How Beyond The Valley cemented itself as a premier Australian festival in 2015
Beyond The Valley made a strong transition to a new location in 2015, continuing its ascendancy as the premier club centric camping festival in Australia
Nestled in a picturesque valley on the outskirts of Melbourne, Beyond The Valley had moved well beyond the windswept graveyard of Pyramid Rock where it was held last year, finding a home of its own on a farming convention centre near Warrigal.
It was a proper valley as well this time, with campers situated on hillsides surrounding a central lake and the adjoining stage area. Despite the heatwave that would come to define much of this years event and the dusty grounds that only got dustier, walking through the camp ground on the first day it didn't take long for people to get the party started. The electric camp sites were ripe with full sound systems pumping trap bangers well before the festival had properly started.
With little planned for the first day, a local lineup primarily consisting of local club DJs, most people stayed at their camp sites having their own parties, heading into the festival grounds mainly to sample some of the many great food stalls within.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
Day one highlights include: a 4:20 count down at 4:45 from Melbourne rapper Junior, a massively ripped dude in a minion hooded towel, Brisbane Boy Feki igniting the dance floor with some live bass, funky house and RnB, Lucky Coq pizza even if it wasn't $4 =( and Oddmob tearing the roof off with a comprehensive summary of 2015 in club music.
[caption id="attachment_65262" align="aligncenter" width="610"]
Photo credit Jayden Ostwald[/caption]
Day Two was the start of the festival proper and there wasn't any wasting time with Jakubi ripping through a well received set of energetic funk rock and teenage unearthed alumni Joy's ethereal dream pop washing over the crowd as they awaited the arrival of Jamie xx.
Stepping up barely past 2 in the afternoon for what was the first of many early sets from headline acts Jamie was flanked by two speaker stacks pointing directly at himself, a single disco ball a good 20 meters above his head and a couple crates of records on the table behind him. Capping off a banner year which saw his immersive In Colours grace every year end list (most importantly ours) the typically understated Londoner span through an eclectic mix of his influences from early garage to old school acid all the way back to some extended disco edits that fully justified the lonely disco ball.
From his celebration of all things ravey 'Gosh'; to the biggest reminder that we need a new The XX album 'Loud Places'; to the "this song is so amazing, but I don't know how it works" 'Sleep Sound'; Jamie uses his own tracks to builds meaning to his own songs whilst bringing often distant music closer to the ears of his fans. I imagine plenty left without realising he didn't even drop his biggest hit, because there was no need for any added 'Good Times' to this expert mix.
Over to the dance tent, and unfortunately the only person at the festival wearing a pink Von Dutch cap (2016 trend prediction), Yung Lean made his long awaited debut down under. The Stockholm sad boy was bouncing around on stage not looking very sad at all, feeding off the energy of his crazed fans who he matched for enthusiasm the whole way, as he rapped through a flurry of internet bangers. The crowd helped elevate his performance to the next level with the assembled mass, easilly wearing more merch, more towels on heads and bringing more props (Arizona iced tea and Pokemon cards) than any other fans at the fest
Backed by a giant shiny Australian emblem Client Liaison's laidback Aussie/business casual approach to 80's new wave was a perfect way to kick off the evening. Synchronised dance moves, big hair and matching pastel tracksuits were all essential ingredients. Plus there had been murmurs going round the festival about a super secret Aussie legend would be joining them at the end of their set. It wasn't much of a surprise then when Daryl Braithwaite joined them onstage for a huge sing-along of 'Horses', which was pure highlight reel material. Daryl left the stage and they rode a groove for a couple minutes as vocalist Monte Morgan threw a sixer of Fosters into the crowd before launching into a massive cover of INXS' 'Need You Tonight' whilst images of parliament house shone on the screen behind them.
[caption id="attachment_65265" align="aligncenter" width="610"]
Client Liason were joined by an old man. Photo Credit Jayden Ostwald[/caption]
Following up Client Liaison was someone actually alive in the 80s, at 38 years old Pusha T was practically a grandpa at the very youth oriented festival, but he brought the party with nothing but new tracks and hit collaborations to the stage. The GOOD music don tore through several cuts from his fantastic new album, King Push: Darkest Before Dawn, before launching into a medley of collaborations with his old boss Kanye West. 'Mercy', 'Don't Like' and 'Runaway' all drawing big reactions from the crowd.
Over in the dance tent Snakehips had the crowd singing along with 'All My Friends', before Boys Noize smashed through to midnight with an aggressive blend of techno and tech-house on an impressively lit stage with a stark projections of some sort of industrialised hell. RL Grime came out all guns blazing mixing a song a minute as he tore his way through pretty much every big trap hit of the past couple years making good use of his vast catalogue of remixes and edits. He left the crowd constantly guessing, switching between the builds and drops of every song. He nearly brought me to tears with Skream's eternal remix of La Roux's 'In For The Kill' which he mixed into a hyper D'n'B edit of his hit track 'Core' for the most 'euphoric' EDM moment of the festival.
Anna Lunoe's return to Australia after an absolutely massive year in the US was full of her trademark bass-line stompers which had the pavilion tent absolutely jumping whilst Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs took the main stage on a ride through his deep pockets of off-kilter house in what was a ridiculous clash of two of the most interesting DJs on the line up. When TEED dropped R. Kelly's classic 'Ignition Remix' at 2am it was a very obvious point of no return, to paraphrase Kells, "after the party is a whole 'nother day of the festival with expected 40 degree heat" and off to bed i went.
[caption id="attachment_65266" align="aligncenter" width="610"]
Skepta ft. 40 degree heat. Photo by Jayden Ostwald[/caption]
New Year's Eve and the weatherman certainly got it right with just a small few waiting around the main stage minutes before Skepta emerged for his incredibly early set. He had been helicoptered in straight from Melbourne airport and by the end of his first song you’d think the crowd was too, with masses appearing out of nowhere to see the veteran London MC spit. He blitzed through an energetic set of his old school classics and nu school hits with a 10 minute medley of him and fellow BBK member Shorty rapping over some classic grime beats to try and connect with the many fans clearly new to this genre since the Drake and Kanye cosigns in early 2015, A massive circle pit opened up as he 'Shutdown' his set when he played "the song you've all came here to see" with body’s falling all over each other as the security hosed the crowd down in a vain attempt to fight the heat.
UV Boi offered some respite from the heat as the dance tent opened a couple hours later than would've been nice. I could barely stand at the start of the set due to the heat, but I couldn't stop dancing by the end as the whole tent bounced with him through a high energy mix of his own tracks and remixes with rap acapellas slapped on top to give the crowd something to yell other than his name. Everyone was feeling the LUV, but I was feeling the heat more than anything and with apologies to Oscar Key Sung and Touch Sensitive who I'm sure were great, i retreated to the shade of my campsite until sundown.
[caption id="attachment_65275" align="aligncenter" width="610"]
The weather as captured by my camera[/caption]
With the sun down low and the temperature 'dropping', the coolest man in techno Seth Troxler, very out of place between the phenomenally gifted singing of George Maple and the funky hip hop of Remi, laid down the longest and most focused set of an unapologetically maximalist festival. His usual techno assault mixed with some choice disco edits to let people catch their breath.
Over on the main stage Tkay Maidza made her final ascension towards becoming a genuine festival superstar playing the last set of 2015 at what is surely the last festival she hasn't played at yet, with a huge crowd watching her bounce around the stage one last time this year. Flight Facilities brought in 2016 like a cool breeze as they took the crowd on a magical run through their biggest hits and classic remixes including their now classic interpolation of Pure Imagination from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which mixes sublimely into the haunting trance inducing odyssey (and their best song) 'Clair De Lune'
From then on, it was left to local heroes Benson and Dom Dolla to carry the party well into the New Year and whilst many, myself included had well and truly retired for the year you could still hear the crowd screaming well into the early hours as the familiar dooka dooka derrs of 'Sandstorm' rang out around the valley. As we drove off the next morning through fields of abandoned tents and some of the best food trucks I've ever seen at a festival, it was clear Beyond The Valley had found a great new home in only its second year, this festival is definitely on the up.
Words by Alex Whitney
SEE ALSO:
More From Our Network
