Homebake Returns To Take The Crown

In the Australian music festival kingdom there's a certain hierarchy. Much like the social ladder in a 90's cult teen flick, there's all kinds of cliques, and every festival has a place.

Splendour had been reining supreme as prom queen since 2009 however its popularity has dropped back considerably this year due to a seemingly tired line-up and price increase producing lackluster ticket sales. Maybe you could bake some spirit cookies to raise your popularity?

Now every social chain offers the abominable trend followers and that's where you'll find Future Music, Good Vibes and Parklife kicking it. These kids are draped in the latest trending sunglasses and retail apparel. They're usually loaded with an abundance of hipstermatic prints and some bad pills but have nothing to offer but a 'good time'. St Jeromes Laneway sometimes falls into this category. I give full credit for humble beginnings and an A for line-ups, but it's the followers that can sometimes taint the event. "Your mate just checked-in."

Then you've got Meredith, Golden Plains and Playground Weekender who are more like the chilled out burnouts that we got high with on the weekends but never talked to in school. These festivals reflect a careless weekend in a paddock where the line-up doesn't matter too much, it's all about the experience, man.

Like every scenario there's the cocky jock who spend most of their time effortlessly at the top of the social chain without having contributed an original idea since puberty. It's here you'll find Big Day Out tossing the pig skin. When the festival first started gaining momentum it housed one of the final Nirvana gigs and Australia had nothing to compare it to -- now days it bares the excitement of a bitter and tired old roadie. Picture the high school quarterback 30 years later, balding and beer bloated.

Most of the hipsters you know now, you never knew at school. They were smart, left of centre and didn't get their flare until they graduated. Whether it's this euphemism that suffocated their creativity or teenage angst, they found a way to blossom. They're on the precipice of being renown commercially but the quality is there and that's where you'll find Vivid and All Tomorrows Parties. A little bit of art, a little bit of music which makes a collective of wonder with these kids. It would be nice to watch them grow up and flourish.

This brings us to the 'friends to everyone' group where Splendour may find itself after losing the crown this year. On the grassy knoll of acceptance is Falls, Southbound and Homebake. It's an almost genre free collection of stuff everybody enjoys and no one would turn down a free ticket to.
However the times might be changing with this mornings Homebake line-up announcement. I haven't seen a Homebake line-up this good in years. After doing the sensible sit-out last year due to an over saturated market, Homebake have returned with the goods reuniting The Church and Icehouse on an exploslive line-up that merges both fresh and classic Australian artists.
Could Homebake be gunning for prom queen? Check out the line-up below!

Grinderman
Ladyhawke
Pnau
Gotye
Gurrumul Yunupingu
Cut Copy
RocKwiz (live)
Icehouse (playing Flowers )
Daniel Merriweather
Eskimo Joe
Drapht
The Triffids
Architecture in Helsinki
The Vines
The Church
The Jezabels
Kimbra
C.W. Stoneking
Hungary Kids of Hungary
Illy
Avalanche City
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Papa Vs Pretty
Killaqueenz
Kids of 88
Passenger
Noah Taylor and The Sloppy Boys (Ed Clayton-Jones from The Wreckery and Cec Condon from The Mess Hall)
Vents

*an honourable mention to those festivals who were not able to graduate this year