Expectation vs Reality: Sonder Music and Arts Festival
It’s no secret that we’re living in tough times. Spending hard earned coin on something as frivolous as a festival is a difficult thing to do for many young Aussies and the fate of some of Australia’s musical giants (R.I.P. Splendour) proves the severity of the situation. So on the back of their 3rd successful instalment, we at Overdrive Magazine wanted to chat with the team at Sonder Music & Arts Festival to see what they think makes their project different. Ultimately, we wanted to compare how their expectations compared with our reality over the Easter weekend.
Friday Night in the Hangar: Booty-shaking and space-making
On Friday, pumped full of first night jitters, my friends and I squeezed into The Hangar; an old shed that’s industrial interiors reflected that of an old-school warehouse rave. The next act is Chuleo Club, an ass-shaking, bass-breaking powerhouse whose Latinx rhythms and dancefloors are known for being sexy and sweaty - hence why my friends and I have gotten to the Hangar early to secure our spots.
I look around, intrigued by the men at the stage and wonder if they know what they’re getting themselves in for. I ask a man to my right, “what made you come see Chuleo Club tonight?”. Comically, he’s just looking for a friend, he’s got no idea what’s about to happen. The next men on my hit list say their girl friends got them to come. Typical.
The music begins, everyone crouches down to reveal a dancer teasing the crowd behind a semi-sheer curtain. I giggle at the boys who are equal parts enthralled and confused but once the bass drops, it doesn’t matter who you are or why you’re there, there is not a single body in the crowd standing still. A girl and a boy burst through the crowd next to me and I ask my same question to the unsuspecting gentleman, to which he replies a bit incredulously “I mean, are you listening to the same thing that I’m listening to right now? It’s fun! Maybe I wouldn’t be here if I hadn't seen them previously but I know better now”.
In effect, the response to Chuleo Club proves that while creating space for their typically queer and FLINTA audience is important, festivals like Sonder throw the doors wide open to anyone who wants to get down and dirty. This is no coincidence. With curation forming a central part of their approach, Sonder organisers revealed “[they] are always trying to keep people on their toes and show them something they might not have expected to see or do”.
The pairing of Chuleo Club followed by Mirasia on Friday night created a world that flourished with the experience of the veterans and soared with the excitement of the rookies, proving that the magic of festivals allows people who may not have been exposed to such spaces, an opportunity to explore themselves in a whole new light.
Art installations: Big little kids in the Chillout Tent
One thing that was new to Sonder this year was the addition of more art installations and an upgraded Chillout Tent full of wicked sculptures and designs. The brief given to the artistic collaborators was to make it feel like a fairy-garden, a place where your inner-child can come to relax and play. Our friend Indigo (@indigoingwild) was responsible for the mobile-sculpture hanging above the DJ pit. A beautifully messy, floating, pink and green artwork overlooked the tent and added a sense of whimsy to the space. “There were lots of mistakes”, Indigo admits as we chat over a coffee one morning “but it added to it, it was all part of the process… I wanted people to look up and just feel calm”.
On Saturday night, as the tent filled up with lounging bodies after the main stage closed, I couldn’t help but feel that she had absolutely nailed her brief. Looking over a sea of heads-in-laps and legs-intertwined, all I could see was a bunch of big-little-kids playing in their fairy garden.
Saturday night logistics: UKG and Jumpers
Picture this, Saturday night, 6pm. The dreaded time when some of your mates are cold, some of your mates are hungry, some have barely recovered from the afternoon’s excitement while others are itching for the night to begin. At bigger music festivals, this is usually the beginning of the end. The group splits off. Some to camp, some to a side stage. Some go get food and although you said you’d meet at the toilets by 7, you all know that’s never going to happen. There’s a collective, unspoken acknowledgement that the next time you see each other will be at camp the next morning.
However, at Sonder, the organisers said they “[built the festival] through the eyes of the punter. [They] wanted this festival to be as easy as possible in as many ways as possible so you [could] focus on dancing your little heart out.”
The approach certainly paid off as far as the Overdrive crew is concerned. Dancefloor toilet breaks didn’t necessitate 3 babysitters. You could run back for a jumper without missing an entire set. You could even go take yourself for a timeout on the hill and rest assured you’ll be able to find your friends later. No doof sticks, no walkie talkies, just a crowd of sound legends listening to some wicked music.
So for our Saturday night 6pm, instead of facing the paralysing fork in the road that usually plagues other festivals, my crew went back to camp for our jumpers, stocked up on drinks and was still able to catch Osmosis Jones spinning some pounding UKG as the sun set on another fabulously easy day.
Global Music Influence: The Importance of Celebration
One thing that stood out this year was the delightful amalgamation of cultures present in the music programming. The festival organisers said they are highly aware of the ways in which “the scene has been built and continues to be run by black, brown, and queer communities, so it only makes sense they are forever at the forefront of Sonder.”
From the Arab influence of moktar and MzRizk to the deadly Indigenous rap from Miss Kaninna. Mirasia’s finest selection of beats from the Asia-Pacific to Ryota’s seamless blend of the Japanese and UK underground. Every act harvested a culture of appreciation and celebration that made a wonderful world in which punters could lose themselves. High energy sets of UKG magic from Bakey and Capo Lee made the turmoils of the outside world a distant memory, all that mattered was dancing as hard as you could and having as much fun as possible.
Sonder “[wanted] the space to feel like it [was] for everyone” which according to them “fosters a realisation that you are a part of something bigger than your individual experience. When that is practiced en masse, that’s when the magic happens.”
If there’s one thing that Overdrive Magazine and Sonder can agree on, it's that sites of creativity, exploration and cultural celebration really are the antidote to disillusionment and detachment. Thus, while it’s a challenging climate for music festivals at the moment, Sonder has proved that they’ve never been needed more.
Sunday Afternoon at the Main Stage: Tornado Wallace and Fantastic Man
It seems fitting that Tornado Wallace and Fantastic Man are best friends who have been long-term collaborators for almost a decade. To all who filled the sun-soaked main stage on Sunday afternoon, it seemed that Mother Nature was the third addition to their little friendship-group, for the gilded sunset and warm breeze seemed divinely sent to match the nostalgic and ethereal beats that said goodbye to a splendid afternoon and hello to an even better night. Sonder wanted friendship to be one of the main things that people got from this festival, and one thing is for certain as you look around the dancefloor - that you genuinely feel that you could be friends with everyone there.
“In the digital world, there aren’t many places left where people turn up [and are] open to connecting with new people. We heard so many stories of people coming to Sonder this year with people they met at a previous rendition. Even some love stories. That’s the stuff that melts our hearts a little.”
For Sonder’s organisers “the intimacy of the festival lets people connect”. A simple smile, a nod of the head, an easter egg dropped in a stranger's bag, a random girl saying she loved your skirt. All of these small markers of companionship seem harmless on their own, but when added up over 3 magnificent days leave you with a feeling of genuine comradery and a renewed faith in humanity.
And on Sunday afternoon, as the magnificent duo played 'From Blue to Green' by Chicane, warm VB never tasted so good, a mini skirt and hiking boots had never looked so beautiful (thanks to my gorgeous friend Fran) and I'd never been more grateful for the friends around me and all of the ones that I was sure were to come.
Sonder’s Afterglow
Maybe it’s the crowd, maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the ease with which you can go to the toilet. Maybe it’s the magic of the Easter Bunny or maybe it’s the way the sun looks setting over the hills behind the main stage. For Sonder, it’s a combination of all these tiny little things - the things that have hours of debate behind them that the punters would barely consider. Regardless of what the secret ingredient is, what lies at the forefront of Sonder’s success is the synergy between the organiser’s expectations and the punter’s reality. When festivals are designed for the dancers and not the sponsors, everything just clicks.
As expected, the festival organisers are still reeling from the turnout. “[The crowd shows] up for us when we ask them to. They see and understand the love that goes into this festival, and they give it back tenfold. We throw this party for them - it’s their party - and they are our homies for sure”.
So next Easter, grab your chocolate bunnies and your carrots. The Overdrive crew will catch you on the dancefloor.
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