Rufus Du Sol, ASAP Ferg and Jungle Giants headline Wildlands Festival on New Year’s Eve

Despite rain, more than 35,000 festival-goers gathered at Brisbane’s RNA Showgrounds to ring in 2024 at the Wildlands Festival headlined by Rufus Du Sol, ASAP Ferg and locals Jungle Giants. Stellar performances, dazzling fireworks and an unbreakable festive spirit set a high bar for festivals in 2024. READ THE REVIEW

The rain may have hit Brisbane on New Year’s Eve but that didn’t dampen the spirits of more than 35,000 people who welcomed 2024 in style at the Wildlands Festival at RNA Showgrounds.

Festival-goers ditched the typical types of celebration to enjoy the biggest party night of the year, fighting off the humidity, heat and huge entry lines to catch some of the world’s biggest acts, headlined by Rufus Du Sol, ASAP Ferg and Brisbane band The Jungle Giants.

ASAP Ferg, the founding member of the ASAP Mob, returned Down Under for the first time since 2020. Picture: Getty Images

The event, which had a later start time compared to most music festivals to cater for the new year’s countdown, was kicked off with a Welcome to Country before Berlin-based DJ Peggy Gou and Australian electro-pop artist Bou Seeka started to get the crowd in party mode.

NYE party at Brisbane’s Wildlands Festival

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But it wasn’t until rap star ASAP Ferg came to the stage that things really picked up and were taken to a “New Level” as the founding member of the ASAP Mob returned to Australia for the first time since 2020.

Headliners Rufus Du Sol. Picture: Belinda Rolland

And it’s safe to say he was a crowd favourite, especially with the women in the audience, showing more skin than usual after the New York rapper demanded to see some … well, you get the gist.

Ferg played all his most popular hits from one of his earliest songs, which helped establish him on the rap scene in Work REMIX, before everyone got into full moshpit mode during Plain Jane – a hit that saw the rapper’s fame reach new heights in 2017.

Berlin-based DJ Peggy Gou. Getty Images

There were plenty of other bangers in between to get the crowd hyped for the rest of the night, including Floor Seats, Jet Lag and many more as Ferg gave his fans a sugar hit with a short set of 40 minutes.

Stars such as Anna Lunoe, Luude, Conducta and Sub Focus made the secondary stages at Wildlands a hit as well but it was still the main stage that had all the action as Melbourne singer G Flip was the perfect change of pace from the rap music that had come before them.

It was then time for Jungle Giants to take centre stage, but their set was delayed just a few minutes due to a thunderstorm warning, making thousands of their fans wait anxiously to make sure they were going to hear from the local heroes.

Brisbane band The Jungle Giants.

And they did as the band helped build the night up perfectly before British rapper Central Cee picked up the tempo of the festival and showing why he has quickly risen to fame and even collaborated with the likes of the arguably the biggest rapper in the world in Drake.

The crowd also fought off some quick showers at the start of the artist’s set as the field was still packed despite the weather.

Of course, it was the UK rapper’s 2022 hit Doja that was the biggest hit during his set.

But everything throughout the day and night led to a perfect crescendo as Sydney group Rufus Du Sol, formerly just known as Rufus, took Queenslanders from all over the state – from Gold Coast to Bundaberg and everywhere in between – into the new year.

Melbourne’s G Flip. Picture: Supplied

Starting with hits such as You Were Right and featuring a countdown on the big screen on the stage, the group continued to build the anticipation for the new year and you couldn’t get a more fitting song to welcome in 2024 than Innerbloom.

The start of a new year was not only celebrated with arguably the group’s biggest song but a spectacular fireworks display, which was the perfect fashion to cap off one of the best music festivals to hit Brisbane since the Covid pandemic.

Heat, humidity, rain, thunderstorm warnings and some longer than expected waiting times to get into the festival were all put in the rear-view mirror as all the acts did not disappoint and sent festival-goers home with some special memories to last for years to come.