Nestled amongst the Otway National Park, the annual festival took place. With over 15,000 music loving revellers seeing the New Year in with a line-up of style to suit all. An eclectic mix of teens, 20-somethings and the odd-seasoned festival goer, lined their tents over the hills and plains settling in for a 3-day event which left all smiling, slightly heat-exhausted, but certainly satisfied with the sounds. Welcome 2008!
For those lucky few (thousand) who managed tickets for day one (Saturday 29th) they had the pleasure of enjoying three stand-out acts, Jackson Jackson, New Young Pony Club and Groove Armada who’s swanky tunes and up-beat tempo matched their ever-funky on-stage presence. Three treats for a quickened heart beat!
No show is a show without our proudly acclaimed Gotye. His name can be found beside the definition of “cool”. What a performer! What a crowd pleaser! The mosh-pit moshed with passion to his true genius & marvelled at his musical range.
Many waited to hear the adored and acclaimed Paul Kelly who crooned and rocked folk-style, lifting the arms of everyone in the crowd with his “To her door”. Paul is a staple in the blueprint of Aussie music, and acts like his always remind us that we have all grown up with an influence of awesome rockers and pioneers of Australian-style soul.
Over the final two days, other notable acts included; Regurgitator who were fantastic – arguably the best Aussie act of the weekend, they had the (very) hot crowd up and dancing! Mattafix, Angus & Julia Stone, Jose Gonzalez and The Beautiful Girls were fantastic – all my personal favourites. The only acts I found a little bit of a let-down were Blackalicious and The Go-Team (both international acts) because by that time in the night the crowd needed an injection of energy, that was expected from these acts, but not delivered.
Without a doubt however, the final trio of acts Girl Talk, Kings of Leon and Midnight Juggernauts were the best way to see in the New Year. There was not a person in the crowd who regretted the $200+ they paid for their ticket, to be there in those final hours of 2007 and to see-in early hours of 2008.
The countdown was also nice and quick – with only a few minutes set-aside for hasty celebrations (and maybe even a midnight kiss), and then it was back to the music.
The “techno-tent” smashed out beats across the whole weekend for an alternative to the lush amphitheatre, allowing the more ‘hard-core’, wandering lost and moving legs to get their fill.
On a non-musical note, the festival was reasonably organised. My personal experience was a bit disorganised, with maps having run out and with the limited signage, it made my initial few hours rather stressed. However, the volunteers (when you could find one) were filled with helpful knowledge and were certainly diligent with their cleaning up.
The heat was ever present and the rising temperatures were combated well with “people misters” and mass crowd hose downs (all recycled water I may add) and the ticketed drinks kept the always-annoying drink buying to a minimum (however, the 12hour limit on the beers tickets I think was an unnecessary hassle for the already hot festival goers).
As a 20-something myself I must add a rather superficial observation. Is society getting better looking? Or, has Dolly magazine (and all other relevant) streamlined our fashion and beauty sense to a tee? Visually superb! But come on, what is with all the fluoro?
So, congratulations to all on another successful festival experience, it is clear that our Australian music industry is now being recognised for its talent, fans and diversity.
“The true essence of life itself can be heard in our music”. (MKS)
