You meet ARIA Hall of Fame legend Paul Kelly and multi-award winner John Butler. 

When Warrnambool’s Didirri Peters was younger he got to do just that. 

This year, the 23-year-old is no longer backstage but due to perform for the first time in his own right at the Port Fairy Folk Festival in March.

Didirri, a singer-songwriter, has been going to the festival since he was about five years old. 

He even got to perform at the festival with his dad Barry Peters who is a renowned children’s singer-songwriter, which meant he had the opportunity to go backstage and meet some big name performers.

Didirri witnessed how music brought people together and was inspired by the performances he saw at the festival.

“It definitely drove me to be a performer,” he said. 

The young musician said he was looking forward to coming home and seeing friends and family after a big year of performing internationally.

“It was a really hard working year last year,” he said.

Didirri said performing local gigs could be harder than playing at Rod Laver Arena or at the Splendour in the Grass music festival because the audience knew him. He is known for his honest lyrics and he said it was a different experience being open and honest in front of people he knew. 

Didirri supported Vance Joy at Rod Laver Arena and 3000 people attended his set at Splendour in the Grass.

Vance Joy has voted for Didirri in Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown and Didirri said it which was a pleasant surprise. 

“It was a really nice moment,” he said.

Didirri supported Vance Joy for one month performing 10 shows in Australia and one in Auckland and he said he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

While Didirri views the Hottest 100 as a celebration of music rather than a competition he said it would be great if he could a get a song on the list. 

“It would be an honour to be in the top 100,” he said.

His song Jude made the Hottest 200 in last year’s countdown. 

Among the highlights of his overseas experiences were playing at the Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona and touring North America.

The Port Fairy Folk Festival’s Caroline Moore said the third round of tickets were now available and she encouraged people to buy them soon.

“Now is the time to start making a decision,” she said. 

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