{"id":2041,"date":"2026-04-30T08:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/2041\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:03:10","slug":"five-highlights-from-the-2026-apra-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/2041\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Highlights from the 2026 APRA Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

A surprise team-up between Peter Garrett and The Presets, an emotional tribute to Michael Hutchence, and a dominant showing from Amyl and The Sniffers were among the defining moments of the 2026 APRA Awards in Sydney on Wednesday night (April 29th).<\/p>\n

Here are our highlights.<\/p>\n

The Presets and Peter Garrett perform \u201cPower and the Passion\u201d<\/p>\n

The Presets delivered a reimagined electronic version of the song before Midnight Oil\u2019s frontman Peter Garrett emerged on stage<\/a> to a huge reaction from the crowd, with the 73-year-old singer throwing himself into the performance with the same commanding energy that made him one of Australian music\u2019s most recognisable frontmen.<\/p>\n

Originally released in 1983, \u201cPower and the Passion\u201d remains one of Midnight Oil\u2019s defining songs and one of the most enduring political rock tracks in Australian music history.<\/p>\n

Sarah Blasko takes on Keli Holiday\u2019s \u201cDancing2\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Blasko delivered an emotional rendition of Keli Holiday\u2019s hit song \u201cDancing2\u201d. Stripping back the euphoric electronic original into something far more intimate and emotional, Blasko transformed the track into a slow-burning showcase of her unmistakable voice and stage presence.<\/p>\n

Backed by moody lighting and sparse instrumentation, the performance brought a completely different energy to the room and served as a reminder of why Blasko remains one of Australia\u2019s most compelling live performers.<\/p>\n

Amyl and the Sniffers win big<\/p>\n

The Melbourne four-piece claimed Peer-Voted APRA Song of the Year and Most Performed Rock Work for their track \u201cJerkin\u2019\u201d, while also being awarded the prestigious Songwriter of the Year honour, selected by the APRA Board. It marks the second consecutive year the band has won Song of the Year, following their 2025 victory for \u201cU Should Not Be Doing That\u201d.<\/p>\n

When accepting an award, frontwoman Amy Taylor said: \u201cI know that we are like the musical equivalent to a dick and balls being draw on a deck of cards sometimes, but there is meaning in what I\u2019m saying and try to get across.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so frustrating to be alive right now sometimes with everything that\u2019s going on, feeling so voiceless and powerless. Even with all the stuff going on in this country. And you want to draw attention to the stuff that\u2019s really fucked up, but if you draw attention to it, the people behind it get lifted up more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m talking about the politicians and the groups that none of us want to see rise to the top, you just wanna fucking shut them the fuck up, so there is meaning in what I\u2019m saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

INXS pay tribute to late frontman Michael Hutchence<\/p>\n

INXS\u2019 surviving members repeatedly reflected on Hutchence\u2019s legacy, friendship and contribution to the band\u2019s success, with several visibly emotional throughout their speech while accepting the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most strikingly, Kirk Pengilly revealed one of Hutchence\u2019s lasting hopes for the band\u2019s legacy.\u00a0\u201cMichael, you know, on a number of occasions used to say, all I want is that we matter,\u201d Pengilly told the audience. That one day people will go, well, yeah, they did something, they contributed, they mattered. This award says that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Aarons wins International Recognition Award<\/p>\n

Australian songwriter Sarah Aarons has acclaimed success working with the likes of Tame Impala, Cosmo\u2019s Midnight, Zedd, Ruel, Flume, Ros\u00e9, and more over the years, and there was nobody better suited to take home the award. For years, Aarons has remained behind-the-scenes, so this felt like a long overdue spotlight moment for one of the country\u2019s most influential behind-the-scenes hitmakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A surprise team-up between Peter Garrett and The Presets, an emotional tribute to Michael Hutchence, and a dominant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3191,3192,3193,247],"class_list":["post-2041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-2026-apra-awards","tag-apra","tag-apra-awards","tag-sydney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}