Floriade Nightfest @Commonwealth Park, Canberra(25/9/10)

Thu 30th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

SEE THE GALLERY HERE

Reviewing Floriade Nightfest, like dancing to architecture? Thankfully for me not quite but it was a slightly hard thing to comprehend putting into words. And that’s largely in part because the age old question of ‘where to start?’ arises. There’s the joyous flowers covering every square inch of the ground, the men on stilts in freaky costumes, the myriad of bars and pavilions spread out across Commonwealth Park, and in true style of saving the best until last, there’s the Umbrella Forrest. For the uninitiated, Floriade Nightfest is merely all those pretty little flowers lit up and a few food stalls to choose from. But, for the well organised people who pre-purchased tickets and thought to bring picnic rugs, it’s a local wonderment that’s likely to grow in success for many years to come.

First off was the Garnier Tent; I’m still not 100% sure what it is that happens inside the giant green dome, but the lines around the corner suggested that whatever form of makeover they were offering (for free no less) was well worth the wait.

Throughout the night was a constant stream of some of the finest comedy there is to offer with Patrick McCullagh opening the night and getting all the Dad’s belly wobbling off to a fine start. He was followed by Jacques the Cheeky French Waiter, the Mr Qwirk Show, Dave Thornton and the side-splittingly hilarious The List Operators, who kept everyone warm with laughter until the last exiting minutes of the evening.

Local musicians Aaron Hill and Jacinta Le provided an excellent array of covers, showing they were quite the walking jukeboxes. Over the course of the evening, performing both together and individually, their delicate voices carried to wherever you were in the park and before you knew it, had you singing along in your head.

There was DJs aplenty in the Butterfly Lounge, with local talents Paqman, Jemist, Buick and Ravs interchanging throughout the night, but sadly not much dancing was being had. The real party was in one of the smallest areas of the festival; the Umbrella Forrest, where there was practically a queue to get in and so much ‘ooh-ing’ and ‘aah-ing’ all other surrounding sounds were drowned out.

Obviously the most spectacular attraction of them all was the flowers, but any prior expectations should be dashed because it’s likely they’ll be exceeded. These little nurtured gems take on another life in the evening; the traditionally Dutch tulips matching eerily with the nearby gum trees to create one of the most original atmospheres ever encountered. Littered with explanations of origins or planted into novelty shapes, there’s nothing the team of planters can’t and haven’t done. At night they retain their bold colours and intricate beauty as much at night as they do throughout the day, and take on a whole different personality with it too.

And from the heights of the giant Ferris Wheel we’ve all had full view of for weeks, things look all the better; even Tim Burton’s mediocre adaptation of Alice In Wonderland that was screening on Stage 88.

SEE THE GALLERY HERE