[Live Review] GRAPEVINE GATHERING (Hunter Valley)

Roche Estate, Hunter Valley
Saturday 30 November 2019

Reviewer : Caitlin Martin
Photographer : Joshua South

Grapevine Gathering is one of the new style of small festival for mellow, electronic, dance music. The target market here is 20 to 30 year olds enjoying the latest breed of melodic electronic and dance/synth acts, rather than more traditional guitars/drums acts with a stronger vibe. Combined with DJ sets between artists, the music continues throughout the day and evening.

Patrons were treated to a lineup including mostly local acts such as Flight Facilities, Mallrat, Jack River, Touch Sensitive and Kira Puru in the beautiful location of Roche Estate winery in the Hunter Valley. The sun stayed mostly behind the clouds with only patches of light rain, and once the sun set the Ferris Wheel lit up to provide a stunning backdrop against the dimming sky. Looking out across the grapevines there was a chilled vibe to this beautifully laid out and well organised event.

At the start of the day Lovebirds and Big Words entertained the early crowd, as more patrons were gradually arriving. The vibe was set for a cruisy day and groups of friends formed around the grassed area enjoying drinks and laughs. The VIP balcony provided a higher vantage point from a distance, and adequate staffing and toilets across the venue were a nice change from overcrowded festivals, meaning time spent in queues were minimal.

Touch Sensitive brought his cosmic disco grooves and got people dancing, for mine he was an act who should have been higher on the setlist as the tempo dropped back a bit afterwards. The rain started for the first few songs of local Foster girl Jack River, but it didn’t stop the fans from donning ponchos and enjoying the set. Late Night Tuff guy’s DJ set followed and some older stuff was incorporated (Prince, Michael Jackson) to keep the dancing going.

Next Mallrat, followed by Crooked Colours, both super chilled electronic. Sydney’s Flight Facilities were a real highlight, with the talented Owl Eyes and Leon providing quality singing voices and keeping the groove going as the sun set.

The international top billing went to Irish group Two Door Cinema Club on the tail end of their Australian tour to celebrate their fourth album. They brought an energetic, danceable set with their post-punk energetic synth/pop. I found it strange that about half way through their set, just after they played their popular single ‘Undercover Martyn’, which was a real crowd-pleaser, there was some disengagement. A large portion of the crowd, seemingly having enjoyed the song they know, left the venue. It meant the group played to what was a noticeable smaller audience for the last of their set, which struck me as a poor choice of top lineup act.

Overall this was an enjoyable, well managed single day festival enjoyed by a mostly young crowd in a stunning location.