Earthcore Festival Review

Pyalong, Victoria – November 26-30
Reviewed by Bridget McGivern
Image by Photobiotic
For four days last month I encountered a celebration of music, art and culture that was unlike anything else I have experienced in my 19 years of life. For those unaware of the concept of Australia’s ‘original bush doof’, earthcore is a four day festival held in Pyalong in Northern Victoria. As a seasoned festival goer I looked forward to a solid four days of fun. However for me, earthcore was a complete shake up to my notion of the typical festival. The people were crazy, colourful and almost catastrophic, they danced, they sang, they painted, they drank and they relished life fully. This persona, something I like to call ‘the liberated hippy’ was adopted for the festival, only to be packed back away behind skinny jeans and Nikes – until the next doof that is. The music in its entirety consisted of constant thudding bass and electronic overlays, usually not my cup of tea, however the massive energy of the crowds had everyone up dancing until the early hours of the morning. It was refreshing to be around people who had come to lose their inhibitions and escape from the real world into a technicolour space where the lines between reality and fantasy were blurred.
Accompanying a huge host of local and international musical acts were a wide variety of performers, including dancers and acrobats, in addition to art activities and yoga.
Earthcore strives to be unlike other music festivals in the way it encompasses mind, body and soul. Their aim to transport festival-goers into their world is achieved in the way they provide such a range of activities and experiences tailored to their vision of the Earth, and their hope to connect to it through music, dance and art; three of the earliest forms of self expression throughout human history.
Epic in its name and in the experiences it provided, earthcore 2015 was a hugely different and interesting adventure for me. An escape from the dregs of normality, into a place where inhibitions are non existent, and friendships are formed over abstract artworks, a shared love of lighting displays and a borrowed scarf to prevent the inhalation of dry, red dust. As I sit here writing this review, a part of me longs to be back dancing under the rainbow roofed Hydra Tent.