photos by tim boehm
peats ridge Review
mountain mocha kilimanjaro
xavier rudd
tijuana cartel
benjalu haNGGAI
Peats Ridge Festival Glenworth Valley December 29 - January 1
There are festivals with bigger line-ups but when it comes to vibe, Peats Ridge Festival does not disappoint. It is possibly the most relaxed festival around and I can’t think of a better way to bring in the new year, than camping in a beautiful valley on the edge of a creek that just happens to have a festival on the other side. For the first time, this year I decided to take my kids to the festival — a big step for anyone, taking a six, four, and one-year-old to a three-day music festival and all of the crazy events that usually ensue. But the kids’ festival was the highlight for me, with free activities, face-painting, workshops and the cleanest toilets in the whole festival site. The Dum Dum Girls were the first act on the main stage to catch my ear. I’d never heard of them before but enjoyed their girl-flavoured punk rock sound — totally out of keeping with the bush setting of Glenworth Valley but then again almost everything is. Xavier Rudd filled the headline position for night one of 36 reve rb
magazine issue #066 — Jan–Feb 2012
the festival and attracted a massive crowd. However I was disappointed with his set — it seemed tired and disjointed. I’ve often argued that the big name artists at festivals don’t need to be scheduled last on the main stage and this was a great example of why. An early evening slot would have done more justice to Xavier’s set and allowed a higher energy artist to finish the night. A big highlight was a new stage this year, The Pirate’s Lair replacing the Dubshack from previous festivals. It was if an illegal doof had been transplanted into the middle of the festival, playing a mix of experimental beats, dubstep, psy-trance and house. It had a huge crowd dancing away until the wee hours of the morning. The band with the strangest name on the line-up, Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, also gave one of the highest energy performances I’ve seen from a funk band. In the opinion of my six-year-old, “they smashed it” and I tend to agree. However, my musical highlight of the festival didn’t come
’til sunset on New Year’s Eve when Hanggai took the stage. I’d heard of their Mongolian/Chinese style rock but was unprepared for the impact it would have on me. It was simply incredible, and the crowd responded in kind. Hanggai were replaced on stage by the judging for the fancy dress competition. Over 75 per cent of the crowd were dressed up for the final night and as always it was one of the highlights of the festival, especially as the winner of the best dressed child category happened to be my fouryear-old in a Where the Wild Things Are outfit. Of course the act most people were waiting for was Gotye, who was bringing in the new year. And I have to admit feeling slightly let down by his set list — not that there were any hits missing. But he finished on a downer, playing the low tempo ‘Bronte’ as an encore rather than finishing with something more suitable for a NYE party, like ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin’. ~Tim Boehm
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