Words and photography by Sam Elliott and Matilda Elliott.

Festival of the Sun provided positive vibes, amazing tunes and fun memories that will last a lifetime - maybe the festival did not achieve its namesake and provide the Sun, but, we are happy to excuse this as we gleaned happy, sunny memories.

We attended the three-day festival with three of our mates who have also held onto tickets from their original sale in 2020. The lineup may have changed a fair few times, but we were happy to get on the road and drive to Port Macquarie.

When we finally got to our campsite, we were placed neatly in a corner, right next to large fences and Wizards of Foresight (festival attendees who decided to stay in warm cabins rather than camp out in the swamp with the other gremlins). Following a big afternoon of setting up, we went to bed exhausted and dangerously early for our usual liking. To our surprise, we were lulled to sleep with our next-door camp neighbour's choice of tunes; Disney music cranked from what felt like was a private show, right inside our tents. Maybe some Aladdin hits would have made the exchange a little sweeter for us.

The Buoys

On our first official day of the festival, we were greeted by hoards of rain, however, the weather had no choice but to calm down for the absolute rays of sunshine that are The Buoys.

Dominating the stage, the quartet played from their heart-wrenching and vivacious catalogue. The entire vibe of the crowd was jovial, yet intensely emotional, and the sand below our feet began to flick around and squelch as strangers became friends with their arms wrapped around each other collectively screaming along to the heart-wrenching Triple J hottest 100 placing ballad Lie to me again.

We are always put into a trance with the sheer power of The Buoy’s stage presence, from lead singer and guitarist Zoe’s unique voice that makes you want to shed a tear whilst shredding on the dance floor, to Hillary the absolute guitar goddess, who puts her entire soul into her riffs, allowing the music to completely encompass her in the most extraordinary way, to Courtney the bassist with the magic touch, keeping the tempo and cool vibes within the quartet, all whilst taking time to smash out a VB and smirk to the crowd. Last but not least you, of course, cannot forget about the drum Queen Doctor Tess, who much like Courtney, is the backbone to The Buoy’s beats. With Tess on the drums, listeners know they are in pure enigmatic, rocksteady hands. We left this set feeling extremely, ridiculously giddy-happy, like we could conquer anything the world threw in our direction. The Buoys are going to keep continuing to capture the hearts and souls of all who listen to them.

San Cisco

Admittedly, we hid under covers and away from the rain’s wrath for at least the first half of San Cisco’s headlining set. Once we were finally able to push ourselves to emerge from our damp campsite clad in our rain ponchos that truly were put to the test all day, we wandered into the crowd and stood struck with hundreds of people collectively in awe as the riff for their light-sounding, yet heavy track, On the Line, began. No longer were we freezing punters in the rain; we were transported into a waterfall oasis. Of course, the set ended with a bang, with their hit Too Much Time Together.

After the set finished, many punters, ourselves included, completely forgot about the debilitating downpour. As we walked back to our bog and swamp-like campsites, we felt light with laughter and spirited conversations. Our night ended with beer pong in the pouring rain with our camp neighbours. As the sky plummeted upon us, our ping pong ball did not bounce. The game had to be modified to allow brutish throws across the table to get the balls into red cups. Deep and meaningful conversations that felt like bonding and enriching experiences diverged into some of the most mundane and silly questions. Our conversations were overdrawn due to collective exhaustion, yet a strong yearning to hang onto the moment of human connection with our fellow punters, lasted a little longer.

Fungas

Feeling dusty, damp, delirious and giddy, we began our second day with the funky and trippy tunes from passionate four-piece from Awabakal/Worimi, Fungas.

As this was the first time the sun gleamed upon us during the festival, we are all very happy to not be clad in raincoats and dripping umbrellas. It was nice to not feel like a damp towel for a set or two!

Onto the stage popped Fungas, this psych-rock foursome. Think if King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and Crocodylus had a super talented, super iconic love child. Swinging around the stage, really encompassing the feelings from both their words and notes, playing a multitude of instruments and putting in kooky sounds through keyboard (which was often played with the instrumentalist standing facing away from the keyboard!) and harmonica, the band sure knew how to get the people moving!

“This song is a fast one, get rowdy,” lead singer and guitarist, Frazer said with a grin slapped across his face.

Ask and you shall receive, Frazer! The punters quickly took to this suggestion, obliging and creating a giant circle in the pit for endless possibilities it seemed. Some danced across the circle, moshing, playing a game of chicken to see if they would get tackled or boofed. Some standing ready to face the brunt of others bashing into them, others walking across the circle and crowd like they were in some kind of silly-walking Monty Python sketch.

If you are a fan of a garage-rock psych trip, Fungas should definitely be in your wheelhouse. We left as big fans!

The Rions

Once the day ended and the music of night two began, us punters were in a strange purgatory of feeling both invigorated, yet absolutely exhausted. This could be due to the crippling hangovers finally beginning to kick in from the days prior, or, it could also have been from the battles punters faced with mother nature - In a nod to those fellas who sing September, the Earth was moving in forms of mud and torrential rain. The wind made its way through every campsite, swag and tent crevasse, and fire? That simply wasn't allowed but would have been a welcome guest in our eyes.

The Triple J Unearthed High winners of 2021, The Rions were up next, playing as the sun began to sink, quickly replaced by darkness. They were faced with a crowd blanketing them, beaming at the high school mates. The Rions spill genuine love and passion for their craft. You could see on their faces that this set was something they had simply dreamed of doing only months prior to popping the Triple J win under their belt. All that lunchtime chat and arvos spent in band practice definitely paid off!

The foursome from Gadigal then play their catalogue to fans, who were hanging off every word. The crowd then erupt in a fit of euphoria when the band begin playing latest single Dissasociation, which is a refreshing take on mental health and loss of clarity. The crowd screamed along word for word to the band and Sam jumped onto a mate’s shoulders to scream the words back to the band in a state of glee. The Rions finished their set with original favourite that rocketed The Rions to many of our ears. Night Light sent the crowd into a rambunctious fit of pure joy.

We were itching to see The Rions since they had popped onto our radar and they did not disappoint. We can’t wait to see them again, hopefully in better weather conditions.

Hermitude

Last but not least, the final set of the festival was Hermitude. After playing a drinking game called ‘Rage Cage’ with some of our neighbours across the road, to our terror, we were late to the set!

Giggling and jogging (we realised these are two terrible things to do at the same time, by the way) we ran to the set.

The grounds were littered with people covered in glitter and LED lights, with smiles plastered on their faces and a collective heartbeat to the whopping sounds of the Mirror Mountain proteges.

Hermitude brought an electrifying amount of fun, mixing well-known tunes with some of their beats, to playing some of their original tracks. We came into the set not knowing enough of the band. Now, we kick ourselves that we hadn’t jumped on the Hermitude train sooner. We left the set absolutely beaming and cannot wait to jive to them again as soon as we can!

So there we have it!

There was something special about this festival. Although almost two years later than when it was initially meant to be held, Festival of the Sun Festival truly felt like no time had passed in between. It was so blissful to see people ecstatic, creating comradery with new people, feeling like we have all reunited with old friends.

These moments in time are captivating to us, and show the importance of these events. We were truly so grateful to be back and giddy at Festival of the Sun in 2022.

Although we are truly poster children for camping novices (accidental sun tent included!) we cannot wait to kick back at this festival again!