It’s not really a groundbreaking acknowledgement that New Years Eve for most (especially dance music fans) sucks. Queues, overpriced tickets, gigs with shitty line ups trying to get away with running shows with aforementioned shitty line ups ’cause it’s NYE and where else are you going to go?
The amount of money venuesand promoters make on people feeling forced to go out on NYE means that so the whole exercise is just a monopoly on the mundane. Now in its fourth year, Melbourne’s increasingly popular New Years Day festival Let Them Eat Cake has revolutionised the celebration of the end of another year.
A festival anomaly in the way that almost every review both published and spoken about ‘Cake (as is affectionately nicknamed by regulars) is almost always overwhelmingly positive – spend two minutes on they Facebook page to see for yourself. So just how to they create this day of party perfection? We had a crack at breaking it down.
Timing is Key
New Years Eve is done – bye Felicia. It’s better to spend the first day of the #newyearnewme experience to be immersed in the lush surroundings of a mansion with a gaggle of your closest friends than face first in a make up and alcohol infused drool stained pillow trying to figure out if you left your wallet in the taxi or in the garden bed down the road you stopped to have a vom in just a few hours earlier.
Kicking off at around 12 noon and running through to 11pm, the full day means that not only do you get to immerse yourself in the full day without suffering any FOMO. LTEC manages to be both extremely tightly organised yet feel incredibly relaxed (one can assume it the latter is thanks to the efficiency of the former).
Thanks to the extended set times of the festival’s main draw cards – like Motor City Drum Ensemble’s three hour sonic journey during the middle of the day – food/ toilet breaks, going on expeditions to find mates and taking a minute to simmer down by the lake after cooking it a bit too hard early on doesn’t come at the expense of missing any of the names you wanted to see.
Location location location
Music festivals don’t need to be farms turned dust bowls in the middle nowhere. No matter how many times you’ve attended LTEC, seeing the naturally gorgeous grounds of Werribee Mansion playing host to architecturally abstract stages, thoughtfully designed pop up bars and stunning large scale artworks – this year created by Melbourne born contemporary visual artist Ash Keating – is a truly breathtaking sight.
Werribee Mansion is just far enough out of the city to feel like you’re treating yourself to a mini-holiday, especially if you go via the scenic route of Williamstown but close enough to collapse into bed within an 90 minutes of leaving the festival grounds.
Line Up
LTEC 2016 edition featured the strongest line up so far. From Aussie tour regular Jon Hopkins, who has been here almost every year since 2013 (in the past for Meredith and Laneway Festivals respectively) to fellow Meredith alumni Four Tet, and techno hero Daniel Avery who was in town less than 12 months prior, bringing these guys back is a non-issue for LTEC because quality trumps trends. It’s refeshing to attend an event whose organisers care more about perfect line up curation than album or tour cycles.
Ben UFO brought a swag of fans – including a bunch of dude in sports squad inspired homemade ‘Ben [picture of a UFO] shirts – eager to kick off the early afternoon strong with a mix that would have suited an 10pm slot just as comfortably. Com Truise brought his wobbly synth explorations delivering fans hankering for a more retro sound just what they ordered.
On the local front the curation was just as on point. Featuring an arsenal of local talent like Harvey Sutherland, Andras and Oscar, Kllo, and Lucianblomkamp proving once again electronic music in Australia is stronger than ever.
Festival Ethos
Seeing the midday line of limos of every shape and size snaking from the entrance of Werribee Mansion, you know that you’re in for a day more extravagant than most festivals.
Considering the vast array of cocktails, food options, sweet treat options and everything in between, the price of the above is no more pricey than what you’ve come to expect from other day events. It’s perfect for those champagne taste on a beer budget.
The Cross Section Of Punters
Seeing the aforementioned Ben UFO fans, sharing the sun drenched parklands with an ever roaming pastel donned possé who danced to Avery alongside the Nike crop-top clad crew who in turn shared toilet lines with your standard jeans and t-shirt kinda’ guy, while Melbourne DJ and personality Salavdor Darling flaunts his collective of eclectic and beautiful drag performers to the attention and admiration of many, it’s clear there’s enough Cake for everyone to enjoy a slice.
Delivering An Event As An Experience
Returning for its fourth incarnation, LTEC is like no other in Australia. As much about food and art and architecture as it is about cutting-edge sound, each year the day promises to be an adventure deep into a utopia slick with Babylonian sensory delight. Thank you to everyone at the LTEC team for once again making the first day of the year the best one.
