Words by Tehya Nicholas Images Supplied
As the state begins to peel back their layers of duffel down, cast aside the woolly hats, and reveal their vitamin-D deficient skin to the sun, so too is the planning for warmer days ramping up. Musical festivals are often the first cab off the rank in the booking-up of sunshine months and Bendigo has gifted us a new ripper: Almost Summer Music Festival.
The regional festival is exploding into its inaugural year with a huge lineup of local and national acts. Its headliners include Kardajala Kirridarra—the incredible all-female First Nations act from the Red Centre—singer-songwriter extraordinaire Gabriella Cohen, and critically acclaimed Melbourne five-piece Bananagun. Punters can also expect to catch a range of other artists across almost every musical genre: Geoffrey O’Connor, Pookie, PhoebeGo, Cool Sounds, Greatest Hits, Sunfruits, Freeds, Suzi, Carissa Nyalu, Nadia Phillips, Flora, and Aplegate all feature. To keep you dancing into the night, DJs Joey Lightbulb and DJ Friday are on deck with their original mixes of disco, house, funk, and more.
All acts will take to the one outdoor stage, located right beside historic Capital Theatre, across three days. The event is family-friendly and has been curated by experts to keep the vibes high. Plenty of locally sourced food and drinks are available for a pitstop in between boogies, and Bendigo Vinyl will host a pop-up record store throughout the event if you’re hoping to add to your record collection.
Creative Director of Hear Them Holler, the independent agency behind Almost Summer, Lior Albeck-Ripka says, “Curating Almost Summer Music Festival has been a dream come true. We’re getting to put on a festival that we want to go to! We’re beyond excited to have booked Kardajala Kirridarra — a band I’ve personally fawned over and who haven’t played in Victoria for over four years. Whilst we’re all experiencing one of the coldest winters ever in Victoria, we are busy planning this super fun all-inclusive festival of great music and food. We want the experience to be easy, relaxed and fun, and we’re thinking of all the things audiences will want so we have them on the ground ready to go.”
Almost Summer is a part of Victoria’s celebrated new statewide Always Live program centred on bringing world-class live music events to hungry gig-goers. Other acts include Dua Lipa at the Palais Theatre (sold out), Toro Y Moi at Northcote Town Hall, and many more.
Tickets to Almost Summer are limited to 500 per day to keep the shows intimate and to ensure plenty of dancing room. Punters can choose to purchase a pass for the entire three-day event or to pop in on individual days/nights. The full timeline of acts can be found on the Almost Summer website linked below. Tickets are available now.
THE DETAILS
WHAT: Almost Summer Music Festival
WHERE: View St, Bendigo VIC
WHEN: November 25-27 2022
MORE INFO: Almost Summer Music Festival
We wish to acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people as traditional owners of this land and to pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.
