Festival success
An annual music festival in the heart of the Grampians is likely to keep growing after another big weekend of performances at Halls Gap.
Organisers of the third Halls Gap Music Festival described the three days of entertainment as ‘brilliant’ and have already started planning for next year.
Grampians Music Festival focuses on promoting and presenting up-and-coming Australian musicians in an environment friendly to people of all ages.
The event again attracted hundreds of patrons, from individuals and groups to families, who travelled from across Victoria and beyond to experience the unique attraction.
Festival director Carly Flecknoe said a positive crowd response mirrored performing artists’ impressions of the event.
“We’re really happy with this year, not just with the talent of the artists, but also the crowd,” she said.
“People have followed normal suit and been incredibly respectful, chilled and friendly, which really resonated with the artists.
“The artists continually commented on stage about the vibe of the festival, so we’re absolutely thrilled.”
The festival area, designed to accommodate significant growth, is in a natural amphitheatre surrounded by mountains.
Ms Flecknoe said patron and artist response at the weekend gave her ‘complete’ confidence in the event’s future and longevity.
“We’ve been having conversations for the past weeks about what we might do for 2020, so we’ll wrap up over the next couple of weeks for this particular festival and come the start of March we’ll start on coming years,” she said.
Ms Flecknoe said the plan was to continually reshape the festival.
“You never stay the same – if you do I think you gradually become irrelevant,” she said.
“What we do is we look at what worked this year, what we want to change, what we want to adapt, what the audience is asking for.” The eclectic collection of entertainers, ranging from mellow and rocking balladeers to funk-rap and rock performers complemented by DJS, guaranteed a constantly changing music atmosphere.
Friday evening music started proceedings and then Saturday performances reached a crescendo with acts such as Sampa The Great and Slum Sociable providing an energetic finish to hours of non-stop music.
Patrons eased into a relaxing Sunday, where bands such as clever Afro-percussion funk outfit Cool Out Sun, Batts, Sunscreen, all-girl Body Type and hugely popular Angie Mcmahon captured attention.
Saturday was busy, featuring 11 acts, while on Sunday, in hot conditions, people started their festival relaxing in the shade, many waiting for the sun to sink below the mountains before gathering at the front of the stage to dance.
The event was a delightful mix of all ages and far removed from the intensity, scrums and anxiety prevalent at many other music festivals. For example, while many people simply sat around, meandered, danced and enjoyed the bands, some children delighted themselves with water fights.
“It’s that sort of vibe we want to maintain,” Ms Flecknoe said.