Buskers festival a huge song and dance in the mall

Flying Dutchmen, a comic motorcycle daredevil and a circus ‘gagstar’ are featured in the confirmed line-up for next month’s International Buskers & Comedy Festival event in Armidale.

Amsterdam-based acrobatic duo The Flying Dutchmen will join daredevil Epic Darren and Japanese acrobat Clown Loto as they make Armidale’s mall their stage on Tuesday 2 October.

The school holidays event is an offshoot of the annual Coffs Harbour International Buskers and Comedy Festival, bringing a selection of performers to the Beardy Street Mall.

Juggler Michiel Hesseling and fearless unicyclist Jean-Michel Paré, the two members of The Flying Dutchmen, are veterans of street performance and comedy festivals around the world.

These old school comic geniuses are considered heroes in the world of international street performance, with Hesseling revered as ‘a Mozart in his profession’.

Clown Loto describes himself a circus ‘gagstar’ from Nagoya and has headlined events in many countries.

While he doesn’t speak a word of English, he keeps his audiences mesmerised by a combination of mime and slapstick.

Next Tuesday’s event will also feature Gold Coast entertainer Kaboodle the Clown.

Kaboodle, AKA Rhett Morrow, won the 2015 and 2016 Australian Street Entertainers Championship, which brings many of the nation’s best buskers to his home town.

Entertainment in the mall will begin at 10am, incorporating free ‘Kidz Day’ activities, and will conclude with a performance by XFactor sensations Brothers 3.

The trio, a grand finalist in the 2014 XFactor television series, has been on the road for a national tour celebrating the band’s 10-year anniversary – a decade of wowing audiences with the boys’ mix of country, folk and pop.

Brothers 3 will take to the stage at 2pm.

Published on 24 Sep 2018