Yours & Owls began as a Wollongong coffee shop that happened to put on gigs. It grew into a venue, then a booking agency, and has been running its festival since 2014. This year, in a climate that has been brutal for the festival business, it tore up the format.

Saturday was the big outdoor day on Flagstaff Hill, with the Pacific stretching out on one side, whale pod included, and the harbour on the other. Sunday spilled into Wollongong city centre, a little like SXSW but more accessible and community-minded, with stages tucked into alleys, pubs and a Japanese restaurant.

Saturday opened with Cooee, a gentle, grounding way to begin. The project is a collaboration between poet, author and visual artist Kirli Saunders and illustrator, producer and musician Mark Chester Harding. Their warm indie-folk is built around storytelling, with Saunders’ poetry sitting naturally alongside Harding’s understated production.

Brisbane’s Special Features arrived fresh from BIGSOUND, bringing alt-rock that wears its feelings as heavily as its guitars.

Egoism followed with a dreamy, shoegaze-tinged set from the Sydney inner-west trio. Big, singable melodies met deliciously angsty lyrics, with their cat on visuals duty.

Loose Content played indie rock with a Britpop ear and a particular fondness for the loud-quiet-loud dynamic. Dave Rowntree of Blur named them his favourite band at last year’s BIGSOUND, and it’s easy to hear the appeal.

Local favourite Zach Stephenson of Hockey Dad followed with a bright, sunburnt set packed with hooks. It was the kind of straightforward, good-time guitar music that makes perfect sense on a hill overlooking the ocean.

Adelaide’s Any Young Mechanic made the afternoon brighter. Violin, double bass and banjo might suggest a fairly traditional folk set, but what comes out is considerably weirder, bigger and more cinematic. Their debut album, ‘The Modern Shoe Is Ruining the Foot’, only arrived in June, and already feels like a pretty good indication that they’re not interested in staying inside one genre for very long.

Mid Drift followed, a Brisbane five-piece fronted by Sarah Engstrom. Their jangly, sun-soaked indie-pop sits somewhere near Ocean Alley and Lime Cordiale, and it was the perfect soundtrack for the first proper stretch of sunshine.

Then came Horse, my new favourite band. The Newcastle five-piece only appeared in late 2024, but they’ve already developed a sound that feels remarkably assured. Their moody, atmospheric songs pull you in rather than demanding your attention, with the singles ‘Blight’ and ‘Headlights’ sitting alongside their debut EP, ‘Ask Me Again Next Year’. They were one of the acts I was most keen to see, and then, naturally, their set was cut short by lingering lightning.

The festival was postponed and Flagstaff Hill emptied beneath the shelters, everyone packed together like soaking wet sardines. Eventually AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ blasted from the speakers. Ponchos descended into the mud and the day kicked off again.

DMA’S were absolutely the band for that moment. The Sydney Britpop lovers were playing their third Yours & Owls, with their self-titled fifth album rolling out, and a soaking set in the rain is exactly where their enormous singalong anthems belong.

Sex Mask followed with their usual brand of chaos. They’re a volatile, self-contained unit with a feral charisma.

Genesis Owusu made a strong case for the night’s most thrilling act. There is a man who can jump like no one else. The Canberra-based artist’s shows are theatrical punk, pulling from neo-soul, synth-punk and deep funk. He’s also a student of Nina Simone’s idea that artists should reflect their times. We caught him earlier this year on the Redstar Wu tour, and the whole ensemble seems to grow grander every time the stage gets bigger.

Playlunch were the antidote to any remaining seriousness. The seven-piece describe their sound as ‘Bogan Funk’, which is a pretty accurate starting point for their cheeky, Australiana-heavy, horn-powered party music. There were people dancing in the mud and bundles of pool noodles being thrown into the crowd. Sometimes a festival needs pool noodles.

G Flip, the icon and born performer, simply did what they do. There was barely a still moment as they sprinted across the stage, jumped on the drum kit and somehow produced a saxophone from thin air.

Hiatus Kaiyote were led by the singular Nai Palm, whose jazzy, complex and slightly woozy future-soul could make you forget the weather entirely. By this point, it was bucketing down, but nobody was moving from their carefully claimed spots at the barrier. Palm has the kind of presence that makes standing in the rain seem like a reasonable life choice.

PNAU, what a throwback. The Sydney electronic trio have been soundtracking Australian nights out for so long that hearing those enormous, instantly recognisable hooks on Flagstaff Hill felt like being every age at once.

Middle Kids brought their signature big-hearted guitar rock, built around Hannah Joy’s wonderful voice. Their songs have an earnestness that could easily become saccharine in the wrong hands, but Joy sells every word.

Headlining the night was bbno$, the viral Canadian rapper playing his only Australian show of the year. He’s goofy and unpredictable, with an enormous streaming audience and a set that never takes itself too seriously. Described lovingly as “Cocomelon for adults”.

Ball Park Music were the last act I caught for the night. The Australian festival favourites made warm, slightly nostalgic indie-pop full of lyrics that sparkle with hometown familiarity. After a day of mud, rain, lightning and several thousand people refusing to go home, a big old singalong was exactly the right way to finish day one.

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