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Moomba Festival

09-12 Mar ,

Fairs & Festivals

This festival's lived in Melbourne way longer than you have

First published on 29 Nov 2011. Updated on 13 Mar 2012.

This event has finished

Moomba is no longer the daggy festival that your parents dragged you along to as a child. Sure, there are still fireworks, a stupid amount of floats in some kind of Ferris Buller-esque street parade down Swanston Street, and a lot of small children riding the sugar high, but there’s also a butt-load of very good music. Very good free music.

If you haven’t had a squiz at the line-up yet, it goes something like this: Josh Pyke, The Panics, Tex Perkins, Owl Eyes, Wagons, Skipping Girl Vinegar, Eagle and The Worm and the man that effortlessly straddles the line between amazingly daggy and super cool; Daryl Braithwaite. You may groan when you hear his name, but we psychically challenge you not to sing along to The Horses when he inevitably belts it out during his set.

We’re not saying that Moomba is the best music festival in the history of the world, but it is a great chance to catch an earful of free music over the Labour Day long weekend, it’s kid-friendly, and will provide you with a healthy dose of that “I live in a bloody amazing city” feeling.

Some people say that Moomba – which is meant to be the Aboriginal word for ‘let’s get together and have fun’ actually translates to ‘up your bum,’ which we think is pretty hilarious. It’s also a great way to stick it to all your friends who spent bucket loads of cash over the long weekend on festivals and mini-breaks. When they gloat about all the amazing (expensive) things they did to celebrate Labour Day then look at you condescendingly and say “and did you do anything over the long weekend?” you can smile right back at them and say “Moomba.”

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Words by Zoe Knowles