Wollongong’s biggest music festival is this year making a conscious effort to support up-and-coming musicians with the addition of the Rad Stage at the North Wollongong event.
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Curated by Rad Bar owner Daniel Radburn, the new stage at the Yours and Owls Festival will showcase a majority of Illawarra talent ranging from pop, dub and hardcore in a bid to “support the local scene”.
“I feel like the scene is very strong, but it’s not as physically apparent with venues,” said festival co-founder Adam Smith.
“It’s almost like there was a boom initially and now it’s shrunk within itself,” added co-founder Balunn Jones.
Ticket sales for the annual two-day festival are down to the final 20 per cent with organisers expecting the event on the October long-weekend to sell-out well in advance.
Smith, Jones and other co-founder of the brand Ben Tillman admit they may have had their share of teething problems in the first few years of the festival’s existence but this year it will be smooth sailing.
“Two years ago there were a bunch of mistakes we made and we’re more than willing to take responsibility for that and I think last year we went above and beyond and fixed up all those things we’d done but then we might have let ourselves down in other areas,” Tillman said.
“This year is the year we’re going to nail everything.”
Similar to last year, Yours and Owls have enlisted a raft of other Wollongong venues to take part in a Fringe Festival in the week leading up to the main event.
Details of this are expected to be released next week though it’s understood to have a mix of free and paid events ranging across music, art and comedy.
Jones, Smith and Tillman said they love how the festival has grown to include so many facets of the Illawarra community and believe it feels more like a “collective celebration” rather than just about the brand or the music.
The trio, who previously owned a music cafe/bar (now Rad Bar), said their life path is far different to what they could have imagined five years ago but creating this festival has certainly enriched their lives.
For more information and tickets visit: www.yoursandowlsfestival.com.au
MUSIC LINEUP
Rad Stage:
Archy Punker * Body Type * Break A Leg * Good Boy * Hoon * Jacob * Los Pintar * Los Tones * Love Buzz * RAAVE TAPES * Raised as Wolves * S M Jenkins * Sub Tribe * Sun Sap * The Nah * Totty * Tyne-James Organ * White Blanks
Main Stages:
Saturday 30th September
Alex Lahey · Ali Barter · Allday · Bad//Dreems · City Calm Down · Cosmos Midnight · Crooked Colours · Donny Benet Showband · Dune Rats · Electric Wire Hustle · Gold Class · Ivan Ooze · Major Leagues · Northeast Party House · Northlane · Ruby Fields · Safia · TEES · The Preatures · Trophy Eyes
Sunday 1st October
AB Original · Andrew Jackson Jihad (AJJ) · At the Drive In · Bec Sandridge · Cash Savage & The Last Drinks · Confidence Man · Ghost Wave · Holy Holy · Horror My Friend · Illy · Le Butcherettes · Montaigne · Moonbase · Slum Sociable · Sorority Noise · The Orwells · The Pinheads · The Presets · Totally Unicorn