While music festivals have endured a tough previous five years or so with a glut of major brands collapsing and never returning, the landscape for bespoke live music events remains strong, as evidenced by Harvest Rock in Adelaide last weekend.
Curated and staged by the same folks behind Splendour In The Grass (one of those aforementioned music festivals to go the same way as the dinosaurs in recent years), the two-day event (25-26 October) attracted 38,000 revellers (30 per cent of who travelled from interstate) at Rymill Park (Murlawirrapurka) and King Rodney Park (Ityamai-itpina) in the city's CBD.
I was one of those 30 per cent who'd travelled interstate to be part of the magic, drawn both by the epic line-up (that leaned hard into a mid-late '00s nostalgic gathering of some of the biggest artists of that era, who remain relevant almost two decades later) as well as the reputation of Secret Sounds' ability to host a party bash that cultivates festival memories that are etched into your memory bank forever.
When the line-up dropped mid-August featuring an Australian exclusive set from The Strokes – big thanks to South Australian Tourism Commission for no doubt paying the lion's share of the band's performance fee, rumoured to be in the multiple millions – joined by the likes of The War On Drugs, M.I.A., The Presets, Vance Joy, PNAU, Groove Armada and Ministry Of Sound Classical and a stack more, I had bought my plane fares and booked accommodation within days – and if you know me, that's behaviour that runs counter to my usual approach to interstate adventures.
Image © Mike Lockheart
It also happened that I'd scheduled a weekend away from Brisbane that would be hit hard by freak thunderstorms and a ridiculous heatwave (40 degrees in October; yeah-na mate!). Winning.
So when the Adelaide weather gods decided to order a bagful of humidity and a thunder and lightning show for Saturday afternoon the festival vibes were at one point mid-afternoon under serious threat.
Looking to get festival-side around mid arvo to catch a lil of Bag Raiders and Wolfmother, and staying at an Airbnb that was within hearing distance of the festival site, a freakish, Queensland-style thunderstorm rolled in early afternoon, forcing event organisers to pause proceedings and evacuate the site for more than an hour.
Still at the Airbnb, but with contacts already inside (thanks Mike, Thomas and James) relaying this information about the temporary shutdown, I remained dry and didn't head in until the familiar drone of festival music and related noise recommenced an hour or so later.
Image © Mike Lockheart
The short walk into Rymill Park and King Rodney parks built the internal excitement as we merged with other live music punters who'd also decided to let the bad weather pass. The buzz of anticipation was super high as the queues to get in moved quickly despite the glut of late arrivals.
Once in, there was no time to get a feel for the festival layout so apologies for missing all the activation zones and the slew of pop-up drink and food stables scattered around the site – definitely a note for next year to get in extra early to sample the wares of some of South Australia's finest bespoke beverage and food brands.
With a hum of energy emanating from the crowd akin to the lighting strikes that only an hour earlier threatened to derail the entire event, a quickly-building crowd packed in tight to witness Vance Joy, who I'm a fan of but definitely not a Stan-level admirer of his.
Image © Mike Lockheart
As the stage sat silent, filled only by the instruments of Joy's band, Wolfmother's 'Mother' bellowed across the PA (maybe an attempt by organisers to offset the fact Andrew Stockdale and co.'s set had been forced to be cancelled), I recounted to my mate the last time I'd been amongst a Vance Joy crowd.
I was swimming upstream in a packed, muddy, super-tight thoroughfare at Splendour (many, many, many moons ago; around the time 'Riptide' was first released – you do the math) trying desperately to get to a Cold War Kids or Polyphonic Spree set (my memory dodges me the exact details). My exclamation of "f... Vance Joy fans," as part of the storytelling got me the best side-stank-eye from the lady next to me (we were dance-bumping shoulders by set's end though).
Vance Joy - image © Mike Lockheart
Back at Harvest, and with a few droplets of moisture still descending from the grey-black clouds above, a jubilant Vance Joy skipped onstage joined by his eager band who proceeded to regale the bouncy, poncho-adorned crowd with a set of uplifting folk-pop rock; when 'Riptide' arrived to close the set, I recognised the full-circle moment it was, letting the wave of nostalgia flooding the crowd wash over me with abandoned glee.
Vance's set also included new singles 'Fascination In The Dark' and 'Missing Piece', as well as covers of Paul Kelly's 'To Her Door' and KISS's 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'.
Seeing Joy meant I missed The Jungle Giants set (which I was bummed by in the moment), but quickly found a great position in front of the sound desk to witness The Presets on the secondary Vine Stage (I place I'd be for most of the festival). Given the number of Gen Xers doing the same, the passion to witness the old-school electronic goodness of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes was a popular one with the Harvest crowd.
With Moyes perched atop his drum kit left of stage, and Hamilton preceding over his sample pad and associated electronic-wizardry instrumentation to the right, The Presets delivered a delicious old-school OG set that pumped hard from the first beat to the last.
It was a classic festival set that delivered all of their clubland bangers and anthems including 'I Go Hard, I Go Home', 'Youth In Trouble', 'Talk Like That' and 'My People' as well as a beautiful rendition of 'This Boys In Love' that they teased early in the set before dropping it proper towards the end of the performance.
The Presets - image © Mike Lockheart
I've now seen these lads half a dozen or more times, and in 2025 The Presets remain atop Australia's electronic pyramid. I boogied my tail-feather for an hour straight; one of the reasons I clocked up 24k steps throughout the day!
After a quick departure back to the main stage for one of my pre-event highlights The War On Drugs, who were delivering their own collection of sing-along moments to an adoring, swaying poncho-filled crowd, their indie folk, Americana style was at odds with what I'd just witnessed and after a couple of songs, I decided to venture back to Vine Stage to stake a claim closer to the stage and waited for another pre-festival must-see, M.I.A.
I hadn't seen the English-Sri Lankan singer-rapper-activist since the late 2000s, and admit her earlier back catalogue was what drew me in for this set. When she opened with 'Bamboo Banga' from 2007's 'Kala' my intutition to leave TWOD prematurely was repaid, M.I.A. emerging to a stage-fog shrouded stage, joined by two energetic, non-stop dancers, the trio making use of the entire stage throughout the set.
Although the performance was somewhat stilted by the stop-start-stop nature of M.I.A.'s engagement with the crowd between songs, often drowning the set's momentum, hearing 'Bad Girls' live was one of those music festival moments folks like myself live for.
A cover of Missy Elliot's 'Bad Man' was another superb highlight, but at times M.I.A. seemed more intent on filling her hour with spoken-word declarations, at one point sharing "it's been raining, we've been blessed, our crops have been fed". Although I'm not sure how many crops reside in Adelaide's CBD.
Intent to hear 'Paper Planes' live, eventually I moved on making my way to get a solid possie for The Strokes, missing one of the most iconic songs of the 2000s and those ubiquitous gun shots. Alas, I'd left it too late to get anywhere close enough to the main stage for the festival's biggest drawcard, which in retrospect was always going to happen.
M.I.A. - image © Mike Lockheart
On a sidetone: A figurative middle finger to the group of young flogs intent on barging their way past me and the surrounding folks at the start of The Strokes' set. It was poor form, and the only observation personally of poor crowd behaviour the entire weekend.
Standing my ground after barking at them: "Where do you think you're going; there's no where ahead to go!" (which there wasn't) maybe the wilds of my eyes caught their attention as they did settle down. The appreciation from a couple of younger people the row in front of me for these actions was palpable.
Despite leaving a bad taste in my mouth that resonated for half of The Strokes' set, it was hard not to find yourself quickly bopping along to the angular indie rock-dance goodness of New York's finest garage rock, post-punk revivalists.
Although only meant to be a 75-minute performance, The Strokes still crammed a 16-song set list into their headlining slot (the magic of their two-, three-minute long bangers and minimum stage banter – despite a few comments seemingly bagging out their only Australian appearance; maybe the inner-band frictions that saw a number of semi-hiatuses remain), the band were scattered across the stage, often hidden by stage fog, blanketed in dark, moody stage lighting leaving them in silhouettes.
The Strokes - image © Mike Lockheart
It only added to mystique of their performance, their musicianship gold-standard as they hammered through a set list that commenced with 2020's 'The New Abnormal' track 'Bad Decisions', the crowd bopping along when they weren't swaying in rhythm, heads knowingly nodding, glazed, misty eyes lost in the moment.
'The New Abnormal' was also represented in the set list with renditions of 'Selfless', 'The Adults Are Talking' and 'Ode To The Mets' (the latter commencing the three-song encore). The set also included early gems like 'Reptilia' and 'The Modern Age' played back to back, that ignited the senses, the crowd a joyous fusion of enthralled bewilderment that this moment was happening in real time.
It led into 'First Impressions Of Earth' banger 'You Only Live Once', the swagger onstage a snarling snort of coolness, the tangible spirit of rock & roll covered in a diamond-crusted black leather jacket, the musk of hipster wafting across the crowd as sweetly scented as the pockets of Mary Jane smoke.
The Strokes - image © Mike Lockheart
With a back catalogue as heavenly as The Strokes, seeing them live only reinforces their greatness, especially when the velvety post-punk sleekness of 'Hard To Explain' burst forth. . . dark shades worn at night have never evoked a feeling of gleaming self-confidence and boss arrogance as Julian cooed into his microphone stand.
The filthy, gnarly energy of 'Juicebox' had the rhythm flamin' once more before the angular-guitar waltz of 'Automatic Stop' sashayed with a flirtatious confidence, the party mood lifted even higher with the rollicking fun of 'Under Cover Of Darkness' (from 2011's 'Angles').
It was again time to mine the masterpiece longplayer that is 2003's 'Room On Fire' with the luscious indie rock strains of emo-pop ear worm 'Under Control', the meandering guitar tones glorious in their crystal softness in the crisp cool nighttime air, darkness long ago enveloping the parkland.
It was paired brilliantly with album mate 'What Ever Happened?', The Strokes serenading Adelaide with cheeky aplomb. The jangle-pop fun that is 'Someday' was sandwiched between 'Selfless' and 'The Adults Are Talking', the crowd's energy not once wavering.
The Strokes - image © Mike Lockheart
Nearing their allotted end time, and maybe running over (the mind is a lil hazy your honour), the band disappeared before returning for the obligatory encore ("you want one more song? We're gunna give you more than one song!!") that included arguably their biggest hit, and massive sing-along bop 'Last Nite' that was preceded by 'Ode To The Mets'.
The gasp of joys and jump-hugs of jubilation from the two girls in front of me when Julian Casablancas said they were going to extend the set ("f... it!") with a third encore song, the deep cut 'Take It Or Leave It' was the perfect reminder that not everyone's favourite song is the viral sensation or chart topper. A beautiful way to close night one.
More photos from Day One.
After sleeping in longer than intended – I blame the late-night excursion into Hindley Street after departing the festival site – and enjoying a late afternoon breakfast, with blue skies giving way to cloudy skies and a gentle breeze, I returned around 4pm-ish, Groove Armada's DJ set the first course to be enjoyed.
With speckled sunlight intermingling with white-puffy clouds that were slowly bruising into a blue-black mass, there was time however to explore the grounds a little more, my first stop was the Wildwoods activation area featuring the Amuse-Bouche stage (that housed a mix of comedy, podcasts, foodies, Q&As etc across the weekend).
Image © Mike Lockheart
A cool coincidence was Nats What I Reckon serving up a delicious Harvest-inspired bespoke sandwich... not all fine dining requires a knife and fork. It was also in this space a noticed a pop-up vinyl store, my dirty addiction rising from its slumber, convincing me to depart with several hundred dollars (and several new records to bring home!).
Shoutout to Gary and the crew at _florecords (based in Bundjalung Country in Bangalow when not servicing the good folks at Harvest Rock), whose collection of records was mesmerising; I could've easily walked away having spent several more hundreds of dollars. I also returned briefly later in the evening where Gary and co. were laying a deep set of progressive house and tech house bangers that had a small, but dedicated crowd grooving hard.
_florecords - image © Mike Lockheart
Then it was time for Groove Armada, with Andy Cato joined by Tom Findlay, a nice surprise given that Cato routinely DJs under the GA moniker by himself. As the groove dug in, and the crowd began to feel the energy vibrating from the stage, it was a proggy, tech house set that morphed a number of Groove's biggest hits with some of house music's all-time classics.
'I See You Baby' lit the fire, the refrain of 'the house that funk built' mingling with 'You've Got The Love', the duo giving a hint of a later drop with 'Superstylin'' seeping into the mix, before an epic remix of Mylo's 'Drop The Pressure' had the energised crowd cutting shapes as ponchos again became everyone's favourite festival accessory as a small, but intense shower passed across the festival site.
Image © Mike Lockheart
Andy and Tom maintained the flow throughout, the rhythm one constant state of euphoric bliss as they dug deep into their cuts, one section an ode to '70s disco funk, with Daddy Cool segueing into Daft Punk's 'One More Time', before the dulcet tones of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' was mashed into Technotronic's 'Pump Up The Jam'.
Andy then took the microphone to thank the crowd for their eager enthusiasm, hinting they plan to return with the full band, something they said wouldn't happen after their 2022 band farewell tour, and sharing it was on this day 29 years ago they first played the next song they were about to drop in Australia, the sublime 'Superstylin'' that had the heavily Gen X audience cutting square circles on a watery dance floor!
Image © Mike Lockheart
A short wait later and PNAU stormed the same stage, Nick Littlemore joined by long-time collaborator Peter Mayes and a two co-vocalists, whose movement onstage was a constant blur, all three singers (including Nick) criss-crossing the stage, hyping the crowd to extreme enjoyment.
Their remix of the Elton John and Dua Lipa banger 'Cold Heart' brought me more joy than I was bargaining for, the infectious groove enveloping the entire crowd who were gleefully bopping along, any thought of Monday morning anxiety pushed to the rearview mirror. They ended with 'Chameleon', the dance zone extending pass the VIP viewing platform, Harvest revellers squeezing every drop of pure joy from their weekend.
PNAU - image © Mike Lockheart
I wasn't to sure what to expect from Ministry Of Sound Classical, but after originally being within hearing-viewing distance but still afar, quickly found myself being drawn closer to the stage like a mozzie battling the allure of that pesky blue zapping light, but with a more appealing outcome.
With a near-30-piece orchestra (it could've been larger) MOS Classical was led by award-winning conductor Vanessa Perica (who didn't remain idle for one iota of the entire performance, a constant blur of energy and sustained enthusiasm) and OG DJ Groove Terminator, who revelled in playing the master of ceremonies role.
It was part history lesson, part dance class as they tore through a near 75-minute set encompassing some of the biggest EDM hits of the last 30 years including Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Disclosure, and Roger Sanchez.
By the finale, a barnstorming sonic explosion that was Daruude's 'Sandstorm', it was clear MOS Classical is more than a one-time encounter. Next time they swing through town, book a hotel room and make a weekend of it!
MOS Classical - image © Mike Lockheart
Before retrieving my records, it would've been rude not to have taken a squizz at Sunday's main headliner, country-pop-hip-hop superstar Jelly Roll.
Already onstage, and with a more than sizeable crowd sticking around to show him their love, he endeared himself to the home crowd with covers of Keith Urban's 'Somebody Like You' and The Angels' 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' before losing me with John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' – hot take, prob super unpopular I know, but you can blame it on Brisbane Lions' flogging it like a dead cowboy every home game. I may be from Brisbane, but the Lions ain't no mates of mine (go Bloods!).
Walking to collect my records, I heard what I thought at the time was a seriously good cover of Teddy Swims' 'Lose Control'. I thought about rushing back, but having seen Teddy IRL the previous weekend couldn't be arsed. Well I F'd that didn't I, when I learned the next day that Jelly had brought Teddy onstage, the 'Lose Control' star being in Adelaide ahead of his own headline concert the following night.
Jelly Roll - image © Mike Lockheart
It couldn't dampen my spirits for a festival that in more ways than one took me back to those earlier incarnations of Splendour; a lovingly curated line-up mixing the best of rock, indie, alt-pop and electronic with a host of non-music attractions.
It's an event destined to mushroom, with the current festival site the perfect size to host 20,000 revellers with ease while also giving off major rockstar energy.
Being so close to the CBD and the attached amenities is an added bonus, especially for my weary bones that said goodbye to their festival camping days at 2019 Splendour (that just happened to be my 40th birthday bash). Here's to many more years and having my 50th in Adelaide in 2029!
More photos from Day Two.
