Golden Plains, the smaller, but equally-cute sister festival to Meredith Music Festival, has just announced its twelfth, and best, lineup to date.
Some of Australia’s best names will be performing: The Avalanches, who have been keeping extremely busy since the release of their long-awaited sophomore effort, Wildflower, in 2016; Jen Cloher, whose eponymous album is by far one of the realest and most lyrically brilliant Aussie albums of 2017, Tropical Fuck Storm, a new project from The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard and Fiona Kitschin, along with High Tension’s Lauren Hammel and Palm Springs’ Erica Dunn, and The Preatures, who recently released their second album Girlhood, to critical acclaim.
And now for the international guests—wow. Both Thundercat and Kamasi Washington will be in tow; among the greatest living jazz bassists and saxophonists, respectively, the pair straddle several genres—both are heavily involved in the hip-hop world, having collaborated with artists like Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Snoop Dogg and each other, among many many others. Fingers and toes will be tightly crossed for an on-stage collaboration between these two living legends.
Comeback kids Grizzly Bear will be returning to perform their new album—their first in five years—Painted Ruins, the mysterious and much-loved King Krule will be performing his own brand new album The Ooz, and legendary Austin psych-blues rock outfit The Black Angels will be finally returning to Australia with their own new album, Death Song. Elsewhere, Floating Points will be returning to perform a highly coveted live solo set, while Daptone legend Lee Fields will be injecting a hefty dose of soul into Golden Plains 2018.
And that’s just the tip.
Golden Plains XII Lineup
The Avalanches
Kamasi Washington
Waterfall Person
King Krule
Grizzly Bear
The Preatures
The Black Angels
Jen Cloher
Floating Points (solo live)
Lee Fields & The Expressions
Perfume Genius
Wet Lips
Objekt
Rocket Science
Tropical Fuck Storm
Toni Yotzi
Adrian Sherwood
Kaiit
Batpiss
Baker Boy
Thundercat
More to come
Golden Plains XII takes place from March 10-12, 2018 at the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre. As usual, you need to enter a ballot to get tickets—enter before 10pm on October 24. Head to the official website for the ballot and more information.
Just when you thought festival season couldn’t get much better, Golden Plains, Meredith Festival’s little sister, just went and announced one of the most eclectic and brilliant lineups of the year.
Yes, the festival is smaller and more niche than Splendour, Falls and the other major events, but this kind of lineup really brings us so much hope that Australian festival promoters are still happy to challenge their audiences and push boundaries
It had previously been announced that Australian great Neil Finn of Crowded House and Split Enz will be headlining the event, along with punk/ska legends The Specials. The full lineup has now been revealed and it is un-fucking-believable. Seriously.
Electronic maestro Nicolas Jaar will be returning to Australia for the first time since he and Dave Harrington blew Splendour in the Grass’ head off in 2014 with Darkside. Jaar has just released a stunning new album, Sirens, and we can’t wait to hear it live in 2017. Hopefully he’ll be announcing sideshow performances as well. Read our review of Sirens here and our feature on Jaar here.
Punk stalwarts The Damned will be delivering a ferocious set, showing off what they can do so many years after first making waves, while Kurt Vile will be returning to Australia after playing Falls Festival just last year (read our interview here). His first ever Australian tour included a trip to the ‘Sup and his return will be welcomed with open arms, as will Chain and the Gang, who were the very first international act to ever appear at Meredith.
The Australian names are running incredibly strong this year, with disco lords Total Giovanni, our fave gals Camp Cope, The Peep Tempel, Olympia, metal trio ORB and more leading the charge.
Check out the full lineup below. If you’ve never been to Golden Plains before, I can personally confirm that it’s probably the best small music festival in the country – absolutely worth a trip down to Melbourne for the weekend.
As always, tickets will be allocated via ballot – you can enter here, it’s open until next Tuesday, October 25.
Golden Plains takes place from March 11 – 13, 2017.
Golden Plains 2017 Lineup
Neil Finn
Nicolas Jaar
The Specials
Chain & The Gang
Total Giovanni
Margaret Glaspy
Kurt Vile
Princess Nokia
Teenage Fanclub
Camp Cope
The Damned
Olympia
Wax’o Paradiso
HABITS
ORB
Cash Savage And The Last Drinks
J A Z Z Party
Ausmuteants
Benny And The Flybyniters
The Dusty Millers
Brooke Powers
The Peep Tempel
Image: Supplied