Live Review: Farmer & The Owl Festival

Yours & Owls is the gift to Wollongong that just keeps on giving. We’re barely six months removed from the incredible weekend that was the Yours & Owls Festival and organisers are back with another day of awesome, alternative live music. The fact that they chose to go ahead with this festival in the face of an uncertain future for the state of live music in NSW, is another reminder that the team at Yours & Owls is all about bringing live music to the ‘Gong and keeping their ever-expanding community growing. 

Clea opened the main stage strong with her enchanting melodies. It’s a shame the only people there were photographers, reviewers ('sup?) and just a handful of fans but that’s the nature of the beast when it comes to early festival spots. Her cover of Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus’ Nothing Breaks Like A Heart was genuinely heartwarming and showed off the clear chemistry she shared with her guitarist who joined in on the vocals. 

Enfant Terrible immediately won the crowd over. Short, gritty rock songs that hit hard were their MO. Playing at the Let Burelli Be Stage benefited the band as the graffiti-covered walls enclosing the area allowed for the noise to bounce off the walls and create an even bigger impact. 

Up next were two solo acts Fascinator and Milan Ring. These two artists played one after the other on different stages and, given their very similar setups, it’s hard not to compare them. Fascinator rocked the main stage with a guitar, laptop, and MIDI controller. The music itself was well composed cosmic psychedelia but this mainly came courtesy of queues from his laptop. He contributed spacey vocals and long, sustained guitar notes but, as a live performance, it fell flat. 

Milan Ring, on the other hand, put her stunning vocals to the forefront of her music and while there were some backing tracks used, they only supplemented the incredible guitar solos that made up a fair chunk of her show. Incorporating a lot of guitar and vocal looping into her set was also a nice touch. 

It was later in the afternoon when Stella Donnelly took control of the main stage to a sizeable audience. Her palpable charisma, energetic banter and emotionally evocative tunes were top-tier stuff, completely winning over the audience. Mechanical Bull and her well documented breakout hit Boys Will Be Boys were must-listens. 

Coming down from Donnelly’s emotionally reeling set, electronic artist Planete was the pick-me-up we needed. It’s nightlife music that would’ve been going off had it been, well, night, but that's not Planete’s fault. The dude had crazy good skills that were underutilised in this odd timeslot, as people were mainly sitting in the shade listening to music that was obviously made for dancing to.

Flyying Colours put on what felt like one long, lively jam session. The bass was beating in our chests and the drummer rarely stopped. Other notable rock bands on the day who jammed heavy and hard included Wax Chattels. On an alternative music line-up, this New Zealand trio were far and away the most alternative and captured everyone’s attention. RVG were another standout rock act. Their song I Used To Love You was emotionally poignant and well delivered by frontwoman Romy Vager. Amyl & The Sniffers immediately followed this up by working the Forest Stage moshpit into a frenzy, and from there it was all out chaos. 

Flint Eastwood’s lead lady Jax Anderson had no lack of confidence or energy and used all of it to get as much of a reaction out of the sparse crowd as she could. Revitalising for some and awkward for others, the Detroit outfit refused to let their audience stand idly by as they mustered as much noise out of them as possible during the set. 

The connection between the crowd and Rat Hammock at the Let Burelli Be Stage was easier going as they played their indie-rock tracks. Those who stuck around (and plenty did) were also treated to two more delightful sets. Perth artist Carla Geneve captivated the crowd and gained their respective silence with her brooding, introspective songs that also had plenty of fierce, angry energy. Sweater Curse doubled down on this energy in front of a receptive crowd. Their final track Can’t See You Anymore had everyone’s hands raised and ensured they left a mark. 

Back to the main stage and it was time for one of the most anticipated artists of the day, Snail Mail. The American indie-rock prodigy is only 19 years old but had no problem leading her band in front of the largest audience of the day so far. Her voice was the same perfect mix of reverb and airiness, featuring fuzzy guitar tones, as can be heard on her debut album Lush.

As the day went on, the energy (and numbers) of the crowd picked up significantly. This worked perfectly for hard-hitting punk group TOTTY who fed off this audience well. Their tracks Uncomfortable and Sigh were rock bangers and hopefully a sign of good things to come from this upstart Wollongong band. 

It was almost time for the main acts to start but before that, two honourable mentions. The first goes to Rhye for, one, fitting seven band members onto such a tiny stage and two, for performing the most groovy, well-crafted tracks of the night. The second goes to Kirin J Callinan whose eye-popping performance felt like a direct challenge to writers to even try to put it into words. 

Beach House on the main stage had an enchanting, otherworldly presence. Remaining silhouettes from start to finish, the now three-piece from the States had an hour to work with and made the most of every minute. Diehard fans would have to wait until the end of the set for crowd-pleasers Space Song and Myth but it didn’t matter because Beach House’s set was all about the journey. The swirling of the synths and the sliding of the guitar made for an immersive experience. These moments of tranquility would be broken up by moments of immediate intensity with the bashing of the drums, before calming down and going back to the peace and tranquility once again. 

It was very appropriate and touching to have Hockey Dad - a band that have become so deeply embedded within the Wollongong music industry - get the well-deserved honour of headlining the Farmer & The Owl Festival. The duo earned their keep with reliably thunderous and festival-friendly rock tracks. Whether because of the catchy choruses of Join The Club and A Night Out With or the outright craziness of the mosh during Homely Feeling, the crowd was picking up everything Hockey Dad was putting down. They closed the night with glee and sent everyone home happy. It was a successful, but possibly somewhat underattended festival that introduced some great up-and-coming bands to a whole lot of new faces.