Last week paddocks turned into mosh pits and camp sites, this week it’s reverted to working farm land.
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With time to reflect, the unique Party in the Paddock is already looking towards 2019 after receiving high praise from the first international act to grace the stage.
American band Grouplove rated the festival as one of the best they have performed.
The quintet arrived during a torrential downpour and were amazed punters were still out partying.
The band said if they were performing in America during the rain PITP copped, 80 per cent of people would have already gone home.
“Pulling up here was full on. There were a bunch of people coming out of their tents covered in mud, someone in rainbow spandex was running after the car,” the band’s guitarist and vocalist Andrew Wessen said.
“It was everything you hope a festival is, but 90 per cent of the time it isn’t.
“Especially in the States … if a gust of wind goes by they shut the stage down. But they were still out there killing it.”
Grouplove were PITP’s first international act, something they only found out hours before their set. They were surprised and humbled.
“In return we’ll give them the best international headlining show of all time,” lead vocalist Hannah Hooper said.
She said Australia accepted Grouplove’s music more than anywhere else in the world.
“I think it has a lot to do with [radio station] Triple J because they play our whole album rather than just singles,” Hooper said.
“People get to know all our songs, and we feel that when we’re on stage.”
Hooper said on show days, she was focused on the performance to the point her surroundings were just a blur.
“That’s disappointing because we’ve travelled to some really great places,” she said.
“But what I do remember is the audiences and the show, and what I do know is that people get wild here.”
She said the band was never “flat”, but the audience 100 per cent affected how the band played.
“We definitely turn inwards and perform more to each other, but when the audience is great, it’s all about giving it to them.”
Two years ago, and before she was headlining her own shows, Australian rapper Tkay Maidza performed at PITP.
“It’s so cool here. It’s definitely bigger than it was about two years ago,” Maidza said.
After her set, the rapper flew home to prepare to spend several days in London at Fashion Week with shoe brand Converse.
“I’ve never been before so I reckon it’s going to be pretty fun,” she said.
“I don’t really know what to expect, but I feel like because it’s the shoe event there will be shoes and really cool outfits.”
Maidza said she has a couple of projects in the works for 2018 including releasing new music, and some brand collaborations.
However she has no plans to step away from music and back into her former life. When she was discovered by Triple J she was just one year into her architecture degree.
“I was just touring too much to be at school so I deferred the course and haven’t returned yet,” Maidza said.
“I will go back, but I like my job too much to do anything else right now.”
Client Liaison said PITP’s surroundings were spiritual, with lead vocalist Monte Morgan describing it as epic.
The Indie-pop duo’s keyboardist and producer Harvey Miller and Morgan agreed their favourite thing about playing at PITP was the nighttime slot.
“It’s also really nice to play at night during a summer festival because there aren’t many night slots and we’ve got quite a decent lighting package that is all synced,” Morgan said.
He said that alone would win the crowd over.
PITP fell at the end of the band’s summer festival circuit. Their February visit meant they missed Bridestowe’s Lavender Farm’s in bloom season, something they were disappointed about.
“Client Liaison are very fond of that lavender farm and it’s always at the top of our minds when we’re in Tassie to see if the lavender is in bloom,” Miller said.
Morgan said the way everyone was talking about the festival made them feel like it was an opportunity not to miss.
“It’s incredible the growth that everyone is talking about. There is obviously a good vibe and a lot of love for the festival,” he said.
“For me there has always been a lot of love between Tasmania and Victoria, so the idea of coming across Bass Strait just to party, I really like.”
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Miller said the festival felt like it belonged to Launceston.
“You go to Hobart and you have Mona and Falls [Festival], it’s just good to know that PITP is this region’s festival,” he said.
Miller said the band of four really loved performing in Tasmania.
“We love Tasmania and its people. Especially [former premier] Jim Bacon, he’s an old family friend and the other notable Tasmanians that we really like are Ricky Ponting,” he said.
“We’re just into the state. It’s a good place.”
The time he has spent in Tassie when not performing had been some of his favourite, Miller said.
“I took the Spirit [of Tasmania] here once and felt very seasick, but once I got off I had a great time driving around, camping, eating shell fish, incredible food and jet boating,” he said.
PITP was one of the band’s last performances for a while, before they head into a busy 2018.
“We just came from Byron [Bay] where we spent the last two weeks recording. We have a whole bunch of new material that we’re kind of finishing off this month. Then we will start drip-feeding it out,” Morgan said.
“We also have another designer range of fashion coming out. We’re going to have our own tours in Australia and we’ll be touring Europe twice. So very busy.”
Festival director Jesse Higgs said while nothing had been set in stone yet, it was safe to say there would be a 2019 festival.
“All we know is that Party in the Paddock is a fantastic event with a strong band and is something Northern Tasmania obviously enjoys,” Mr Higgs said.
“From now we just reconvene and talk about what we liked and what we didn’t and what we want to refine.”
The organisers spent the past week onsite, returning the paddock back to working farm land. Mr Higgs said the site was a lot cleaner at the end of the event than it had been in previous years.
“That’s normally a real burden on us. We didn’t have any random couches or too many tents left here this year, so that quickened up the process for us,” he said.
“A lot of people left their rubbish in piles, so we basically just put them into bigger piles and put them in skip bins.”
The rubbish was sorted into recycling, organics and waste.
“We had minimal landfill this year, which is really good as well. We’re getting closer to being a very sustainable event, which is definitely a big goal of ours,” he said.
Mr Higgs said he was pleased with the work that Tasmania Police did at the festival.
Police seized ice, cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine at the festival, caught 12 alleged dealers and more than 30 drink and drug drivers, with the highest reading being 0.125.
“We are aware of the illicit substances found on the way into the festival, but that’s actually a really good thing … because we don’t want that in the festival,” Mr Higgs said.
“It’s really nice to prevent that from coming into the safe space that we’re trying to create.”
The organisers will debrief with St Johns Ambulance crews and Tasmania Police about the event.