Fairbridge 2017 fast approaches!
This year, one of my favourite annual events is turning 25. She's part humble, Southwest darling, part globally recognised showcase of world-class musicianship and total frolicking good time, and her name is Fairbridge.
The Fairbridge Parade romps through the foreground with the Chapel towering overhead
Photo by Raw Image
Fairbridge Festival is a symbiotic cacophony of world/folk/blues/roots/dance/country and every sound in between... and it is less than two weeks away! 125 hand-picked acts (from a batch of over 500) will play in multiple venues over 4 densely fruit-filled days. This year the festival is brimming with old favourites like the cheeky punsters Inglorious Bardsterds, Iris, energetic alloy boys Junkadelic Brass Band, my Dad's personal favourite act The Ten Cent Shooters, The Chipolatas, and the ever-dreamy Andrew Winton. Aussie newcomers like the folking gorgeous French-Canadian Les Poules A Colin and Italian charmers Oi Dipnoi will fill out the mix. I'm particularly excited to see some local gems like Lucy Peach (off the back of her highly successful Fringe show), Pow Negro, Odette Mercy and Stella Donelly (whose glorious debut 'Thrush Metal' is the local feature on RTR this week!)
Victorian locals (but Fairbridge Virgins) Sex on Toast have been earmarked to spread their brand of funk-soul-swing improvisation to become hot favourites.
Food stalls photographed by Richard Watson
If these acts aren't enough to draw you into the Fairbridge fray, there are endless dance workshops, funky spaces, delicious foods and an additional bar set to lubricate the wildly danceable Hoopla stage. Come along and celebrate 25 years of what Fairbridge Ambassador Bernard Carney calls ‘planet Fairbridge' – "...a world away from reality."
