Stranded In The Whitsundays May 16 to 20, 2022 Review
By Ben Horvath. Photos and video by Jaran Pantic (Juchey Productions)
Stranded was conceptualized back in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdowns early in 2021.
Yes, the event art was indeed inspired by Gilligan’s Island.
At the time, no one in Australia could leave the country or even their state without some sort of special permission from the federal or state governments……literally.
We were obviously forced to postpone several scheduled Surf Music In Paradise shows at our usual primary location at Kandooma Resort, Maldives…..due to the fact that Australians couldn’t yet travel, so we made the pivotal decision to create some fun events at the highely accessible Daydream Island Resort in the Whitsunday Islands just off the tropical coast of Qld, Australia.
We even changed our business name from Surf Music In Paradise to Music In Paradise for obvious reasons right, ……..there’s no waves in tropical northern Qld!
So many music fans and even the musicians themselves had been locked down and unable to attend gigs for lengthy periods of time, but like so many music fans, we were super keen to travel again, socialize, and sing, dance and be entertained by legendary Australian musicians with like minded people……..but just not too many right.
So we curated Stranded with you in mind!
A strictly limited edition style event, with capped numbers to ensure a once-in-a- lifetime, intimate style experience…whereby you can meet the musicians, mingle and socialize with fun fans of a similar age, with similar interests…it just doesn’t get any better!
Dreamy sunsets hard to beat
Oh, but there was just one more very major late twist!
Jimmy Barnes got Covid.
I was informed by Jimmy Barnes’ management team late on Day 1 of the Stranded event…..just after pretty much all 400 guests had checked in and settled into their first drinks late on Monday May 16…. that Jimmy had been diagnosed with Covid. By law Jimmy required to quarantine for 7 days, effectively ruling him out of his scheduled Thursday May 19 show to close out Stranded, and his scheduled Saturday evening show in Townsville too.
Argh Shiz!
Life goes on, we’ve all learned to roll with whatever is thrown at us the last few years. Most importantly, Jimmy recovered nicely the following week, after a bunch of rough days, and we luckily found 2 epic replacement acts within hours.
After several hours of frantic phone calls and fluid negotiations…..with the help of Jimmy’s team and several other contacts and friends, we managed to bring in Diesel and The Black Sorrows to replace Jimmy on finale night.
The rest is history, my friends.
I’ll leave the reviews to you the fans and take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you for coming along, understanding the last min changes and enjoying the milder climate, some sunshine, many stories and one hell of an epic time.
Richard Clapton rocked, Daryl Braithwaite charmed, Diesel absolutely blitzed and The Black Sorrows had everyone up for one final dance… uno perfecto.
We hope to see you at our next Music In Paradise event smiling, chilling and socializing.
Stay tuned to Music In Paradise on FB and Instagram in the coming weeks for impending announcements regarding Stranded 2 featuring a fit and healthy Jimmy Barnes and friends.
I had a ball and met a bunch of new friends!!
James Reyne would be awesome 😎
Paul Kelly
My friend said Jon Stevens
Daryl again – can never get too much Daryl 🤣
Cheers
Thank you both for an amazing week with Dick, Daz, Diesel and Joe.
It’s certainly been a long time coming for us and although sad we didn’t get to the Maldives, Daydream was lovely. Special mention to the “icing on the cake” Joe and the Black Sorrows. They were amazing, so full of energy and got a very relaxed audience to their feet. I’ll certainly be back again.
Absolutely brilliant
Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows, and Diesel, great music to compliment a fabulous few days stranded on Daydream Island 🏝 Lots of laughs, great new friends met with my partner in fun and good times ✈️🥂🍹🏝
This performance was beyond brilliant.
We are still singing and smiling. LOVED our 4 days at this event and The Black Sorrows were an incredible finale 🤩🤩
Stranded in the Whitsundays
Amazing location, so much fun, great artists. The organisers did a fantastic job to replace Jimmy Barnes due to covid. we would definitely re book with you.
Despite headline act coming down with COVID, still a success
When you arrive and after the first day you find out the Headline act of Jimmy Barnes can’t come because of COVID, it naturally deflates you, regardless of replacements at super short notice.
Fact is, replacements were great. Diesel was good but The Black Sorrows were the show stopper/stealers with a magnificent performance thanks to Joe Camilleri.
Night 1 Richard Clapton, fantastic.
Night 2 Darryl Braithwaite – Could have been a whole lot better as band needed a drummer
Night 3 – Clapton and Braithwaite – TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT. 2 fantastic artists each with a thousand song repertoire repeat identical songs from previous night.
Night 4 – Diesel – Very good indeed
Night 4 late show – WOW, the show stopper and rescued the entire tour
See the event photo gallery
Packed to the rafters on final night
Author
Ben Horvath
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