I ♥ MUSIC FESTIVALS

I love music festivals. They are probably my most favourite things in the whole world and where I am my most happiest.

For that one day or weekend, people from all walks of life congregate to celebrate the awesomeness that is live music and performance…and to have fun, relax and take care of each other.

 

Airbourne Sydney Big Day Out 2011


It’s such a blissful existence. And I will forever be indebted to the people who make them possible – the promoters and tour managers and security peeps and sound techs and of course, the musicians.
   

100 cupcakes for 100 Big Day Out shows

It goes without saying that festivals are big business these days and there has been a lot of commentary about ticket prices and attendance numbers recently. The beauty of music festivals though is their ability to be the ultimate game without losers. As long as no one player gets too greedy, everyone can walk away feeling immensely satisfied…and everybody knows this.

At the core of each stayer in this business – punter, band, promoter, etc – is their fierce love of the festival industry and an inherent bullshit-detector for anything that threatens this utopian societal microcosm operating just the way we like it.

Muse Sydney Big Day Out 2010

As we head into the summer festival season in Australia, the anticipation is building for the next wave of incredible live music moments coming our way. Some will be main stage exhibitionist extravaganzas shared by thousands, others will be intimate, unplanned acoustic moments stumbled upon by a lucky few. But without doubt, each will be yet another example of just how deep the river of reciprocal music festival love runs.

Maybe I love festivals so much because I wish this is what life was like all the time? A girl can only dream…

SPINAL TAP DANCING

I had one of those amazing nights last night...one that was triple-booked and had me scooting all over Sydney (which at times felt somewhat Spinal Tap), but it truly rocked.

It started with a visit to the Bender Gallery in Paddington to meet rock n' roll photography royalty, Baron Wolman, and to check out his Rolling Stone Years exhibit. The photos were epic - think Keith Richards, John Lennon, Jeff Buckley, Janis Joplin and pretty much every other music icon from the mid-1960's to the late seventies.

A quick cab ride later, I dropped in to Upstairs at the Beresford in Surry Hills to check out a drummer friend's "side project band" called The Cracks. They had a great set and played a stack of wicked indie rock tunes. Their lead guitarist left the band only a week earlier so the new guitarist had a lot to learn in a very short amount of time. I had been told he "totally shreds on guitar"...and he sure did.

After The Cracks it was more live music action over at Star City Casino with one of my all-time favourite Australian bands Grinspoon. The boys haven't played live for a little while so it was brilliant to catch them again in such rocking form. They have been busy writing new material and I can't wait to hear it. We partied after the gig into the early hours of Saturday morning. As you do.

It was a great night with great music and even greater friends.