Mud. I have never seen so much of it. Mud crusting on to my legs, mud seeping into the tent, mud swallowing me on the dancefloor. Mud, and rain.

But, to quote the Shine On Facebook Page, the torrential downpour over the weekend “was without doubt a baptism from mother nature of epic proportions”. And if the size of the baptism foreshadows just how wonderful this festival baby is going to become, then prospects for Shine On in the coming years are very promising.

When we trundled into the site for the inaugural Shine On festival on Friday evening, the scenery was lush and green. The setting sun coloured the cloudy sky with pink, orange and gold, and as we set up our tent, a double-rainbow stretched across the sky.

My friends and I marveled at the sight as festival-goers, young and old, danced across the horizon praising the double-rainbow in all its surreal beauty, and whirled around to take in the panoramic view of the sky. At this point, the weekend ahead held great potential. A loving, carefree crowd who were all looking forward to the forthcoming merriment.

Unfortunately, as is the nature of Victoria, the weather took a turn for the worse. And never looked back. For those of us who were not clever enough to bring gumboots and waterproof clothing, or those who were not resolute to the wind, rain and mud, this really ‘dampened’ the mood. But, regardless of the disastrous weather, the quality of the music, art and culture at the festival was pretty f**king perfect.

Three stages, spread out on the property near Talbot, Western Victoria, featured bands and artists covering every genre: from reggae, gypsy, salsa, dubstep to dirty (I mean that affectionately) psy-trance, and all that lies in between. On Friday evening, just as the thunder was beginning to rumble, the festival was thriving. Shine On had not yet become Swamp On.

The first performance I caught was Barons of Tang at the Market Stage, which was situated amongst the many stalls of delicious food the festival offered. Barons of Tang are a Melbourne group that throw together a crazy dance sound with essences of tango, salsa and an infallible gypsy aura that occasionally extends to vigorous, heavy vocals. All of which prompts wild, messy mud dances.

Following this was a group named Chocolate Strings, who I caught the beginning of before I wandered toward the other stage. This Brisbane octet worked together to produce an awesome jungle sound, complete with sax, multiple vocalists and wonderful reggae percussion.

Next, we went for a stroll through the festival grounds to discover wonderful creative artifacts in every muddy crevasse. I lost some friends as they became absorbed in a room of psychedelic artwork, in which one could wear 3D glasses to appreciate the full trippy experience. Nearby, a stall containing beautiful peacock feather earrings could be found, as well as fire twirlers and the compulsory Happy High Herbs vendor.

Finally we arrived to the Tower Stage; the home to the more intense psy-trance artists. Melbourne progressive DJ Gavin Martin, who was playing a nice trance set which balanced out the reggae, salsa feel of the other stage. His backdrop was a wonderful projection screen, which continued to light up the grounds even throughout the weekend’s storms.

We then bounced back to the Market Stage, where we found Tijuana Cartel. Hailing from the Gold Coast, this flamenco-electro-dance band blew me away. The band consisted of a few of my favourite things: flamenco guitar, horns, latin-jungle percussion, heavy beats, yet rhythmic slide guitar, keyboards and melodic vocals. But, the best part was the way they jammed and just seemed to love it. The crowd loved it too: shaking asses and dancing-off in the mud. Tijuana Cartel returned to the stage for an encore, causing some of us to stop in our tracks and slop our way back over to the stage for more. 

DJ Saca La Mois played wonderful atmospheric tunes in between sets on the Market Stage, allowing us revelers to continue to dance while we awaited the next bands. Cosmia Cosmonauts followed on, mixing it up with some dub, tropic, electronic tunes. The rest of the first night was spent springing between the market stage, tower stage and exploring the nooks and crannies of the festival. There was even a huge tent set up amongst the other campers, which contained a dancefloor crankin’ 90s hits and streaming beer from kegs. And, apparently, that wasn’t even organized by the festival itself, but a paying punter.

As the last music of the night was coming to a close, a friend and I sought refuge undercover where lay some couches. There we discovered a film-projector directed toward the tent wall. We sat through a crazy French comedy and a disturbing Clockwork Orange-esque short film, and amused ourselves as the passers by realised they were inside a mini, outdoor cinema. Here, we caught a snapshot of the sheer loveliness of all the attendees to Shine On. One guy mentions he’s hungry, a stranger returns with a plate full of food and a pile of scotch and cokes to share. Everything is communal here.

After a surprisingly steady sleep, Saturday arrived. And, unfortunately, that’s where things got ugly.

The heavy, persistent rain made it all too easy to stay in our tents. A short stroll to the festival or the toilets meant facing the cold and wading through the thick mud. But eventually the traveling sounds of the dubstep on the superb sound system persuaded me to suck it up and get out to it. And I was right to do so: the afternoon featured an awe-some line up of music.

On my way to the main stage I got caught up in a storm of mad dubstep and heavy psy-trance tunes from Spoonbill and then the very start of Ill Gates, before I realised Sola Rosa had already started at the other end of the festival. I caught the very end of them, and they stayed true to their funk, soul, electro core. Then my new favourites Tijuana Cartel were playing once again on the main stage.

As the rain continued to pelt down, the sultry, beautiful, hypnotizing sounds of Oka began. Shoes were kicked off and the mud pit was filled with writhing, muddy, wet, dancing bodies. Oka, a trio from the Sunshine coast, could pass for a ten-piece band. Didgeri-Stu takes the lead, and his band members keep up with one very talented multi-instrumentalist (think: flute, keys, sax, guitar and more) and some rad percussion from the drummer. I get a Shpongle-vibe from them, but slightly less psychedelic. Their message is clear from their signature song, ‘Music makes me happy’. And I have rarely seen such happiness or love as people lost their shit dancing, falling and playing in the mud.

But, it is here that my night took a turn. Bare feet had felt liberating, but now they were just cold. And my numb hands became paralysed, not even able to be consoled by the warmth of a glove. My friend was on crutches, so he and I fought on gallantly through the mud, wind and rain and bypassed Blue King Brown toward the Tower Stage to dance to Sun Control Species, which was challenging given I had no arm movement and he had a broken leg. And the rain continued to bucket down, with no refuge! So I gave in, and after some friends decked me out in thermals, beanies and an oversized jumper I wandered back toward my tent. My intention was to get warm, fast, and re-emerge when it stopped raining so much. Alas, it took me hours to get warm, so I ended up listening to Fat Freddy’s Drop and Opiuo from the dark shelter of my tent. Such a shame. And then, an early-morning departure led us home, away from the festival with so much potential.

I must add that the festival organizers must be praised for their persistence throughout the weekend. There were next-to-no technical difficulties or cancellations despite the storms, and the sound system was one of the best and most consistent I’ve come across at an outdoor festival.

It is undeniably unfair and disappointing that this hyped festival should fall victim to the elements on its debut. But for such nightmarish circumstances to still produce the moments I shared above, (plus so many more) and feature such quality music regardless of the weather is an achievement. My only complaint about the festival itself is the lack of a stall selling gumboots and not enough toilets. My own inability to beat the cold is irrelevant. There are plenty of reasons why I heard some people claim that Shine On will be better than Rainbow Serpent.