One week out from its inaugural edition, DINGO Music & Arts Festival has revealed exactly what it has planned for four days across Bangalow and Byron Bay, and simply calling it a music festival doesn’t quite cover it.
Running October 8–11, DINGO brings Hiatus Kaiyote, Kokoroko, Miss Kaninna, Nai Palm, Coco Maria, Rich Medina, Harry James Angus and Barney McAll to the Northern Rivers alongside a sprawling cast of Australian and international musicians, DJs and selectors.
The latest additions include Close Counters with their live band, Steve Spacek, Sampology, Allysha Joy, Das Druid, Finn Rees, Setwun x Hugh B, Biscuit, Inkswel, Cracked Suzies and Greg Sheehan’s new project The Life Of My Time. Mohilaa, Versace Boys, Robert McDougall, The Seeding, Cosmic Seed, Mondo Hum, Mylee Grace and Tropicales also join a bill that moves between jazz, electronic music, hip hop, soul and sounds considerably harder to pin down.
But DINGO is making its intentions clear beyond the stages. Bangalow will become part festival site, part gallery, part dining room and part creative laboratory, with art installations, theatre, talks, workshops, communal meals, tea ceremonies and roaming performances threaded through the town.
One of its more intriguing experiments is the DINGO Vinyl Project. Frollen Music Library will record instrumental material at SAE before producers rebuild and remix it, with Suitcase Records attempting to press 300 physical records in time for Sunday’s closing party. The entire process will also be documented by SAE students.
Food gets its own place in the program rather than being treated as an afterthought. Bundjalung chef Mindy Woods leads Friday’s Bush Banquet at The Lumber Yard, while The Salty Mangrove takes over Moller Pavilion for another communal banquet on Saturday.
DINGO begins at Byron Bay’s Great Northern Hotel on Thursday night with Kokoroko making their first Northern Rivers appearance, supported by Dai Hovey and Mike Gurrieri.
Friday shifts the action to Bangalow, where Benjamin Walsh Quartet, Allysha Joy, Don Glori and Barney McAll Trio take over the A&I Hall. Elsewhere around town, Standing Circle, David Versace, Horatio Luna, Kool Breeze & The Trees, Biscuit and Andras are among the artists filling the RSL, Scout Hall and Moller Pavilion.
Saturday expands into a full day and night program. Nai Palm, The Life Of My Time, Finn Rees, D.D. Mirage and Close Counters hit the A&I Hall, while Coco Maria and Sampology handle its DJ stage. Steve Spacek, Clever Austin, Cazeaux O.S.L.O, Das Druid, Cracked Suzies, YL Hooi and Tralala Blip are among the artists scattered across the surrounding venues before the action heads back to Byron Bay for a late-night Paradiso afterparty.
Sunday changes gear again with The Big Bang, a free, all-ages community day across Bangalow. Choirs, electronic music, parades, workshops, a record fair and Coco Maria’s Tropical Fiesta fill the afternoon before DINGO heads back to Byron Bay for its closing party.
That finale belongs to Hiatus Kaiyote, joined at the Beach Hotel by Miss Kaninna, Mr Rhodes and US DJ Rich Medina.
Rather than fencing everything into one field and putting a stage at either end, DINGO is spreading itself through two Northern Rivers towns and letting music collide with food, visual art, conversation and community. Four days, two towns and a first edition with plenty of ideas to test when the doors finally open next week.
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