FasterLouder Festival Awards

From the team behind the fabled Meredith Festival, Golden Plains is everything you want in a communal experience: savvy line-up, bespoke location, distinct lack of wankers and, yes, BYO booze.

Set against the unparalleled backdrop of Sydney Harbour in a prime patch of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Harbourlife is still the one with looks to kill.

90 minutes out of Sydney on the banks of the Hawkesbury River, Playground Weekender is one festival that truly deserves to be labelled unique. Once you step off that ferry, it’s very hard to leave…

The crown jewel of South Australia, Womadelaide has been championing the “musical wonders of lesser-known cultures” for over 15 years. For the hordes of devotees who descend on Adelaide every year, it’s never less than mind-expanding.

Despite sky-rocketing popularity, Falls Festival still delivers the same ‘boutique’ experience it did way back in 1993. And let’s face it - running two events in different states simultaneously deserves its own medal.

Many festivals claim to be about “more than just the music”, but few actually do it like Rainbow Serpent. Over 7,000 punters make the pilgrimage each year for four days of roving performances, dancing, loopiness and R&R.

In late December each year, the sleepy country town of Woodford, Queensland, hosts this much-loved celebration of arts, indigenous culture and folk music. It’s perhaps the breeziest place in Australia to usher in the New Year.

The Presets were everywhere in 2008. Propelled by a triumphant second album ‘Apocalypso’, the electro overlords laid waste to V Festival, Splendour In The Grass and Laneway Festival. The only direction for these guys to go now is up.

When Rage Against The Machine appeared on the line-up for the 2007 Coachella Festival in California, few genuinely believed we’d ever see the reunited radicals down under. Who else to make it happen than Big Day Out? With the first riff of ‘Testify’, Rage Against The Machine sealed their place as Australia’s favourite international act.