Vintage American imports blended with fresh Adelaide produce on a scenic Barossa day (2 April).
Establishing a new music festival is a mammoth task and the team behind the Silver Raven Festival managed to achieve the seemingly impossible; all the pros of an outdoor festival with none of the cons.
Often music goers are forced to accept some compromises in exchange for experiencing an exquisitely-curated day of aural pleasures: waiting in long lines for toilets and food, tolerating scattered mobs of anti-social yobs, and braving ultra-violet radiation.
At the poetic surrounds of Turkey Flat Vineyards, though, queues were absent, the crowd was cultured and the flora was shady. A spritely and luxuriously soft cattle dog cheerfully ambled among the picnic rugs seeking accomplices in his day-long game of fetch.
The general vibe was so pleasant that I am hesitant to sing the virtues too loudly, lest the event become invaded in future iterations. We haven’t even begun to talk about the music!
The Silver Raven line-up was an amalgam of US touring artists and South Australian talent, which is a testimony to the abundance of quality, local artists that we are now producing.
Triple J darlings old and new were represented, with The Audreys and Bad/Dreams the bread in a smoky Americana sandwich, featuring slices of southern fried chicken (Jason Isbell/ Eilen Jewell) and shredded New York pastrami (Endless Boogie). Both Isbell and Endless Boogie treated the vino loving crowd to guitar-solo masterclasses, while Jewell suitably sang sweetly of peach farms with her Idaho lilt.
Koral and the Goodbye Horses, Hana and Jessie, and Ollie English all attracted new fans, and it was pleasing to see artists and fans mingle as the afternoon progressed.
Attendees at Silver Raven Festival will look back upon their day with rose-coloured glasses. Each year this festival should swell like a stomach stuffed-fed on Louisiana BBQ and moonshine.
