March 10, 2026 — 11:40am
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Golden Plains, the two-day festival held annually in regional Victoria is a place for a brief moment of escapism after the early year’s rush.
Even a quick glance online was enough to confirm how keen punters were for this year’s event. Despite the $514 price tag for just two days of action, even at 5pm on the first of the two days, passes were being sold online at face value.
Golden Plains 2026Chip Mooney
By 11am on Saturday the car line into the festival site – “the Sup” – had already eased with spots to pitch a tent already scarce, vehicle entry to the campsite full and a crowd already building at the famous Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre.
But while this year’s edition was meant to be its coming of age, a turbulent political cloud hanging over the Labour Day weekend meant Golden Plains 18 struggled to get into top gear.
The cheers at the stage were already building when Melbourne punk rockers Public Figures kicked off proceedings, leaning into their first appearance at the festival and arguably their biggest show to date.
Front woman Evie Vlah took the opportunity to remind the crowd to behave themselves, also setting the tone of the weekend by reflecting on decades of colonisation, and a gentle reminder of the “no dickhead” rule firmly in place. Returning to the music, Vlah and her band got plenty of shoes raised in the crowd (a Golden Plains mark of approval) with their closing track Onto Something.
Public Figures perform at Golden Plains 18Benjamin Fletcher
While the following few acts struggled at times to keep the crowd engaged on an uncharacteristically grey Golden Plains day, it wasn’t until Nigerian performer Obongjayar took to the stage in the early evening that the rush heaved back to the stage. Real name Steve Umoh, his music is hard to pin down by one genre, seamlessly shifting between fast-paced afrobeats to punk rock and rap.
The most rousing performance in an unusually subdued opening day of the festival was reserved for Marlon Williams and his band the Yarra Benders. Williams serenaded the crowd with his ballads, sung mostly in te reo Māori, and spoke about the language’s struggles in New Zealand and took time to facetiously dedicate a song to the country’s prime minister, Chris Luxon. He was joined on stage by Victoria-based Maori performing arts group Ngā Mātai Pūrua, graciously stepping aside at several points to offer them the limelight, including a spine tingling haka.
An unexpected downpour of rain threatened to derail proceedings, before Canadian instrumentalists BadBadNotGood took to the stage with a more-than-decent attempt to hype the crowd. Celebrating 15 years as a band, the one-hour jam session worked the crowd into a frenzy by the time hometown heroes Cut Copy took to the stage as midnight approached with their signature party anthems, Hearts on Fire and Lights & Music, sending the crowd into pandemonium.
If ever there was a signal that Sunday would start and continue on a more compelling note, it was the mop-haired rock quartet from Frankston, The Gnomes, who took to the stage just after noon. Led by frontman Jay Millar, you didn’t have to think hard to spot his early influences – The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, and Jimi Hendrix – in their fast-paced tracks with guitar-shredding solos and chugging-rhythm melodies. Their tight 40-minute set instantly became the weekend’s most talked-about set.
Marlon Williams was a highlight of the weekend. Leah Hulst
Sunday’s programming continued at pace with This is Lorelei, led by singer Nate Amos (his second performance of the weekend) before Atlanta punk band Upchuck put its case forward for one of the more eye-catching performances of the weekend. The band’s front woman Kaila “KT” Thompson took time to proclaim “F— Trump, F— ICE, free Palestine”.
By Sunday afternoon it felt like Golden Plains 18 had finally arrived.
German-Turkish singer-songwriter Derya Yıldırım and her band, Grup Şimşek, took time to reflect on her own experiences with colonialism, displacement in migrant communities and sense of belonging amid what was a recurring theme across the weekend.
Her soft-spoken commentary on Australia’s own relationship with colonialism and nod to Palestinian flags flying in the Sup were well received by the crowd. Folk music wouldn’t exist without the folk themselves, she mused, as the vibes stayed high until French DJ maestro Francois K finished his set with the Talking Heads classic Once in a Lifetime to cap off a run of high-quality entertainment.
Basement Jaxx turned the festival into a party.Chip Mooney
While Jalen Ngonda’s soul-filled set delivered a captivating display of his vocal range, the intermission DJ’s spliced through sing-a-longs as the packed crowd were clearly waiting for one thing: the festival’s headline act, Basement Jaxx.
And the British electronic duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe delivered on everything you’d want from an act you could now define as veterans of the genre.
In-your-face visuals, countless costume changes, live percussion, a brass band and even a silver-clad Melburnian ballerina left few in the crowd questioning the credentials of this year’s star show.
Opening with the 2001 classic Romeo, the performance powered through hits Bingo Bango, Do Your Thing and Red Alert at pace before reaching the crescendo in their 2001 magnum opus, Where’s Your Head At?
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The percussive, colour filled orchestral assault washed over the crowd, giving those still waiting no option but to dissociate from normalcy. It was officially a party.
While other iconic Australian festivals have suffered, or even shuttered, the folk behind Golden Plains and sister festival Meredith have gone from strength to strength. But with almost a mortgage needed to afford a ticket in 2026, programming, curation and general flow left a dent in the side of this year’s edition. Without it – and a bit more sun – this year’s edition could have gone from good to great.
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.From our partners