Review: Lime Green Festival @ Cloisters UniBar Adelaide 18/04/26
Lime Cordiale’s environmentally friendly festival was a massive success and included barnstorming sets from local and national talent.
Words Satine Richmond // Images Candice Hu
Image supplied
Lime Green Festival @ Cloisters UniBar Adelaide 18/04/26
Lime Green Fest arrived in Adelaide with an ambitious goal: to prove that large-scale live music events can run entirely on renewable energy. The event was the brainchild of Australian indie-pop duo Lime Cordiale, composed of brothers Louis and Oli Leimback.
Backed by the Australian Conservation Foundation, everything from the lights, the sound system and even the food trucks ran off the single industrial-sized battery set up beside the stage. The lineup was stacked with acts from Adelaide’s music scene, while the interstate artists on the bill were The Dreggs and Lime Cordiale themselves, also with Kaurna elder Robert Taylor delivering a Welcome to Country.
When the gates of the Adelaide Uni Cloisters opened at 2pm, only a small number of people were scattered around the grounds. Some lounged on the grass, others staked out spots at the barricade of the stage, and a few chatted with volunteers at the Australian Conservation Foundation stands. The ACF area was hard to miss, decked out with a photobooth, glitter paint stations, petitions to sign and a table where festival-goers could create protest-style signs with pieces of cardboard. Inside the UniBar, people wandered between the merch tables or grabbed drinks as they waited for the music to begin.
An hour after doors opened, the head of the ACF, former Greens leader, Adam Bandt, stepped behind his decks for a half-hour DJ set. He pumped out dance-remixed hits such as Charli xcx’s ‘360’ and Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ before closing with a high-energy remix of Taylor Swift’s ‘You Belong With Me’ to wrap up his set.
effie isobel, the triple j Unearthed feature artist, swiftly took over after Bandt and kicked off with ‘Lip Balm’. She completed a cover of ‘Ceilings’ by Lizzy McAlpine, bringing out Bella Brinkworth and aleksiah to do harmonies. She then moved through originals ‘Peach Heart’, ‘Higher Gear’, ‘Moon Made’ and new song ‘Hidden Treasure’, her soft, airy vocals drifting across the Cloisters. “Thank you guys, I love you so much,” she said, smiling at the dedicated group gathered at the barricade.
Local surf-rock four-piece Sticky Beak followed, their breezy sound perfectly matching the afternoon’s warm autumn weather. Rolling through tracks like ‘Sangria’, ‘Summer Friend’ and ‘Holly’, the group played a tight set of their fan favourites. A highlight was a nostalgic cover of ‘In The Summertime’, better known to many as the Bondi Rescue theme song, which sparked a sing-along from the growing crowd.
Between acts, the festival’s sustainability focus remained front and centre. An OzHarvest representative took the stage to explain that the festival lemonade and ginger beer were made using “odd bunch” fruit, produce normally thrown out for being misshapen or imperfect.
TONIX took to the stage next, with vocalist Sammi Keough supported by Archie McEwan on saxophone and Henry Brill Reed on synths. It was the most energetic set to that point, and by the second song, the crowd was jumping enthusiastically. Playing the hits ‘Feel Alive’, ‘I Was Asleep’ and ‘Written For You’, McEwan encouraged the crowd to “make sure to put on your dancing shoes!” Their cover of ‘Heathens’ by Twenty-One Pilots brought screams of recognition, and the added sax made it TONIX’s own. With their last song, ‘If I Can’t Be Yours’, McEwan and Reed climbed off the stage, wandering through the crowd while playing their instruments. Keough stood on stage, her blonde curls flooded in pink light as she belted out powerful vocals. “I hope you remember our name, TONIX, but most importantly, we hope you're down to dance with Lime Cordiale!” McEwan said, prompting an excited cheer.
Adelaide’s rock-pop band PASH arrived with ‘Mother Bring Me Down’, immediately pulling the audience into their high-energy sound. “This one’s called ‘Ricochet’,” frontman Jett Gazley announced as the band launched into it with confidence. During the bridge, he leaned forward, shouting, “Make some noise, Adelaide!” and the fans roared back without hesitation.
Mid-set, Gazley paused to reveal, “This is being recorded for triple j Live at the Wireless,” which sent a ripple of excitement through the crowd. Their latest release ‘East End Girls’ was followed by a cover of ‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac mashed up with ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’, which sparked loud crowd singing. Realising the band’s set was coming to an end, eager fans demanded their favourite song be played with shouts of “Tracy!” Their wish was PASH’s command, and the band launched into ‘Tracy’. “One more time!” Gazley yelled before the final chorus as the crowd screamed it back.
READ MORE: Review: Laneway Festival @ Adelaide Showgrounds 14/02/26
The stage filled with white fog, and Aleksiah stepped through it as the first notes of ‘Punch Drunk Love’ rang out. The crowd, already buzzing from excitement, screamed as Adelaide’s pop princess danced across the stage. After playing hits ‘24’ and ‘Batshit’, Aleksiah gestured toward the giant battery powering the entire festival. “I hope you guys are interested in that big-ass battery, because I am!” she laughed. “This next song is actually the first song I ever released! It's about a girl I had a massive crush on.” She paused, then revealed. “Actually, at this uni!” With that, her band played the opening notes of ‘Fern’.
“Do we have any divas in the room?” she later asked. “In my mind, diva is a gender-neutral term.” aleksiah dedicated the next unreleased track, from the upcoming EP, to “all the divas here tonight.” Always amazing at crowd work, the 26-year-old conducted the audience in a singalong for the bridge of ‘Bullshit Baby’, encouraging fans to belt it out. Finishing on a high with ‘Clothes Off’, the crowd threw their hands up as they danced.
Adam Bandt returned briefly to the stage to speak about the festival’s purpose. “Just by being here tonight, you have taken action,” he said, before leading a chant of “No new gas, more Lime Green.”
“Holy shit, we’re in Adelaide!” The Dreggs shouted as they launched into their set. “I don’t know why everyone skips you guys, we’re having so much fun,” lead singer Paddy Macrae laughed. Their whirlwind of a set moved through fan-favourites like ‘We Don’t Talk’, ‘Gold’ and their Like A Version cover of ‘Take On Me’.
“I feel like you guys should be getting paid to sing tonight,” Macrae joked. “You guys ready for a singalong?” Red and white lights swooped over the audience, illuminating raised hands as the crowd sang along to ‘Stay The Night’. “You guys are the first people to hear this since it’s been released,” The Dreggs announced before playing their latest single, ‘Heading Home’. Drawing close to the end of their time, they treated the crowd to the 2017 single ‘Give Myself To You’. Fans were singing loudly along to the indie-folk hit, loving every minute.
The lights dropped to darkness, and a thick wave of fog rolled across the stage. When Louis and Oli of Lime Cordiale finally walked out, the cheers doubled and without hesitation, the band launched into ‘Temper Temper’. The audience clapped in perfect rhythm, their voices rising in the bridge as Louis shouted, “Adelaide! Sing it!” As the final chord rang out, Oli threw a thumbs-up to the crowd. “You feeling good?” he called, teasingly. “All right, let’s keep moving, yeah?” They dove straight into ‘Enough Of The Sweet Talk’, Louis taking a quick swig of water before pushing into ‘Can I Be Your Lover’. “It’s very good to be in Adelaide,” they said between songs. “Thanks for coming to the very first Lime Green Fest!” The audience roared back, thrilled to be a part of something that felt bigger than a typical gig.
With that, the band kicked into ‘Dirt Cheap,’ with Oli comedically playing the cowbell while Louis shook a pair of maracas, grinning at the crowd. Someone in the middle of the crowd was blowing bubbles that floated above waving hands, reflecting the coloured lights onstage. The band rolled straight into ‘No Plans To Make Plans’, where Louis pulled out a kazoo before chucking it to a lucky fan in the front. Oli gestured around the stage. “This is the biggest battery-powered stage in Australia. There’s a battery over there that's powering everything.” One by one, the audience pulled out their phone lights and raised them above their heads. Within seconds, a glowing sea of white was swaying in unison as the band strummed the opening chords to ‘Colin’. After the final note, Louis leaned into the microphone with a smile. “Here’s a little sing-along for you,” he said as they began ‘Waking Up Easy’. The crowd didn’t need any more encouragement, grabbing friends and family as the voices rose from every corner of the Cloisters.
Between songs, Oli explained why the band had chosen Adelaide for the first-ever Lime Green Fest. “There’s a reason we did this in Adelaide. It’s because you get so fucking angry when we skip you!” he joked, laughing along with the crowd as they cheered in agreement. Their triple j Like A Version cover of ‘I Touch Myself’ followed, and the crowd erupted the moment they recognised the opening riff. With perfect, cheeky timing, Louis took the mic during an instrumental break. “Oh, Adelaide, baby, when I think about you, I touch myself,” he teased, earning laughter from the audience. They kept the momentum going with ‘Cold Treatment’ and ‘Robbery’, two of their most beloved tracks. After that, Oli stepped forward again. “One dollar from every ticket goes towards stopping algal bloom in SA,” he explained. He went on to say that the biggest carbon emission of touring comes from transport, so it was great to see fans thinking about the way they got to the festival. "There are so many Adelaide acts today because you guys are the fucking best,” he added, grinning as the crowd roared back. “Thank you so much - we’ve been Lime Cordiale.” The pair waved as they set down their instruments and walked offstage.
Within seconds, chants of “One more song!” rose in unison. The anticipation built as a group from Toxic Surf brought out a papier-mache shark with the words “Our oceans are warming, dead fish are the warning,” raised above their heads. At last, the band stepped back onstage for ‘Inappropriate Behaviour’ and ‘Money’, the final two songs for the night. “You guys ready to boogie one more time?” Oli asked the audience, many of whom were balanced on top of shoulders, with their hands in the air as they sang along. Above rapturous applause, the brothers waved goodnight to the ecstatic crowd. “Don’t do anything Louis would have done,” Oli joked before they left the stage for a final time.
By the time the last bubbles had drifted above the Cloisters, and the happy punters had made their way home, the first ever Lime Green Fest had proven its point: a major music festival can run on renewable energy. With a full day of live music and a lineup packed with local acts, Lime Cordiale set a new standard for what future events can look like. The massive on-site battery powering the entire festival sat proudly beside the stage, a testament to renewables and a clean, green future.
Want more pics of the gig? Check out our full photo gallery here.
