Australia Psychedelic Trancescene – Join the Human Circus

The land down under is home to a jam-packed festival calendar all year round boasting stellar international and local lineups pounding amongst the spectacular and sometimes rugged Australian landscape.

With a history dating back almost 25 years in the electronic festival scene, Australia is continuing to push the boundaries of décor design, international music, arts and production. It’s also home to many grass roots underground events with less focus on big brand names and more focus on the tribal aspect of the mind and soul. So whatever it is you’re looking for, whether it be large scale or close and intimate, Australia plays host to it all.

Victoria

Motherland of Bush Doof

We begin in Victoria, the most thriving region of events and festivals. The original bush doof was spawned here by the iconic earthcore festival. earthcore today has spread it’s wings outside of their home with nationwide events & festivals. The main festival, however, is located near Melbourne at the end of November and continues to pioneer with their world class production, psy/techno/prog/chill/bass music line ups, arts and various types of entertainment such as comedians, workshops, culture and stacks more. Strawberry Fields also kicks off the Aussie summer festival season the weekend before earthcore with a boutique festival capped at a 6000 capacity featuring mainly techno and located along the Murray River. In January over the Australia Day long weekend sees another iconic festival and currently the largest Australian camping festival to date, Rainbow Serpent. Rainbow, has held its reputation through a focus on arts and culture based around a prog, psy and techno musical taste. Babylon Festival, Esoteric & Pitch Festivals launched in March 2017 boasting high end production and décor along with the International line-up you expect from the big festivals. There are many small doofs all year round in Victoria, however, a few notable mentions from the underground are Ergot Festival in April, Harmony Gardens in October, Wild Horses & PsyEvolutions in December and the colourful doof Yemaya which has been shifted to September.

NSW & ACT

The Sunny Capital with a big party scene

Kicking off the festival circuit in this region is Dragon Dreaming Festival held at the beginning of November that is acclaimed for it’s earth conscious, biodynamic and friendly feel amongst a beautiful mountainous setting around a lake. There are many other amazing psychedelic camping festivals across NSW that are worth checking out including Subsonic Festival, Rabbits Eats Lettuce, Bohemian Beatfreaks, Regrowth, Sound Flower 4, Shiny Disco Ball and Psyland. For those looking for more of a culture and lifestyle experience, Confest provides a volunteer based gathering that is focused more on community and human connection. earthcore in the Park also hosts a single day Psy festival held nearby Sydney on the same weekend as the main event in Victoria.

Queensland

Tropical and picture perfect landscapes

QLD is a region with beautiful weather almost all year round and hosts some of the most picturesque festivals on the land which is why festival season is basically all year round. The feature festival in QLD is Earth Frequency in February and is capped at 5000 people to keep it intimate. Early October sees Mushroom Valley Festival take place near the Whitsundays which is one of the most stunning parts of Australia. QLD has a thriving scene with doofs across the vast tropical state feat Quantum Release, Happy Daze Festival, Bushweek Festival, Collaborations Festival, Tropical Bloom, Psylanguage, Orin Aya Festival, and Elements Festival. earthcore in the Park also brings the doof to the city for a single day festival at the start of December.

South Australia

An intimate and welcoming tribe amongst dry warm climate

Despite it’s smaller population, SA was a heavy contender in the electronic music scene in the late 90’s golden rave era. Today the music scene celebrates niche driven, loyal and friendly crowds who are passionate about their preferred genres. River Dreaming in September is a growing festival that is focused on a combination of grass roots Aussie sounds with a balance of the bigger sounds familiar worldwide. Aurora Festival later in the year is located close to the Victorian border, and is also focused on the grass roots community mentality. The city scene is thriving thanks to the likes of Psy-ence Fiction which is now in it’s 6th year and continuing to grow the psychedelic trance scene with a focus on vibe, production and 100% Psy. UV Freqs is another city based event which started in 2016 and focuses on immersive UV décor.

Western Australia

Party in the west amongst the stunning beaches

WA may be far from the Eastern party hub but they have a solid scene thriving on enthusiastic foundations. Pura Vida is held a multiple times throughout the year with a large focus on arts & décor. Another festival which is more well-rounded across music genres is Blazing Swan. For those who don’t fancy venturing out and camping there is also the Earthcore in the Park day event near Perth in December. Also Phoenix Dreams are a small community of bush doof lovers focusing on the intimate vibe and keeping things small.

Tasmania

Escape the mainland to the picturesque southern island

The island state of hosts multiple lifestyle and community based gatherings. The main Psy events are Fractangular in February and Let there be Doof towards September. Fractangular is the larger of the two but both host big name international and national music artists and are drawing in more doofers each year from the mainland.

Australia measures to around the same size as Europe but less densely populated, and hosts many more events across the land. The crews are welcoming and most have a presence on social media if you care to look up the pages and doof community groups. When packing for an Aussie festival be sure to pack for all seasons. Generally it’s very hot during the day and cold at night.
So pack your jackets, jumpers, shorts, sunscreen, bathers, eskys, flipflops and we’ll see you on the dance floor this summer !

Written by James Corbett & Billy Lockyer