Having sold out three consecutive years with some of the most spectacular lineups the Aussie festival market has ever seen, Queensland’s Big Pineapple Music Festival is returning for its fourth year this May.
This time around, organisers have truly outdone themselves with a lineup featuring a who’s who of Australian music, including RUFUS, You Am I, Hermitude, The Veronicas, The Smith Street Band, DMA’s, Tkay Maidza, and more.
Best of all, punters will get to see all of these incredible acts in the “pristine, tree-lined surroundings” of the Sunshine Coast, which is famous for its chilled, laid-back atmosphere and incredible climate.
This year will also see the unveiling of the festival’s new main stage site. There will be three stage areas this year, with the addition of an FMX display and free Carnival Rides all day.
To get to know a little more about this quiet achiever of a festival we caught up with Big Pineapple’s Festival Director Mark Pico to find out about its beginning, successes, the current festival climate and what’s in store for the future of the BPMF. We hear all the time about the ‘death of the mega-festival‘ – now let’s look at the other side of the coin.
The Beginning
The Owners of the Big Pineapple were looking to do a festival on their site and it all went from there. It started very raw and the original site had it’s share of logistical nightmares. The new site is so much easier to work with and far more spacious.
Mark’s History in Music Festivals
I did my trade putting on 400 capacity shows in halls learning how to promote and organize. I then co-organized Golden Days Festival for 4 Years (2010 -2014) starting in 2010 with only $12000 capital.
I currently co- organize Originals Music Festival in Coolum which has been going for a few years now . 2014 to present. The past two Originals festivals have sold out .
I have co -organized BPMF 2013 to present and my main roll with in each festival is to put the lineups together, Marketing, Publicity and to oversee sponsorship/partnerships. Basically if nobody comes to these festivals then it’s on my head.
Photo: Festival Director Mark Pico
What makes The Big Pineapple Music Festival So Special
I think there’s a real unpretentiousness about the festival, it’s not trying to be anything that it isn’t and I think people get that when they walk in. There’s also 4o years of history that the Big Pineapple has on the coast. The Big P even had Lady Di and Prince Charles visit back in the day.
The Strength Of BPMF
We are really lucky and very conscious of building trust and loyalty. I think it’s also really important to grow organically and play to your strengths rather than feeling the need to compete with other larger festivals.. We are also very fortunate to have a stunning site within 10 minutes drive to some of Australia’s most beautiful beaches and hinterland…
Biggest Lessons Learnt
[include_post id=”478504″]We’ve learnt a lot over the years and made some pretty big mistakes along the way and luckily we’ve come out the other side. Planning definitely gets easier as you perfect your team. You have to have a good team in place because it’s a massive undertaking.
You can’t make the mistake of trying to do too much yourself because as the event get’s closer everything intensifies and if you overlook one element next thing you know the whole train derails.
Curating The Lineup
I’m a massive fan of most of the acts on the lineup and this year it really fell into place… We were really fortunate that almost everyone we went for was available and this created a lot of flow in the lineup. It’s very rare to have everything fall into place like that.
Lineup Highlights
Too hard to pick… A lot of these acts are in my personal cd collection. I think Rufus and Hermitude going back to back will be special as will the sequence of
The Smith Street Band going into the Gurge going into You Am I…. did I mention Holy Holy going into DMA’S going into Tkay?
The Influx Of Outside Punters
Each year has been growing in terms of crew coming from outside the Sunny Coast to the point where we now have far more people coming from outside the Sunny Coast than inside. I think it has a lot to do with the stunning site and the fact people have really started to take ownership of the fest.
Sunny Coast Music Scene
There’s some great acts like Ayla and Sahara Beck coming through as well as legends OKA and there’s no shortage of different styled festivals happening. There’s also some incredible heritage events like the Verrierdale Full moon Dance and the Peregian Originals that regually pull over 1000 people and have both been going for over 15 years.
The future of TBPF
We just want to get 2016 right and take it from there.
BIG PINEAPPLE MUSIC FESTIVAL 2016
RUFUS
You Am I
Hermitude
The Veronicas
The Smith Street Band
DMA’s
Tkay Maidza
Regurgitator
Holy Holy
The Delta Riggs
Yahtzel
Opiuo
KLP (DJ Set)
Yeo
The Bennies
Tijuana Cartel
Dylan Joel
Odd Mob
Mathas
Sahara Beck
GG Magree
The Ninjas
The Floating Bridges
Lyall Moloney
Transvaal Diamond Syndicate
The Brains Trust
Khan Harrison Band
Gurps
Band Buck Dean And The Green Lips
Batchelo
Jeñga
Triple J Unearthed Winner
Saturday, 28th May 2016
Big Pineapple, Sunshine Coast QLD
Tickets: Big Pineapple Festival
Header image source: Facebook.
