The best musical trios in Sydney
A terrace courtyard, a restaurant corner, a harbourside room with the tables already in: Sydney is full of spaces where a five-piece would eat the floor plan and half the guest list. It is enough to sound like a band rather than a backing track, and small enough to fit in a terrace courtyard, a restaurant corner or a harbourside room where a five-piece would eat the floor plan and half the guest list.
The trios here are not one product. Some are a jazz set for dinner, some are a stripped back covers group that gets people up, some are strings for a ceremony. The list below mixes all of them, so read what each one actually plays before you shortlist on price.
Top picks in Sydney
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Questions people ask about musical trios in Sydney
How much does a musical trio cost in Sydney?
You are paying three musicians, so the maths starts higher than a soloist and the rest follows the night. A dinner set in a city restaurant finishing at ten is one number; a full reception on the northern beaches with a bridge crossing, a late finish and a PA to carry is another. Look at the from-prices on this page and give each group your venue and your finish time.
Is a trio big enough to fill a room?
For up to about a hundred guests, comfortably, provided they have a PA that suits the space. Where trios struggle is a big hard room with a high ceiling and no house system, which describes a fair few Sydney warehouse and wharf venues. Tell them the guest count and the type of room and an honest group will say if you want a fourth player.
How long does a trio play for?
Most trios work in forty-five minute blocks, either two of them or three, and something recorded fills each gap so the room never falls quiet. Ask who provides that playlist, because it is often assumed and occasionally forgotten. For a wedding, most Sydney trios will build the sets around the speeches rather than fighting them.
Can a trio play a ceremony and the reception?
That is the booking they like best. A quiet acoustic version for the aisle and the signing, then a break through the photographs, then the same three people playing properly once dinner is done. You avoid coordinating two suppliers, and the price for the combined day is usually better than two separate quotes added together.
Booking tips
Ask what the three instruments are
Voice, guitar and a cajon behaves nothing like a trio with a drum kit and a bass rig. The second one is louder, needs more floor and changes what your venue will allow.
Check the load-in before you fall for a view
Sydney's best rooms are often up stairs, along a wharf or through a narrow terrace hallway. Say what the path from the car to the room looks like and whether there is parking near it, because that is real setup time.
Find out whether they scale
Plenty of Sydney trios are the middle setting of the same group and can drop to a duo for the ceremony or add a player for the dancing. Booking one act across the whole day is usually cheaper and simpler than booking two.