The ARIA Awards – a night of awkward acceptance speeches, bemused international guests mispronouncing prominent musicians’ names, and our yearly reminder that yes, Sneaky Sound System are still a thing. Peppered between all the awkward banter and the footage of ex-singing talent show contestants reminding people who they are is the occasional award being handed out, and of course the live performances. The live duties this year will be handled by a roster of artists including Flume, Tame Impala and Vance Joy, among others. Let’s hope one of them is as memorable as our eight favourites from the ARIAs ARIArchives.
1. Darren Hayes, ‘Lost Without You’, 2003
Savage Garden‘s underrated frontman out-Delta-ed Delta Goodrem, who was recovering from cancer treatments at the time, when his performance of ‘Lost Without You’ left not a dry eye in the house.
2. Hilltop Hoods, ‘The Hard Road’, 2006
They’d been making waves since their 2003 breakthrough album The Calling, but by 2006 Adelaide’s Hilltop Hoods had penetrated the mainstream far enough for the ARIAs to acknowledge their existence (and by extension, the existence of Australian hip hop) by nominating them in five categories, and sending them home with two awards. Their ARIAs performance of ‘The Hard Road’ paved the way for future performers like 360 and Drapht, and well and truly cemented hip hop’s place in Australia’s contemporary musical history.
3. Lisa Mitchell ‘Coin Laundry’, Kate Miller-Heidke ‘Last Day On Earth’ & Sarah Blasko ‘All I Want’, 2009
The awkward, fidgety little sister Lisa Mitchell, the eccentric and way-cool older cousin Kate Miller-Heidke and the elder stateswoman Sarah Blasko were all nominated for the Best Female Artist award in 2009 (alongside Ladyhawke and Jessica Mauboy), and their one-by-one performance of some of the biggest songs of the year was a triptych of wonderful, unique female musicianship.
4. Neil Finn, Better Be Home Soon, 2005
Performed as a tribute to Crowded House‘s late drummer Paul Hester, who tragically took his own life earlier in the year, Neil Finn‘s stirring rendition of ‘Better Be Home Soon’ in 2005 was completely spine-tingling, and made us glad to have stolen Finn from New Zealand and claimed him as our own.
5. The Presets, ‘My People’, 2008
The Presets are pretty ridiculous as it is, but they pushed ridiculous to new levels with the costumes alone for their performance of ‘My People’, the single that dominated 2008. They went on to be the first dance act ever to take home the ARIA awards for both Album Of The Year (for Apocalypso) and Best Group.
6. Yothu Yindi, ‘Treaty’, 2012
Yothu Yindi were inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 2012, and celebrated with this memorable performance of their biggest hit ‘Treaty’, joined on stage by Jessica Mauboy, Paul Kelly, Andrew Farriss, Peter Garrett and Dan Sultan. This performance would go on to become retrospectively much more powerful, as it was the last time frontman Mandawuy Yunupingu would appear on stage with his beloved band before passing away earlier this year. The video isn’t embeddable, but we strongly suggest you head over to Youtube and check it out.
7. Silverchair, ‘Don’t Wanna Be The One’, 2006
Watching Silverchair‘s history of ARIAs performances is an ideal way to track the evolution of one of Australia’s most intriguing, enduring and transformative acts. Beginning with a scrappy, grungy rendition of Radio Birdman’s ‘New Race’ at the 1995 awards, moving on to an equally grungy ‘Freak’ in 1997, the symphonic ‘The Greatest View’ in 2002, and concluding with the emotive rock of ‘Straight Lines’ in 2007, Silverchair‘s ARIAs journey netted them 20 awards from countless nominations. This performance of Midnight Oil’s ‘Don’t Wanna Be The One’ in 2006 stirred up controversy when Daniel Johns spraypainted “PG (Peter Garrett) 4 PM” on a banner on stage at the song’s conclusion.
8. John Farnham, ‘You’re The Voice’, 2003
Because how could we not? Please be upstanding for Australia’s unofficial national anthem.
The 2013 ARIA Awards are on Sunday night, and will feature performances from Flume, Tame Impala, Birds Of Tokyo, Vance Joy, Bliss N Eso, Jessica Mauboy, Samantha Jade, Sheppard, The Potbelleez, Stafford Brothers, Alison Wonderland and special international guest Alicia Keys.
Rdio, one of the world’s most popular music streaming services is a
proud partner of the 27th Annual ARIA Awards. This year live
performances from the 2013 awards will be available to stream
exclusively on Rdio the next day. Go to: onrdio.com or download the Rdio app.
