Somewhere between the rise of the bruss and the popularisation of that thing Americans call EDM, punters in Australia started complaining about the festival scene. They did have a point: recycled lineups, obnoxiously large act clashes and a swarm of people who’d forgotten about the music thanks to a dip in a bag they bought from a stranger. Thus, saviors are few and far between, but we’re having trouble describing the upcoming Listen Out tour as anything else.
One of the first things we noticed was that the lineup wasn’t on steroids. Trust us, this isn’t a bad thing: there are already enough steroids at festivals these days. The people behind Listen Out have managed to curate a group of artists who are absolutely complimentary, offering the crowd a silver platter of the finest trendsetters in the current electronic realm. Rather than dodging stages and fleeing from acts you pray don’t ever get played on the radio again (where you at, Pitbull?), you’re opened up to musicians you do and don’t know, enjoying every moment of it – because that’s exactly what the organisers intended.
So, what about the clashes? Forget it. Clashes are a thing of the past. By focusing on a smaller number of acts and tailoring their offerings, Listen Out have happily said goodbye to those annoying sprints between arenas. It’s all well and good for a festival to put 30,000 acts on 20 billion stages over 2 days, but when the inflated ticket price creeps in and the realisation that more acts doesn’t mean more viewing time, it’s all a bit unnecessary. Settle in at a stage and enjoy your day, and if you do by chance want to visit another, do it; they’re super close together anyway. A short walk and you can switch between Duke Dumont and TNGHT, or Azealia Banks and AlunaGeorge. They’ve even scheduled all other stages to end at 8:30pm so everyone can experience Disclosure live. It’s the little things, right?
That whole ethos – the little things – is the centerpiece of this festival: not obnoxious, not overstated, not unjust, just a finely tuned culmination of a true understanding of what the Australian public want. The VIP area actually looks like a VIP area, rather than a cesspit engulfed by smelly port-a-loos. The location is a place you actually want to spend a day, rather than a glorified jail of dust, clinging to every inch of your body. It’s hard to think of anything better than partying in the middle of the CBD, cocktail in hand, right next to the Brisbane river, with the Brisbane Eye staring down at you – or you staring down at the crowd if you decide to take the ride.
I never thought I’d see the day when someone actually delivered on that ‘important person’ promise, but it seems Listen Out have done it. They’ve created something that you want to be a part of, not because you feel obliged or because of FOMO, but because it’s packaged as an experience. There’s something about the authenticity of a lineup with such a focused direction that makes it feel so much more like a party and so much less like a festival. But call it whatever the bloody hell you want – by the time you leave you’ll only be calling it amazing.
Ladies and gentlemen, Listen Out is the Cornetto of the festival realm – no boring bits. See you there.
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