Beyond The Valley is turning 10. In anticipation of their 10th birthday edition lineup dropping any day now, lets look back at the best BTV moments.
From its beginnings as a boutique New Year’s Eve camping festival on Phillip Island in 2014, Beyond the Valley (BTV) has grown into one of the country’s largest multi-day music festivals.
BTV moved to Lardner Park in West Gippsland in its second year, and that’s where it remained up until Covid. Following a one-off Beyond the City event at Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 2021, BTV moved to its current home, Barunah Plains in the state’s western district, in 2022. The festival capacity now surpasses thirty-thousand people.
Beyond The Valley lineups have always spanned a range of genres, placing local indie acts alongside major international pop and electronic artists. Since the early days, BTV has put extra emphasis on dance music, hosting landmark sets from the likes of Dom Dolla, RÜFÜS DU SOL, The Presets, PNAU, Chase & Status and loads more.
Beyond The Valley’s tenth birthday is happening from Dec 28 2025 to Jan 1 2026 and we’re eagerly awaiting another monster lineup announcement over the coming days.
Check out our gig guide and our festival guide here.
Nelly Furtado’s surprise appearance with Dom Dolla in 2022
Nelly Furtado played an exclusive set at BTV 2022, her first Australian performance in more than a decade. The Canadian pop and R&B artist dished out a greatest hits set on the BTV main stage on New Year’s Eve, playing Maneater, Promiscuous, Turn Off the Light, and I’m Like a Bird.
Dom Dolla came on afterwards, leading the crowd through the New Year’s countdown before igniting dancefloor delirium. The crowd went into a total frenzy when Dom invited Nelly back onstage for a live mash-up of her 2006 hit Say It Right and the Bicep track Glue.
The Veronicas performing Untouched in 2019
View this post on Instagram
If anyone was surprised to see The Veronicas’ Untouched at number three in triple j’s Hottest 100 of Australian songs, they obviously weren’t at BTV in 2019. The song’s iconic status was cemented when the Origliasso sisters performed it just before sundown on New Year’s Eve.
The Veronicas clearly have fond memories of the performance – they posted footage of Untouched at BTV to social media after their podium finish in the Hottest 100.
RÜFÜS DU SOL performing Innerbloom after the NYE countdown in 2019
RÜFÜS DU SOL are BTV veterans. They played at the inaugural event in 2014, back when they were still known as RÜFÜS. They’d become global stars by the time they returned for the countdown slot in 2019, but they weren’t oblivious to the enormity of the occasion.
“Thank you so much Beyond the Valley, we’ll never forget this” the band said just after midnight. They proceeded to play their prog epic, Innerbloom, and it’s fair to assume the band members aren’t the only people who’ll have the moment seared into their memories forever.
RÜFÜS DU SOL returned to BTV 2023 for a live set on the opening night and a surprise DJ set in the Dance Dome.
Natasha Bedingfield performing These Words and Unwritten in 2024
@untitledgroup I love you @Natasha Bedingfield → @Beyond The Valley 2024 #BTV #BeyondTheValley ♬ original sound – Untitled Group
As the Nelly Furtado and The Veronicas bookings indicate, the BTV programmers have a knack when it comes to 2000s pop artists. Their hot streak continued with the inclusion of English singer Natasha Bedingfield on the 2024 lineup.
The crowd predictably lost its shit when Bedingfield played her two mega hits from 2004, These Words and Unwritten.
Tyler, The Creator at BTV 2019
2019 was, in many ways, Tyler, The Creator’s year. With his sixth album, Igor, Tyler firmly established himself as one of contemporary pop music’s great auteurs. He was in full Igor method-acting mode on the penultimate night of BTV, performing half of the album’s tracklist as well as highlights from Flower Boy and Goblin.
“I’m lazy,” Tyler said at the start of EARFQUAKE, leaving it up to the crowd to sing the song’s hook. The crowd was more than happy to pick up the slack while Tyler – in a baby blue suit and a blonde wig – danced and gyrated around the stage.
The Kooks playing Naive in 2018
Beyond The Valley has booked plenty of guitar acts in its history, including locals acts Slowly Slowy, Ruby Fields, King Stingray, Methyl Ethel and San Cisco. International rock music is a rarity at the festival, but one major exception is The Kooks, who performed after dark on NYE 2018.
There were dance acts scheduled either side, but The Kooks didn’t let the momentum slip. Case in point was the band’s performance of their breakout hit Naive – and the crowd didn’t need any prompting to sing-along.
The Presets playing My People after the 2017 NYE countdown
The Presets’ My People is an Australian music festival staple. The song’s crowd-uniting capacity went into overdrive at BTV 2017 when the band played it immediately after the New Year’s countdown.
“Let’s get it off to a good start, yeah?” said Julian Hamilton at the start of the track. The crowd answered in the affirmative.
Lola Young, Chase & Status, HorsegiirL at BTV 2024
Beyond the Valley 2024 was the event’s most pop, dance and hip hop-oriented lineup to date. Along with the star power of Tinashe, Ice Spice, Sugababes and the aforementioned Natasha Bedingfield, the lineup included grime legends AJ Tracey, Ghetts and Flowdan.
Some of the festival’s biggest moments came courtesy of English indie pop singer Lola Young, who was in town supporting her breakout album This Wasn’t Meant for You Anyway, and the gloriously absurd horsegiirL, who created mayhem during her Valley Stage closing set on the event’s second night.
Drum and bass duo Chase & Status handled the midnight slot on NYE, with tracks like Baddadan showcasing the tectonic power of the festival sound system.
DMA’S at BTV 2023
DMA’S signalled their intentions to be career songwriters with their fourth album, 2023’s The Glow. They performed at BTV nine months after the album’s release, and several of its tracks had already become fan favourites, including the subtly anthemic Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s the Weekend.
Beyond The Valley presales are open now! Register here.
This article was made in partnership with Beyond The Valley.
