Top musos doing surprise performances in Melbourne’s CBD

Top music artists like Daryl Braithwaite are bringing live music back to Melbourne’s city streets with a series of pop-up shows.

City of Melbourne in conjunction with Mushroom's Michael Gudinski are featuring top artists for 15 min busking sessions in the CBD. Picture: David Caird

Visitors to the CBD might do a double take when they see buskers in action over the next two weeks.

The “busker” could turn out to be a top music artist, like Daryl Braithwaite, who did a surprise performance in Degraves Street on Thursday to the delight of onlookers.

Braithwaite is among a raft of iconic musos helping to bring live music back to the city with a series of pop-up shows.

Organised by the City of Melbourne, state government and Mushroom Group, the performances at surprise locations aim to remind Melburnians what they love about heading into town.

Daryl Braithwaite sings to big fan Kathy Bedford during the 15 minute gig. Picture: David Caird

On Friday singer-songwriter Gordi, who’s also a doctor, is due to pop up somewhere to perform.

“I haven’t played live music in Melbourne in two years so I’m chomping at the bit to play a few songs to real people in this city on Friday night,” she said.

“I’ll be coming straight from my shift at the hospital across town because…2020.”

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said she was delighted that some of Melbourne’s most famous musicians had jumped on board.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp was delighted that some of Melbourne’s most famous musicians had jumped on board.

“There’s nothing more Melbourne than walking down your favourite laneway and discovering

something new and exciting,” she said.

“This program is about bringing back the buzz to Melbourne’s city streets and encouraging people to support our local businesses...we need to do everything we can to keep Melburnians in jobs.”

Mushroom Group chairman and veteran industry figure Michael Gudinski said music was in Melbourne’s blood.

“The fact that you can be entertained at one of our great restaurant precincts by a household chart topper or the next big thing, just illustrates why this amazing city is Australia’s music capital,” he said.

Performances will be integrated with upcoming events like the Melbourne Christmas Festival and Melbourne Music Week Extended to provide entertainment across the city.

The pop-up performances will also run alongside the ANZ City Vibes program, supporting 40 buskers a day to perform across 20 Melbourne CBD locations until the end of the year.

The pop-up program is supported by the government and city council through the $100

million Melbourne City Recovery Fund.

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