SYDNEY FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHT: BECK’S FESTIVAL BAR

BY AMELIA GROOM

With iconic alt-rock outfit Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Jamaican-born diva Grace Jones leading the 2009 Sydney Festival, the eclectic line up of more than 300 theatre, dance, music and film events from January 10-31 is set to bring the city alive. Once again, under Festival Direction Fergus Linehan there is a particular focus in the program on music.

The festivities begin with the free Festival First Night celebration, which transforms the CBD into a huge street party with performances from Grace Jones, Santogold, The Cat Empire, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Fanfare Ciocarlia, among many more. Over 200,000 people turned out last time, and organisers are expecting upwards of 250,000 to reclaim the streets in 2009.

Another of the undisputed annual highlights is the Beck’s Festival Bar, which runs for the duration of the festival and has become synonymous with chilled-out Sydney summer nights. Hyde Park Barracks is transformed into an open-air live music hub with bars, food stalls, an ouside courtyard area and a marquee with a dancefloor, hosting some of the best local and international music acts.

So far nine nights have been confirmed, including acts from France, Berlin, UK, USA and Portugal alongside homegrown talent – with more headliners and the full line-up to be announced later in the month.

‘For the first time I’ve invited a couple of people to curate a night for us,’ says Carla Theunissen, Sydney Festival Associate Director, ‘I’m pretty excited about it ‘ it’s a dub night programmed by the record label Inertia and the local club promoters Void, and the line-up is really exciting.’

Headlining the Hyper Dub night will be The Bug featuring Warrior Queen, Direct from London and Jamaica, who will be serving up their explosive mix of ragga, dancehall, hip hop and garage, set to dubstep and grime arrangements. Also that night will be Rhythm & Sound (Berlin) whose deep, stripped down, rootsy, hi-tech dub/techno have earned them legendary status.

‘I’m also really excited about Throwing Muses,’ Carla says, ‘I saw them once live at the Astoria in London and it’s still one of the best rock n roll nights of my life.’ They will be playing their raucous tempo-shifting music on January 16, and Sydney quintet Dappled Cities are also performing that night.

Another highlight includes Daedelus, the eccentric maestro of Ninja Tune, and one of LA’s most daring and prolific new artists. Mixing left-field hip-hop cut-ups with samples from the 30s and 40s, his live sets are by all accounts unforgettably fun, quirky and energetic.

Z-Trip (NYC) will also be making an appearance ‘ considered by many the founder of the mash-up movement, he has collaborated with artists including Supernatural, Lyrics Born, Chuck D (Public Enemy) and Soup (Jurassic 5). Also look out for Java (France) whose multi-instrumentalists mix French rap, hip hop, Brazilian Samba, reggae, ragga, rock, jazz, funk and electro with circus spirit and manic humour.

For more details and the full current line up visit www.sydneyfestival.org.au, and stay tuned for the second announcement at the end of November.

Beck’s Festival Bar
January 11’31
Hyde Park Barracks Museum, cnr Macquarie Street & Prince Albert Road, Sydney
Tickets: $28’$48, 1300 888 412 or www.sydneyfestival.org.au
Free entry after 11.30pm (subject to capacity)