Overview
Homebake might not have the international acts or the unrivalled party atmosphere of Splendour or St Jerome's, but it does have two things that are missing from almost all our other festivals: an antipodean allegiance and a strict 'no dickheads' policy.
And for this we're willing to forgive Homebake for being overly sensitive to the effects of planetary alignment. After citing the solar system as the reason that last year's festival was called off, Homebake is promising something bigger and better for its sweet 16th. By 'bigger' we don’t mean 100,000 people tripping out before noon or tickets that cost the equivalent of three weeks' rent, and we don't mean feeling obligated to watch Coldplay just because they’re probably the reason your ticket cost so much in the first place.
What we do mean is a cinema pavilion, a comedy stage, market stalls and tasty food options. Though obviously you're there for the music, so here we go: Grinderman, Cut Copy, Gotye, Architecture in Helsinki, Icehouse, and infamous international export Noah Taylor, who's abstaining from dressing as Hitler and terrorising folks in Texas in favour of playing some loud, fast, Australian underground rock.
Hopefully the planets are sufficiently well aligned come December.