photos: Kerrie Geier
@kerriegeier
words: Jess Bendle

**Harvest Rock Festival, 25 + 26 October 2025, Adelaide**

**Rymil Park/Murlawirrapurka and King Rodney Park/Ityamai-Itpina**

Last weekend Adelaide played host to the 2025 Harvest Rock Festival, set in the beautiful Murlawirrapurka and Ityamai-Itpina parklands. True to form, spring brought her wildest moods: blazing sun one minute, thunder the next. Yet, that didn’t stop the eager crowds or the dedicated performers from giving it their all. Despite a few weather hiccups the weekend turned out a vibrant mix of great music from a plethora of genres and artists.

Saturday began bright, sunny and full of promise, with a line-up that would please almost every kind of music-lover. Local duo Dive Bar Youth tore up the Vines Stage with a moody, atmospheric rock set, to a building crowd and building cloud coverage, and not too long after their mid-afternoon set, the rain set in as thunder resounded across the parklands. Organisers had no choice but to call a temporary stop while the sudden and wild storm passed, sending plenty of festival-goers running for cover.

After more than an hour of waiting out the stormy darkness, came the light that is Genesis Owusu who lit up the Vines Stage, greeted by a cheering (albeit very soggy) crowd. Owusu danced his way through an incredible set of rap, rock and funk, blended in his singular and superb style, delivering a few new songs he was testing out, and including cracking performances of ‘Death Cult Zombie’, ‘Leaving the Light’, and ‘Get Inspired’. The crowd danced until the turf under their feet became a muddy mess.

Still jubilant at the resumption of the music, the party over at the Vines Stage continued with The Presets. The Aussie electronic icons pulled in a massive crowd who were treated to a full set of indie-dance anthems including ‘Martini’, ‘My People’ and ‘Talk Like That’. Later, British-Sri Lankan artist M.I.A. brought the fire (literally, she emerged holding a red flare) in a high-energy set of her gritty, pounding electronic rock. Flanked by dancers, she launched in to ‘Bamboo Banger’, following up with ‘Boys’, ‘Bad Girls’ and ‘Paper Planes.’ A few sound issues did not derail her energy or the enthusiasm of her fans.

Closing out Saturday were New York icons The Strokes, who took to the Harvest Stage, lit from behind, their faces in shadow echoing their cool detachment. Beloved for their enticing, catchy guitar hooks, it felt like everyone one on site had headed over to watch them offer up a choice selection of their best tracks, including ‘The Modern Age’, ‘You Only Live Once’, ‘Last Night’ and ‘Take it or Leave It.’ With such a stellar performance to finish off the day The Strokes definitely made up for the day’s stormy hiccup.

Sunday dawned calmer, with clear skies and sunshine returning to the festival grounds. It was such a stark contrast to Saturday that you could almost have forgotten the previous wild weather, were it not for the mud that spanned the parklands. Punters didn’t seem to mind, though as they flocked to the Harvest Stage for Aussie folk-rockers The Dreggs who set a more mellow note for the afternoon with their banjo-led sounds drifting across the park, hinting at the more country feel of the Sunday lineup.

As the sun shone it was the perfect opportunity to explore everything that Harvest Rock had to offer, and being Adelaide - this included a focus on great food and wine, including Wildwoods, the open-air dining village curated by Duncan Welgemoed (Africola) and the Cellar Door which featured offerings from wine-makers hand-selected by acclaimed wine critic Nick Stock.

Many people grabbed a glass of wine and a spot on the grass, to enjoy Ruel, as he bounded onto the Harvest Stage full of smiles, charm and smooth dance moves. It was clear that his fans were diehard, as they rushed forward and sung every word of his back to him.

While the Vines Stage kept the party going with a DJ set from the legendary Groove Armada, followed by Aussie icons Pnau. The country vibes continued to build on the Harvest Stage continued with Canadian based Lauren Spencer Smith followed by eclectic American country/rap artist Shaboozey, who took things up a notch with one of the standout sets of the weekend. You could see the joy on his face as he looked out at everyone gathered for his set, and his swagger, humour and heartfelt songs were a perfect lead into the evening.

There had been a lot of excitement about the Ministry of Sound Classics set and it brought the Vines Stage to a euphoric crescendo with a symphonic rave. Backed by DJ Groove Terminator and a live orchestra, vocalists delivered dazzling renditions of Heads Will Roll (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), The Weekend (Michael Grey), Right Here, Right Now (Fatboy Slim), and Sandstorm (Darude), sending hands skyward as lasers shimmered through the trees.

The whole weekend wrapped up with headliner Jelly Roll performing a heartfelt and polished set of emotionally charged country anthems with a little help from some friends, including Teddy Swims who was in town to perform at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre the following night.

With Sunday’s calmer weather allowing for a more carefree send-off, Harvest Rock once again proved itself a highlight of Adelaide’s festival calendar with a celebration of music and community that left Adelaide a bit muddy, but happily exhausted and already excited for next year.