Having received tickets the night before Friday’s festival, I was a bit hesitant to attend. The lineup was filled with household name American rappers, like 21 Savage, and dance music moguls, like John Summit. Having never really been a devoted follower of rap, I wasn’t sure if my techno interests were going to clash. However, Listen Out proved me wrong.

Arriving at around 5pm, I had missed a majority of the 12pm-5pm lineup. This was not to really matter though, as the artists I had wished to see, like Teezo Touchdown, had pulled out the day of. Listen Out, unfortunately, has a reputation for having a lineup of artists that pull out last minute, much like Tyla who pulled out without explanation a few days beforehand, resulting in many last minute re-selling of tickets. Though this is not the fault of the festival when artists do this, it unfortunately reflects negatively on their ticket sales and reputation, especially when the 10-hour festival costs over $200 for a general ticket. There is much to be addressed about artists who commit to a festival tour, only to pull out just days before. John Summit discussed on his Instagram story about the importance of artist’s acknowledging that their job is something they should feel lucky to have, and to follow through with their commitments.

The Melbourne festival was in the Caribbean Gardens (don’t ask me where that is or what it is) – all I know is that it was quite far east of the CBD, which made PTV quite difficult. Despite this, there were free shuttle buses at 12pm and 10pm when the festival started and ended. However, receiving the media accreditation approval the night before the festival meant I had to attend what I could around the commitments I already had. Thus, I drove myself and my friend to about 2km out from the festival and walked from there. Once finally arriving, in my sore booted feet, we were told to go back to the box office to receive media tickets. So there we went, only to be met with a 30-minute wait from the about 7 people in front of us who “forgot their ID” and were “definitely part of the media…”. It was clear to everyone that they were not a part of the media at all, but had dressed up as such in all black outfits and sporting film cameras. With one worker at the booth, the wait was frustrating as everyone could tell these people were in fact not media. So again, we waited. Finally, they were moved to the side, and we were promptly given the passes. The media passes were VIP (equivalent to about $300).

The VIP area inside the festival had private porta-potties (which still had an equally long line as the public ones), a private bar (which I did not use due to driving to the festival), and a private viewing area to the left of the mainstage that was to house Skepta and 21 Savage. For the extra $100, I would not say it was worth it, unless you had accessibility requirements which could save you from the huge crowds at all amenities and viewing areas.

With the age range being 16+ this year, there was a wide range of people. Most seemed nice, but there were a number of people that seemed a bit too rowdy for lack of a better word and enjoyed a solid push through crowds. This seems to be the case with all festivals, and it is understandable when attempting to leave the crowd, but not a very polite move when trying to enter a crowd that is already shoulder to shoulder.

The crowd for Skepta seemed to be there for the Instagram stories, despite his engaging and impressive performance. The supporting acts did well too, but none were a match for John Summit, who amassed a crowd so big that you would find yourself constantly in the middle from more and more people joining around the outside. His introductory song ‘Where You Are’ sent young people screaming across the muddied lawn, and the American house DJ/producer/mixer’s crowd-control was something to be marvelled at.

However, by this point, the standing and muddiness had gotten to me, and my friend and I decided to depart. As we left, many were seen entering and bartering for wristbands. It seemed that the performance of 21 Savage was creating a buzz.

Overall, Listen Out proved to be a lot more fun than I expected, considering my interest in a different genre of music, and I am grateful to their team for the tickets and the experience! The price is not awful compared to a lot of other festivals nowadays, but $300 for 10 hours is not comparable to a 3–4-day festival for $600. That being said, one-day festivals are a great option for people who do not enjoy camping, or just simply wish to have some fun for a day and then go home to their bed. Despite their middle-of-nowhere location, I had a lot of fun at Listen Out.