{"id":510831,"date":"2026-03-01T01:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T01:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510831\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T01:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T01:45:10","slug":"buskers-at-australian-championships-showcase-why-live-is-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/510831\/","title":{"rendered":"Buskers at Australian championships showcase why live is best"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the age of digital music, this is about as analogue as it gets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With not much more than their vocals and a few electric amps, dozens of musicians lined the streets of Stanthorpe in Queensland this weekend for the Australian National Busking Championships.<\/p>\n

Gold Coast singer and guitarist Georgia Kelly has been busking since the age of eight with a huge voice and a love of country music.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now 14, she said one of the biggest lessons she has learnt when performing live is to smile at bystanders to keep them engaged.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Georgia Kelly says there is nothing that compares to the thrill of live performance. (ABC Southern Queensland: Kemii Maguire)<\/p>\n

She said busking gave a different performing experience to one online.<\/p>\n

“This is someone’s home town; some people have never seen you before.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her performance of The Chicks \u2013 Travelin’ Soldier took out first place in the Secondary School Age category and $500.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Competition attracts a crowd<\/p>\n

Singer Savannah Hayes, who goes by the name Valoura, took out Champion Open Busker and won $1,000 performing in front of more than 200 spectators with a rendition of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, saxophone in hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first-time entrant said she had only been performing live for six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“[Busking] is a great way to get your name out there, and you can build up your platform, your stage experience,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

Savannah Hayes says winning was unexpected. (ABC Southern Queensland: Kemii Maguire)<\/p>\n

“I think a lot of artists have perfectionism, and it’s so easy to get bogged down in that when you’re just performing for the camera.<\/p>\n

“But when you’re actually out in the community, you realise how meaningful it is for everyone around you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That feedback can be a lot more validating than the online world.”<\/p>\n

Winners block out the noise<\/p>\n

High-school band Paper Sons took out Best Band and first place in the People’s Choice award with a grunge rock classic.<\/p>\n

The five-piece Stanthorpe group masterfully covered Plush by Stone Temple Pilots to win over the judges.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

A roar from the audience erupted when Paper Sons won People’s Choice. (ABC Southern Queensland: Kemii Maguire)<\/p>\n

The musicians said performing live came with its own unique challenges.<\/p>\n

Bass guitarist Frank Barker said the band had been practising the track for a while ahead of the festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It comes down to how well we know how to play the songs,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s distracting with other artists performing.”<\/p>\n

How the people choose<\/p>\n

The public were given People’s Choice tokens to place in buckets before competitors performed on a main stage in front of a panel of five judges.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The performers ranged from bona fide stars to people just starting their musical careers. (ABC Southern Queensland: Kemii Maguire)<\/p>\n

First-time judge, and last year’s Tamworth Country Music Star Maker winner Felicity Kircher said she too had honed her skills through busking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s an incredible way to develop your craft as a young girl,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“From about seven years old, I was just playing on the streets.<\/p>\n

“I think it gives an incredible opportunity to understand audiences and really try to capture their attention.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

More than 60,000 people are set to travel to the Granite Belt for the Apple and Grape Harvest Festival.\u00a0 (ABC Southern Queensland: Kemii Maguire)<\/p>\n

“[Busking] is definitely hard when you’re trying to kind of gauge what the audience is, trying to find the right song that people connect with.”<\/p>\n

The championship forms part of the Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival. It is the second of seven heats, which end in a grand final later this year in the New South Wales town of Cooma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the age of digital music, this is about as analogue as it gets.\u00a0 With not much more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[255998,64,63,146777,255997,4154,255995,136,44,1314,255996],"class_list":["post-510831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-apple-and-grape-harvest-festival","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-busking","tag-busking-competition","tag-live-music","tag-live-performance","tag-music","tag-news","tag-social-media","tag-stanthorpe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}