Ararat musician Andrew Parsons 'Parso' will be performing at Hotel Rex and said he was looking forward to singing in public after months of COVID-19 restrictions.

"During lockdown, livestreams were a great way to connect with people, but there is nothing better than the atmosphere when you're in a room full of people," he said.

"I did some online shows using Facebook live - the idea of them was based around community engagement and trying to bring the people of Ararat together.

"We created an online space for them - I also shared a lot of stories about my music career.

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"For our first online show we had 3500 comments and a lot people were catching up with eachother in the comments.

"It was also a good opportunity for me to keep up my skills."

Mr Parsons said performing at Hotel Rex would be his last public show for the year.

"I was toying with idea of maybe setting up in someone's front yard to do some Christmas songs, but I haven't organsied that yet," he said.

"In the last two weeks I have performed at two birthday party's and I also did some music for the real estate agent's golf day.

"Music is a good way for people to connect and come together, whether its at a pub or hall, you can enjoy the moment and forget about what's going on."

Hotel Rex owner Hayden Crawford said it was a relief to have entertainment back at the venue.

"This is the first time we have had live music since the major lockdown. Live music brings people together as a community, sort of like sport," he said.

"There will be music from 6.30pm to late - Parso will be singing from 8pm and we also have young Declan singing earlier.

"We are not going to rush into it but the next live music performance should be on New Years Eve. Next year we will be looking at weekly entertainment."

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