Bunbury shows pride for local Ashley Doodkorte and Voyager following outstanding Eurovision performance

Voyager might have not have taken home the Eurovision crystal microphone trophy but the crew at Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre have expressed pride for one of their own achieving a long-standing dream.

About 100 people braved the small hours of Friday and Sunday mornings to show support for Ashley Doodkorte and progressive synth-pop metal band Voyager during a series of Eurovision viewing parties at BREC.

After wowing the crowd enough to win the second semifinal, Voyager impressed the juries and the public during the grand final to notch ninth place with 151 points.

BREC executive director Fiona de Garis said she was pleased with the turnout for an hour when people would usually be fast asleep.

“It was a great mix of people and it was fun to see people reacting to the breadth of the Eurovision acts,” she said.

“There’s something about watching it with other people where you get swept up in the communal opinion and seeing where people’s votes would go.”

Ms de Garis said the crew at BREC were so happy to watch Doodkorte live out a dream performance as well as seeing a West Australian band given a huge international platform.

“We’ve already seen the European tour schedule go up so I’m waiting for the leave form request,” she laughed.

“We’ve also dusted off Ash’s desk for when he comes back to the office on Monday and are preparing to support the come-down of going back to the day job.

“It’s really such a big achievement and it’s so great for not only Voyager but for Western Australian music and even Australian music in the eyes of the world.

“You see the commentary online and you realise people really are talking about that and kind of waking up to what Australia has to offer musically beyond what they’ve seen in the Eurovision context.”

Swedish singer-songwriter Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song Tattoo which had been a red-hot favourite throughout the contest, making her the first female artist to win the international song contest twice.

Voyager’s ninth place finish marks the third time an Australian representative placed in that position following the efforts of Isaiah Firebrace in 2017 and Kate Miller-Heidke in 2019, and the fifth time Australia made the top 10 overall.