Live Review: Newtown Festival

All of Sydney was in Newtown on Sunday for what was without a doubt the biggest Newtown Festival of recent memory. The bands knew it too, as they seemed keen to appear in their most energetic form, rejuvenated enough to reinvigorate the sun-struck crowd.

Community spirit was high, walkways were packed, the audio quality was just ok and nobody gave a damn. Out-of-place stalls such as the bubble-blowing machine and tongue whistle guy were a bum note, as they continued to try and break out of the festival scene and into everyday society. Their perseverance is certainly admirable; it’s their suckyness that sucks. Even the kids of Newtown looked at these stall-owners with disdain, no longer impressed by the miracles of soap-filled or wind-blown air.

It was this and the lack of good alcohol options that were the only sore points. The charitable organisations have finally learned to balance education and awareness without getting all in your face, which was refreshing.

After everyone had managed to calm down from the high drama of the dog show and had made the harrowing lunch decision between “everybody look at me I’ve got food on a stick” or something that actually tasted nice, they were treated to Richard In Your Mind, who were breezy relaxation personified, impressing on the Federation Stage. Tigertown followed with a sound that was custom-built for the festival scene, as their low-key reverb-soaked wonders travelled through the air and up the hill like an airborne virus. They had everyone infected.

It was too much to do in so little time as the crowd were handed their second harrowing decision of the day; The Donny Benet Show Band or sleepmakeswaves? Some were far too torn by this decision and instead decided to go relax on 2SER’s ambient lounges or paint some sort of hat-like thing in the Kids Zone, pointing at random kids and saying “That’s my little boy,” if anyone questioned their presence.

Deep Sea Arcade were a fitting end to an action-packed day as they tore the house down and chilled everyone the fuck out in equal doses, and they finally churned out some new tunes, which were a long time coming. Nic McKenzie’s voice is enchanting, the vocal melodies out-mustering the plodding psychedelic instrumentation. The crowd screamed for an encore at the end of the set and they comically opined that they “didn’t have enough time” before rattling off a 20-minute speech about all the good places to go after the festival. Priorities people.