Rainbow Serpent Festival
| Rainbow Serpent Festival | |
|---|---|
 The Market Stage at Rainbow Serpent 2013 | |
| Genre | Electronic music, art and lifestyle |
| Dates | Australia Day long weekend |
| Location(s) | Victoria, Australia |
| Years active | 1997– present |
| Website | |
| Official site | |
The Rainbow Serpent Festival is a large electronic music, art and lifestyle festival, located in Victoria, Australia.[1] The festival is mainly known for Psychedelic trance and Minimal Techno music, but also features other genres of electronic music and non electronic music in the smaller stages. The festival also has many art installations, workshops and other attractions. Recent years have seen the festival expand from a purely music-driven event, to one that places an emphasis on sustainability, well-being, performance and art.
History
The festival occurs on the Australia Day long weekend. January 2015 is the festival's 18th year celebration. The more recent festivals have been held on farmland in the vicinity of Beaufort, Victoria. The festival provides a source of capital to the Beaufort area and enjoys a positive relationship with the township.
In 2008 the Rainbow Serpent Festival won the FasterLouder Festival Award for Value for Money.[2]
The name Rainbow Serpent comes from the Aboriginal dreamtime creation myth of the Rainbow Serpent.
Music
Rainbow Serpent Festival is known largely for its music, featuring styles from chillout, to tech house, psytrance, and many variants of these styles. Mostly electronic based Rainbow Serpent has seen DJ's, producers, and live bands. The music runs 24 hours per day usually for over four days.
Costume
The festival encourages a fashion playground filled with costumes and self-expression as people experiment with styles. Trends are ignored as people tap into the playfulness of dress-ups. Tribal influences are strong along with the playfulness of sequins, rainbow colours, '80s aerobics gear, and anything extreme, colourful or fun. It would be unusual to see someone who was not dressed up. Every person becomes a walking art piece, contributing to the visual feast, and creating a fantasy land of beauty and wonder for all eyes.
Arts
Rainbow serpent collaborates and funds various visual and performance arts projects. A full program of entertainment and display of sculptures and installation art is welcomed; allowing artists to delve deep into their imaginations and create a beautiful and bizarre festival land. The creative arts include circus performance, live painting, and more. A constantly evolving arts expose unfolds over the four days of the festival.
Lifestyle
The festival is lifestyle festival with a community that comes together in celebration. People wish each other a 'Happy Rainbow' and enjoy connecting and sharing the experience with like minded individuals in an open and welcoming environment, Market stalls, healing arts and multi-cultural foods are all important parts of the festival experience and 'lifestyle'. A lifestyle village hosts a variety of activities to promote, encourage and inspire.
Stages
Main Stage
The Main Stage at Rainbow Serpent is not in any way supposed to be the 'best' stage. While it does boast the highest production values, it focuses on harder music such as Psytrance. Usually the stage begins with an ambient act, and progressively increases in energy throughout the night. The Main Stage runs for 24 hours, starting at 6:00 pm Saturday night, and finishes 6:00 pm Sunday night.
Market Stage
The Market Stage plays a large variety of music ranging from ambient, glitch hop, and tech house to psytrance. The Market Stage is the longest running stage at the festival, starting on the Friday night, and finishing early on Monday evening, it runs for about 72 hours continuously with no breaks except for one hour for the Main Stage opening ceremony. Many of the headliner acts actually play on the Market Stage, rather than on the Main Stage depending on their music style. The Monday afternoon on the Market Stage is widely regarded as one of the highlights of the festival, much like Saturday night on the Main Stage is.
Sunset Stage
The Sunset Stage plays a variety of music, and throughout the festival, however, it closes for the 24-hour duration of the Main Stage opening. The Sunset Stage is a favorite of many who prefer smaller crowds and more specifics acts and genres than the Market Stage and the Main Stage provide.
Chillout Stage
The Chillout Stage runs throughout the festival, and is a place to relax while still enjoying the music. It contains many places to sit, often including bean bags, carpets, and shade cloths. It is not uncommon for acts from the Market Stage or the Main Stage to do sets on the Chillout stage, playing toned down and chilled versions of the tracks they are known for.
Playground Stage
The Playground Stage, introduced to the festival in 2009, focuses on live music. The genres covered include dub, reggae, hip-hop, funk, folk, balkan, electro-swing, cumbia and jazz. This stage gives a lot of opportunity for Melbourne's independent music scene to partake in the festival, and for people looking for a break from the more traditional electronic music of the other stages. It also showcases on-musical performers ranging from magicians, to comedians, mimes, and fire twirlers.
Notable Acts
2010 - Robert Babicz and Dave Tipper did several sets, including market stage, and chillout stage sets.
2011 - Shpongle performed Live at Rainbow Serpent in 2011. Many consider this to be the biggest act that the festival has secured to date. Alex Grey painted live on the Main Stage during Shpongle's performance.
2014 - The Orb
Death at festival
In 2012 a 34-year old man Daniel Buccianti died at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Beaufort, Victoria.
References
See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rainbow Serpent Festival. |