Queensland sure is lifting its game when it comes to music festivals, aside from the established folkies dream that is the Woodford Folk Festival, the sunshine state has added an under 18s festival to its calendar in Live It Up which will see the likes of The Amity Affliction and The Getaway Plan headline, while the inaugural Big Pineapple Music Festival will see the likes of Birds of Tokyo, Grinspoon, and Regurgitator playing at the iconic tourism location this April.
Now comes the 2013 lineup for Mackay’s River Session festival. Now in its fifth year, the event has seen both Queensland and Australia’s biggest names play since its inception in 2009.
Last year say 360, Hilltop Hoods, and Xavier Rudd headline, while in previous years Children Collide, Bluejuice, The Grates, and the now defunct Little Red have performed to QLD punters at the event.
Growing from strength to strength, this year River Sessions brings Bliss N Eso, Karnivool, Illy, and the (recently dormant) Boy & Bear out to perform at the Mackay Showgrounds.
Headlining hip hop heroes Bliss N Eso, who are also playing the inaugural Nas-curated Movement Festival in April, will be presumably giving the Queensland crowd a taste of their new material from their forthcoming album Circus In The Sky, with the group recently dropping a highly cinematic trailer for their new album – set for release in May. “Choosing acts for this year was by far the hardest in the five years of the festival.” – Adrien Young, River Sessions Festival
Another band on the River Sessions bill potentially airing new material is Perth prog cosmonauts Karnivool who have been busily working away on the follow-up to their 2009 opus, Sound Awake. The outfit have been hinting at an impending release of their third album for some time, as well as the release of a live DVD sometime in the near future.
The rest of the all-Aussie lineup for Rivers Sessions 2013 is equally impressive, including the likes of Ball Park Music, Bob Evans, Snakadaktal, Gold Fields, House Vs Hurricane, Kingswood, and a whole slew of acts to appease hip hop fans, including Illy, Spit Syndicate, and recent winners of the 8th Annual Australian Music Prize for their album HyperParadise, Hermitude.
Speaking to the Daily Mercury, Festival promoter Adrien Young says, “choosing acts for this year was by far the hardest in the five years of the festival.”
“The event was held at the showgrounds in 2011 and there were a few minor issues with the venue layout, however, with the development of the venue and the new facilities in place these will no longer be an issue,” he confirms.
In addition to the expansion of River Sessions to include two main stages as well as the regular silent disco, Young teases “there will also be some new surprises to be announced soon.”
Not least of which, the second round of acts to be dropped on May 7 with promoters promising “a few more headliners” to be added to the mix.
River Sessions 2013 Lineup
Bliss n Eso
Boy and Bear
Karnivool
Illy
Ball Park Music
Hermitude
Dead Letter Circus
Bob Evans
Snakadaktal
The Aston Shuffle DJ’s
Gold Fields
Spit Syndicate
House VS Hurricane
Kingswood
Tyler Touché
Good Oak
Reecey Boi
River Sessions 2013 Ticketing & Info
Saturday, June 29
Mackay Showgrounds
Tickets to the festival go on sale Thursday, March 28 at www.riversessions.com.au
