Saturday June 28th will witness the second incarnation of CIRCÓ Festival – a new, musically, culturally, and visually pioneering festival in Perth. Though the WA capital’s festival scene has been fraught with controversy over the past few months, one could argue that the death of blockbuster music festivals Big Day Out and Soundwave in WA isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Perth, because as the cliche goes ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.
Enter CIRCÓ, the boutique music festival filling the void left by the old giants, while simultaneously pushing the artistic boundaries of what a music festival ‘is’. The CIRCÓ lineup boasts international underground dancefloor icons (many of whom are making their first ever trip to Australia), a truckload of local indie and dance music megastars, and a projection show like no other. The live space will be transformed with 3D projection mapping, for some idea of what that means check out the festival trailer.
CIRCÓ festival’s secret weapon is its collaboration with Perth/UK collective Shadow Data, the brains behind the cutting-edge projections and light show. Shadow Data was formed out of the frustrations of seeing “the slightly lame production efforts put on by companies charging big UK promoters lots of money for weak stage sets with low production values,” explains Kye Howard, one half of the Shadow Data collective; “we thought we could do better so we did.”
When it comes to building killer live shows, these guys know what they’re talking about, having created massive 3D visual set pieces for big acts like Will.I.Am and staging mind-bending raves, which have even featured the use of 3D glasses. We chatted further with Howard about why visuals are going to be the next frontier for music festivals.
How The Perth Music Scene Is World Class
“In Perth most of the festivals seem to be mostly day time and finish around midnight but in the UK they tend to be weekend long and finish a little later which limits show times for outdoor shows. And differences in the number of punters but this is generally speaking. But both are pretty damn wicked.”
Who’s Pioneering The Use Of Visuals?
“Skrillex and Andy C are definitely killing it.”
What Musicians Can Learn From Ravers
“Gone are the days of dirty gurning raver dancing to a single strobe in a warehouse, raves are much more visual for the punters as well as the promoters. Visuals help to tell as story, help to brand and if done correctly can hype and excite the crowd along with the music.”
All Genres Should Have Visuals
“Most baseline genres should have visuals and possibly even classical. Most music can tell as story or take the listener on a journey the visuals just enhance that.”
What To Expect at CIRCÓ
“We will have two custom sets being built as well as projecting onto the walls in the main room it will be our biggest job to date with the most amount of projectors.”
CIRCÓ Festival 2014
Saturday 28th June – Claremont Showground Pavillions, Perth, WA
Violent Soho
Kele
Nina Las Vegas
Ryan Hemsworth
Onra
Yahtzel
L D R U
The Kite String Tangle
Nosaj Thing
Odesza
Mykki Blanco
Sable
Basenji
DMA’s
DJ Q
Visionist
Esta
Lakim
DJ Earl
Beneath
Teeth
Sully
Chiefs
For info and tickets visit www.circofestival.com
