The name Perry Street Park is very familiar to Airlie Beach locals, as well as most of the Queensland music scene, having seen massive success following their 2022 win at the Passport to Airlie original music competition.
Propelling the four boys into a new stratosphere last year, they are now excited to check back into Airlie Beach, where all their success began.
“The Airlie Beach Festival of Music is such a unique opportunity,” Benny Nelson, lead singer of Perry Street Park, said.
“We’re playing every day over the four-day festival, and as a musician, this is great! We want to play as much as we can. It’s about building an audience and a following, and we want people to go ‘ah that band was good, who are they again?’.”
Taking out the Passport to Airlie win in 2022 set Perry Street Park onto a new trajectory.
“It really gave us the momentum to run into 2023. We’ve been releasing so much new music, playing a lot of festivals, and have even just finished up this massive tour with Sarah McLeod and the Superjesus.
“These are the opportunities that Airlie Beach Festival of Music gave us.”
And Perry Street Park have big plans for their set list in Airlie Beach this weekend.
“We’re gonna chuck a few new songs on the set list, some of our older stuff and a few covers. We pride ourselves on giving covers justice.”
On stage, the boys bring high energy and create a vibrant atmosphere.
“We like to have fun on stage. We reckon that’s part of what got us the win at Passport to Airlie, the fact that we have fun on the stage, that we be ourselves. We don’t act differently or anything like that. We also interact with each other and the crowd and bring a lot of energy.
“That’s one thing that we’re thankful for, that Airlie Beach let us become comfortable on festival stages. Festivals are big productions, with big lights and massive crowds. Imposter syndrome was something we tackled with, but being on the big stage at festivals is where we belong.”
These returning champions have worked hard to turn an opportunity into a career and have overcome every obstacle.
“2023 was a big year for us, performing at so many festivals and shows, so we’re excited for the Airlie Beach Festival of Music to be a little holiday for us. There’s really no better place to holiday than in Airlie.”
In fact, “The Airlie Beach Festival of Music will be a bit of a send off of 2023 for us, before we start to get into Christmas and have some down time.”
