Street Serenades | Brisbane Festival

Street Serenades is great way to bring the Brisbane Festival (and Queensland talent) to suburbs across Brisbane. And it is wonderful that it is all free. But the model still needs a little work: more promotion, better signage, more time for the trucks to arrive and be set up on time, and perhaps a better matching of venue to audience.

I seem to have spent quite a bit of the last week lurking around Brisbane parks (and even a council pool). Don’t worry; I was waiting to see circus, dance, theatre, sword-swallowing, and to catch some local bands. And I wasn’t alone, as I was in the company of a few other hardy souls, as we waited for the latest Brisbane Festival Street Serenade.

The 2021 Brisbane Festival includes the return of the Street Serenades, first seen across Brisbane suburbs in the 2020 festival. In 2021, Street Serenades are promoted as ‘the biggest music extravaganza ever to be staged in Brisbane’s history,’ with free events taking place across 190 suburbs and featuring over 50 different acts. That may sound a little overwhelming, but the Brisbane Festival website includes a handy search feature that allows for research by date, suburb or artist.

Babushka. Image: Creative Futures Photography.

My early research has so far seen me visit a number of Brisbane parks and suburbs that were new to me. Seeing Babushka was a draw card to get me to travel to Mitchelton’s Picabeen Community Centre, and the performance by Casus Circus vs Mad Dance was an excellent reason to hunt out the Woolloongabba Pocket Community Garden. I’m glad I made the effort, as I got to see two parts of Brisbane that I might otherwise not have visited, and had the chance to experience genuine local community and connection. Mitchelton has a really great community centre, and Woolloongabba has a ‘hidden’ park and community garden that is also worth a look-see. I was also rewarded with two enjoyable 25-30 minute free shows. The Babushka show featured Judy, Laura and Alisha, performing three of their classic numbers (including, of course, their own postmodern take on Kate Bush’s Babushka) and the world first performance of their version of Bow Wow Wow’s I Want Candy. Cascus Circus never disappoint, and it was really entertaining to see the fusion/competition between Mad Dance and Casus Circus in the high-energy dance-off that included amazing dance moves (you had to be there to see the ‘chest hip-hop’), hula-hooping, handstand block work balance, balletic and acrobatic moves, and more. Seven different ‘acts’ that held the full attention of the audience (with quite a number of ‘OMG’ moments).

Brisbane Immersive Ensemble. Image: Creative Futures Photography

Suburbs I am also more  familiar with have already had a number of Street Serenades events, including Bellbowrie, Graceville, and Sinnamon Park. The visit to the Bellbowrie Pool was fascinating, as it appeared to be just a normal post-school pool visit for most of the audience… until the team arrived to set up. My guess is that less than six of us in the audience had visited because we knew the show was on, but a crowd soon gathered to watch the Brisbane Immersive: Moonlight Carnival. This was an action-packed show. Think A Midsummer Night’s Dream but with Oberon seeking to buy the carnival business that Titania saw as her birthright, and you have an event that includes song, stilt-walking, sword-swallowing (and associated stomach-churning moves that included nails, a hammer, straws and a nose). Enjoyable, intriguing, high-energy, and probably better suited to a Fortitude Valley garden and a longer time allocation.

What each of these three events had in common were great artists who had to wait for a slow set up and late start. The performance space was on a trailer which needed around 30 minutes for manoeuvring into place and setup (unravelling wires, putting up signage, making stable etc). So be prepared for a ‘performance art’ piece of high-vis staff manoeuvring a trailer and trying to get it set up as safely and quickly as possible, having already arrived late ‘due to traffic’ (or, possibly, due to needing more time to set up and take down at the previous spot). But these are all free events, and we had interesting venues and parks to enjoy while waiting.

The Fins. Image: Creative Futures Photography

The two other events I have managed to catch so far have both featured Brisbane bands, each performing on the well-lit back of an open-sided truck (little set up and take down needed, and great lighting to boot). I caught most of the Sinnamon Park rock-infused funk set from The Fins. Just launching their debut EP, keep an eye out for these guys as they’d certainly be a good band for your next Sunday sesh. Forrest Run is also new to me, but is a band that appears to be well-known on the festival circuit.  Almost all of the Forrest Run set was original music (I really liked Let Me Fall), as well as a great cover of Flume’s Rushing Back.

In 2020, events had limited promotion as the aim was for a hyper-local experience, in order to restrict travel during the first stages of the COVID public health response. There is certainly more information on the website this year, which means it is possible to ‘choose your own adventure’ and identify the artists and places you’d like to visit. But my experience of events I have seen this year is that the promotion is still relatively low-key and local. If you live near a park or community centre (some of the 2021 Street Serenades are ‘At Our Place,’ linked to the delivery of over 60 creative arts workshops) you may be aware that something is coming. But don’t expect extensive signs or pre-promotion.

Therefore, my top tips for the 2021 Street Serenades are to:

Forrest Run. Image: Creative Futures Photography

• take a seat or rug (and perhaps even a picnic or snacks), and wrap up warmly for the evening events;

• be on time, but don’t expect it to start on time;

• go to some of your local events, but also be happy to travel further to see Gypsy Cats, RakoPasefika, or anything involving Casus Circus (guess where I am hoping to be before the festival ends!);

• try something new, or an event that you’d normally not even think of seeing (after all, these are all free); and

• do some research in the Street Serenades section of the Brisbane Festival website to see what’s coming up, as you might otherwise miss out (the 2021 Festival ends on 25th September).

Cover image: Casus Vs Mad Dance shot by Creative Futures Photography.