Red Deer Music Festival 2017: A Survival Guide
This weekend, Brisbane plays host to one of the coolest little events on the Australian music calendar; Red Deer Music Festival! It may not be the biggest festival in the world, but what Red Deer lacks in size, it more than makes up for with fun, tunes and all round chilled vibes! We’re getting our festy check lists ticked, so we thought we’d give you the hot scoops that will turn your 2017 Red Deer into a Rad Deer Festival!
- Whatever the weather, prepare for a party
We don’t like to be giving your tips that your Mum usually sends to you in a text halfway through the day, so we’ll get our lame-o tips out of the way early! Brisbane in October is always a dice roll, and you never know if you’ll end up with a 35 degree scorcher that’s drier than a hungover throat, or a cool afternoon heavy on the moisture. Red Deer can be either, neither or both, and it’s always best to prepare for any eventuality! Pack plenty of sunscreen, and make sure you’re rocking your very best festival attire; hat and all! Unlike BigSound where most gigs are indoors, or Splendour, where you’re too into (or onto) it to care, Red Deer is a big open space with not a lot of shelter. You’re best off bringing a rain coat or poncho, or getting really well acquainted with what you look like covered in mud and water!
- Keep an eye on your mates & the venue!
Our second (and final, we promise) Mum tip is to keep an eye on your mates and the venue that you’re in! Red Deer is on the smaller and more chilled out end of the festival spectrum, and with that in mind, they don’t want to have to deal with you all being beyond it! There’s plenty of space to spread out and have an arvo nap if you need it, and with the very fine selection of food trucks, take time to put the tinny blues down and get some water and tucker in ya! The venue is a working cattle paddock, so make it easy on the owners, and try to keep all your trash together. If you’re ripping a darb, put that ciggie butt in your empty cans, and try to keep all your trash in the bins! And remember, no glass, even if it’s just because you can fit more cans in an esky anyway!
- Don’t skip the smaller stuff
You might not know every band on the line up of Red Deer, and if you do, that’s pretty damn impressive! But that’s not a good excuse to only show up for the big names at the end of the day! Some of the best finds at Red Deer are early on in the day! The festival boasts a massive range of styles in their artists, and you’ll definitely find yourself having a low key jam in the mid-afternoon to a band that you’ve never heard of if you give everything a chance! If you need another reason to get in early; you don’t want to miss out on a great spot to set up your gear!
- Get into it!
The headline acts at Red Deer are always a big time. Whether you’re getting up the front to mosh with the masses or staying at your couch to shimmy along with your mates, come night time, you’ll be in full party mode! But to get to that point, you’ll want to engage in everything else that Red Deer offers! From sack races to hula hooping, and from art installations to the occasional on-stage marriage proposal, Red Deer has it all, and it’s all worth getting involved with. Here’s a hot tip for festival veterans: this year there’ll be a third live music stage focusing on regional and emerging acts, but it will be up to you to get to it! There’s always something going on, or something to do with in the slots between bands, so make sure to get around and explore the area – you never know what you’ll find!
- BYOBBB (One extra “B” stands for “Benchseats”, the other is a typo)
Now that you know everything you need to do at the festival, it’s time to think about everything you’ll need to take. Remember, the best thing about Red Deer is that it’s BYO just about everything! Bring along your own alcohol as much as you want, and keep it near you all day in a kick ass esky, cause no one likes lines! (Keep that glass away, you don’t want to be stumbling on bottles when you’re cutting shapes). Bring your own furniture of any kind, as long as you can transport to and fro it in your car! You’ll see couches, day beds, night beds, camp chairs, inflatable lounge suites and just about anything else that comfortably fits an ass! And for you campers, it’s a good chance to set up a sweet glamping arrangement in the campgrounds! You can’t go wrong!
Red Deer is kicking off this weekend, and there are still tickets available HERE to Brisbane’s best secret festival! So gather your mates, gather their eskies, gather some couches and make your way to Mt Samson!
