Hell of a 21st birthday bash
QUEENSCLIFF has rocked and grooved its way through another successful music festival, with sold-out crowds unfazed by yesterday’s temperamental weather conditions.
Organisers are celebrating yet another successful year of the festival, which marked its 21st birthday.
Festival director Andrew Orvis said he was incredibly happy with the behaviour of the 16,000-strong crowd.
“What works really well for us is that our crowd really self-police. You’ve got a mix of young, old and families all enjoying the festival together and watching out for each other,” he said.
“I’m really pleased with how this weekend has gone. Walking around the festival you could see a lot of happy people, people dancing, crowds having a good time, that’s all we want.”
The festival’s undercover stage set-up meant sporadic downpours over the three days didn’t shut down the music.
“Obviously we would have loved it to be 25C and sunny every day, but I don’t think it stopped anyone from having fun,” Mr Orvis said.
Musical legends Bernard Fanning, Russell Morris, Yothu Yindi and Jon Cleary led a diverse line-up of experienced and up-and-coming artists, with The Temper Trap and The Beautiful Girls seeing off the rain to finish the festival on the main Lighthouse stage yesterday.
Xavier Rudd headed up a range of local talent, with the Surf Coast-raised artist delighting the large crowd with his Friday night set.
The festivities were felt throughout the town, with several local businesses including the Queenscliff Brewhouse and Salt Lounge also becoming festival venues for the weekend.
While the Queenscliff Music Festival promises to be back in 2018, organisers are in the process of developing a winter event offering for the town.
“We have a couple of pretty exciting things in the pipeline, but in terms of QMF I’ve already had a couple of bands approach me for next year,” Mr Orvis said.