Singin’ in the rain: Pub Choir draws 7000 songbirds to Riverstage
Undeterred by the threat of rain, thousands of songbirds donned ponchos and dodged puddles on Wednesday night for what was believed to be the year’s largest Pub Choir.
More than 7000 participants swamped the Riverstage for the sold-out event, which raised $138,000 for the Women’s Legal Service Queensland.
Pub Choir aficionado Belinda Edwards – who has attended six such events in the past two years – said she snagged some tickets before friend Pip Wright even agreed to come.
Belinda Edwards and Pip Wright brave the wet weather to attend the Pub Choir Christmas fundraiser.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“I bought them the day they went on sale because you have to, otherwise you won’t get them,” she said.
The aim of the quintessentially Australian event is to “transform a crowd of tipsy strangers into a legendary choir” by giving them a “fast-paced music lesson” on one song – in this case, Frankie Valli’s hit Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – delivered in a three-part harmony. The night then rounds out with an all-in performance.
Despite joking that Edwards “bullied me into it”, Wright said attending the concert was a “bucket list” activity that even the rain couldn’t keep her from.
Some of the 7000 singers who donned ponchos to belt out “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” at Riverstage.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
Edwards added: “My teenager came to the Tate McRae concert last month, and they had a tropical storm in the middle of it. So, if she can do it, I can do it.”
Brisbane local and Pub Choir founder Astrid Jorgensen based her first concert – held in West End’s The Bearded Lady in 2017 – on her experience leading school-based choirs as a teacher, and on the premise that everyone can sing.
“Of course you can sing, you just may not be great at it,” she told this masthead in 2023 ahead of her world tour.
Seven years later, she still gets a buzz from making music on a mass scale.
(From left) superfans Emma, Ashlee, Karlee and Kristal came dressed in matching Christmas pyjamas.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“What a way to finish the year,” she said. “To teach 7000 people under the night sky at Riverstage, along with a symphony orchestra, and raising thousands of dollars for charity … the endorphins are insane.”
Also riding the festive high were friends Kristal, Ashlee, Emma, and Karlee, dressed in matching Christmas pyjamas.
“Every Christmas we dress up, we’re always front left. The first time [that] we missed the front row, I was not happy,” said Karlee, a confessed superfan.
Women’s Legal Service Queensland chief executive Nadia Bromley was also over the moon, saying the money raised was “vital” for the organisation, which provides free legal services and counselling to victims of family and domestic violence.
“For more than four decades, our organisation has ardently pursued a commitment to supporting women and children,” she said.
Pub Choir was expected to return in 2025, with an already sold-out show set for March in Sydney.
A video of the Brisbane crowd’s final performance was expected to be released within the next few weeks.
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