After a devastating cancellation for the Victorian stint due to flooding, Grapevine Gathering made its way to NSW’s Hunter Valley to sunny skies and sunnier dispositions. I made my way to the festival to give you my most loyal reader the lowdown on what happened, what it was like, and whether you should consider attending next year (if there is a next year, which I hope there is).
So, how was it? In short: great! Grapevine Gathering ticked all the boxes for a well-organized festival, and everyone on the lineup killed it. While I’ll be structuring this review around my tried-and-true The Good, The Bad, and the “Meh” format, I pretty much only have good things to say. Let’s get into it.
The Good (Great, Actually):
The Acts
As discussed, the lineup brought their A-game to Hope Estate this year, with particular highlights for me being Becca Hatch, Jack River, The Veronicas, and The Kooks. Becca Hatch brought vibes and talent to the early afternoon in equal measure, while Jack River didn’t skip a beat while serving up pop anthem after pop anthem.
Seeing The Veronicas live should be on every self-respecting Australian’s bucket list, and they were at the top of their game for Grapevine Gathering NSW. There’s no feeling quite like being in the crowd when the Origliasso twins drop ‘Untouched’.
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Music festivals aren’t a competition, but if they were then The Kooks would have probably been the winners of the day. The Englishmen exceeded expectations, putting on a masterclass in rock and roll with tight musicianship, great stage presence, and a feeling from the band that they genuinely wanted to be there and reciprocated the crowd’s love.
The Venue
As far as great places to watch live music on a sunny Saturday afternoon go, Hope Estate is up there. It was beautiful, well appointed, and easy to get in and out of (in contrast to a certain other music festival this year).
The Sound
It’s something most of us take for granted, but the sound mixing for Grapevine Gathering’s stage was really good, probably the best I’ve experienced for an outdoor gig. You could clearly hear every instrument for every band whether you were standing right up front or sitting back on the hill, props to the sound engineers and mixers on the day.
The Bad
Uhhhhhh
There wasn’t really anything bad to be honest, I got a “woodfired” pizza from a food truck that wasn’t great, but that’s about it.
The Meh
Dividing the Crowd
This is one that I haven’t really made my mind up on yet, so for now it’s placed in the “Meh” section. Grapevine Gathering’s NSW stint reserved the area in front of the stage for VIP ticket holders only, something I’ve never really seen done at a festival before.
For VIP ticket holders (and media pass holders like myself) this was great: VIP tickets were limited such that the front-of-stage area was nowhere near as crowded as the main mosh pit, so you could get right up close to the action without things becoming a claustrophobic nightmare. No doubt this move had safety benefits as well, which is always a plus.
I couldn’t help but wonder if this was fair to those who couldn’t get a hold of the limited VIP tickets, though. Dedicated fans fought their way to the front of the packed main mosh only to see a more scattered group casually standing around in front of them much closer to the artists in much more comfort, it all felt a little strange.
Again, I’m not quite sure what to make of the decision, and I can see why some would love it and others loathe it. I suppose time will tell whether the idea catches on or not.
I would recommend the VIP tickets to those who can afford it though: better toilets, shorter queues for drinks, and the front-of-stage access make the ~$60 ticket premium worth it in my eyes.
The Verdict
As far as smaller, single day music festivals go, Grapevine Gathering is absolutely worth the price of admission.
