Amidst a challenging year for live music and events, Woodford Folk Festival invites festival goers on a journey for six days and nights into another world this December.
An immersion into music, art and culture with artists and presenters from 20+ countries is a way for folks to recharge, restore and come together in the name of a cracking good time with well-known artists and many more that attendees, come January first, will never forget.
From Friday 27 December, Woodford will welcome thousands of patrons to their village to celebrate the event’s 30th anniversary at Woodfordia – 500 acres of regenerated farming lands, nestled in the scenic Moreton Bay region – just up the road from Brisbane.
“To mark 30 years of the festival at Woodfordia, this is one of our most exciting programmes to date,” said Festival Director, Amanda Jackes. “We are thrilled to reveal the vast array of artists and presenters who will bring people together to herald in the new year with creativity, music and culture from around the world.”
This year’s programme of artists and presenters promises an unforgettable celebration with musical pioneers Yothu Yindi alongside a line-up of local talent, with North-East Arnhem land’s Yolŋu surf-rockers, King Stingray, Aussie queen of country Beccy Cole, the alt’ rock storyteller Dan Sultan and five-piece much loved indie outfit Ball Park Music.
Woodford welcomes a return to the festival from the electric Jaguar Jonze and soul, gospel, pop singer sensation Ngaiire, performing this time with polymath pianist Paul Grabowski. Indie powerhouse Tia Gostelow and ‘Fresh New Prince’ Baker Boy will have everyone dancing with Josh Pyke, Ash Grunwald, Husky, Alex the Astronaut and Tjaka’s melodies and storytelling making waves across the 20+ stages.
From across the seas comes New Zealand’s world-renowned pop singer-songwriter Bic Runga, and South African acapella collective who began their days arriving early for choir practice, The Joy.
Representing France, the multi-talented author, composer, and performer Ysé, alongside AURUS, a truly unique artist hailed as a musical and visual UFO. Joining them are the ever-evolving Icelandic folk artist JFDR and the genre-blending Scottish trad-funk-electronica maestros, Elephant Sessions.
This year Woodford has several musical partner showcases including Ishkōdé Records an Indigenous, women-owned record label from Northern Turtle Island, created to foster and amplify Indigenous voices, with returning genre blending indie band Digging Roots, heartland rocker Amanda Rheume and Aysanabee who made history to become the first Indigenous artist to win the Juno award for alternative album of the year.
Supporting Southeast Queensland they will feature a Sunshine Coast special with Peace Run Records, featuring 12 hand-picked acts. There are plenty of opportunities for up-and-coming musicians to take to a stage with the great band competition, festival choir, walk-estra and live music sessions across Australian, Irish, English, Scandinavian, Italian, Gypsy jazz, funk and beyond.
These are just some of the 450 acts who will be playing Woodford this year.
Beyond the music, lives a wondrous world where patrons might find themselves at a rhythm and dance class with Alone winner, Gina Chick, before walking across the village to attend a panel on restoring biodiversity to wild and urban spaces.
Some of the speakers include Mad Max’s Quaden Bayles alongside activist Yarraka, diversity champions Like a Photon, Sea Shephard’s Jeff Hanson, Jinibara Traditional Custodians Uncle Noel Blair and Uncle Kenny Murphy along with SBS’s Elder in Residence, Rhoda Roberts.
Woodford is often described as multiple festivals inside a festival with an eclectic mix of workshops, where you might do your first clown workshop, acrobatics, cabaret, dance – from Flamenco to hip hop, Persian or cowboy and even learn to play the spoon.
For those looking to recharge Woodford has a dedicated yoga and mindfulness programme called ‘meditation in motion’, kicking off with sunrises on the hilltop each morning overlooking the Glasshouse Mountains, acroyoga and array of breathwork techniques from ancient to modern and meditation for all skill levels.
Woodford has plenty on offer for kids activities designed for all ages, including a whole festival dedicated to the young ones called TinLids. Featuring the ever-popular dirtgirlworld, Costa Georgiadis’s tour of Woodfordia, Grammy winning 23 Skidoo and the Secret Agency. Permaculture electro-swing Formidable Vegetable. A children’s comedy gala, cool kids’ yoga, line dancing, hip hop, and spoken word events.
For the book lovers, several of our artists are not only sharing their skills with us on stage but their words with us on the page. Ziggy Ramo will challenge us all to think about how we all got here and sharing his latest book, Human? A lie that’s been killing us since 1788, and Gina Chick’s autobiography, We are the stars, will blow you away.
The festival will culminate on New Year’s Eve with the traditional three-minute silence before heralding in the New Year with the harmonic force of Tibetan lineage Tenzin Choegyal alongside the monks of Tibet for the first sunrise of 2025 on the Hilltop, before wrapping up officially on the evening of 1 January 2025.
The festival is so popular that, for the duration of the event, Woodford temporarily becomes the 67th largest town in Australia. An aggregate attendance of around 110,000 is expected over the six-days.
“The festival is based on a vision of inclusivity, community and traditions. The site, a former treeless dairy farm, has been regenerated with over 135,000 subtropical rainforest trees, orchids, fears and sedges planted to create a habitat for butterflies and wildlife that attendees now and in the future will enjoy,” said Jackes.
The Woodford Folk Festival runs from 27 December 2024 – 1 January 2025. For more information and full line-up, visit: www.woodfordfolkfestival.com for details.
Images: Lantern Parade at Woodford Folk Festival – photo by Joseph May | King Stingray (supplied) | AURUS (supplied) | Gina Chick (supplied) | 3 Minutes of Silence – photo by Joseph Mayers