Disconnect Festival 2015

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Fri 11 Dec 2015 - Sun 13 Dec 2015

It was only an hour from Perth, but felt world's away: Pinjarra, a small town defined by its mining, agriculture and horses. Walking the main street, you would never expect that just outside of town hundreds of people were setting up camp to enjoy the inaugural Disconnect Festival.

Held at Fairbridge camp over 3 days, the Disconnect Festival was a music festival like Western Australia has never seen. With three separate music venues, you were never at a loss to see and hear a broad variety of live acts and DJs. The main stage, the Darling Amphitheatre, was set at the bottom of a gently sloping hill allowing unobstructed views from all angles. The festival also saw the Fairbridge Chapel, a two hundred seat brick church, turned into a concert venue with rocking acoustics. If you had enough live music, the Secret Garden had all day DJ sets so you could pull up a couch and chill out.

The music acts were even more impressive than the setting. In addition to big name acts such as Flight Facilities, Meg Mac and Father John Misty (Chet Faker had to cancel due to his broken foot – sob), there were other international and Australian acts and heaps of local talent from WA. Highlights were the psychedelic sounds of Goat, a Swedish band who have a knack with costumes and at one point jammed with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (14 musicians playing all at once) and the sweet sounds of Perth's own Helen Shanahan whose angelic voice and heartfelt lyrics had me shedding a tear.

The festival was more than just music and camping. There were comedy shows, burlesque and circus acts as well as art spaces and market stalls peppered about in the most unlikely spots. There were food trucks of all sorts to feed the masses with everything from Brazilian street food to fresh pressed juices. The Mess Hall venue played host to comedic acts including Bogan Bingo and Comedians in Coffee as well as Professors and Pints lectures and our Greens senator Scott Ludlum. In fact, Scott took a turn on the decks in the Secret Garden and proved himself a deft DJ.

The Disconnect Festival hit all the high notes in first year, and set a new standard for music festivals in WA. We can't wait for Disconnect 2016!

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#december
!date 11/12/2015 -- 13/12/2015
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