Oh, remember the bit where I mentioned that these pics would be up by Saturday? Yeah, I managed to break some computer thing here at the EnjoyPerth! offices so apologies to the millions of people all around the world who were eagerly awaiting this post to come online. Whoopsy!
So how did it go?
I can summarise the event in 2 and a half words – pretty f’n awesome.
It all started in the wee hours of Friday morning. Suitcases were packed the night before (yes, we took suitcases) and we started off the long journey by foot. Well, to the car that is. The trip was uneventful and by the time we actually woke up, we arrived in Busselton along side several hundred others. Our gear was searched (thankfully they didn’t do a cavity search or they’d have found my bottle of vodka) and we strolled in to pitch our tents.
After all the hullabuloo of arriving was over, it was time to survey the site. Base camp was upgraded from last years ‘pretty cool’ to this year’s ‘wowsers!’. The selection of food stalls were better, the prices seemed lower and their opening hours were very camper friendly.
The festival itself was extremely laid back – whomever decided to hold the event on that weekend needs to have his back patted as it was quite possibly the best time to have the festival. The usual timeframe of past Southbounds had always been hot and miserable and always seemed to clash with other big Perth events such as Summadayze and the Perth Cup. This year – perfect.
The kind folks at Murdoch FM were nice enough to invite me on the wireless for an interview. A few laughs were had until I was asked about my highlights and lowlights of the event. As soon as I got to the lowlights I was greeted by an angry crowd from the studio audience who boo-ed at me and demanded my head be dropkicked to the other side of the campsite. I simply said that Wolfmother’s performance was comparable to a two-bit coverband covering the guitar-hero version of Wolfmother’s song. To this day I stand by that statement as Wolfmother (to me) had died a long time ago.
I won’t go on about the bands and whatnot (you can find a tonne of reviews elsewhere) because Southbound is an event that you simply have to attend to understand. Southbound is a special event for WA, unlike any festival that we have access to. If you look at the line-up, gave yourself a head injury and then squint at the festival site, you could almost fool yourself into thinking you were transported through space and time to the grounds of the Falls Festival.
I’d like to personally thank the crew over at Sunset Events for the hard work they have been doing this festival season, especially with what was done at Southbound. The festival keeps getting better and better every year and I hope that EnjoyPerth! will stay a part of the Southbound family for years to come (hint: make sure our name is at the gates every year please).
So below are a bunch of shots that our roving camera monkey took during the 3 day weekend of musicology. Can you find yourself in any of those pics? I’ll give you a lollypop if you do.
On the topic of pics, our good pals at Cut & Paste are running a bit of a fancy competition! If you were at Southbound and took a picture or two, you could win a ticket to the Laneway Festival next month! All the details that you need to know are found on their blog here. Good luck!
- love, hugs and kisses, your EnjoyPerth! pal grum.
