If, for the past few weeks, you've been sitting on Instagram and Facebook looking at all of the amazing collaborations at festivals like Coachella, and thinking 'damn, I wish I could get that experience, but more Far North Queensland', then Groovin' the Moo had the answer with this year's Festival hitting regional centres.

A couple of weeks back, I entered a competition to head along to the Townsville leg of the festival on Spotify's dollar, then promptly forgot and went on with my normal, vapid life. But Spotify just weren't content with letting me live in peace, and sent me up to cover the whole festival as their Snapchat reporter.

Murray Sporting Complex was the sun-soaked site tasked with holding the many thousands of revellers. With the mercury soaring well above the 30 degree mark, you'd think it would be wise to drink a lot of water and cover yourself in sunscreen like a Wizard of Oz witch does with a house, but after an unspecified number of alcoholic beverages, I switched those two, and ended up avoiding sunscreen like a witch does water. Panda tan ensued.

Everything was going off in the festival though, with some of the best costumes on show around the park, from Very Hungry Caterpillar onesies and cow body paint to Dragon Ball Z and whatever this is:

Never to be outdone, the festical fashions were almost as bold as the costumes, from guys who had obviously been so stricken by the loss of Stereosonic that they needed to show of their #MadShreds at Groovin', to girls who had thought that a bikini/sheer combination works just as well as actual clothes.

A huge shout out to Spotify for the chance to hit up the festy, and I hope my services didn't let you down. If you were after a break down of the festival artist-by-artist (at least the ones that I saw), I have you covered:

Harts: More sick noodling on this guitarist's stage than in an untidy uni dorm room. Harts was a great way to kick off the day with his every-funky stage strutting pairing well with a 2016 spiced rum a la Capitaine Morgan in the sweltering Townsville sun.

Boo Seeka: Never one to make big calls early on, I think I may have declared to my festival buddy/PA, Saxon, that Boo Seeka's set was one of the day's best during their first song, at 1:00 in the afternoon. Looking back on it, it would have come very close to being the truth, as the Newcastle duo  rocked the small but dedicated crowd with their best, as well as borrowing a track from the Eurythmics. No prizes for guessing which song.

Emma Louise: If I'm going to be completely honest, I really only knew "Jungle" going into the Emma Louise set. But, to my own surprise, I left only really knowing "Jungle". I wonder if it was around then that I realised I could enter the industry bar and get full-strength drinks...?

Vallis Alps: As part of my prize, I was allowed to get a side of stage view of Vallis Alps set, and boy-oh-boy can they deliver the chillectro vibes. We joined Remi and Boo Seeka side of stage for a quick sway, but I don't think we could live up to Parissa's pre-set boogieing.



DZ Deathrays: Straight off the back of the best seats in the house for Vallis Alps, we didn't get a whole heap of time to rock out with our Brissie brother,  but we did get to hear a small clip of their cover of Blur's "Song 2" which, we would assume (but can't verify due to a large fence) got the crowd whipped into a DZ Frenzay.

Drapht: Western Australia's hippest hopper was absolutely annihilating it on stage in the afternoon. Kicking it off with some hype-up over the top of the Back To The Future music, Drapht dropped all of his big hits, and the crowd couldn't have been more into it. By this point, I think that Jimmy Recard's life would have to be less exciting than plain ol', boring ol' Paul.

In Hearts Wake: Bands that have more adjectives in their genre tag on Spotify than in their collected lyrics have never particularly been my cup of tea, however, with that said, I have been known to enjoy a good wall of death. By this stage in the afternoon, I'd hit that first wall, and so I took a break from hard moshing to let Saxon take over in the pit. In Hearts had some solid breakdowns, and I was extra chuffed when Remi came onto the stage to spit some fire with the crew.

SAFIA: Part of the current (/first/only) wave of good stuff to come out of Canberra, SAFIA have been kicking ass, from their features on Peking Duk's tracks, to their own "Counting Sheep" and Embracing Me coming in on the Hottest 100 last year (35 and 23, respectively). They brought that energy onto the stage, too, and had some great moments. Not to mention, that haircut put Beiber's Skrillex rip off to shame.

What So Not: Coming in a little late from SAFIA, I was pretty stunned when I saw that What So Not had turned the Moulin Rouge tent into some kind of muzzing bait fish frenzy. Again, not necessarily my particular flavour - I could have gotten a similar vibe from filling the Met with astro turf - but it was pretty spectacular to see the crowd whipped up like that.

twenty one pilots: No Mum, not a typo (read: stylised). Nova's contribution to the Groovin' line up sure know how to put on a show. Between a suspended, swinging microphone that looked like a pendulous torture device from the Inquisition, to crowd surfing with an entire drum kit on a riser, the Ohioans didn't pull any punches just because they were in a regional city.

Client Liaison: Before heading along, Client Liaison had really been only a small blip on the horizon of my musical radar, and I had not really paid much attention to them. Acting on a hot tip, I tore my eyes away from twenty one pilots, though, and I was glad that I did. I only managed to catch the last few songs from the 21st century's best mullets, but in that time, I wrapped my senses around "Canberra Won't Be Calling Tonight", Michael Jackson's "Black or White" and two giant water coolers as stage decorations.



The Rubens: Anyone who knows me will know my particular opinion about "Hoops" taking out the top spot on the Hottest 100, and anyone who doesn't know me can have a guess. Their set was enjoyable, but didn't come close to rocking the house down, at least until their final few tracks. Highlights were the Meeting Tree giving out shoulder rides to band members mid-set.

Danny Brown: I don't think there would be enough MDMA in Far North Queensland to give Danny Brown one cap per lyrical reference. Straight off the back of the Rubens, the Detroit rapper was a massive change in pace, one that seemed to jar a fair few punters. However, he had a cool set with some quite funny banter between songs, by the time he closed with "Dip" the whole place was going a little bonkers.

Boy & Bear: There hasn't been a line up that Boy & Bear haven't been a part of for a fair few years now, and these hard working strummer-drummers have gotten their stage show down pat with all that practice. Again, it was a massive style change, between Danny Brown and Alison Wonderland, which seemed a little out of place.

Illy: Illy went pretty swell, which you'd come to expect from one of the country's more prolific hip hop artists. A sneaky Stan Lee-style cameo from Drapht was a great surprise. My attention was almost entirely fixed on Illy's drummer though, who was absolutely destroying the drum kit with some of the coolest fills that I have seen in a show.

Alison Wonderland: One of Australia's biggest DJs has come to the peak on the back of her many 'U'-based singles. Her set was a little stunted and lacked the flow that some of the other EDM acts had been able to put up, but she still managed to have an imposing stage presence with some great stage design, and a very cool stint on the cello.