Even though the weather didn’t live up to its name, Festival of the Sun was a brilliant exhibition of Australian talent once again in 2022.
If you’ve never been to Festival of the Sun, it’s honestly one of the most unique and enjoyable Australian festival. The event transforms Port Macquarie’s Breakwall Tourist Park into a two-stage festival, booking out the accommodation for attendees.
Unfortunately I missed out on the stacked Friday lineup, with the likes of San Cisco, A. Swayze & The Ghosts, First Beige, Ruby Fields, Middle Kids, and The Buoys hitting the stage for the first day of the festival.
Luckily, Saturday’s lineup was just as mouth watering, with Skegss, The Rions, Kim Churchill, Hermitude, Hayley Mary, and plenty more talent gearing up for their sets.
Newy four-piece Fungas were an early crowd favourite, with an energetic delivery of their B-52’s and Frank Zappa inspired brand of psych rock.
The sky finally opened up during the set from The Oogars, but if anything, the crowd grew after a quick sprint back to grab raincoats from campsites.
Hayley Mary and Concrete Surfers soundtracked the barely visible sunset, transmitting infectious guitar riffs as the festival geared up for a night of dancing.
Then, as usual, Kim Churchill left Port Macquarie awestruck by his musical prowess on basically every instrument under the sun, simultaneously shredding on an acoustic guitar and nailing technical harmonica melodies, all the while maintaining perfect rhythm on a kick drum.
Being a BYO festival meant that by 7pm there was an array of people waving goon bags that had been blown up like balloons, and a general air of looseness hanging above the muddy ground.
Skegss had the crowd singing every word back to them, and provided a very wholesome moment as they brought Kim Churchill back on stage to play harmonica as they finished the set off with Picturesque Moment.
Berlin via Sydney Italia disco duo Lazywax were the perfect transition into the headline set, transfiguring the mosh into a dance floor fit for funk for the entirety of their 45-minute set.
Then to cap off the day, Hermitude laid down filthy beats, blending remixes with originals from their new record Mirror Mountain, plus favourites from Dark Night Sweet Light, and HyperParadise.
Long live coastal festivals!
