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Lost Paradise 2022 – review and photos

January 5, 2023

Over the New Year period, thousands of people made the pilgrimage to Glenworth Valley for four nights of music, dancing, community and culture over NYE at Lost Paradise festival.

With bushfires and Covid cancelling the past years, a truly remarkable sixth edition of the festival was pulled together by The Paradisian community including the guests, artists, volunteers and staff, the Darkinjung people, suppliers, vendors, medical team, B-alternative, Glenworth Valley staff.

The festival organisers said it was “the most incredible, safe and successful Lost Paradise to date. It simply exceeded all expectations despite also being one of the most stressful, difficult and challenging climates to put on a festival. It was a beautiful thing to see that everyone brought their A-game, and the energy and vibe throughout the four days was nothing short of remarkable.”

With a visible commitment to country and custodians of the land weaved into the very fabric of the festival, people were ready to expand their minds with a vast array of enriching music, workshops, talks, yoga, meditation and dance.

Day One

On the all-new Lost Disco stage powered by DJ Boring, everyone was amped and ready to go with a crazy set by self-proclaimed garden fairy Luen. The Lost Disco became the hub for the bush doof crews of the festival to start and end their days getting down amongst a sea of stunning and in most cases hilarious doof sticks.

Day Two

With the Shambala fields well underway with acrobatics and DJ lessons first up, it was beautiful to see so many ‘enter curious and leave inspired.’ With a full day of music ahead we captured some of our highlights:

Eagle Eye Jones the Sydney 5-piece groove band hit the arcadia stage with a relaxed tempo for people to ease into the sunny day

Dibby Dibby Sound System brought carnival style dirty beats to the dusty Paradise Club on the hill, summoning the naughtiness for a day of play

King Stingray the renowned Aussie band from Northeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. With a sound self-described as “Yolŋu surf rock”, the band performed songs with lyrics in both Yolŋu Matha and English.

Pinkpantheress sauntered onto stage with iconic handbag slung over the shoulder, with a show-stealing hype man the 22 year-old pumped the audience something wild with her sassy vocals.

Arctic Monkeys – Fluidly weaving through songs across their seven albums, the night was brought to a crescendo by the boys in black suits, with songs of old and new – a cult festival favourite saw people ballroom dancing and fist pumping from the front to the back.

Day 3

Campers awoke to the second morning of extreme ‘laughter yoga’ through the trees, sessions that drew a huge crowd every morning led by the enigmatic soul Jeevi the laughing chef.

Folamour – Underground DJ & producer from France, curated an epic live set, combining areas of hip hop, house music, disco and he delivers a positive energy and aura setting people off on a high for the day ahead.

Ben Böhmer – German Electronica’s rising star became a firm favourite for the eager crowds, with beautifully produced pure and deep progressive house euphoria to transcend us into the evening.

Ocean Alley – Verbally extremely happy to be back for another year of paradise treated us to their iconic yet ever-expanding sound, dripping into warbles of warm psychedelia alongside an unabashed and confident classic-rock aesthetic.

Genesis Owusu – Drew a huge crowd for his avant-funk display that beautifully pushed boundaries for a festival set and celebrated freedom of expression in movement and sound. The grooves hit hard and the vibe was truly on for the night.

Lil Nas X – Stealing the show for the day visually with an atmosphere as unearthly and animated as it was intergalactic. Complete with ballet dancers, life size butterfly wings and a golden horse, his verbal communication with the audience drew dancing and faces of utter wonder.

Day 4

On the final day it was time to get Future Disco ready, and spend a final day closing the year with

Big Twisty and the Funk Nasty – The 10 person crew are whipped the crowds into a funk frenzy and freed up minds and bodies alike with jaw dropping, funk infused hip-hop

Spacey Jane – The Freo foursome channelled warm intimate melodies sweet enough to sing along to wrapped up in pointed lyrical moments about the uncomfortable truths of our generation

Jamie XX was joined by Peggy Gou for a much anticipated countdown to NYE, with him dropping into an explosive and dazzling set amongst fireworks. He moved through a perfectly crafted emotional dance journey that had us all reflecting (and kissing) together in one big beautiful sweaty rave.

Furnace and the Fundamentals – The musical chameleons made for an exhilarating and hysterical time including a musical mash-up with 100 inflated men for ‘it’s raining men’ down a whirlwind spiral shooting us straight into 2023 with enough energy to conquer it.