stage at the iconic Melbourne’s Zoo for Earth Hour Unplugged. Tim has been very busy of late, currently writing a cabaret show based on Deadly Sin, the music for the play ‘Mary MacLane” and has also been touring the country with You Am I promoting their current rock masterpiece ‘Dilettantes’. Blessed with the ability to make words sing Tim will bring his band of like minded collaborators to the stage to perform a multitude of songs from Tim’s many projects. Tim promises 67% less bad language but 34% more humour and corresponding pathos that could either be deemed ‘camp’ or ‘ingenious’.

Wagons have a unique ‘country-noir’ sound that has earned them many rave reviews and The Age EG Album Of The Year award in 2009 for The Rise And Fall Of Goodtown. United by their love of the music of Scott Walker, Lee Hazelwood, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and the harmonies of the Louvin' Brothers, the five school friends have been together since the late 90's, performing the songs of their enigmatic leader, Henry Wagons.

Melbourne band Blackchords’ self-titled debut album released last year has been acclaimed as ‘One of the best Australian debut releases’ (Reverb Magazine), with critics raving that their darkly majestic collection of understated songs recalls the best bits of Ryan Adams, Elbow and Jeff Buckley. This will be one of the last shows in Australia before they jet to the UK to perform at the prestigious Great Escape Festival in May.

In over 360 cities and towns across the world, Earth Hour sees people switching off their lights for an hour from 8:30pm to raise awareness about climate change, which is exactly what the Melbourne Zoo is going to do. With the reputation as a leading zoo in contributing to conservation the Zoo will be carbon-offsetting the event.

This year the organisers of Earth Hour, WWF-Australia, say that this year Earth Hour will focus on broader aspects of sustainability, giving everyone something to do beyond the hour of darkness. “We’re asking people to go beyond turning off lights and instead make an Earth Hour resolution to start something bigger,” said Mr Bourne, WWF-Australia’s CEO.

“Switching off your lights is a great first step, but your true environmental impact is much bigger than just your energy bill. Your environmental footprint is made up of things such as the food you eat, the transport and housing you choose, and the goods and services you buy.”

Last year, Earth Hour Unplugged saw ARIA-Award winner C.W. Stoneking perform a spectacular unplugged set with support from America’s Mamie Minch and Melbourne natives, Dirt River Radio.

Tickets go on sale on March 1 through www.zoo.org.au or 1300 ZOOS VIC. Limited tickets will be available at the gate but pre-purchasing is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment.

Gates open at 5.30pm, music will kick off at 6.30pm. Selected wildlife viewing until 7pm. Food and beverages will be available for purchase, however you are welcome to BYO food and alcohol. No glass and no smoking, please.

For more information about the event and to find out more about the brand new Wild Sea exhibit, visit www.zoo.org.au. To measure your carbon footprint, visit www.earthhour.org.au.