Sundowner Tourist Park, Port Macquarie
December 8-10, 2016 :
The second weekend of December is without a doubt one of the busiest times of the year for Port Macquarie with thousands of music devotees swarming to the area for Festival of the Sun. Running for over a decade, the iconic festival has an unsullied reputation. THEY BRING THE GOOD VIBES. Every time.
Deep Sea being the theme this year prompted many bizarre costume and prop choices. The anticipated lobsters, mermaids and crabs were running a muck along with crowd surfing inflatable dolls and men in dresses.
Aussie hip-hop made a huge dent in this year’s line-up with L-FRESH The LION, Urthboy and Seth Sentry taking out major time slots. The man that is L-FRESH The LION lured in a giant crowd and had everyone chanting Punjabi lingo.
Unfortunately technical issues plagued the FOTSUN stage this year with many acts encountering problems. The worst affected, Boo Seeka, had to cut their set short but not before playing crowd pleasers ‘Kingdom Leader’, ‘Deception Bay’ and ‘Oh My’. The two key female acts on the bill, Tash Sultana and Montaigne were nothing short of perfection. Whilst Tash’s performance transported you to another realm, Montaigne had you right there with her, screaming along with her anthemic voice.
Rackett appeared dressed head to toe in silver futuristic costume, which looked very much like it had been made from car shades. The bluesy tones of Sahara Beck were a nice contrast to the punk rock saturated sounds of the stage but of course Dumb Punts and Dune Rats came out and exploded any feeling of relaxation. Death circles, parachutes and crowd surfing erupted with everyone belting Dali Lama, Big Banana, Marijuana. The Smith Street Band kept the levels at peak until Seth Sentry closed out the festival.
A sense of community within the FOTSUN campsite is definitely another unique factor that contributes to its success, as parties continued long after the main stage closed. Encouraging shouts from one campsite to ‘pop a tit’ and ‘crack out a nut’ to playing the Dunies odds game with another, I’d say it’s pretty hard to leave without making at least one new friend.
Reviewer : Louie Smith
Photographer : Ben Hunt
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