After attending Meredith Music Festival for the first time last year, I was eager to see what its sister festival, Golden Plains, had to offer. In the lead-up to Meredith, my companions were able to easily secure resale tickets to the sold-out festival in the preceding weeks, many of whom relied upon this trend to secure tickets to this year’s Golden Plains. That assumption never actualised, however, as the infamous Meredith/Golden Plains ticket-selling Facebook page was uncharacteristically quiet in the lead-up to the festival. There was a distinct impression that something was different this time around—ticketholders were holding their wristbands close to their chests. With a lineup promising generational sets and an audience stopping at nothing to take on the weekend, Golden Plains 18 wasn’t to be missed.

Settling into an already jam-packed campsite around 1 pm on Saturday was a familiar sensation, one of camaraderie with my fellow festivalgoers who intensely anticipated the days of music to follow. I swiftly bumped into friends and acquaintances on my first exploration of the campground, a testament to the unique sense of community fostered within the weekend’s boundaries. Having embraced the freedom and detachment of the festival environment and chucked all the tokens of my normal life into a stray messenger bag, it was time to witness the Supernatural Amphitheatre.

Meredith and Golden Plains are distinct from the rest of the Australian festival circuit for a lot of reasons, but I’ve narrowed it down to two. First, the demographics of the weekends are impossible to condense. You’re constantly around festivalgoers who represent a wide range of ages and backgrounds, with Golden Plains attracting both veterans who have been consistently attending since its inception and newbies like myself. Second, everything takes place on one stage, the aforementioned Supernatural Amphitheatre—affectionately nicknamed the ‘Sup. This single-stage structure is genius on many levels, showcasing just how detailed and curated the weekend’s lineup was. With only one space for performance, Golden Plains features fewer acts than other multi-stage festivals, but the staggeringly consistent quality of its performers left onlookers wanting nothing more. All the attendees occupying a single area enhanced the dream-like, fantastical qualities of the festival, allowing festivalgoers to melt away into the music. 

If ever doubted, this sentiment was immediately proved by the first act that graced the ‘Sup, Melbourne punk rock outfit Public Figures. One of the preeminent acts in the city’s indie scene, this band is never anything short of electric, and this time around was no different. You could sense the sheer ecstasy shared by Public Figures’ four members as they performed, which was explained by an anecdote from their drummer: The group had been attending Golden Plains as audience members for years and always dreamt of taking the stage themselves—now here they were owning it. Frontwoman Evie Vlah was one of the most daring and powerful voices of the entire weekend, enlivening the audience and setting an incredibly high bar for the rest of the acts. 

After the electrifying rock tendencies of Public Figures, Golden Plains’ lineup began to mellow out for the rest of the afternoon, with performances that focused on entrancing the audience rather than enlivening them. Brooklyn’s experimental rock duo Water from Your Eyes were a highlight during this timeframe, while Norway’s Smerz crooned festivalgoers into sunset with their alt-pop, putting onlookers into a hypnotic stupor that reduced us into a collective heap. What concluded this run of easy listening was a heart-wrenching set from Marlon Williams, one of Golden Plains’ quasi-headliners, with attendees surely made into lifelong fans afterwards. A core tenet of Williams’ musical ethos is his melodic tributes to his Māori heritage, many of his songs performed in the language. Despite not understanding the lyrics of these numbers, William’s expression was almost superhumanly obvious, their meaning emboldened by the emotional honesty of his performance. Accompanying him was Māori musical outfit Ngā Mātai Pūru, who were offered many opportunities to shine as an individual entity from Williams’ set, fostering an incredible sense of community and connectedness on stage. 

As night became morning on Golden Plains’ first evening, Melbourne DJs Cut Copy provided the first real synth-driven sounds of the festival, kicking the audience into high gear. They perfectly primed attendees for the subsequent musically intense acts, such as Frost Children, a hyperpop duo from Missouri who emulated the spectacular Ninajirachi set from last year’s Meredith.

Another much-welcome aspect of Golden Plains’ programming is the way it treats its many festivalgoers in the mornings, some of whom are feeling quite dusty from the night before. The ritual of watching a calm indie act deeply hungover is definitely revitalising, a spot occupied this year by rising soft rock star Way Dynamic, whose performance featured a live sausage sizzle on stage. The rest of Sunday’s daylight hours were spent in a state of static recovery at camp, an experience almost equally as enriching as the music that constantly poured from the ‘Sup. Eventually, it came time to return to the stage, my group welcomed by the jazzy, soulful stylings of Jalen Ngonda, whose voice was so wildly impressive that it almost seemed a physical impossibility. 

Following Ngonda came a near-midnight timeslot whose equivalent disappointed me at Meredith, and this same trend unfortunately continued with American alt-rock outfit Ty Segall at Golden Plains. For a weekend so immaculately programmed with a wide array of daring artists, this band stood out as musically unremarkable. The rock elements of their set were better realised by earlier group This Is Lorelai, Ty Segall’s melodies blending into one another in a disappointing fashion. 

Then came what the crowd had been anticipating the entire weekend, a transcendent comeback performance from cult favourites Basement Jaxx. This set was unlike anything I had ever seen, and visually resembled a circus act rather than a festival heavy-hitter. A recurring cast of singers, dancers and instrumentalists revolved on and off the stage during the set, all clad in immensely theatrical costumes. Basement Jaxx themselves are a UK electro house duo, but the pair arguably backgrounded this set, leaving their ensemble of collaborators to make a wildly significant impact on the crowd. Rounding out their set with fan-favourite “Where’s Your Head At”, the audience at the ‘Sup reached a moment of collective intensity never before observed during the whole weekend, which persisted into the wee hours of the morning. DJs Crazy P, Sally C and Ok Williams rounded out the festival, welcoming Golden Plains’ final sunrise with ecstatic techno. 

Farewelling the Supernatural Amphitheatre for a second time bore a distinctly different feeling from the first. At Meredith, leaving that exceptionally unique and valuable weekend felt like experiencing a loss, whereas departing Golden Plains was like saying goodbye to an old friend. My visit to Golden Plains, and its intense energetic similarities to Meredith, made me realise why this festival is just so beloved. No matter what’s going on in the outside world, one can always rely on the fact that twice a year, Aunty and the Meredith team will always be lying in wait, ready to offer that same unbeatable sense of community and thoroughly distinct eclecticism.