Southbound

(disposables)

Next up was Southbound, which spanned across the first three days of the year (1st, 2nd and 3rd of January). For those of you who aren't from the west coast, Southbound is a music festival held about 3 hours south of Perth, Western Australia. Most people camp on the site, in where there are club rooms open til the wee hours in the morning but you can get day passes and sleep in the comfortable confines of nearby accommodation. My best friend, Viv, and I decided that camping was the best and only way to really experience Southbound. It was dirty, exhausting and terrible- but I really wouldn't of done it any other way. On the first day we got there bright and early at around 11am. Hungover from the New Years Eve celebrations of the night before, all we really felt like doing was re-hydrating and chilling out. Our other fellow tent members hadn't yet arrived, so we dumped our bags in the first tent and roamed around. Bands from the first day included- Goodnight Tiger, The Growl, 6's & 7's, Angus & Julia Stone, Hot Hot Heat and Interpol.

One word to describe Southbound was HOT. The second day reached over °43, and this just happened to be the day that we chose to stand in the sun for 4 hours- in the harshest hours of the sun too might I add. But it was well worth it, as the third day displayed some of the best in both Australian and International music. The day started of with local band Brow Horn Orchestra, which is a funky ska-rock band. We stayed on the paper stage for Boy & Bear- merely just to hear their amazing cover of Crowded House's Fall at Your Feet (if you haven't heard it already- youtube it now!). We ran to hear the next 3 bands on the rock stage, which was right in the middle of the sun. It started with The Jezabels, then Washington and finally Cold War Kids. As hot as it was (my scalp was completely burnt by the evening) they were definitely some of the best bands of the festival. We crashed and burned after that, barely able to move through the sites. We finally regained energy for Children Collide and The Soft Pack before heading over to festival highlight, The National. I was front row centre and managed to catch the guitarists pick!

The third day was exhausting. We were literally on our last straws and fell asleep in the only air-conditioned place on the camp site. Due to this I missed pond- but Viv and I really could not move an inch. I managed to regain enough energy for Cloud Control but then crashed again until Sleigh Bells and Jamaica. I very soon realized the only way to get through the day was to get absolutely smashed so we headed back to a friends tent to drink some illegally brought in vodka. We got to the Strongbow boat and sipped on cider whilst listening to Tim & Jean. Stayed drunk for Tame Impala, The Rapture and The Klaxons and then it was game over. Our car left that night (too exhausted to stay on) and got home at 1am in the morning.

Two days later Viv, Ella and I boarded our plane to Sydney (see previous posts).