Festival Guide: NYE On The Hill

Answered by: The Farmer - Band Booker

What makes your event stand out from other festivals? The incredible landscape, the perfect small size, the amazing crowd, the best bands in the country, breathtaking sunsets, the tiny rave cave, late-night DJs, the cow-raoke bar, Dr Pong, The Edge of the World Bar, morning yoga, the all-around good vibe. Hot diggity.

What’s improved for your next event? Bigger and better cow-raoke bar, more late night acts and arguably the best line-up of bands we've ever had. Yup.

Favourite festival ‘Do you remember when…’ moment? We had an actual wedding at the festival. Two people had met at the event years earlier and asked if they could get married during the festival years later. We shouted them all espresso martinis. Cheers to true love!

Which artist – living or dead – would you like to have backstage drinks with? The Smith Street Band - straight after the NYE countdown this year. Happy days ahead.

How is the festival landscape changing? It feels like there are more festivals now than ever. It also feels like there are more amazing up-and-coming bands and more diversity shining through which is a beautiful thing. It's a good time to be a music lover and a festival goer!

Is there more pressure to create an “instagrammable” festival? I can't speak for other festivals, but I don't feel that for NYE On The Hill. Each festival has their own vibe, look and feel and if people want to share the memorable moments of their good times with their friends, good on them. Good on you.

How do you go about ensuring your festival is a safe space? For us it starts with the good-vibing people that attend the festival and the general sense of looking out for each other and having a great time in a relaxed atmosphere. We have exceptional medical teams on-site as well as professional crowd control, site-safety managers and work closely with emergency services.

What are your views on pill testing? Do you think it has a place at festivals? I think it does. Anything that supports harm-reduction is a good thing for festivals and humans in general.