Listen Out Festival

Listen Out is one of Australia’s leading premier dance music events and makes an appearance in four inner city venues around the country. Situated in idyllic locations, by the ocean, under palm trees, beside lakes or surrounded by scenic gardens, there’s a reason why the festival sells out in nearly all of the nation’s major cities. Fuzzy, the team behind the boutique event really know how to throw a good party.

Listen Out is only one day long and that means in order to make the most of it, you’ll want to do it right. Here’s your how to guide on being fully prepared for Listen Out.

Getting There

Public transport will be the easiest way of getting to the festival. All inner city locations are easily accessible by transport, which makes it easy to get there and home.

One-day festivals are totally different from weekend-long festivals. It’s easy to get carried away with excitement right before the festival at pre-drinks and have a little too much. While you might think that pre-drinking will be saving you money, it really won’t—especially if you can’t even remember who you saw playing. To add to this, we highly recommend getting a bite to eat before you get to the festival, as you’ll need energy to see you through the day. Luckily each Listen Out is located in great city locations, allowing you to see the best parts of each city while you eat.

Here are some of the best places to stop for a feed and to take in the city sights:

Melbourne: Republica- situated on what closely resembles a Californian beach strip, Republica features one of the best locations of any restaurant in the Melbourne. Chill on the beachfront and get a mean feed of slow cooked tomatoes or house made hash browns before wandering down to enjoy the day.

Brisbane: enjoy a breakfast cocktail along the waterfront from 10am at the Malt Pier before you walk to the Sporting Fields for the festival. Try the Spiced Espresso to really wake you up and the Pier Monster to give you all the nutrients you need ahead of your day.

Sydney: located conveniently close to Bondi Beach, Listen Out Sydney provides an excuse to check out the Bondi beach babes and to taste some of Australia’s best fish and chips. Stop off at Bondi’s Best Seafood to try out the restaurant’s (as the name suggests) best seafood.

Perth: take public transport to Joondalup Station if you’re in Perth and stop off at the Lakeside Joondalup shopping centre for a bite before you head into the festival. We recommend The Healthy Plate Café—with generous servings and genuine healthy food, you won’t have to feel weighed down by junk food and will have just the right amount of nutrients to keep you going throughout the day.

What To Bring

We know how tempted you might be to dress to impress and rock a killer outfit comprising of minimum material, but remember that it is not quite summer yet. Bringing a light jacket is paramount as it will definitely get cold in the night and nothing kills your mood more than being freezing in the evening or leaving a festival with the rest of the crowd and shivering yourself senseless.

Bring comfortable shoes because you will be on your feet pretty much the whole day. The nature of a one-day festival means you will want to be up-and-about for as long as possible so make it easier on yourself by wearing shoes that will support you the whole time.

Bring enough cash for the day to avoid wasting time in the long queues for the ATMs and don’t forget to bring your ID and ticket. It’s always best to have your ticket printed off so you can get through the gate quickly and enjoy the music!

Surviving

As obvious as it is, don’t forget to drink water. Most people will be at the festival for around 12 hours, which is a long time to go without being hydrated. You’ll most likely be running between performances so keep your liquids up throughout the day.

Try to look at the set times and map in advance and plan who you want to see. Having a bill of such quality acts comes at a cost, and you will experience a lot of clashes across sets. Familiarising yourself with the map will help you to know exactly where the stages are and when your favourite acts will play so that you can manoeuvre yourself around the festival grounds without wasting any time.

A downfall of the festivals being located in prime parts of the inner city is that there are greater sound regulations than festivals located a bigger distance from the CBD. This means that the sound naturally has to be a bit more quiet, so strategically locate yourself in the middle of each audience area and preferably closer to the front. If you’re already a mosher, you won’t have a problem. If you’re not one to usually mosh, you might have to make an exception this time around.

Journeying Home

After the festival is over, public transport will be your best option. But if you choose to take a taxi or Uber, try to pre-book, or even better—get a friend to pick you up. When there are thousands of people all trying to get home at once, you can bet your bottom dollar that you won’t be getting the first taxi out of there.

Finally, stay safe! Look out for your friends and enjoy yourself! The summer festivities have begun!