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Watch MAX at 7.30pm, March 25 for the premiere of MAX's Launchpad for Legends. It's a 30-minute documentary,
filmed by MAX at this year's St Kilda Fest, celebrating the colour and vibrancy of one of Australia’s most unique
and long-standing festivals.
Get a rare insider's view at how a festival comes together, including hand-raising live performances from Regurgitator and The Audreys!
Starting many new artists, the festival is a real Launchpad for Legends, and 2007 will be no exception!
MAX asked the St Kilda Festival Producer, Adele Denison to tell us about the event.
1. What are your most memorable moments in the event’s history?
I've actually got a lot of memories of the Festival as a teenager, way before I ever worked on it. It was my first big outdoor Festival - and I think a lot of people's actually - because its free and you can't afford a ticket to anything when you're thirteen. So there are some amazing early memories of seeing acts like Paul Kelly, Dave Graney, Archie Roach and the like for the first time.
There's been some seminal gigs in the past couple of years from guys like The Cat Empire, Xavier Rudd, Regurgitator....you can't beat the feeling when you're standing in fornt of the Main Stage at sunset with thousands of people around you and an amazing band on the stage.
And in terms of the event, a big moment was being able to announce that it was coming back - after being cancelled in 2006 a lot of people thought it was lost for good so it has been amazing to be able to bring it back to everyone.
2. What is it that makes this the definitive Melbourne experience?
St Kilda itself makes this Festival so much a part of Melbourne - everyone in Melbourne will come down to St Kilda at some point and always have, whether it is for a walk on the beach, a cake in Acland Street or a drink from the Espy or the Prince of Wales, it is still very much Melbourne's playground. For the one main day of the Festival we close all the roads, put massive stages in the parks, entertainment on the beach and the whole place changes.
So to be able to basically walk out your door and catch a tram to a massive outdoor feast, with hundreds of throusands of others who all want to celebrate together makes it very important to Melbourne and a tradition down here for thousands of people. Someone new to Melbourne would get a feel for the place very quickly on Festival Day!
3. How do you recommend a newcomer approaches the day?
Study up first - have a look at the program or the website and what's on when so you know where you want to be and what you want to see, there's a lot on! Watch out for the massive crowds - it swells in the afternoon so prepare to be carried away by that sense you get when you're surrounded by people, and enjoy it.
Make sure you see as much as you can, and make sure you see something you haven't seen before. It's a great opportunity to discover your next fave band so explore as much as you can.
And of course take care of yourself. You need to take sunscreen and a lot of it, drink plenty of water, wear a hat. Also, don't even think about driving. You'll sit in traffic for hours and miss half the day, then find there's nowhere to park anyway. So its all about trams, trains and buses.
4. What feature are you most proud of in this year’s event?
Too many to single one out - I think the music is the big one. You'll get to see bands like The Audreys, Regurgitator, Airbourne, Dallas Crane, Bliss n Eso, Blue King Brown, Labjacd, FourPlay, Briscoe Sisters...the list goes on...all for free! It's going to be amazing. Check out the website for a complete list...
5. In what way does the festival fill a gap in the artistic culture of Australia?
Well there's not much more for free around anymore, especially in terms of huge music gigs, so its absolutely one of a kind and Australia needs to hold on to it!
Also, one of the special things about Australia is its wide open spaces and this Festival makes the most of it by taking over a whole suburb. Its a very special feeling and it wouldn't happen anywhere else.
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