Easterfest 2012

Avery Hill wins Easterfest Spotlight

Fri, 06 May 2011 09:38 +1000

Easterfest Spotlight is an artist development initiative held during the festival to give emerging bands an opportunity to kick-start their musical career.

Participating artists were first given a free development session with leading music industry representatives including Rowan Brand, (CMJ Music Marathon, New York and co-manager of "Boy & Bear"), Scott McDonald (Radio host), Tim Weatherall (Hammered Silver) and Andy Mac (Delusion Records and manager "New Empire"). The artists then performed a 20minute set on an Easterfest stage and their performance was evaluated.

With tough competition between all of the bands, judges had a difficult time in deciding the winner. Ten enthusiastic artists entered from far and wide - including Longreach and Townsville.

Avery Hill are a Brisbane based band and will take home a $5,000 recording package from Hammered Silver studio and the guarantee of a slot on one of Easterfest's prominent stages in 2012.

Easterfest Today's coverage of Sunday in Easterfest City

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:39 +1000

With the park events closed on Sunday after Saturday nights deluge, Easterfest City came alive with many artists offering to perform their sets in venues in Toowoomba's CBD. Check out Easterfest Today's report...

Easterfest Today - Sunday with Naturally 7 from Easterfest on Vimeo.

Easterfest Today's coverage of Saturday at Easterfest

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:31 +1000

Highlighting Jeremy Fowler from New Empire and the guys from Rapture Ruckus. Check it out!

UPDATE: EASTERFEST ANNOUNCE FREE CONCERT

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:37 +1000

Easterfest is pleased to announce that Naturally 7, PC3 and Newworldson will be doing a free concert in the Toowoomba CBD.

Performance Times:
3:00PM - Naturally 7
3:30PM - PC3
4:00PM - Newworldson

Location: CBD Stage (next to Toowoomba Library)

MEDIA CONFERENCE UPDATE

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 10:50 +1000

Easterfest has just conducted a media conference with the Toowoomba Mayor & emergency representatives. We are pleased to confirm the safety of all on site last night during the rain event.

FAMILY CONTACT

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 09:09 +1000

Easterfest is encouraging everybody who hasn't contacted family and friends to inform them of their well-being to please do so as soon as possible.

EASTERFEST ANNOUNCE FREE CONCERT

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 08:48 +1000

Easterfest is pleased to announce that Naturally 7 and Newworldson will be doing a free concert in the Toowoomba CBD, in replacement of their Queen's Park concert.

Time: 3PM
Location: CBD Stage (next to Toowoomba Library)

Official Easterfest Announcement

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 22:46 +1000

Easterfest 2011 activity at queens park has been cancelled due to heavy weather. Easterfest city will still proceed as programmed.

Some Queens Park facilities have been damaged but the campsite is secure.

For campers requiring dry facilities tonight (Saturday April 23) welfare centers have been set up with local churches.

There have not been any injuries related to the site closure and Easterfest is working closely with local authorities.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:52 +1000

There has been significant rain event on the Easterfest site. We are pleased that our evacuation procedures were successful. All campers and attendees are safe. However, campers have had water in their tents and have been offered alternate accommodation in churches and halls in the nearby proximity. In the morning they will be able to collect any equipment.

Easterfest Today covers day one at Festival

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:27 +1000

Easterfest Today Part One

Easterfest Today Part Two

Day 12 - Camping chaos as everyone arrives!

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:54 +1000

Well the day we have been waiting for has finally arrived. This is not so much a construction day but more a trouble shooting... final touches... sheer craziness... welcome everyone to festival type of day.

At 10am sharp (actually I think it was a tad earlier) we welcomed the first lot of 40+ groups to festival! By 1pm the site was absolutely buzzing... so many people had rocked up early to set up camp. In the picture here... the green grass now would be filled with tents and happy campers!

I've heard some pretty awesome stories so far from groups traveling... flooded roads adding literally hours to journeys... trailer tyres shredded... I'd love to get some blog stories from them all one of these days!

Box Office has been crazy all day with everyone exchanging their e-tickets for armbands. Such a great vibe out there. Check out today's video blog to see some of that action.

All the stages are set up... or getting that way. Crew are doing their thing everywhere and putting in hours of hard work to make sure everything roles as smoothly as possible. I love seeing everyone in their element. From 'twitter' guru's to techies. It just takes so many different types of gifted people in all these different areas to make the festival happen. Amazing!

We had an absolutely amazing day today. I think there might be even a few pink cheek campers from a little tooo much sun! We're all very grateful!

Today's video shows you some early footage of the campsite and then a quick trip through a bunch of the venues!

If you're still considering coming up we have still got weekend and single day passes available. Hope you can be part of some of the action around here. I think it will be a monumental weekend!

Day 11 - Big Lighting, Big Top and Big News

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:48 +1000

It's Day 11 - Double One. I'm starting to see double from all that's going on here at Easterfest Construction! Speaking of double, our amazing team of YWAM-ers doubled today. Another two bus-loads of eager volunteers showed up and got right to work. You'd think they'd be feeling blue from all the fence wrapping they've done. But they've got an endless supply of energy!

At the mainstage, the impressive lighting and the gigantic video screens have just been installed. Rest assured ladies and gentlemen, we're on the cutting edge of entertainment technology. The video blog will have a special interview with our mainstage director, Ben Farley who'll give us a tour of mainstage.

Our pro team of pro-flooring experts have laid the way to the aptly named Big Top tent. Inside, the lights are hanging and the stage is ready for rocking out. Don't miss sick shows from the likes of Emery and The Classic Crime at Big Top.

Now for the biggest (and roundest) news of the day. For the first time in Easterfest history, for your spinning and viewing pleasure…..drum roll please…..we have a Ferris Wheel!

At just $2 per ride, you won't have to break the bank to behold the wonder of Easterfest from high above. It's sure to be a popular attraction. Or if you have a premium ticket, you'll get a ride for just $1!

Festival faithfuls from Cairns, The Whitsundays, Newcastle, and Townsville are already on their way, and so are some of the bands! Do I sound excited?! I can hardly wait to see everyone... especially since this is my first time to Easterfest!

Signing out, Kevin Eleven (My Australian nickname)

Check out today's blog. Linda wants to put a disclaimer out... to say she's not normally like she is in the video (mind you we all think she did awesome!) and it's because she'd only had two hours sleep last night!

Day 10 - Going where only artist go!

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:55 +1000

Well it's day 10 of construction! It was a lovely sunny day... despite the rainy weather reports we heard from all around the state. The site once again came alive with activity, preparing for everyone to begin to arrive on Thursday. The most exciting or maybe disappointing news for some is we have sold out of camping passes. Still plenty of 3-day festival passes and single day passes available. Check out alternate accommodation options here.

Today... nine semi trailers of toilets and showers arrived... a whole extra semi trailer then expected plus eight port-a-loo's!

Mainstage was painted black in preparation for the stars.

Caterers have arrived so the food court is starting to look full... and the open grassy spaces are slowly disappearing!

Campground fence started to go up today. By the time festival comes round, we'll end up with about 4kms of fencing! So plenty of fence wrapping to still happen. Today our army of volunteers worked hard on this.

Nine stages on the park will get deck out with their PA and lights over the next two days... Truckloads of this gear arrived today from local Queensland businesses. Big Top and Circus are in progress but the rest of the stages still need to be set up. So over the next few days we'll hear some actual 'festival noise' coming out of the tents and this place will start feeling like a MUSIC FESTIVAL!

Another random factoid... All of the stages on the park are provided by local Toowoomba providers excluding Mainstage which is provided by a Townsville supplier! So there you go Townsville peeps! You're not the only people who had to drive so far!

Ever wondered what the guest lounge's look like??? Check out todays blog for an exclusive tour with the awesome guest manager, Vickie Reddy! Please excuse my terrible videoing... must be getting tired!

Two more sleeps till campers arrive...

Aussie Joy

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:10 +1000

The Queen's Park camp ground is now sold out.

DO NOT ARRIVE AT THE FESTIVAL TO CAMP IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A PASS AS THERE WILL NOT BE SPACE AVAILABLE!

All other tickets and passes are still available from easterfest.com or at the Box Office in Queen's Park.

Should you still wish to camp, please contact Toowoomba Showgrounds on (07) 4634 7400 to make alternative camping arrangements. You must pre-book. Please note, Showgrounds are 8km from Queen's Park and you will still need to purchase a regular (non-camping) 3 day festival pass to access Easterfest in Queen's Park. Please contact Toowoomba Visitor Information Centre on 1800 33 11 55 for further accommodation options.

Day 9 - Stunt practice on Mainstage!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 18:16 +1000

Well it’s day nine of setup. It’s a little chilly in my ‘marquee office’ but great to be down here where all the action is taking place. In the background I can hear people cracking together pro-floor in the main entrance so damage to the park is minimised and less dust is stirred up. I personally think it’s these little ‘touches’ that make Easterfest extra special. The flooring in our offices is even proper timber paneling – so we can scoot around on rolly office chairs if we want too!

Today, 29 YWAM’ers out of a total 121 arrived! These guys are based out of Brisbane but come from all over the world. We’re very grateful for their help over the festival! They started setting up the 'Chai Tent' today... probably the most vibey venue on site. So over the next few days I think our army of volunteers will exponentially double – each day! Glad I’m not feeding everyone!

JC Epidemic rocked up today to set up and practice their insane Mainstage trick they’re planning for Friday night. Check out today’s video blog for an interview with Andy Sawden. He’s pretty stocked!

The ‘Tent city’ is becoming more and more inhabitable. We have phone lines, radios, hotshowers (I’m told!), great food and internet… so now we can tweet and facebook… what more could we need :-)! I guess it’d be good to see some PA and lights setup in the marquees so the bands can play hey? Maybe over the next few days we’ll check on the progress of this very important aspect… after all this ‘Tent City’ is a music festival!

So only three days until campers can arrive! Are you one of them? If you haven’t yet got your ticket please do so. There are only limited camping passes see more details here to see what tickets are still available!

Four days…

Aussie Joy

Check out today’s video blog...

It's On This Weekend

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:38 +1000

Easterfest 2011 will happen this weekend and the weather forecast is looking good... although a word of warning to all you campers - bring some warm clothes because Toowoomba nights have been a little chilly lately! (Nice days though).

CAMPING TICKETS ARE SELLING FAST

We strongly advise that you don't leave it to the weekend to purchase camping passes as at the time of posting this news article we only have a few hundred camping passes available.

ALL OTHER TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE AT THE GATE

We expect all other tickets to still be available at the gate, however, if you purchase them online you only have to line up once to get your armband. If you leave it to the gate to purchase your ticket, you need to line up twice - once to buy the ticket and then once to get your armband.

To receive your armbands you must register your ticket by filling in the contact details on your ticket. If you don't do this before arriving on site, we will have an area available for you to fill it in, but it will slow down your entry process.

Day 8 - Office Exodus

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:33 +1000

It’s hard to imagine all that goes into setting up for a festival like Easterfest. Friends are often shocked when I explain that it takes a team of staff working on it for a year to actually get it happening. There’s will be over 1000 volunteers on site during the weekend helping make sure everything runs smoothly. Volunteers who pick up litter… stage managers who keep everything running to schedule… gate security making sure the right people are getting into the correct areas… techy’s who make sure our laptops all run - this blog is so late tonight because we had a bit of a Mac not liking connecting to the internet issue on site… but thankfully Steve – who I’m sure we’ll never convince to get on camera – got me up and running eventually! There are so many random jobs that need doing we have one person who's job is making sure there is someone (or two) to do each of these jobs!

These twelve days before festival many extra volunteers take holidays to give their professional skills – electricians, builders, technicians, riggers, forklift drivers…etc to set up the ‘festival city’. And actually... if you’re have a trade and would like to help out in the week leading up to Easterfest next year please let us know. I was told today there are still plenty of openings. We especially need more tradies to help with bump in and out.

Today the office ‘exodus’ happened. We relocated our offices from our permanent residence to the park. Quite chaotic really. Boxes and boxes of armbands and programs… computers and chairs… and all things officey were packed away and moved half a kilometer down the road. I’m so glad we’re so close to the park! The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to put some order in place… wiring in computers and phones and setting up office space. I’m so grateful for the team that knows how to do all that techy stuff… it sure is beyond me! Check out today's blog to hear how our awesome office administrator extraodinarie Linda coped with the move... we caught her at the peak of all the action!

Mainstage now has a deck and a catwalk. Special interview with Bob on the progress there in today's blog.

Thanks for stopping by... till tomorrow,

Aussie Joy

Day 7 - Mainstage is going to be massive!

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 17:56 +1000

Hi, I'm Kevin Banks, one of the volunteers at Easterfest. I'm currently on a big adventure traveling around Australia and New Zealand. I've taken some time off to come and experience the fun of Easterfest Construction!

It's Day 7, and a new day brings new challenges. The sun has gone into hiding, leaving clouds and drizzle in its place. But not to worry, that hasn't slowed down our awesome crew. It amazes me how many volunteers have given up their time to help make Easterfest a reality. These men and women are working their tails off.

After our trademark 6 o'clock breakfast, we were off to the mainstage. This year it's going to be massive, and it takes a team of dedicated workers to put it together. Nigel, one of the hardest-working blokes around, braved the heights to climb all the stage towers and hang the motors. Once the lighting guys have hung the lights on the stage roof, she'll be going up!

Things are really happening over in the pavilion tent. It may have started out as a big empty space, but it's being transformed into a sophisticated indoor event center. To do this, we've installed countless numbers partitions wall panels over the past few days. Each one has to be carefully placed, screwed in from the top, and braced at the bottom. Yesterday, we built the dressing room we figure Jon Foreman and the Switchfoot boys will be using...sweet.

It's not all hard work around the camp, though. Today while we were hanging a tarp for shelter, we had a little visitor. A curious magpie flew right up and started picking at our fingers while we were working! He was letting us walk up to him and squeeze his beak. One little boy even got to feed him some bread. I'm telling you, exciting things are happening here at Easterfest Construction!

Tune in tomorrow to see how things are progressing. And remember, don't come to the festival without your tickets, 'cuz they're running out!

Hi, I'm Kevin Banks, one of the volunteers at Easterfest. I'm on a big adventure traveling around Australia and New Zealand. I've taken some time off to come and experience the fun of Easterfest!

It's Day 7, and a new day brings new challenges. The sun went into hiding, leaving clouds and drizzle in its place for a few hours. But not to worry, that hasn't slowed down our awesome crew. Set up is still a day ahead! I'm amazed at how many volunteers have given up their time to help make Easterfest a reality. These men and women are working their tails off.

Things are really happening over in the Pavilion tent. It may have started out as a big empty space, but it's being transformed into a sophisticated indoor event center. To do this, we've installed countless numbers of partition wall panels over the past few days. Each one has to be carefully placed, screwed in from the top, and braced at the bottom. Yesterday, we built the dressing room that Jon Foreman and the Switchfoot boys might just be using...sweet.

Check out todays blog for some crazy footage of Martoe getting buried and tune in tomorrow to see how things are progressing. And remember, don't come to the festival without your camping ticket, 'cuz they're running out!

Signing out ~Kevin Banks

Day 6 - A trip into Easterfest City

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:05 +1000

Another wonderful day on site today. Beautiful blue skies provided a perfect backdrop for the beginning of mainstage setup. There are truss structures everywhere.... looks like all the blokes are really enjoying playing with real life sized meccano. They even need a crane to hoist everything in position. It's very impressive to watch. Tomorrow we'll talk more about this.

Today our hot little programs arrived! It's always an exciting moment for our awesome graphic designer, Claire Brown, when she get's to see her work in print. Tireless hours upon hours go into designing, editing, proofing and re-editing everything that looks cool that comes out of our office! She even designed those awesome armbands I spoke about yesterday that you'll be wearing all weekend!

On our video blog today we hear from the very excited Drew Vallejos about what's going on with Easterfest City which is held in different venues (coffee shops, restaurants, pubs and even major shopping centres) in the city of Toowoomba while Easterfest is cranking in the park. This year we even have public buses leaving every 10mins from the park dropping passengers off at different bus stops passing through areas most devastated by the 'inland tsunami' that went through the city in January's floods. New York's a cappello group, Naturally 7 will be doing a special show on the CBD stage right near the library and McDonalds. I reckon this will be a show NOT to miss! Work out your Easterfest City schedule by clicking here.

Well that's all for this fine 6th day... maybe I'll rest tomorrow! Ha! Check out today's video blog...

Aussie Joy

PS Don't leave it too late to get your tickets!!!

Day 5 - The great wall of Melco

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:41 +1000

So what might you ask... is the great wall of Melco??? You'd better watch today's video blog below to find out! It's one of the newest and most randomest things you'll see on site this year.

Well, it's day five... in one week the campsite will buzzing with campers from all over Australia. Literally, there are big groups coming from Cairns, Townsville, Rocky, Biloela, Longreach, Emerald, Bundy, Newcastle and even Brissy! :-) The commitment is truly amazing!!! I'm looking forward to hearing about the road trips... some of these guys will spend more time traveling than actually at the festival!

The park has offically morphed into a tent city! All the major tents are up and ready to be filled with stages, exhibitors, coffees and people! My favourite tent is the colourful circus tent sponsored by R

ed Frogs. It's just been freshly 'skinned' so it's very vibrant! Don't forget to catch SCAT's last performance in their on the Sunday night. It's sure to be their best "Fancy Pants Ball" yet.

Our administration CEO - Linda - danced around the office today when the armbands actually arrived on time! You'll want to keep your armband as a souvenier this year they are that cool!

Check out this amazing shot of the festival as the sun set today. One of our imported volunteers from the US, Kevin Banks took it

So don't forget to get your tickets... they're selling quick.

Today's video blog...

Signing out,

Aussie Joy