KEITH T. DENNETT | New South | CONTACT
A local party shirt funboy is testing his festival fitness this afternoon, putting his core strength through a gruelling workout at a large public music event.
Standing 20 metres back from the main stage at ‘Half-Baked’, Betoota’s revived arts and culture festival, 23-year-old engineering student Kyle Chambers is fighting the urge to buckle under the weight of a new friend he’s just met in the mosh pit.
Featuring a classic lineup of Australian festival favourites, the festival is the first large scale live music event to be hosted at the Betoota Race Club since the pre-spicy cough Diamantina Country Music Festival way back in February 2020.
Speaking to our reporter through heavy puffs, Mr Chambers admitted to The Advocate that he wasn’t quite prepared to host his festival counterpart for the entire setlist of the Hilltop Hoods.
“Yeah I met this girl two songs in and she asked to jump on my shoulders,” said Mr Chambers.
“I thought it’d only be for one song but she’s really digging in her heels up there, I don’t think she wants to come down until they play Nosebleed Section.”
“Fuck, I could be here for a while!”
After a two year hiatus from being able to attend an event with more than 10 people, it’s understood te vast majority of Betoota’s Triple J fans have decided to roll out their Doc Martens and bucket hats and really ‘cut loose’ at the new event.
With portaloo queues long, a heavy presence of torn denim and the familiar aroma of burning gozleme and recreational substances, the festival appears to be gathering serious momentum as it charges into the evening.
Speaking to our reporter, Mr Chambers admitted he was unsure if his inability to no longer feel his legs was due to carrying a fully grown adult on his shoulders or the fact he’d dropped several pingers earlier in the day.
“Mate, if you’ve got any water I’d love some, I’m really cramping up here!”
“But I think I’ve got a new misso. So that’s a silverlining to the abdomen spasms I’ll be dealing with all week”
