Music is definitely an important part of any music festival, however, The Great Escape should by no means be thought of as only a music festival, as the organisers provide their festival goers with a few extra bits and pieces to stir and inspire. Cabaret, comedy, spoken word, circus fun, yoga, markets, cult cinema, trivia, and disco bingo are just some of the creative kicks you can get at this festival, at Sydney’s Newington Armory.
In its second year, this Sydney Easter long weekend festival once again drew huge crowds, but also threw in a few changes to keep punters guessing and to suit the weather forecast – which was rain, and a fair bit of it too. Similarly to last year, the keen campers arriving on Thursday night were treated to some early festival fun, as part of the grounds were free to roam and explore and a couple of the venues were opened up, with Purple Sneakers, Future Classics and Niche Productions providing some funky beats to set the pace for the weekend.
The festival officially kicked off on Friday as the rest of the campers and day-trippers arrived. With over 70 stellar artists playing over 7 venues, decisions and choices of what to see and what to do abound, and at the top of the hill in The Mess Hall, early risers were ready with open ears and slightly blurry eyes from the night-befores adventures, for the creative coo-ees at Token Cereal - a bit of spoken word, interpretations on life and interesting electro-pieces with beautiful vocals, with the accompaniment of some free cereal each morning of the festival. Not a bad deal at all.
Some of the musical highlights of Good (Great) Friday included Amos Lee, Ben Kweller, The Vines, Hilltop Hoods and Wolfmother on the mainstage, drawing huge numbers, as well as a few rain showers. Meanwhile over by the Parramatta River at the Riverside stage, the crowd danced up a storm of their own to the funky rhythms of Rastawookie and Blue King Brown, and the intoxicating musical slurs of Waiting for Guinness (ok, no more lame puns, I promise).
If only I could have split myself into 6 or 7 different entities, I could give a full recount of all the acts ... but a few of the lesser known, but equally awesome acts on Friday included Toydeath, following up their appearance from last years festival with some new toys… including George Bush doll which was destroyed. The 3 piece group, who dress quite creatively and use kids toys to generate noises and create their beats, packed the Tin Shed venue tighter than most skinny legs these days for the start of this set, with numbers only decreasing a tiny bit as some of the teens didn’t quite “get” the loudness, with one saying “does it get kind of dancey soon?” – Not that it mattered; he ended up sticking around and actually dug it in the end. This is one of the best things about the festival – something for everyone, with acts being sometimes poles apart, that you can discover something you wouldn’t ordinarily get to see.
Speaking of things you wouldn’t ordinarily get to see… picture a Turkish tent. It sells Kebabs, Gozleme, delicious fresh coffee, and then, as the night creeps in, so does a huge star for several of the Great Escapers from last year – a man called Vili. Many wondered whether Vili would return again this year, and to the delight of many, he did. And he brought with him his instrument – some form of guitar (if I had some more knowledge of the name of this I would tell you.. think Sitar but different.. in fact, not at all..), and of course his personal style of music, which basically involves a backing track which he plays with and sings along to. In an atmosphere of highly creative and innovative musical experimentation, it seems only fair that Vili should be able to have a crack too. And he does, with his monotonous but somehow, magical songs lasting for up to an hour, which always seem to get everyone up - dancing and singing along with him. It’s a great idea really, instead of just finishing up a night with a greasy Kebab, why not grab that Kebab and have a bit of a boogie as well.
So soggy Saturday came along, and although this was by far the wettest day of the festival, the line up was amazing and wasn’t going to stop punters getting out and amongst it all. Triple J unearthed band Cuthbert and the Nightwalkers got the Tin Shed all hot and sweaty early in the day with their energetic sounds, while Trigger Happy kept the afternoon chilled out with some drum and bass. The Riverside turned out to be a very reggae-dancey-jumpy stage this year, and King Tide kept this feeling going strong, with many forgetting about having lunch and jumping out of their seats to have a dance instead.
One of my personal highlights were Coda, who colourfully brought some sunshine into the rainy afternoon at The Terrace stage, and get everybody moving, including the Elephant sculpture/creation/who-knows-what-it-was, which cruised through the crowd. At sunset though, the vibe shifted a tad, as a huge crowd grooved their way over to the Village Green mainstage for Ziggy Marley’s set, which was filled with smiles and good vibes. Although it was such a damp day, the vibe and the faces of everyone there was just of enjoyment and happiness. Lee “Scratch” Perry even incorporated the rain into his set in an almost magical way, when only a minute into his song asking for peace to (metaphorically) rain down, it literally did. Smiles (and plastic ponchos for some) galore. It was only slightly spooky that this power worked again when he later asked for everyone to push up into the sky and collectively try and stop the rain. The magic continued to flow with The Bird as they delivered an amazing set of high energy, fast paced assault of musical genius onto a soaked crowd. John Butler Trio offered a taste of what’s to come in their new album with a beautiful set to please both older and newer fans of the band.
Some more of the things that makes The Great Escape that extra bit special: bands like Vulgargrad, who played down in the Bunker 8 Cabaret stage each night, playing fantastically frantic Russian-criminal songs to melt the many vodka stained hearts at the festival.
So Easter Sunday brought, thankfully, some sunshine (yay!) to The Great Escape, and possibly the best line up of all the days with escape artists like The Roots, The Living End, Gomez, The Fumes, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Lou Rhodes, The Lemonheads, Flogging Molly, Fishbone, Alice Russell, True Live and Waiting For Guinness all claiming prime times on the main stages. Early on in the day, we were treated to the warm, strong tones of The White Buffalo, whose voice commands attention, and awe. But everything was building towards the big crowd that appeared at The Roots late at night.
But again, this festival isn’t just about the music - what is really special about this festival is the creative and crazy. Like the giant metal spider sculpture that is lit on fire at night, the very rude but hilarious antics of Wacko and Blotto, the mural wall - a long wall that everyone is free to come and add a stroke to, or the Cell Music – a shipping container that can produce its own cover of a Jet song, the latest works from Art Express students, Easter egg hunt for the kids, ping pong late at night, totem tennis, and in a similar vein to the Turkish tents own Vili, the Thai2Go tent host Kareoke at night. Whatever tickles your fancy, there is something there, and although I’ve mentioned probably more than necessary, no doubt there are people who had an entirely different festival experience to me.
It was interesting to see the changes from last year, especially without the Big Top tent which wasn’t there this year to make room for more camping. My only hope is that next year the weather is a little bit drier, but in the end it was still a great escape from the everyday Sydney life – especially seeing friends make rolls with Twisties and Burger Rings as fillings – festivals really bring out something special in people.
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Woodford Folk Festival 2008 
Michael Franti and Spearhead
One World Music
