Sydney festival The Plot returned to Parramatta Park on Saturday for a day of musical showcasing. It provided a very diverse range of music and artists, covering everything from electronic, acoustic, hip hop, rock n roll and indie from a mostly local line up. It spanned across four stages, each stage having a wonderful flow of music that was very well curated. The crowd was friendly, the event wasn’t over policed or heavy handed on security, and being an all ages festival, the bar lines were super quick (bonus). It was all in all a very warm and welcoming festival, no signs of aggression in the audience, everyone smiling and just enjoying themselves.
The “Mainstage” featured a mostly rock/indie rock presence, with favourites Ruby Fields, Confidence Man and Northeast Party House, personal favourite from the day was Confidence Man, who as always delivered a very high energy set with amazing curated dance moves to keep you engaged.
The “Duckpond” featured acts such as Skegss, Manu Crooks, Mallrat, Alex The Astronaut and Kuren. Due to clashes the only act I managed to catch was Kuren, who absolutely ripped the lid off the place, having a guest cameo from Dylan from Sticky Fingers, rapping on an unreleased tune. Despite it being such an early set, it was packed all the way out and really got the atmosphere turned on.
“High Society” stage featured in my opinion some of the best acts, with Ninajirachi, Stella Donnelly, Lastlings, Haiku Hands, Nyxen, Yunsta CPT and Alice Ivy. Unfortunately I missed both Stella Donnelly and Ninajirachi, however Nyxen delivered an amazing live performance, with really smooth and warm house and electronica pop music. Youngsta CPT also really impressed, with some fresh as bars on the freestyle.
The “2150” stage, which was for the real local locals, based within the greater Western Sydney region, delivered some of the stand outs of the day. Obviously I wasn’t able to catch everyone who performed there, but from the acts I did catch Astrohigh, Oh Boy, Korky Buchek and Miss Blanks all did an amazing job at interacting with the crowd, doing semi live performances and bringing on guest performers to showcase the diverse and amazing range of talent that pocket of our city holds.
All in all it was a great day out and saw some truly amazing music. The organisers did a great job in curating the event. It’s small enough that you can walk from one side to the other in probably under a minute and there is plenty of space to relax. The only downsides were that there was a fair bit of sound leakage from stage to stage, so sometimes, particularly at the smaller stages, the sound would be somewhat drowned out and clashing with an artist on a bigger stage. I’d give the festival 3.5/5 stars, it’s really great to see how much emphasis they put on emerging artists and I’m definitely excited to see the event grow and put Parramatta on the map as a festival hub.
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photos: Crowd by James Simpson | Stella Donnelly by Mikki Gomez | North East Party House by Jess Gleeson