Review: Harvest Rock 2025, Adelaide, Day 1 – 25/10/25
Despite the heavy rain, nothing could spoil the third edition of Harvest Rock, with the festival delivering on all fronts with a headline set from The Strokes that left everyone in attendance blissfully elated.
Words by Tobias Handke
Image Disimminent Media
Harvest Rock 2025 @ Rymill & King Rodney Parks, Adelaide 25/010/25
After a year’s absence and rumours that the festival was done, South Australia’s nostalgia-driven Harvest Rock returned in 2025 with its best lineup yet. Not only was the bill stacked with incredible local, national and overseas artists across its two days, but this latest incarnation of the festival featured cultural delights including The Amuse-Bouche Stage, Wildwoods Precinct and Cellar Door experience. These areas of the festival featured comedians, cooking demonstrations, workshops and the best of South Aussie food and wine for punters to discover. Put simply, Harvest Rock offered something for everyone.
The Note was lucky enough to attend day one of the festivities with American indie vets The Strokes topping the bill, but before the New York trendsetters took to the stage, we got the pleasure to witness some awesome acts on the Vine and Harvest stages while also getting rained on.
The early hours were a showcase of everything great about Adelaide’s music scene. Teenage Joans, the punk rock duo of vocalist and drummer Tahlia Borg and vocalist and guitarist Cahli Blakers, left it all on the floor with a blistering set that included their latest single ‘My Heart’s Dead!’ and the pop punk goodness of crowd favourite ‘1800-PAINLESS’. Oscar The Wild followed with a tight offering of melodic indie rock before musical chameleon DIVEBAR YOUTH demonstrated why he’s such an enigmatic performer.
The last time I saw Cloud Control was at Splendour in the Grass 2011. Back then they were still riding high after the release of their debut album, Bliss Release, arguably one of Australia’s most underrated records of that era. Fast forward almost 15 years, and Cloud Control are back together and touring that incredible debut. They drew a decent crowd for a band that’s been out of the spotlight for seven years, wasting no time reminding those in attendance why they were so loved. Opener ‘Meditation Song #2 (Why, Oh Why)’ got the crowd moving while ‘Gold Canary’ interlooped the chorus of Butthole Surfers’ ‘Pepper’, with Cloud Control ending their set with the euphoric ‘Scar’ as the rain began to fall.
Exploring the Wildwoods area, I was impressed by the range of food and drink on offer as I settled down in front of The Amuse-Bouche Stage, ready for YouTube chef, comedian and mental health advocate Nat’s What I Reckon. That was about the time the heavens opened up and caused absolute carnage. The rain became so heavy that the festival was put on hold due to the danger the storm presented. While the big screens at both main stages told everyone to wait patiently as the storm passed over the festival grounds, communication about how this would impact the artists and set times wasn’t conveyed clearly, leaving many fans frustrated. Large swathes of people also left to escape the rain, and when they returned, they were not allowed in as the front gates shut until the storm cleared, causing a few more raised voices.
I waited things out near the Harvest Rock merch stall where a lady with a guitar and amp started playing ‘Wonderwall’, inciting a mass sing-along that lifted everyone’s spirits. She also rattled off Van Morrison’s cover of ‘Gloria’ and the Rolling Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Woman’. It was roughly one and a half hours before regular programming resumed, which sadly meant Bag Raiders and Wolfmother got canned from the lineup, although Wolfmother announced a special gig at The Metro, which no doubt was a cracker.
Any disappointment about missing out on those two acts quickly disappeared when a shirtless Genesis Owusu got the party started at the Vine Stage. Never failing to entertain, his fusion of rap, punk, soul and dance created a frenzied blast of noise that was hard not to groove along to. ‘Waitin’ On Ya’ and ‘WUTD’ brought a little funk to the stage before Owusu debuted new track, ‘Death Cult Zombie’, which saw him joined on stage by a zombie dancer busting some solid moves. ‘Get Inspired’ was mashed up with ‘What Comes Will Come’ and got the crowd throwing shapes. Owusu closed with ‘A Song About Fishing’, accepting a pack of Cheezels from the audience, which he began munching on as he walked to the back.
The Jungle Giants kept the good times rolling with a set heavy with material from their latest album, Love Signs. Newbies ‘In Her Eyes’ and ‘Sending Me Ur Love’ got a look alongside fan favourites like ‘She’s a Riot’ and ‘Bad Dream’ before Vance Joy took to the Harvest Stage. An extremely likable fella, Joy ripped through an enjoyable selection of songs from his three albums. ‘Mess Is Mine’, ‘Fire and the Flood’ – which Joy explained features a line written by his mum – and ‘Lay It On Me’ sparked mass sing-alongs as the rain began to fall again.
His two new singles ‘Fascination in the Dark’ and ‘Missing Piece’ were received well, while Joy also threw in a couple of covers to mix things up. Explaining how he wanted to perform Sia’s ‘Chandelier’ but couldn’t hit the high notes, he went with a song from another SA legend, Paul Kelly, tackling ‘To Her Door’, along with a rocking version of the KISS classic ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’. The biggest cheer came for his swansong, ‘Riptide’.
READ MORE: Review: Space Jams 2025 @ Inman Valley 04-05/10/25
Images Billy Zammit and Disimminent Media
The Presets did what The Presets do, turning Harvest Rock into a muddy outdoor nightclub. The crowd went bonkers and was treated to an energetic hour of hard and fast EDM bangers from the Aussie duo. I’ve never seen dance moves as aggressive as those displayed during ‘My People’, with one intoxicated lad moving about like he was in a UFC cage.
The surprise of the festival for me was The War on Drugs. I’ve seen them before and they are great, but there was something about their performance that stuck with me. They sparked joy in my soul with their Americana-tinged alt-rock material. They are one of those bands that consistently sound better on stage than on wax, which is a credit to all seven members of The War on Drugs.
I’m also a sucker for long songs with epic riffs, something The War on Drugs are masters at. Most of the songs they performed were five-minute-plus epics with duelling guitars, soaring hooks and solos that remind me of the great rock acts of yesteryear. It’s not hard to tell that vocalist and guitarist Adam Granduciel is a Bruce Springsteen fan, and I say that in the nicest way possible. This is heartland rock for the people, and it sure resonated with the Adelaide crowd, who were treated to a mesmerising version of ‘Red Eyes’ along with goosebump-inducing tracks such as ‘Pain’, ‘Harmonia’s Dream’ and set closer ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’, which demonstrated just how talented this bunch of musos are. Bloody fantastic.
I only caught the last part of M.I.A.’s performance, but as expected, she created an uplifting environment with her dance/rap/pop/dancehall creations. Arresting visuals, futuristic lasers, flares and plenty of smoke accompanied the British artist as she did her best to keep the crowd lively. At one point, M.I.A. asked for more “crowd participation” and invited a stack of punters on stage to dance with her. Her performance was like an intimate club show on a festival stage with plenty of dancing, screaming and good vibes.
Playing their only show in the country, The Strokes reminded everyone why they were the biggest band on the planet in the early 00s. Strolling on stage fashionably late, The Stokes launched into an energetic ‘Bad Decisions’. What followed was all killer, no filler. ‘Reptilia’, ‘The Modern Age’, ‘What Ever Happened’, ‘Juicebox’… The Strokes wheeled out all the big hits for a frothing Adelaide crowd. This was a professional showing from the New Yorkers, with vocalist Julian Casablancas in true rockstar mode, sporting sunglasses at night. The few interactions he had with the crowd were a little awkward, from his opening, “Radelaide, what’s up freaks?” to joking that ‘Take It Or Leave It’ was written about Starbucks. But none of that matters when you’ve got songs like ‘Under Control’, ‘Selfless’ and ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ in your kitbag.
The inevitable encore followed after The Strokes left the stage for several minutes, with Casablancas telling the crowd, who were chanting “one more song”, that they actually had more than one song to play, which got everyone even more hyped. ‘Ode To the Mets’ seemed like an odd choice to kick things off, but it gave fans a time to breathe before the mosh-inducing counter punch of ‘Last Night’ and ‘Take It or Leave It’.
Having waited more than 20 years to finally see The Strokes perform live, I can say they did not disappoint and gave me (and every other fan) exactly what I wanted – nearly 80 minutes of indie bangers that reminded me why I love music.
If Harvest Rock can continue to attract international acts like The Strokes and The War on Drugs, showcase the best of South Australian muisc, food and wine, and get support and funding from the higher ups, there is no reason why this festival can’t rise to the levels of Splendour in the Grass or Big Day Out, providing music lovers from across the country a place to enjoy tunes, booze and good times in one of the best cities on the planet.
Tickets for day two of Harvest Rock are on sale now via harvestrock.com. Those who missed out can catch headliner M.I.A. performing at Melbourne’s The Forum tonight, Sunday 26 October, and at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Wednesday 29 October. Tickets on sale via secretsounds.com.
