After a forced absence in 2020, the Airlie Beach Festival of Music has been labelled a huge success as it wraps up its ninth edition in 2021.
Festival founder, Gavin Butlin, said the hard work, patience and sheer perseverance of the team had paid off, with the event once again bringing live music to the streets of Queensland’s much-loved party town at the Heart of the Great Barrier Reef.
“We’re well and truly back,” Mr Butlin said.
“Airlie Beach was alive with the sound of music over the weekend and everywhere you look there are a million smiles.
“That’s the power of live music and the connection it forges, and that is why we continue – even in these challenging times – to host this amazing event.”
Superjesus frontwoman, Sarah McLeod, said the Airlie Beach Festival of Music had become one of her all-time favourites, partly because it was so much more than the typical stage-in-a-paddock style event.
“It’s non-stop action – I’ll need to sleep for about a month when I get home to recover,” she joked.
“I judged the national Passport to Airlie competition, went on a flight over the islands with Helibiz, which was amazing, and on a Whitsunday Jetski Tour, which was literally one of the best things I’ve ever done.
“In somewhere like Thailand or Bali, they give you 20 minutes and there’s very rarely waves, but here we were going across the channel, and it was a real adrenalin rush.”
The 2022 festival will run from November 4-7, with tickets on sale from early next year.
For regular updates visit www.airliebeachfestivalofmusic.com.au and follow the festival on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
