With a barn and a dream Emma Tatnall has brought a new exciting music festival to life. RadFest is a music festival coming to Toolleen (near Bendigo) on November 5-6 for the first time. The festival not only promises rad tunes and good times, but it’s also made a conscious decision not to have a sausage-fest line-up.
“For us it’s not about making a political statement, but shaking up the status quo,” says festival Director Emma Tatnall.
“We’ve never understood why when you look at a lot of the big festivals, you usually have to go down 5-10 names on the bill before you spot a female act. And it’s not because they don’t exist – we’ve got heaps of great women in music in Victoria. We just wanted to represent that.”
With festivals like Spilt Milk receiving backlash for line-ups lacking a balance between male and female performers, it’s nice to see and support a bit of a shaking up.
RadFest also promises to make the whole festival experience a little homelier, no trekking or hiking to camp sites, no long lines taking away from watching your favourite bands and the perks that come with BYO (plus not usual festival bevvy prices).
In the evening enjoy a massive ‘family dinner’, be fed, make friends and drink to some great tunes. Most of the Rad crew met at festivals and believe the big get-together is the best way to get into the festival friendship spirit. The weekends line up features Loose Tooth, Sugar Fed Leopards, The Hello Morning, Horace Bones, Lazer Tits, Baby Blue, and recently added Total Giovanni to provide the late night boogie tunes.
The acts are a good mix of rad tunes and rad guys and girls, with the newest addition one the team are quite excited about.
“We’re excited to announce we have legends Total Giovanni taking over the festival’s late night disco boogaloo. They’ll bringing their usual wild shenanigans, playing DJ and spinning their disco-licious party starters that are sure to whip the crowd into a frenzy. We can’t wait!”
Ultimately, anything that arises from Meredith Music Festival, features an equal line up and that includes a massive costume swap, is sure to be a good time.
“We can’t wait for everyone to see it. After years of throwing free cocktail parties at Meredith and then running a pop-up bar as part of The Bar Dream competition last year, this is the next step. To put it simply, we just get a kick out of people having a rad time,” she says.
Written by Melissa Davis
When & Where: Radfest, Toolleen – November 5 & 6
