I’m going to admit something that not many people would – I enjoy the Logie Awards.
And you can quote me on it.
I enjoy the Logie Awards.
2023 marked the 63rd awards ceremony, rubbing the shoulders and stroking the egos of the talent within the Australian television industry. The Logies have become famous and infamous at the same time – from hilarious moments, to awkward drunken accidents. You can simply YouTube that stuff whenever you feel like it.
This year was different – other than being hosted in Sydney other than the hometown of Melbourne, and broadcast on Channel 7 instead of Channel 9 – for the first time since 1965, they allowed the general public to attend, but not without a price tag. So I cleaned the moths out of my wallet and decided to be the sucker fan to buy tickets for myself and a mate – Seb.
With the Logies being held at The Star Sydney located in Pyrmont, I picked up Seb from his apartment and drove 50 minutes through the Sydney tolls, to arrive at my paid parking spot down the road from the casino itself at 4:30pm. The Red Carpet had already begun at 3:30pm, but we took our time (especially myself as I just bought new Hush Puppies and had to break them in). After walking through the fancy food court – more on that later – we squeezed into the entrance area of the red carpet, inbetween the rest of the general public. As we tried to recognise a few faces, we saw some of our media colleagues trying to flag down personalities for a chat, with a moderate hit and miss.
Now it was time to bring out the big guns. I had brought along my fancy camera, and a glorious print-out of my infamous “Daryl Somers Shock” look – the same expression he made every time he won a Logie of sorts over the years.
Shoving the photo in whomever’s attention I could get… well… you can see the results in this video alone.
As we weren’t able to go to our seats until 6:45pm, we went to the fancy food court and dined on pricey fish and chips, which while expensive, was delicious. While there, we bumped into actress Claudia Karvan and a few colleagues walking by, where she was wearing a canary yellow dress. Seb spoke to another actor whose name I forget, but after an awkward moment standing near the bin area, they were ushered on, as were we.
6:30pm, we lined up at the audience seat line, which was pretty lengthy. But as soon as 6:45pm came around the clock, we were on our way up the stairs.
The line ride.
ONE drink voucher which we technically paid for within our ticket price.
Up to the cheap seats.
After a security scan, we were escorted to another stairway, which led to a pricey refreshment bar. This came with yet another stairway to the theatre itself, which after flashing our ticket, we were shown our seats. There were two lots – the front four rows (A to D) were the ‘premium’ seats, while the others (E to whatever) where the freebie / leftover seats. In this case, because we paid for our seating, we were in Row D – the ‘premium’. Even though my seat was partially blocked by a safety rest bar, I could still enjoy the entertainment.
The view from Row D.
View from above.
There were TV screens hanging from the ceiling, enabling the cheap seaters a view of what was being broadcast and a closer view on what was happening on stage. It was quite enjoyable to view the ceremony without having to watch commercials. During ad breaks, the guests at the table ate and drank, while the announcer would warn everyone to be at their tables when there was one minute to go. Logies host Sam Pang nailed the presentation, with the audience in genuine laughter and hysterics.
Things ran smoothly in the cheap seats, with one member of the general public going ‘too hard too early’, and was discreetly escorted by security 30 minutes into the ceremony – not without stumbling up the stairway first and nearly spilling their drink on me. The atmosphere felt like you were in the cinemas watching a sold-out blockbuster film, then you were snapped out of reality when someone would be on their phone yammering to their friend watching from home asking ‘where are you on TV?’, especially during a sincere moment of the ‘In Memoriam’ section. After being told to shut up, things picked up again when a few minutes later, security threatened to ‘take them outside’ after a foursome of friends got loud when someone had ‘lost their phone and was trying to call it’. They eventually left, and there was much rejoicing.
Spider-cam was the MVP.
Amy Shark belting out her hit.
Stage crew setting up the piano.
Where’s your celebrity?
Peking Duk setting the stage on fire.
Now, one of the most awkward moments of the Logies (When isn’t the Logies awkward) was when TV and Logie veteran Daryl Somers came out on stage to present the Gold Logie. His auction bidding bit was quite spontaneous, with people looking confused. It wasn’t until the camera cuts to previous Gold Logie winner Tom Gleeson, in which Daryl continues on with his banter, which then you can hear the cheap-seaters laugh. Daryl then says ‘Are you on delay up there?’. What happened is this:
When the camera goes to Gleeson, in which he says ‘this isn’t funny!’, there is no audio for it due to the impromptu camera cutaway. Everyone at the tables don’t react to it as they most likely didn’t hear him, and there were lack of monitors on the floor. Everyone in the cheap seats saw it clearly on the monitors – hence why there was a big laugh.
Watching the monitors while eating a choc top.
By 11:30pm-ish, it was all over, and we were taken a ‘back way’ which avoided all the celebrities. The only way you could have any interaction with them is on the red carpet, which we attempted to do.
While the Logies are now considered ‘meh’ by today’s audience, it is an experience to attend and get a taste of the atmosphere and being in the moment. I would recommend – if you can afford it and are a fan.
