Overview
It's been a rollercoaster couple of years for the Yours and Owls crew. The festival faced all of the industry-wide pandemic-related issues in 2020, but in 2021 it was the first NSW music festival to allow dancing after the first rounds of COVID-19 lockdowns. Then, following that victory, the festival was forced to cancel in 2022 when La Niña flooded Stuart Park. Talk about you win some, you lose some.
Now, Yours and Owls is back, announcing the dates for its 2023 event in a brand-new home: the University of Wollongong (UOW) campus.
Mark Saturday, October 14–Sunday, October 15 in your calendar. That's when the two-day gathering affectionately called Gong Christmas will return. You can expect stages to pop up across the expansive uni campus, with Yours and Owls promising to activate grounds, ovals and laneways across the space.
UOW and the festival have inked a three-year partnership, with all-weather solutions available at the campus cited as one of the driving factors behind the team-up — plus the university's picturesque green spaces and a mutual commitment towards carbon-emission reduction.
"We are delighted to be returning home to UOW to present Yours and Owls within the campus grounds," said Yours And Owls co-founder Ben Tillman, announcing the news.
"We are excited to welcome patrons to experience the festival in the space where the initial idea was hatched all those years ago. Our team have been busy creating ways to bring the multitude of spaces available to us alive across the campus."
The festival promises that the lineup is on its way and will be dropping "soon". The cancelled 2022 edition was set to be headlined by a slate of beloved locals including Hilltop Hoods, Benee, Bliss & Eso, Flight Facilities, The Jungle Giants, Peking Duk and Violent Soho.
Interestingly, the festival now falls on the same weekend that SXSW Sydney's inaugural will kick off, with the first-ever iteration of the conference outside of Austin taking over the Harbour City between Sunday, October 15–Sunday, October 22.
Yours and Owls 2023 will return from Saturday, October 14–Sunday, October 15 at its new home at the University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong.
Top image: Yours and Owls 2021, Georgia Moloney.