I must say, this festival was hands down incredible.

 

From the music, to the festival grounds, to the dread locked hippies and NYE costume parade- Peats Ridge Sustainable Music Festival really was one of the best imaginable ways to end a phenomenal year.

 

Matt Grant has been organising this festival since 2004 and it still remains the only festival in the world that’s run on 100% renewable energy (click here to read our interview with him). It’s about time more festivals followed in their footsteps. And more people like us support them: do it, you won’t regret it. Promise.

 

Festival highlights:

 

*Sleep Makes Waves: This is a really unique band with an awesome mostly non- vocal sound. They absolutely ripped the head off the tent they were playing in and it went from 20% to 80% capacity in about 5 minutes. Impressive. Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with the boys from the band!

 

*Ball Park Music: This is a six piece indie rock band from Brisbane. Discovering this band over this 3 day bliss out absolutely floored me. These guys make your skin tingle when they play. I also think there’s something in their music that heightens the serotonin in your body. Seriously. I went mental when they played.

 

*NYE Costume Parade: Everyone looked bloody amazing and really got into the spirit of things. There’s something about dressing up that makes everyone a thousand times more amped for a pending party. If you plan to go next year, make sure you’ve packed something suitably outrageous to get you in the mood.

 

*Gotye: His set was from 11.30pm until midnight, on either side of the new year countdown. On top of the fact that it was always going to ground breakingly awesome (purely because of the time slot) this man can really play. And sing. And rev a crowd up. ‘Somebody that I used to Know’ played right as the clock struck midnight. The crowd was paralytic. I am in awe of this musician, he gives a good name to what an artist should be. I also very much enjoy that he chose to play at Peats Ridge, particularly to encourage and support all the wonderful things these guys are doing.

 

I don’t know what it was about this festival, maybe its the energy efficient air, or maybe it’s the relaxed limbo these events put you into, but this one in particular was overflowing love and kisses. Even the food vendors with 10 minute coffee line waits were all smiles… Now that’s telling you something..

 

Be there next year.

Or miss out on the single best way to spend New Years in Australia.

 

 

Emily Eskell

emilyeskell@gmail.com