Rainbow Serpent fever begins long before anxious punters make it to the gates in Lexton, Victoria.
Op shops and $2 stores in surrounding towns are raided in the days leading up to the event, as people scramble to find wacky costumes and various shiny, glittering props to prepare for the five-day stretch of madness that sweeps Victoria’s western countryside.
Image © Natasha Cuenca
The drive to Lexton is nostalgic for those who have been before and when you make it through the gates, emotions of relief and suspense are blurred as a huge banner welcomes you ‘home’, (first timers will leave enlightened).
Although the festival officially kicked off on the Friday afternoon, early birds who arrived on Thursday were rewarded with a surplus of activities.
Click here for the Rainbow Serpent 2015 photo gallery.
In the heart of southside camping, three major renegade stages in close proximity of one another made for an epic introduction to the wonderland that was our home for the next five days. Coco Poco Loco ran its signature pink party; a truly eclectic, swinging rendezvous – imagine flamingos, feather boas, sequins, tutus, parasols, jugglers and palm trees. Not to mention free booze for every gent or lady with a cup whenever the bartender rang his bell.
Next door, Bean Bag Babylon’s tent lured techno and electronica lovers into a world of blissful, electronic basslines and melodies, showcasing a plethora of underground, local talent for the duration of the festival. Just across the driveway from BBB, Welcome To The Jungle made its unforgettable debut as a colossal outdoor renegade stage, with JP easing in dancers with classic techno before psytrance had us addicted to stomping our bare feet.
Image © Natasha Cuenca
When the music kicked off on Friday afternoon, local artist Clare Blake played a stellar set alongside the dense forest at Sunset Stage, creating a pumping, 4/4 atmosphere that sustained an extra hour and half when the following DJ cancelled his set unexpectedly.
Local talent Katie Drover and Thank You City (live) maintained steady vibes at the glowing, infrared sunset stage throughout Friday evening. Down at the Market Stage, prog and psytrance attracted an overwhelming amount of people ready to bang their heads to some heavier beats.
If you could endure the front and centre of the crowd in the early hours of Saturday morning, surrounded by foot stomping, jumping, fist pumping and an uncomfortable excess of dreadlocks, then you would have been blown away by Pragmatix’s high-energy set, loaded with rapid progressions, psychedelic and nature samples and heavy bass; addictive.
Phenomenal was Saturday afternoon at Market Stage, with a solid six hours of techno. Intricate, ethereal and exotic sounds mixed with thumping basslines from Thugfucker, Uone and Lee Burridge. As the sun beamed down on the Market Stage, rainbows really did freaking appear, thanks to the sprinklers cooling dedicated dancers down. Burridge’s set should have been compulsory, mixing worldly sounds, chilling vocals and a progressive bassline to transport listeners to somewhere over the rainbow and into their hearts. As the music travelled through people’s bodies on Saturday afternoon, euphoria was all encompassing.
Image © Natasha Cuenca
The lifestyle village at Rainbow Serpent offered something unique to those exhausted of the unruliness of the music stages, hosting a range of guest speakers lecturing on interdependency, the human condition, sustainability and consciousness. Charles Eisenstein attracted a large crowd on Saturday evening when he combined logic and empathy in a compelling argument for global interdependency.
The festival offered free massages and healing therapy to any keen partiers who were in need of some TLC. The massage and healing space felt holistic and reserved; incense burned in the sacred circle as happy faces patiently waited while chattering among themselves. When your turn came to have either a Swedish massage or your chi channelled, you were taken into one of the small booths represented by native Australian animals. Each session lasted a generous half hour, and as people gently emerged from the booths they radiated gratefulness and rejuvenation.
Seen by many as the main event of the five-day festival, Saturday was action-packed. As Market Stage became a holy temple for techno worshippers, the Main Stage’s inaugural ceremony preceded 24 hours of prog, psytrance, glitch and epic visual stimulation. Damon Walsh was keeping groovy, deep house alive at Market Stage late on Saturday evening, dropping tracks like ‘Bigger Than Prince’, however if you were after something more explosive to knock your socks off, Opiou played for a fifth consecutive year at Rainbow Serpent; although this year the rock-star of glitch (a new nickname we hope he appreciates) graced Main Stage for the first time ever. The energy Opiou can sustain on a dancefloor is unrivalled; the ferocity of the bassline, complemented by grand pyrotechnics, created mosh pits throughout the sprawling dancefloor as people got down and dirty to the funk his music embodies.
Saturday night soon crept into Sunday morning; after Steve Ward’s deep, transfixing set, Market Stage unexpectedly closed due to structural damage from unwelcomed rain, and didn’t re-open till sometime after sunrise. Conflicted by their need to dance and the harshness of the elements, many disappointed rainbowers dispersed back to their campsites.
For those who powered through, some headed down to the Chill Stage where Walter Juan sustained a leisurely tempo of electronic, musical bliss that transported emotions to somewhere more dark and raw, as tired punters huddled in the cold of the night trying to keep warm and unwind… or wind back up, for round two… or three.
Click here for the Rainbow Serpent 2015 photo gallery.
Loud at the Main Stage on Sunday morning was pure and addictive psytrance, impressive psychedelic beats that were impossible to tear yourself away from, even if temperatures were at freezing point. The excess of smiling faces every time the bass returned, in the glorious sunrise, felt like something special was being experienced that must be kept a secret.
The surplus of market stalls selling clothes, art, jewellery and food were a luxury to the festival. ThaiPantsMan had a major sale on the Sunday morning, which saw an influx of shivering customers buying scarves, ponchos and leggings to help maintain a healthy, core temperature. Guerilla Coffee had the best espresso in the market village, which seemed to be the next stop for chilly party animals, however if ambience is what you prefer, Holy Cow Chai Tent – adorned with cushions, rugs, couches and large parasols – was much more peaceful.
Image © Natasha Cuenca
Sunday morning at Main Stage flew by quickly and all of a sudden it was Sunday afternoon at Market Stage. Superflu was opening with their striking, emotive track ‘Volkwein’, hypnotising the crowd from the beginning of their stellar, two-hour set.
Petar Dundov’s set was très magnifique. Dundov took the audience on an intense journey through the ethereal realms of electronica, slowly building momentum until revellers were being blown away by an orchestra of techno. Marcel Dettmann and Dean Benson succeeded Dundov seamlessly; both acts persisted fiercely with unadulterated techno, keeping the energy flying high on the dancefloor for a marathon four and a half hours, finishing in the wee hours of Monday morning.
There is a reason it’s been dubbed ‘Mad Monday’. The Market Stage was literally raging. People were wild – getting down and dirty on makeshift podiums, or if they couldn’t find one, straddling the stage barriers would do just fine. As the madness swept the dancefloor, people were swinging their hips and pumping their fists for the final hurrah before the dust settled – dressed as burlesque dancers, birds, Cleopatras, belly dancers, mimes and more.
Image © Natasha Cuenca
Inflatable toys found their way across the dancefloor as parasols bounced comically in the sea of liberated Rainbowers. 16-bit Lolita’s closing set was the highlight of all the madness, pumping groovy, deep-house tunes that kept the crowd feeling sexy for last two hours of Market Stage. When ‘Blue Monday’ dropped in the last minutes, the simultaneous cheering, whoops and smiles became one of the fondest of memories – a moment that will bring smiles to the hearts of many for years to come.
Full of interactive art, Rainbow Serpent could be confused as an enormous outdoor art gallery. Wait, it is. Rainbow Serpent is proud to maintain that it is an arts festival as much as a music festival. From stage designs to ball pits to hammocks adorned by weaving lights, to sculptures and paintings, Rainbow is home to a plethora of visual design. Reminiscent of a Moroccan lantern, Brent Spears’ temple designed for Rainbow Serpent glistered in the sunrise, breathtaking and awe-inspiring, one wonders how an individual is able to conceptualise something so heavenly.
The evening attracted wanderers to a sculpture adorned with romantic lights, and jaws hit the ground when it became clear the most stunning sculpture at Rainbow Serpent was built from trash: water bottles, fences, beer caps, cans and wood. As spectacular as it was, catastrophe struck when the construction came crashing down on Monday evening after adventurous festival-goers decided to climb the delicate masterpiece. We’ve got our fingers crossed nobody was seriously injured.
Image © Natasha Cuenca
Waking up on Tuesday morning, music could still be heard pumping out of some eager renegade stages… the emotions were bittersweet. Nobody wanted to go back to our ordinary realities; however the wonder this festival inspired left us unable to wipe the smiles from our dirty faces. As we drove out the long, dirt road heading to our respective homes, we waved a tired goodbye to the rolling hills of Lexton, turned up the stereo and put on some techno.
Click here for the Rainbow Serpent 2015 photo gallery.
