Live Review: Born In Geelong Festival

It’s Alice Ivy that best sums up the Born In Geelong Festival at the Little Creatures Brewery. She’s jumping around on stage in front of a small but growing crowd and it feels almost like local high school show. "I’m from Geelong," she yells, "and I’m ready to have a fucking sick time with you. I worked at Subway next to Village Cinemas – fuck yeah, Subway." She’s made the jump from sandwich artist to music artist and she’s obviously pretty happy about it, but who wouldn’t be? Following performances from PLANET and Ro, who aren’t actually from Geelong – the festival is more a showcase of Australian talent – Ivy’s set sees an influx of punters enter the brewery’s car park. 

Alex Ivy. Photos by Lucinda Goodwin.

There are two stages at Born In Geelong Festival: the main stage in the car park and a K Rock locals' stage down what could be loosely termed as a laneway. Think bricks and mortar and a warren of little streets leading to a silent disco and the brewery hall itself. The silent disco’s space is shared with rows of benches and while it’s strange to see someone munching on a burger while silent discoing, there’s definitely a bit of a vibe happening. The Furphy flows and the sun comes out and the weather conditions recede to nothing but an Antarctic gale. It’s the perfect setting for Didirri.

Didirri. Photos by Lucinda Goodwin.

Didirri is as angelic as ever and captivates the still relatively small crowd. His set includes favourites like Blind You and Jude as well as new track Blue Mood Rising and the duet Tea Stains, for which Ro joins him on stage. Their voices are complementary and the crowd is complimentary, belting out the lyrics with gusto. The set wraps up and we go our separate ways – some to the bar, some to the disco, some to the brewery. The more, ah, mature among us stick with the main stage to see British India, who mix things up with songs both new and old. A rendition of Vanilla is particularly appreciated, as is a cover of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ The Impression That I Get, and the crowd grows towards the end of the set in preparation for Alex Lahey.

Alex Lahey. Photos by Lucinda Goodwin.

Alex Lahey puts on a fun, energetic performance and there’s a huge buzz in the air after I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself brings her set to an end. The black Kathmandu puffer jackets are coming out now – born in South Yarra might be a more appropriate name for this stage of the festival – and Allday comes on to a chilly atmosphere, which he does little to alleviate. Call it the weather, call it the 7.5 hours of drinking, but something about the set just doesn’t strike a chord despite delivering all the classics.

Allday. Photos by Lucinda Goodwin.

The final act is Brisbane band Ball Park Music – if you haven’t seen them before, make it a priority. There’s a massive crowd, who are treated to hit after hit. Ball Park knock it out of the ballpark with a monster set that features songs like Coming Down, She Only Loves Me When I’m There and, of course, It’s Nice To Be Alive. And you know what? It is nice to be alive and to be in Geelong. The vibe of Born In Geelong has been phenomenal despite the weather and everyone was up for it – they still are as we walk to the station. Let’s hope the BIG Festival gets even bigger in 2020.

Ball Park Music. Photos by Lucinda Goodwin.