There simply is no other music event on earth this intimate, exclusive and idylic. Literally a private beach party.
Since launching in 2014, Perfect Travel Group’s Music in Paradise events have seen thousands of guests fly to the Maldives or Bali
to experience a week of resort accommodation, surfing and intimate concerts featuring the likes of Jimmy Barnes, Bernard Fanning, Hoodoo Gurus, Ian Moss, Diesel, Ocean Alley, The Living End, Xavier Rudd, Pete Murray, Tex Perkins, Phil Jamieson, Daryl Braithwaite, Richard Clapton, The Black Sorrows, Troy Cassar-Daley and Donovan Frankenreiter.
Picture an idyllic small roof top bar, sun setting over the ocean,
Barnesy on stage belting out one of his many hits and a deliberately capped audience of 200 guests relaxing on bean bags, cocktails in hand, singing along. Everyone’s staying in the same resort, so chances are high the next morning you’ll bump into Barnesy at the breakfast buffet or having a crack at the waves with his family – after all, part of the attraction for the artists to attend, is the location.
Another of the idylic concert venues mentioned above…..the rooftop bar at Kandooma
Perfect Wave Travel’s marketing manager Ben Horvath, the curator of the unique concert series, said that all changed with the arrival of COVID. As local and international borders closed, international travel became a dream and State Premiers played games with mandates, the travel industry was taking a beating. Tours were cancelled, tickets refunded, credits were held over in the hope of rescheduling. The big question on everyone’s lips – how do we make money and pay the bills at a travel company – when it’s almost impossible for people to travel. With Aussie travellers, and performers, restricted in their movements, Ben and his hands-on CEO Jamie Gray turned their attention closer to home and started to work on ideas for an intimate music experience somewhere in Australia.
Our Whitsundays venue
Working within the parameters of their existing format, they went searching for a location with the potential for great waves and a similar vibe to the laidback luxury of Kandooma Resort in the Maldives. “Initially we were thinking Stradbroke Island, it had the potential for surf, but there isn’t one resort quite big enough to cater for a coupla hundred guests and bands,” Ben said. Finding the right sort of experience to attract guests and artists led the team to Daydream Island in the Whitsundays.
Beautiful location – no waves.
“So, we took `surf’ out of the title and evolved the concept to become Music in Paradise instead,” Ben said. With a venue sorted, and a new concept to test, Ben said they started talking to Jimmy Barnes and his family about the chances of playing a few shows in the Whitsundays on the long weekend in June 2021. “The Barnes family and their entire management team have been unwavering friends to the business. They came on board and have helped us through the pandemic,” Ben said. “The popularity of Jimmy Barnes is amazing. His fans will travel thousands of kilometres to see him play.” And travel they did.
With Jimmy and Mahalia Barnes confirmed for performances over three nights, the marketing for the Long Weekend in the Whitsundays went out, and sold out, in a flash. With the concept proven and more great Australian musos keen to get involved, dates were set for August 2021 concerts featuring three nights of music by The Living End and Grinspoon front man Phil Jamieson – and another line up of Darryl Braithwaite and Richard Clapton. Another wave of COVID, another wave of date changes. The August shows were pushed back to November and December 2021 and then, finally, performed in May 2022.
The Living End ripping it up in the Whitsundays. what a blast and an incredible domestic winter escape
May 2022
While June 2021 will go down as the beginning of the Music in Paradise era, 2022 is likely to mark the time its foundation was most firmly laid – even if with the pesky bug continuing to have an impact. In May, Music in Paradise presented three events. Stranded in the Whitsundays, from May 16 to 20, was scheduled to feature Jimmy Barnes, Daryll Braithwaite and Richard Clapton. The show went ahead with Diesel and The Black Sorrows coming in as last minute replacements after Jimmy contracted COVID the night before he was due to fly to the Whitsundays and had to stay home and isolate.
The Black Sorrows totally rockin last year’s Stranded event. They’re back in 2023
The Living End and Phill Jamieson finally got to play from May 21, and Ian Moss and Troy Cassar-Daley turned out from May 26, to top off three weeks of top Australian Music in Paradise. In even better news, the re-opening of borders, the boost of vaccination numbers and the return of international flights put the Maldives back on the agenda for late 2022, with Bali and Thailand on the horizon and plans already in place for Stranded II next winter in the Whitsundays.
