Karen and I returned to the Brisbane Festival in 2021 as I was lucky enough to review two shows for Scenestr magazine.
The first one was called Love Stories, a series of video interviews with homeless people conceived by journalist Trent Dalton. The interviews played on a large screen were accompanied by musicians performing.
I was very moved by Love Stories, you can read my review here https://scenestr.com.au/arts/love-stories-review-brisbane-festival-2021-20210913
It took place at the Suncorp Piazza at Southbank parklands on the edge the Brisbane River and CBD. I worked for many years across the river at the Queensland University of Technology and studied at QUT before that. I have roamed South Bank quite a bit over the years.
A couple of weeks earlier Karen and I had celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary at South Bank and roamed around after dinner. Again, on this night South Bank was lit up with all kinds of activities and displays for the Brisbane Festival and we found ourselves wandering through quite moved to be back there. It wasn’t the first time since the pandemic had begun but they just seemed to be something to savour more these days.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Having started in 1993 they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland every month.
-Lloyd Marken