Looking overseas; the future of Australian music festivals

Festival season is well and truly underway in Australia, and with the rise of boutique festivals across every corner of our vast landscape, our festival world can now cater for a wider range of tastes and desires. But is this rise of Boutique festivals, and arguably demise of some of the larger, long standing festivals (think Big Day Out, Future Music and Parklife), a response to people experiencing what they consider bigger and better festivals overseas, or is this just an understanding of how people’s expectations are changing?

Five years ago the Australian festival season started in early October with Parklife, continued on with Stereosonic, Falls, Summadayze, better known doofs or cultural festivals like Rainbow Serpent or Confest, and ended with the Groovin The Moo tour in May. There is now the opportunity to find yourself at a festival nearly every weekend from October through to May, most of which are camping festivals, and a number of the previous day festivals known to the Australian Festival Season are now defunct.

For most people thinking of music festivals globally, they think of the big ones; such as Tomorrowland, Coachella, and Glastonbury. The events where the celebrities are seen, and many people miss the memo about it being a music festival. OK that second bit probably isn’t true (who didn’t go nuts for the Tupac hologram a few years ago at Coachella?), but it doesn’t change the fact that if people are going to a large-scale, ‘mainstream’ festival they obviously want something epic; like Tupac coming back from the dead.

Freya MacRae of Event Remedy has been apart of the festival scene since she was a teenager. She has seen the development and rise of smaller, niche events, and strongly believes that the festivals that will now thrive, and have a future in Australia are the lifestyle events which cover not just music, but the wider arts culture, various workshops, and put great emphasis on creating an all round experience. Most people don’t realise that arguably one of the best-known music festivals in the world, Coachella (which has been around since 1993), is officially titled Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and doesn’t forget its roots.

With this in mind, the influence it would seem comes from festivals overseas where this formula has been tried, tested and practiced for an unprecedented length of time. Festivals are opening up more and more to travelers, and consequently the demand has grown to compete with them. Burning Man is another prime example. The inaugural event was held back in 1986, and is only getting stronger and stronger, with sub events popping up all over the place. Australia has Burning Seed, as well as theme camps from Burning Man at most major cultural festivals. The influence of Burning Man on the emphasis on art and vibe is a key part of many boutique festivals in Australia. The expectation is that everyone is respectful, and, as particularly emphasised by Meredith Music Festival in Victoria (which has been running for 20 years), a ‘no dickheads policy’ is more and more a deal breaker for ticket sales.

Stepping across the pond from America to Europe, there isn’t a country that doesn’t have something amazing on offer during the summer. Most festivals are huge, with 40,000 plus revelers being the norm in many instances. This makes even the largest Australian festivals seem ant-like by comparison. You basically need to go with a tour group just so you don’t get eaten alive in the crowd. These festivals also have some pretty sweet geographical advantages, like being located in forts (Exit Festival), beach islands (countless festivals such as Sonus Festival) and in the case of Unsound Festival in Poland 2015, an underground salt mine. Australia is probably a little bit disadvantaged by not being ancient or having party islands, so there isn’t a whole lot we can do to compete with that.

Matt Hairsnape and Jemma Walker of Beats Travel have tapped into the niche desires of travelers to ‘experience the beat’, off the beaten track in such wonderlands as fortresses, palaces, tropical paradises and river barges. This is also in countries where you can get more bang for your buck like, Serbia and India, all while escaping the tourist traps. When you head off to a festival in Australia and end up dropping a month’s rent on just a few days, if you do the math, you could be able to say you did the same thing overseas, which is a little painful to swallow as you emerge out of the bush only 2 hours from home.

[caption id="attachment_65345" align="aligncenter" width="610"]                                                    LoveFest, Serbia. Photo by Beats Travel[/caption]

Established in Australia and the UK, Beats Travel gets the festival landscape both here and Europe. They have determined some key differences, and one major difference is the makeup of the people in the crowd. Despite the huge crowd sizes every one there has a genuine passion for the music and the overall picture that festival is painting.

Most people travel across the European continent and from the UK, so they are very serious about their experience. Australians seek that authentic experience, and perhaps see it coming more from the crowds, and mega line-ups overseas than they do here. Their example is Serbia and LoveFest. Serbian's party seven days a week until the wee hours, then turn around and go to work like they’ve had a solid eight hours sleep; they truly take hardcore to a new level.

LoveFest is lot like a cross between Splendour in the Grass and Falls Festival, with some key differences. You can kick back at a pool party, watch the likes of Âme and Booka Shade, and all activities are focused on the development of equality, solidarity and tolerance among people. Plus very few people outside of Serbia are familiar with it.

Tastes in music also affect people’s choice of festival. Some want a full rounded experience, being able to groove to anything from rock to hip hop, Others want one genre, hard and fast. If you take Falls Music and Arts Festival, which has recently grown to cover three states, it has attracted everyone from Iggy Pop, to Groove Armada and Disclosure throughout its 23 year history. Glastonbury in the UK also attracts a varied line up, there is a little something to please everyone.

Then there are the people that are after one kind of sound, and usually that one kind of sound comes with its own unique culture from fashion to people, and arguably dance styles. Techno and electronica are becoming hectically popular in Australia, but Europe worked this out quite a while ago, no one argues with Berlin on this matter. For the die-hard fans they can go to festivals in Europe and be apart of the world, not just a 3 day vibe. Despite the rise in popularity for this style of music, and the doof culture in Australia, it’s still not yet cemented in people’s brains, and lovers often have a battle to convince people this is where music is at for them. Europeans on the other hand, kind of just get it.

The fundamental thing to mention here is that it has been a long time since a festival was just about the line up. Yes music is life, but it isn’t for everyone. Some people will be apart of the world to be apart of the vibe. Others are there because music of all shapes and sounds speaks directly to their soul, or something like that. There still needs to be plenty to distract you when you don’t like an act, you’re hungover, or just need some quiet time at a festival, so you leave with the full festival high, and not just the high from a band or two.

So as your summer ending sads kick in, and you're yearning for more festivals becomes overwhelming, you should get cracking on planning a trip away come June/July. The festivals around the globe won’t ruin what is on offer for you here anymore, they will just make you appreciate how hard the organisers work to make great events happen. Australia is becoming competitive, but you need to experience it to believe it.

Some recommendations from those in the know:

Event Remedy suggests that if you want to meet like-minded lovers, groove to some deep beats, appreciate varying artistic talents from performance to paint, AND do some yoga, check out Panacea Festival in Victoria. It’s new, and the crowd embrace the festival culture like they do their own mother.

If you are keen on learning more on volunteering at festivals hit Freya up via Facebook.

If you are feeling adventurous, and everything mentioned about Serbia has you frothing with excitement, then check out Beats Travel’s LoveBeats Tour. It heads to LoveFest, but first up, they integrate you to the Serbian music and party culture so once you are there you can fully embrace the festival 1000%.

Images courtesy of Panacea Festival and Beats Travel

Words by Madeline Kilby

SEE ALSO:

HOW BEYOND THE VALLEY CEMENTED ITSELF AS A PREMIER AUSTRALIAN FESTIVAL IN 2015

GOING OUT OF 'LEFT FIELD' AT FIELD DAY 2016