West Set Festival returns to Melbourne’s vibrant inner west from Friday 14 to Sunday 30 October 2022.
Following a devastating cancellation in 2021, the return of West Set Festival is a major celebration for the City of Maribyrnong, with this year’s program presented by ‘On The Road Again’, a Victorian Government initiative to support the return of live music events across Victoria.
With additional major support from program partners Melbourne International Jazz Festival, ThinOzone, Finding Figaro, VU Music Agency and Kindred Bandroom, the festival includes a delicately curated core of musical acts across the genre spectrum.
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Jumping onto the festival fast train are ongoing West Set venue veterans Kindred Bandroom, Canary Island namesakes, Las Palmas as presented on Footscray Library Forecourt, and Barkley street music shop and school, Chasing Sound. The stunning garden setting of Railway Reserve will also be transformed into a live venue for the community celebration, with all venues presenting stellar lineups of talent and all for free.
To help you shift through the program, here are our top picks for each venue:
Kindred Bandroom
3 Harris St, Yarraville
Saturdays 6pm – late
A one-stop shop for creativity, Kindred Bandroom has built a community hub where delicious coffee and hot local talent are served. With band rehearsal rooms, co-working spaces, private studio suites, a recording studio, a film and photography studio, a dance and yoga studio, theatre stage, cafe, bandroom and function space, Kindred Bandroom has been fostering the Yarraville creative community since 2005.
As part of the West Set special, the multi-purpose space will extend their gig guide to include weekly Saturday night showcases. Boasting hot talent including Birdz, Rum Jungle, Placement, Seaweed on Sticks, Kindred Bandroom will be hopping.
True to their collaborative nature, the gig to attend will be the Solidarity Sound System show on Saturday 15 October. A roots and culture sound that lives up to its name, Solidarity Sound System aims to unite people through euphoric, chest-hitting roots, dub and stepper beats. Their list of ‘selectors and collaborators’ for West Set include Papa Bicho, Jesse I, Heptune and Sista Sara.
Las Palmas
Footscray Library Forecourt | 56 Paisley St, Footscray
Saturdays 6pm – 10pm and Sundays 11am – 2pm
The Las Palmas experience of the festival will be broken into two sub-festival features.
Combined with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the Footscray Library Forecourt will be host to a bunch of multicultural presentations.
If you’re after a family-friendly activity, look no further than the La Influencia with Kidstruments Live! By Playable Streets double bill on Sunday 16 October. The transformative sounds of Afro-Cuban giants La Influencia meeting the imagination of Kidstruments Live by Playable Streets will be a standout experience.
Derived from an interactive Melbourne Fringe workshop, Kidstruments sees the musical instrument brain creations of children come to life. Presented by experimental jazz collective I Hold The Lion’s Paw, this weird and wonderful show may determine the next prototype for music instrument innovation.
In addition to Melbourne International Jazz Festival features, Las Palmas will further collaborate with creative studio, ThinOzone to curate a series of music events from acts Amaru Tribe, Chikchika, The Seben Brothers, Vanessa Estrada, Alcides Neto, Synthotronica and Los Cojones, along with a females-to-the-front set from nine-piece Ethiopian-jazz ensemble JAzmaris, joined by Seble Girma for a colourful performance of song and Ethiopian dance, leading a lineup of Parvyn, Iaki Vallejo, and, Christina Melkamu.
Railway Reserve
3 McNab Ave, Footscray
Fridays 5 – 11pm
It wouldn’t be West Set Festival without international name drops and Railway Reserve will see the talent rolling through with curation from Finding Figaro.
Sticking to their ethos of bringing the best in local and international talent to the masses, their program mixes local legends Colette, Zjoso, Adriana, Darcy Justice, and Noise in my Head with fellow commonwealth friend, UK producer Jamie Tiller, sister nation DJ and producer, Eden Burns (NZ) and the juggernaut of South East Asian underground, Belda (IND).
This cross-pollination of talent culminates on Friday 21 October with a headline set from Japanese crate-digger and wax-wearer, Chee Shimizu. Shimizu will meet Australian EDM goddess, DJ JNETT, the Afro-jazz, hip hop and electronic stylings of POOKIE, and the sonic soundscape wizardry of avant-garde composer, Diimpa, for an electric night of bodybeats.
Chasing Sound
199 Barkly St, Footscray
Saturday 22 & 29, 7pm – 10pm
Located on the main street of Footscray, Chasing Sound has been sharing the wonder of instrument playing to western suburbs to locals as both a retailer and music tuition school.
For West Set, Chasing Sound will be supporting two hyper-local trios for a trio of sets on consecutive Saturdays, leading in with the VCA-formed Sam Chasman Trio on Saturday 22 October from 7pm as they explore contemporary jazz through originals, covers and improvisational arrangements, and following with Victoria University graduate, the Paula Maki Trio to deliver a charismatic, sophisticated groove laden performance.
For further information on the full West Set program head to https://www.westsetfestival.com/
This article was made in partnership with West Set Festival.
