Originals Festival

So a couple of days ago was the Originals Festival in Noosa. I turned up at about mid-afternoon in time to see The Delta Riggs.
Honestly, when I got there it was a bit confusing. There was an 18+ only section (which had all the good food venues in it...) and walking in, it looked like only 18+ would be able to see the main stage. Thankfully this wasn't the case. Phew.

My friends and I went and saw The Delta Riggs, it was pretty chill. There was a mosh at the stage, but then a lot of people were just sitting on the grass a bit further away (this is what I did as I ate pizza). I was extremely excited to hear The Delta Riggs guys play their cover of Gooey by Glass Animals, which you can listen to through Triple J here:

I met these guys a bit later in the evening and cannot praise them enough. They were out in the crowd listening to the other bands, taking photos with fans, chatting to people, and just being super lovely. I really really cannot talk them up enough, they are brilliant guys. 

The two main bands I wanted to see play were The Delta Riggs and Sticky Fingers. I had a lot of time between these two acts so I just caught up with some friends and hung out for a couple of hours. I'm going to be honest, it was pretty boring. My boyfriend disappeared off with some of our friends into the 18+ area which meant I didn't spend much time with them, which was actually alright because I caught up with some other friends who I don't hang out with as often. Unfortunately there was not a lot to do as it was a small festival and therefore didn't have many stalls or anything to look at. 

As I sat there just doing not much at all, I couldn't help but notice that everyone there was super young, and seemed to all know each other, and all seemed scarily familiar. I guess that's what you get at a pretty local festival. Although I couldn't really expect anything different, it was kind of annoying, because that's what I love about festivals, meeting new people, and seeing people connect purely through the music and bands playing. But on the other hand, it was still nice to see familiar people from around this part of the world having a good time. 

Kingswood played which was rad, but to tell the truth I really do not know much of their music, I still very much enjoyed experiencing them live as they had a really fun crowd. I really enjoyed myself. 

Their stage was directly next to where Sticky Fingers were going to be playing, so I made my way through the bitchy crowd of elbows who must have thought I was pushing my way to the front, despite my obvious sideways movement. 

I managed to place myself reasonably close to the Sticky Fingers stage (perhaps about 3 rows from the front), right behind the 4 tallest men on earth. No joke, they were extremely tall, and they knew it, one of them let me in front of him, bless. When the Sticky Fingers guys came on stage to prepare their set, the crowd went off, and the section I was in became amazingly squished. It was at this point that the friends I was with decided to move to the back. The back is 100% not where I wanted to be, so I told them I would meet them after. Bold move by Stella.

Sticky Fingers began playing their set, and although I have seen them perform a couple of times already, I continue to be blown away by their performance, and their on stage aura. 

I experienced lots of crowd surfing by audience members, one of which kicked me in the face, another one of which's arse landed on my face. It was delightful. The girl in front of me got super super mad at him and swore, thinking I was hurt or something, perhaps emotionally...I mean, thank you kind stranger, but really...I don't care at all, it's part of the fun, lets all just listen to Sticky hey?

I'll tell you what, the man next to me was bold to think bringing a glass bong into the mosh was a good idea. I'll let your imagination figure out how that all ended, because honestly I have no fucking clue.

Lot's of alcohol, lots of elbows in my face, lots of sweaty people, lots of sleazy men, lots of beards, and lots of head-banging, sleezy, drunk men whose sweat flicked off their beard onto my face. At one point there was a tug on my hair which I expected to be the not so unusual 'hair stuck in someones armpit' situation, but this time a guy had gathered all my hair and put it into his mouth. Grinning, he hugged me like I was his long lost niece.  

I feel like it really sounds like I didn't have a good time. To tell the truth, that is my idea of a blast. There was something nice about being 'alone' in the mosh pit. By 'alone' I obviously don't mean the only person in the crowd (oh God, I would love to be the only person at a Sticky Fingers gig...actually, nah, might get a bit awkward, who would you look at? Would you dance? Would you have to make weird eye contact with Dylan?) ...I just mean I didn't have any friends with me. Unless you count bumping into this Year 9 kid from my school and wondering how he got so drunk as 'being with my friends'.

I had a great night, it was a super chill festival all in all, with a crazy mosh pit and amazing live acts. I would highly recommend this small local festival in future years, especially if you love live music but cannot handle the anxiety of a huge festival.

- Stella xxx