See all the street side action from Toowoomba’s Busking Festival

See all the faces and places as Margaret and Ruthven Street came alive for this year’s Toowoomba Busking Festival. With over 30 musical acts from ukuleles to trumpets, this year’s festival was a real ‘toot’ and a half.

The streets of the CBD came alive on Saturday as musicians from across the region came together to make some noise for the 2021 Toowoomba Busking Festival.

It was sweet music to Toowoomba Youth With A Mission’s ears (YWAM) with the organisation spending months planning this year’s live performance opportunity after last year’s festival was forced to go virtual in the wake of the pandemic.

Joselle Ysa performs at the 2021 Toowoomba Busking Festival. Picture: Nev Madsen.

With more than 30 acts hitting the streets this year, the 2021 festival showcased a wide range of musicians from the classically trained, to the more laid back improvised jazz vibes and of course several incredible acoustic performers, belting out tracks from a number of genres.

12-year-old Adele Adams performs in the 2021 Toowoomba Busking Festival. Picture: Nev Madsen

One of the standout performers on Saturday morning was newcomer Adele Adams who received plenty of praise from audiences for her renditions of Peter Allen’s I Still Call Australia Home, Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers License and The Seeker’s I Am Australian.

“I’ve always loved singing, I’ve sung for my family for as long as I can remember and I’ve been playing piano for a few years but my friend Gabby Voll was the person who really inspired me to give busking a go so I signed up for the Toowoomba Busking Festival and this is my first time performing by myself with my ukulele,” she said.

At just 12-years-old Miss Adams has only been playing the ukulele for four months, but her capable playing had audience members stopping in their tracks to hear where this mature, confident voice was coming from.

“I really look up to Gabby as she’s been playing guitar and performing country music at festivals with her sisters ever since she was young and I really want to get confident enough to play at shows like that one day,” Miss Adams said.

“I actually wanted to start learning the guitar too but my hands are still a little bit too small right now so I’m playing the ukulele until I get a bit bigger.”
Another one of Miss Adam’s idols, Delta Goodrem made an appearance when the young songstress sung a cover of her hit track Paralyzed.

Adele only started learning the ukulele four months ago and the busking festival was her first time performing to an audience, other than her mother, father and two younger brothers. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“I’d love to be a famous Australian singer like Delta one day, but for now I’m just enjoying learning new instruments and songs and getting the chance to perform to people, the busking festival has been a really great opportunity for me as a new performer,” she said.

“Realistically I think I’d be happy to continue performing around Toowoomba and maybe one day become a music teacher myself. I think that would be really cool.

“I’d like to say a really big thank you to YWAM for organising everything and giving me the opportunity to play today.

Jonah Finch (front) and Jacob Turner entertain the crowd at the Toowoomba Busking Festival. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“Today has been a lot of fun and it’s brought smiles to a lot of people’s faces.

“I think music has the ability to improve everyone’s wellbeing, if I’ve had a rough day at school I go home and sit at the piano or get my ukulele out and it always makes me feel better.”

Originally published as See all the street side action from Toowoomba’s Busking Festival