While waiting for my daily veggie burger, I asked my friend how she’d describe Rainbow Serpent. “It’s like nothing else” is all she gave me. It’s all she needed to say. For many, Rainbow Serpent isn’t a festival. It’s a ritual, and few festival organisers manage to pull off what Rainbow continuously delivers from one year to another. Held in Lexton, 160 kilometres west of Melbourne, this four-day marathon is a special place for punters to express their inner weird.
And how wonderfully weird it was. People pierced their own ear lobes on the dancefloor while others chopped up fruit and handed it to the crowds behind the Market Stage. Some ladies took Free The Nipple to the next level and Renegade Stages roved around the festival and surprised us with different genres every half hour. Those attending were in a constant, metallic haze of glitter all weekend; a landscape shot of the festival would probably show a mushroom cloud of sparkles over the site. Nothing but fun here.
This year’s stage production cemented Rainbow as one of the best of its kind with the Market Stage demanding some serious attention under those colourful flags. An oversized beach ball graced the stage and the lights and lasers throughout the weekend were spectacularly immersive. 3D shapes wrapped around DJs, green patterns ran through the trees and Iboga Records’ 20th anniversary hologram light show floored us all. The audiovisual at this stage was often so good you needed to sit down to appreciate it.
Once the rain had passed and everyone was in the full swing of things, Sunday became the day for music. Local favourite, Tornado Wallace offered up his usual great dose of house and set us straight for the afternoon. It wasn’t long before Late Nite Tuff Guy electrified the dance floor with his iconic disco mixes. This was a slot that set people on fire, where even the biggest sceptics of cheesy disco music were stomping, smiling, whistling and dancing their way back to the ‘70s. It was a stellar music choice for a Sunday afternoon.
John Digweed owned his spot as one of the weekend’s headliners. This driving, progressive set that created layers upon layers on itself held a monstrous bass that took punters along for the ride. Equally impressive in the Progressive space was the machine that is Hernan Cattaneo. Despite dropping a few overdone tracks like New Order’s Blue Monday, he provided a monstrous three-hour set of subtle melodies and deep baselines to close out Monday in true Rainbow style.
And just like that, in a puff of sparkle, the 2016 edition of Rainbow Serpent was over as quickly as it started. With next year marking the festival’s 20th anniversary, there’s no doubt people will again be flocking to make the yearly pilgrimage. The Serpent will deliver and rest assured, it’ll be like nothing else.
BY ISABELLA UBALDI
Loved: Those lasers.
Hated: People stealing things from other punters’ tents. Not cool.
Drank: Everything.
