Live Review: Yours & Owls Festival

The day began with a gorgeous coastal walk up and along the beach towards Stuart Park - the gorgeous green grounds in which Yours & Owls festival was situated. The land was littered with vintage stalls, food trucks plus plenty of art and culture surrounding the two stages to keep every punter satisfied throughout the whole weekend.

Nicole Millar completely illuminated the main stage with her stunning performance. She ploughed into her track Signal, from her sophomore EP to be released this month, which is effortlessly catchy while also being somewhat soothing. She performed he versions of Peking Duk's High (their single on which she features), with a slower intro that really drew the Yours & Owls audience in. Thelma Plum brought her little acoustic ditties to life on the main stage - her usual acoustic vibe really transformed in anticipation of a new release. The music changed to a more electronic frequency but, with the added drums and loops, her luscious vocals appeared so much richer especially in her track, Dollar.

REMI kicked off with his track XTC Party - a real banger that had the crowd going wild and really brought the energy of the whole festival up a notch. His set was packed with crowd-pleasing methods like tempo stops, starts and build-ups - his raps aggressive and hounding. Kilter really killed it, switching up the energy even further as he dropped Odesza's All We Need. It's hard to resist Kilter's reggae electronica and multifaceted performance skills as he mesmerises the crowd, not only with his tunes but also with his drumming, keyboard skills, guest vocalists and guitarist.

Client Liaison took to the stage as the sun started to set. They managed to outshine the sun's shimmer with their glittering '70s-inspired outfits and general flamboyance. Their set was filled with costume changes, outrageous dance moves and just overall clean and polished musicianship. World Of Our Love was really the standout track of the set though, as it seemed to reflect everything the band expressed visually and created a real marriage of the concepts.

Hockey Dad really stunned the crowd. Their huge sound managed to fill the grounds even though it only emerged from two Wollongong locals. The audience during this set were a mix of wild, friendly and chatty as they danced it out to the band's track Laura from their debut album Boronia. They ended the set with the tune I Need A Woman, which really just made everyone want to dance even more - this set seemed to finish way too early as it was such a jam! These guys really make you want to flip your hair around in the mosh.

When The Jezabels played Endless Summer within their set it showed that they are some really seasoned musicians.  The band's playing was so tight that we could have been listening to the recorded versions of the tracks. The quality and expression of lead vocalist Hayley Mary was particularly impressive.

Ball Park Music closed the night, the band showing off just how many absolute genius tunes they've made in the past couple of years. They opened with Everything Is Shit Except My Friendship With You - a really relatable ditty for the audience to latch onto. Their harmonies and exploding energy never died throughout the show as the audience sang along. Ball Park Music are one of those timeless indie-pop bands. They sped through tracks such as Surrender and It's Nice To Be Alive with ease - teasing the audience with extended instrumentals and surprise acoustic singalongs throughout.

Sunday seemed to be even more scorching than Saturday at Yours & Owls. This became obvious while having a boogie to Bec Sandridge's groovy tunes. Her band where all wearing white, looking very fresh but sweaty as they ploughed through a heap of smashing new songs such as High Tide (from her forthcoming EP release). Sandridge's track You're A Fucking Joke took the crown as her vibrato really shined.

Despite technical difficulties Little May still played a very short but sweet set full of wonders. Their harmonies flowed effortlessly over the acoustic-based chords. Little May really created a soothing environment, which the crowd loved. They bounced back into this mellow and majestic state for their tune Hide with its gorgeous acoustic guitar strums and haunting harmonies.

Vera Blue was really interesting as her music is a fusion of electronic and acoustic. The whole set was smooth and really ear-catching. Her opening tune Fingertips was a real example of this as the genres fused effortlessly while blending with her high falsetto and folky tone.

Beach rockers Skegss opened with their tune FUN. The audience was really jamming out and singing along as the band transitioned into the track My Face from their recently released EP Everyone Is Good At Something. The boys had a really magnetic affect on the audience, ploughing through the set with such ease while also radiating good vibes that spread around super quickly.

Tkay Maidza was easily the standout act of the festival. The whole crowd were on their feet in some kind of trance, zoned out but also zoned into her frequency. Maidza's stage presence was so electric as she performed the Martin Solveig tune she features on (Do It Right) without a hitch. Everything about the whole set was just illuminating and not one person stood still as she finished with MOB.

Hermitude proved the perfect act to end the show with their booming electronic reworks. They just ploughed through hit after hit and kept the crowd up on their toes, jittery and not wanting the night to end. They incorporated classics like The Lion Sleeps Tonight, then flipped out HyperParadise (that one Flume remixed), which scored an unreal reception from the crowd. Yours & Owls really killed it this year! Until next time.