By Sofia Silvestrini
Dalton Park Wollongong 17/18 April
April 20, 2021
Around 14,000 super keen punters rolled into Yours and Owls Festival’s new home, Dalton Park, for NSW’s first major music festie since the start of the pandemic. Keeping things COVID-safe meant this event was going to be a bit different from previous years. Main acts performed on two rotating stages which could be seen and heard from all angles thanks to state-of-the-art PA systems and large video screens. The festival itself was split into four sections – blue, purple, yellow and peach, and patrons had to stay in their chosen section for the duration of the event.
A couple of the early acts battled some technical gremlins, but the crowd didn’t mind as it’s all part of the live music experience we’d been missing and craving. Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, Shining Bird and Cry Club warmed us up nicely ahead of hip hop triple hit Phi11a, Nerve and JK-47. Sydney’s Phi11a kept the language philthy and the autotune thick throughout his set while climbing scaffolding and speakers and bouncing around. Last minute addition to the line up Nerve upped the energy with his incredible tight flows and genre-switching beats. I didn’t want his set to end, so when he announced he’d be joining JK-47 for some jams I was stoked. JK-47 also brought Adrian Eagle out for a track. ‘The Recipe’ closed out the collab-heavy set, which pumped us right up for Clowns.
The Melbourne punk-rockers were loud, messy, and FUN. Everything you want from a punk set at a festival. Great stuff. Adrian Eagle got us to put our Ls up for love, B Wise brought smooth hip hop flavours back, and then it was time for the powerhouse that is Haiku Hands who gave us face paint, choreo, sweet beats and a stage dive/crowd surf combo to close their set. HELL. YES.
The Vanns were up next. Punters lapped up everything the local lads had to offer, including tracks off 2019 LP Through the Walls and their stunning Like A Version (Bon Iver’s ‘Hey, Ma’). They just get better and better each time I see them. Keeping the rock ‘n’ roll going on the revolving stage, The Smith Street Band caused a glorious ruckus, and punters surged to the front. Smithies had to stop their set while an announcement was made urging patrons to take a step back, return to their seats, and remember COVID-safe plan. Rebellious peach zone punters were called out a few times during the weekend as taking the longest, and the event’s signature chant – ‘fuck you peach’ – was born as a result.
Wil Wagner and co. were so good that momentum wasn’t lost after any interruptions. They closed their set with festival anthem ‘Death to the Lads’. What a banger.
Winston Surfshirt hit the stage while we danced in search of dinner, wading through the zebra-print, bucket hat-clad crowd to the food trucks. The temperature started to drop and the merch purchases – particularly hoodies – started to rise. Dope Lemon oozed cool throughout their sun-drenched, stoner rock set. DMA’s were tighter than ever and had the crowd singing beautifully. And then it was time for one of the most anticipated acts of day one – Tones and I.
A lot was going on during this set; cover songs, multiple back up dancers/hype people, many interruptions (fuck you peach), FIREWORKS!! and of course – “I don’t know if you’ll know this next song or not, but it’s called ‘Dance Monkey’”. Boom. Tones and I raised the bar very high for What So Not, but he had nothing to worry about. Anyone that drops t.A.T.u.’s ‘All the Things She Said’ into their set is a winner in my eyes. Unfortunately, the crowd was frothing so hard that the record for set interruptions was broken, with What So Not going into school teacher mode telling off peach in particular and warning that we might not get day two if we didn’t settle down. Punters did behave eventually, the party continued on and off the stage, and with massive grins on our faces we poured off the footy field to recharge for tomorrow.
After a very grey Saturday, it was nice to get some sun on day two. Slightly fatigued punters went straight for the seats during the early acts to secure a spot up front as a crowd controlling fence went up overnight to help people stick to the COVID-safe plan. Yours Truly smashed their set and created quite a buzz amongst punters. Fans of Paramore should definitely check them out.
Beautiful angel on earth George Alice had us all sweetly swaying and singing along, in particular to her jam ‘Circles’ and a great cover of Tove Lo’s ‘Habits (Stay High). No Money Enterprise bounded on stage full of energy but lacking in voices. They pushed through vocal issues though and played a bunch of their songs (‘Mamacita’ twice!) and some DMX in tribute to the late rapper.
Children Collide brought the noise and had us headbanging and wishing we could play guitar with our teeth like front man Johnny. More please. Thomas Headon followed, and while he is not my shot of tequila, I can see how he appeals to Ruel fans.
Exploding with emotion and energy, Slowly Slowly got us moving, singing, and crying (or was that just me?) ‘Jellyfish’ got the biggest crowd response, but ‘Race Car Blues’ is well on its way to overtake in future. Running Touch followed and kept us buzzing, performing around a ladder that didn’t seem to be used for anything during the set? Outstanding. Cosmo’s Midnight were up next. Peach zone started playing up again, and ONLY peach zone according to the announcers, so the eff you chant was louder than ever. After a bumpy start due to the interruptions, CM got us grooving as the sun went down.
Hometown heroes Hockey Dad were up next. Quality between-song banter as per usual, including drummer Billy asking what we had been wondering all weekend – can the rotating stages go any faster…? A Pavement cover and a choice selection of HD jams old and new made for one of the most memorable sets of the festival. Overheard in the crowd – ‘Hockey Dad? More like Hockey Rad!’ Eye-roll inducing sure, but true.
Triple J kings Lime Cordiale hit the stage in their suits and thanked Quasimodo under the stage for making it turn. They played hit after hit, including their Like A Version ‘I Touch Myself’, which had punters running in from each corner of the field.
Hayden James’ set seemed a bit flat after the Lime Cordiale excitement, but had patrons dancing nonetheless, warming muscles up for festival closers Pnau. WOW. From ‘Wild Strawberries’ through to ‘Chameleon’, Pnau had EVERYONE in that field dancing and smiling and loving life the whole set. A perfect way to end a glorious weekend.
Fuck you peach.
Long live Yours & Owls!
