Live Review: Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival Day Two

Don't be fooled by the name — the Beer & BBQ festival offers a lot more than just frothy beverages and smoky meats. Music is also a key ingredient and this year's list of performers had us salivating almost as much as the other offerings of the festival on this cool Saturday evening.

Located at the southern end of the Adelaide Showground, literally a stone's throw from the Sunday farmers market, the festival sits snug in a corner of the site that is largely unfamiliar to those in attendance. It's a great spot, offering plenty of room for the large crowd to roam and sample some brews across various cattle sheds and undercover areas. Everyone in attendance receives a beer mug (glass!) on arrival and from there it's up to you to decide what you wish to sample, with a good mixture of choice, volumes and prices available.

The great thing about this event is the variety of beers available across dozens of stalls — meaning that the wait time for a drink was negligible. The same couldn't be said for food queues, with huge line-ups and wait times, resulting in choices having to be made between music or food. With dozens of beer vendors offering taps at every turn, it was disappointing that there seemed to be only four or so food vendors. A sausage sizzle or two would have been a welcome addition to satiate those who weren't keen to wait for gourmet food and would rather spend their time (and money) enjoying the brews (and bands).

Thankfully, there was a fantastic line-up of music acts to keep us entertained while we stood waiting to sample some barbecued meats. Other nearby events included a tomahawk throwing competition. Yes, that's right, a festival that includes beer AND small axe throwing. Hats off to the madmen who thought this up.

By the time Bob Evans took to the stage, we were finally sucking on the arse-end of a spiced chicken and ready for some acoustic entertainment.

Evans is the alter ego of Jebediah frontman Kevin Mitchell, who has released several accomplished albums under that moniker. He embraced the theme of the night by drinking his favourite type of beer... wine... straight from the bottle. His signature solo songs like Me & My Friend had the front row swaying in time, while Don't Wanna Grow Up Anymore had heads nodding and drew approving grins from the growing crowd.

In response to calls for Jebediah songs, he joked, "Sorry guys I don't do covers," before teasing us with a riff and a sly, "Behave yourselves, Adelaide." Luckily for us, he eventually succumbed and treated us to a rare Bob Evans version of Harpoon, before finishing his set with Don't You Think It's Time?.

Another visit to the beer halls (and the food queues) took care of the next hour — and before we knew it Holy Holy drew us back to the main stage.

Opening with That Message, Holy Holy reminded us that they are one of Australia's most exciting guitar bands. Material from their second album, 2017's Paint, was outstanding tonight. Willow Tree complete with its hand-clapping solo was impressive, while Elevator was catchy as hell, highlighting Tim Carroll's amazing voice. The band's 50-minute set included a cover of Beyonce's Hold Up, but it wasn't until they closed with True Lovers that the crowd fully erupted.

This is a well-run and enjoyable event that is not just for beer snobs — and will hopefully evolve over time and continue to draw excellent musical guests.