NYE In the Park 2019 Wrap
Photography Pat Stevenson
Marketed as the best New Year’s Eve ever, the one night festival had a lot of hype to live up to. Taking place at Victoria Park in the heart of the CBD, NYE In the Park boasted an impressive line-up and special fireworks display for the countdown to 2020. However, as the scorching summer heat gripped the inner city, the wise decision was made to cancel the fireworks and instead send support to the NSW Rural Fire Service, who were still battling fires on the frontlines over this holiday season. Now, all the focus was on the artists to deliver a fun and safe NYE.
Acts commenced as early as five in the afternoon, with the likes of Sneaky Sound System kick starting the festivities. These sets were lively and upbeat, amassing crowds around both the Jungle Stage and the Amphitheatre. Between the two stages were plenty of food and drinks facilities, with fences and the structure of Victoria Park helping to funnel crowds around the two main areas. Even as crowds began to swell for Bag Raiders, Client Liason and Alice Ivy’s energetic sets, the venue’s capabilities for an event like this held up.
Photography Pat Stevenson
With midnight fast approaching, sets from Owl Eyes, Safia and the recently added Jungle Giants were easy-to-engage-with crowd pleasing sets. With headliners Hermitude and Young Franco bringing in the new decade with a countdown, the festival ensured all guests’ nights lived up to the New Year’s Eve hype and then some.
The best set of the night was delivered at the smaller Jungle Stage by Michael Di Francesco. Typically, under these tight festival schedules, Di Francesco isn’t afforded the time to acclimate the crowd to his distinct early 2000s stylings under the Touch Sensitive banner. However, he used the time he had for the Touch Sensitive set to slowly lure the audience in with fast beats and exciting techno. However, NYE In the Park marked the return of Van She Tech, pioneers of the turn of the millennium Sydney techno sound, for whom Di Francesco produces.
Photography Pat Stevenson
Van She Tech was able to take the musical foundation established in the Touch Sensitive set and explode into a frenzy of heavy drops and rolling basslines. Hopefully this return marks a few more performances for the amazingly talented group.
The event was not without fault. There was a frustrating amount of congestion around toilet facilities, which were a typical free-for-all commonly found at these events, and manoeuvring outside the festival ground, with Victoria Park being such a central spot, was a hassle an account of overly cautious security and police.
Despite these issues, which are inevitabilities for inner city festivals, NYE In the Park 2019 went a long way in delivering its promise as the “best NYE ever.”
