Festival Review and Photos: Festival of the Sun (Day One) ft. Jebediah – Sundowner Breakwall Tourist Park, Port Macquarie (11.12.15)

The sun indeed came out to play for the first full day of Festival of the Sun for 2015, a year which sees the sold out boutique Port Macquarie festival enjoy a new format, with a full two days of music and a night of arts to precede it. And we mean a full day -the music starting at 10.25am with Wish kickstarting some 12 hours of music.

Though sold out, many of the punters didn’t venture to the main stage until mid-afternoon, opting to enjoy the festival’s BYO status in their campsite, or relax by the beach in the 37 degree weather. But the vibes were strong from start to finish – the music getting the growing crowd moving as the drinks flowed and the impressive food selection was enjoyed.

An impressive curation of some of Australia’s finest emerging artists – alongside a few established favourites – was to thank for this. Here’s a look back at some of the artists who we enjoyed on day one of the festival:

Sydney’s Le Pie were rockin’… a little bit classic pop, a little bit grunge, a little bit punk, there is a sound that Le Pie and her band have embraced that is completely their own. Fantastic live, too…

Twin Haus

Twin Haus are sounding better than ever, embracing instrumental moments akin to Explosions in the Sky, while their lead vocalist’s incredible range is at once Jeff Buckley and the next Tom Smith of Editors. Huge potential here.

Bootleg Rascal

Fresh from a tour of Europe, Bootleg Rascal deliver an eclectic mix of genres in a way that is reminiscent of Sublime – a bit of hip-hop, a bit of reggae, a bit of rock… They have strong energy, a solid stage presence and embrace some stand out guitar moments. One of the highlights of the day.

Major Leagues

Major Leagues are one solid Brisbane outfit… always love seeing them perform.

Dusty Boots

With six people stuffed onto the side stage, Dusty Boots delivered FOTSUN a healthy dose of beach vibes, saxamaphone, percussion and falsetto. A great festival band.

Harts

Harts – accompanied by his drummer – showed why he was named the guitarist of the year at the AU Live Music Awards earlier this week… oh, and he’s a killer vocalist too.

The Owls

Newcastle quartet The Owls were rocking harder than ever…

Sleepmakeswaves

It was guitarist Kid’s final show with instrumental rockers Sleepmakeswaves, so they made sure to give it their all. The band always impress but today was something special. Kid will be missed!

Skeggs

Skeggs – self-described as Australia’s worst band – impressed and even crowdsurfed at the end.

Northeast Party House

So much party. So much cowbell. Northeast Party House brought the good times – and even a Blink-182 cover for good measure. This got the whole crowd dancing.

Low_Lux

Low Lox are a melodic five piece led by Daisy Dowd – and they are wonderful.

Alpine

Solid set from Alpine, who delivered a mix of fan favourites and newer tracks off Yuck. This is a band who sound better and better every time I see them. Today was no exception.

Thundamentals

Thundamentals killed it, to say the least. They had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands, while the production made you feel like there was a full band – including brass section – on the stage. True masters.

The Lulu Raes

Speaking of sounding better than ever, The Lulu Raes have seemingly spent all of 2015 refining their sound and becoming a tight live outfit. Though one of the members couldn’t even fit onto the small side stage, their live set captured the best moments of bands like The Strokes, put it in a blender and made it their own.

Jebediah

While Kevin Mitchell may have had to ask, in front of the young crowd, “does anyone know who the fuck we are anymore?”, it seemed their strong response – including singing along to all their hits (well engrained in our DNA by now, surely) – indicated he needn’t have. Long live Jebediah.

Festival of the Sun continues tomorrow night. For more details head to their official website.

Photos by Johnny Au.

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Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.