Blacken proves a hit

Those who attended the Blacken Open Air last weekend were amazed at the efforts that had been made to create a unique experience for lovers of metal, with the festival being hailed as the best one yet.

Blacken festival proved to be a major success over the weekend. Picture: CHARLIE LOWSON

Those who attended the Blacken Open Air last weekend were amazed at the efforts that had been made to create a unique experience for lovers of metal, with the festival being hailed as the best one yet.

Pirate, founder of Alice Springs metal label ‘The Black Wreath’ said people have already gone back to their capital cities where they came from and said they will be back next year.

“It was a bit overwhelming really, it’s been a dream of ours for a long time, we’ve been working on that for seven years,” Pirate said.

“I think we achieved everything that we set out to this year and proved that it works and people are showing us that they appreciate it happened. The festival has been well received and everyone is going to be back and it’s going to be bigger and better next year.

“People that attended were just gobsmacked at the beauty of the location.

“I think the experience of being away from phone reception and away from any other distraction and being able to hang out in your own campsite and own comfort zone and watch the bands at your own leisure was a whole new experience for a lot of people.”

Festival goers were also treated to some spectacular light shows and artwork, thanks to the creative crew who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to produce the event.

“It looked awesome. It was like two different worlds, the day time with the beauty of the landscape and at night time when it all comes to life with lights and sounds, it was surreal,” Pirate exclaimed.

Blacken Open Air was a major hit for fans Picture: CHARLIE LOWSON

Pirate also said that female fronted bands proved to be a highlight at the Blacken Open Air, with BIOME, a band from Adelaide that are a grind core project that jump between genres, surprising audiences with their engaging performances.

“They jump between genres and play some extreme death metal parts and the next part will be a reggae interlude and just playing jazz. It was unexpected,” he said.

“Another one for me was a band called Freedom of Fear, who were another female fronted band from Adelaide and they performed last year. We invited them again to perform on the main stage this year, and that set them up even further.

“The cosmic psychos were probably the highlight, I think they got the biggest crowd of the weekend and it was heaps of fun, they even rode onto the stage in a tractor!

“A massive team effort by creative and talented passionate local people allowed for the creation for something totally unique and memorable, we are already planning for next year.”