WHY WE CAN’T CONTAIN OURSELVES
BIG FESTIVAL 2018 REVEAL
UNCONTAINED was unmissable for hundreds of residents last night, as Festival 2018’ s creative transformation of Strand Park was revealed.
Over a month in the making, 30 shipping containers have become the centrepiece of the city, and the towering art installation became a live entertainment site last night.
Uncontained features street art by renowned international, national and local artists.
Townsville Deputy Mayor Les Walker said the instalment was one of the biggest festivals in the city’s history.
“Even at my age I’m excited,” he said.
“With the perfect weather, great location and great bands, the city is going to rock.
“We have some of the best art in the world sitting here on shipping containers and that’s because of a very exciting team of staff here on council with creative minds.”
Last night’s opening kicked off at 6pm, with bands Hear Me Out, Realm City and Vixorcist taking the stage before Thundamentals rocked the crowd at 8.30pm.
Realm City’s Garth Jankovic said the “conscious rap” group had put a lot of rehearsal time in for the show.
“We wanted to bring flames and hit the stage hard,” he said.
“We were so honoured to be involved.”
Mr Jankovic, who travels between the ACT and North Queensland, is also an artist, and a contributor to Uncontained’s graffiti work.
“I’ve been up here painting for the last month and the energy has been great,” he said.
“There are some really cool people and an awesome vibe.”
Cr Walker said there were a lot of foreign visitors in Townsville, enjoying the great sunshine of North Queensland.
“Some are heading out to the reef, there’s a lot going out to Magnetic Island and we are going to see a lot more international visitors around the city and people around Australia who love basketball.”
Cr Maurie Soars said it was a unique chance for Townsville’s basketball lovers to catch some world- class sport.
“It’s not every day you have some of the world’s best players in town facing off for a Commonwealth Games gold medal,” he said.
“Local basketball fans will be particularly looking forward to Sunday night when the Australian Opals take on Canada with our very own Townsville Fire player Cayla George.”
Australia starts its campaign at 9pm tonight against Mozambique at the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre.
Mr Walker said Townsville was starting to shine and residents should all be very excited.
“There’s no start or finish date,” he said.
“What’s exciting is the brand of Townsville will resonate for at least a year to come.
“People of Townsville will be very happy to know that we are on the Commonwealth map when it comes to sport.
“Townsville’s going to be shining like the bright light, and when it comes to comparison to Cairns and Gold Coast, Townsville is going to be the trend that they want to follow.”