One of the last standing: why this iconic Aussie festival is bucking the national trend

If you were a bona fide music lover a generation or two ago, it was likely that your holiday planning was dictated by the national festival schedule.

Whether it was sweating it out at the Big Day Out during the height of January in the capital cities, or seeing in the new year with 17,000 people at Lorne's Falls Festival, or braving the muddy campground at Byron Bay's wintertime Splendour In the Grass - it was a rite of passage.

Sure, the line-ups were important, but music punters were buying tickets for the experience. The festivals were about the journey. It was about camping with your friends, choosing the themed outfits and celebrating the euphoria of music.

Many of Australia's iconic music festivals are gone, and for a variety of reasons. Shifting culture trends, ballooning insurance, exorbitant ticket prices, climate change and a hangover of COVID-19 have all been blamed for their demise.

However, one festival keeps bucking against the trend in its own typically Territorian way. Darwin's Bassinthegrass has been running since 2003 and remains the Northern Territory's biggest annual music event.

The push is on to make the government-owned festival a more attractive destination for music fans. Undoubtedly, a major piece of the appeal is the weather. It's May, and the tropical dry season has arrived in Darwin. Nothing but blue sky and a dry 30 degrees.

As I walk through the gates of Mindil Beach Park into "Bass" (as locals call it), I take a glance at the weather back home on my iPhone. The eastern seaboard is nothing but miserable rain and temperatures in the teens. Bass couldn't be more different.

That tropical sun packs a bite, but Mindil Beach Park is well shaded with little mini bars and deck chairs set up like little sanctuaries under the trees.

Food is also where Bassinthegrass sets itself apart from other Australian music festivals. The iconic Mindil Beach Markets should be on any Darwin holiday itinerary. The market's laksa - a spicy Malaysian coconut noodle soup - is legendary.

Many of the Mindil Beach Markets' food offerings are available inside Bassinthegrass. Down the festival's food alley there are slushies, Greek and Italian street food, Thai, seafood shacks selling plump prawns and octopus, kebabs, hamburgers, hot dogs, Sri Lankan curries and fat doughnuts oozing with jam.

Of course, the music is the main attraction of Bassinthegrass. The 2025 festival was headlined by Aussie hip-hop royalty the Hilltop Hoods, alongside indie darlings the Jungle Giants, indie-soul queen Meg Mac, hardcore band the Amity Affliction and indie rockers the Rions.

Unlike some crowds in Sydney or Melbourne, there's no pretension or cynicism among the audience. The punters are here to have fun. There's everything from teenagers to families to grey-haired boomers among the audience.

Mac had previously played at Bass in 2019 and has an obvious following in Darwin. Despite her late-afternoon performance being impacted by a 10-minute power outage, she owned the stage with her powerful voice.