There were plenty of firsts when a musical festival with a food bent hit Wollongong on Saturday.
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And there were more than a few ‘’brave souls’’ who took up the option to parachute literally right near the front gates of the MTV Beats & Eats festival at Stuart Park.
Now in its second year, the aim is to hold the event in different NSW cities each year.
But if organisers have their way, the MTV Beats & Eats festival will be back in Wollongong to do it all again in 2017.
Headliner Steve Aoki had yet to hit the stage but festival goers’ brilliant response to early acts Savage, Paces and Maala had MTV Asia Pacific vice president Simon Bates grinning from ear to ear.
‘’We are certainly happy with how it has gone today so far,’’ Mr Bates said.
‘’The response so far and the willingness of people to travel is fantastic. We know of the 6000-7000 expected today, about 2000 people are travelling from out of town for the event.
‘’People from Canberra, Sydney and south of Wollongong are willing to travel here for the event.’’
Mr Bates said no decision had yet been made but returning in 2017 wasn’t out of the question.
‘’It [festival] is a partnership between MTV and Destination NSW… and it is about moving people around the different regions and helping young people connect with music and to have a great time,’’ he said.
‘’As you can see out there the crowd are a, enjoying themselves and b, they are discovering parts of NSW.
‘’So there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to rediscover Wollongong with a different line-up and different food providers.’’
The thousands of festival goers on Saturday seemed like they more than enjoyed the line-up of acts performing this year.
Patrons cut loose to DJ Cutloose and the dancing picked up quite noticeably when well known DJ and producer Throttle and Australia’s favourite female DJ Tigerlily hit the stage.
Tigerlily is no stranger to the world stage, having enthralled audiences on some of the world’s most renowned stages and venues including Tomorrowland in Belgium and the Main Stage of Ultra Music Festival Croatia.
On the other end of the spectrum is New Zealand artist Maala, who enjoyed ‘’testing the waters’’.
‘’It is one of the first times I’ve been over here [Australia] so I’m enjoying testing the waters so to speak,’’ he said.
‘’Performing out there was different for me. I’m used to the club shows. My music isn’t the big DJ set, it is more singing.’’ His melodic, catchy tunes went down well with patrons. As did the food on offer, including the Illawarra-based 2 Smoking Barrels food truck, which dished-up tasty Texan-style specialties.