Freshly Plucked Festival

The Saturday morning of the Freshly Plucked Festival began with a not so promising start; the weather was horrid in the early hours of the morning and nowhere near as bright and warm as it was in previous years. But that did not put off the fans!

Last Saturday 700 people from all around the region flocked to the Freshly Plucked Festival to enjoy a fantastic ten hour extravaganza of music, art, food and entertainment!

The festival was an all ages, drug and alcohol free event and is the only one of its kind in regional New South Wales. People of all ages and all music tastes were attracted to the festival, which was brought to you by Rock Up and Black Dog.

The bands came from far and wide, the live graffiti demonstration looked stunning, the food was great and the art installations looked fantastic and really set the peaceful mood of the festival.

Local act from Cowra Moon Calves, now known as Pink Rabbit, kicked off the festival to what was to be deemed a very successful evening! The local bands seemed to be getting almost as much support from the crowd as the more well-known acts, which is a wonderful thing to see! Orange’s The Filthy Rich and The Trend seemed to draw in the crowd and Dubbo’s Dead Modern excited the metal heads in the mosh pit!

Fans got the opportunity to meet and greet all the artists and were able to purchase their very affordable merchandise. The shirts designed by Pink Rabbit, a local band from Cowra, sold out in a flash! Committee member Alice Hone said that the shirts for Pink Rabbit were the best of the whole festival. “They looked awesome! I saw one on a friend and just had to run in and grab one straight away!”

Two very fortunate people from the crowd got the opportunity to win the lucky door prize; a framed 2008 Freshly Plucked Festival poster signed by headliners Something With Numbers and Butterfingers and they were able to go backstage and meet the bands in person after the show! Congratulations to the winners, I bet they were thrilled!

The Freshly Plucked film crew spent the day recording snippets of the show and interviewing band members and even people from the audience! They said “All the people were pretty laid back which surprised us, we expected the conceited artist stereotype… I actually had fun interviewing them. It seemed like all the bands were having a ball down here!”

As the weather was dreary and rain was on and off throughout the morning it was decided to have the OCU stage moved inside. Even though there was not a large space for the crowd to congregate, this didn’t stop them! The small space allowed for a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere to arise, this was evident when Radiophobia began their set; everyone in the crowd was grooving to their beats and even a line of young ladies doing the can-can formed! Over all the festival had a fantastic friendly and relaxed atmosphere and was enjoyed by everyone who attended!

Butterfingers thrilled the crowd and wrenched the energy out of their supporters, especially Bec Drayton who was joyfully pulled up on stage to sing along to one of their songs. She said it was the highlight of her night and that it never would have happened at any other gig.

Headliners Something With Numbers ended the night wonderfully! Their mellow tunes got the crowd singing and dancing along with their hits from the album Engineering The Soul which they released earlier this year. Something With Numbers is continuing their tour around New South Wales, we hope they enjoy themselves as much as they did at Freshly Plucked! Have fun boys!

The Rock Up committee would like to show their gratitude for the businesses that sponsored the festival; they really are appreciated! So here’s a big thanks to Black Dog, Central Western Daily, Midstate Observer, Orange City Council, Arrive Alive, Southern Cross Ten and The Lyndon Community.

Also, a big thank you goes out to Jason Lowe and his family as well as all the committee members and volunteers who gave up their time to make the festival a success! And, of course, all the people who attended, we hope to see you all next year!

If you want to keep in contact, leave a comment, give a suggestion or chat to the artists who performed in the festival then all you need to do is look up the Freshly Plucked Festival’s myspace; www.myspace.com/freshlyplucked or bebo; www.bebo.com/freshlyplucked and become a friend!

Listen out for the return of the Freshly Plucked Festival in 2009!