Never Trust a Hippy

Sooooo last weekend I completely sold out on all my anti-hippy traditions and went to Fairbridge Festival in... er, Fairbridge.

It was awesome! It's like an indy version of Southbound but less of a trek to get to.



We had a bigger group this time so we went in two cars, but I was one of the designated drivers. I like driving. Left my place ridiculously early and picked Ash up before heading down the freeway to Julia's farm to meet up with her, Anna and Fliz. Played tetris to get all the stuff packed in 'cause we both had small cars, then finally we were off. Blink-182 was the music of choice, a last bit of punk before an entire weekend of folk music.



It was an enjoyable drive, and I'd had two cans of V so it went pretty quickly. We attempted to play charades with the mob in the other car but they were too dim to pick up on it. Had a bit of a scare when we got to the village. An unexpected security check had us sweating over the alcohol hidden in the bags. Our fear was unwarranted though, the hired bouncers just asked us if we had any on us and took a brief look in the eski. Either it was too early for them to check properly or they just couldn't be bothered. Welcome to Fairbridge...



We were meant to be camping in the field, even though we were all volunteering, since we bought field tickets but we scammed our way into the volunteer campsite which is closer and quieter. Managed to get to MASSIVE 12 person tent (only 200 bucks from Kmart. Win!) up. It was bloody hot though so we didn't stick around long and went exploring. Checked in at volunteer HQ to get our shirts etc and then went looking for something to do. Nothing really started til 4ish so we ended up helping in the Youthopia area for a bit.



I'm realising now that I should have written this ages ago. My memory's faded rather a lot but I'll do my best.



We just kinda drifted around for most of the arvo until half the group drifted off to various volunteer shifts. I took some photos of the kids making lanterns for the parade (I should probably mention that I was a volunteer photographer, I don't just randomly take photos of kids).



That night we decided to party. Didn't really drink much since all we had was goon and vodka but we did go dancing. Bushdancing. Usually that's the last thing you'd catch me doing but it was a hell of a lot of fun, and a pretty epic workout. Saw some pretty good artists too. Nathan Kaye is an awesome singer/slide guitarist/didgeridoo player/beatboxer who's also really funny. After him we watched Toby, who has an amazing voice. Then we attempted to stay up waiting for Dave Mann but me and Ash were knackered so we called it a night.



Saturday started early but we didn't really do anything til mid-morning. We also dressed up as pirates. It was awesome! First artist we saw was Simon Kelly who was awesome, then we watched Nathan Kaye again. I got lumped with a video camera after that which was annoying but I just did ten minutes of filming and then bailed. We met up with Isabelle and Alex who were up just for the day. Grabbed some lunch and killed time until Ballpoint Penguins. They were hilarious, 2 girls and a guy singing parody songs in 3 part harmony. Also so the Chaplin from my old high school, Andrew Winton. He's a legend, and his brother is Tim Winton. Can't really remember the next few hours but I think we just browsed the market stalls. I do remember getting our faces painted 'cause Anna was working there.



Julia went to another shift at about 6 and Isabelle, Alex and Fliz were MIA so me and Ash just wondered around for a bit, had some dinner and then went to watch the lantern parade which I had to photograph. Also watched a guy from Chile called Nano Stern. He was pretty cool. Looked in on Eddi Reader after picking up Julia but weren't impressed so we headed for the dance tent and rocked out to the Velvet Playboys for a while. Watched a full set from Simon Kelly over at Youthopia and had a look at the Barons of Tang but hit the sack after that.



Sunday was nothing amazing. Ash was meant to work at the Dance Tent in the morning but ended up in the Loft (an open mic stage) instead. I dropped her there then trolled through the markets for a while. Everyone else had shifts as well so I just amused myself. Dropped in to visit Ash around mid morning and saw an awesome singer called Lucy Wise. Check her out, amazing voice.



Finally got around to seeing Dave Mann after lunch which was good. Julia went off to work for a bit and me and Ash amused ourselves. She was meant to work at 5 but the guy let her off so we cashed in our hours for ticket refunds and went back to the tent to start packing up. Didn't take too long and then we were off. Stopped off at Julia's to unload their stuff from my car, then it was just Ash to drop off before home and a shower of epic proportions.



Was a pretty epic weekend and I'm looking forward to going again.



As always, more photos on my Facebook.