Adelaide’s electronic festival Sidebyside is back, now at Fringe time, with their venue Sanctuary keeping the party vibes going all season.

Adelaide event production company Pivot is collaborating with Mapped Studio to return Sidebyside for Adelaide Fringe.

Sidebyside co-founders Oscar Harding, Elliott Jamie and Henry Jarman sat down with CityMag to talk about their fourth iteration of the festival. The three have been involved in Adelaide’s music scene for a decade, building connections with artists around the world.

Oscar says the name itself sums up what they’d like the event to be: a place to stand side-by-side with your mates listening to great music.

After their shows in November 2019 and 2022, Adelaide Fringe reached out to Sidebyside about the possibility of hosting the event as part of the arts festival in February and March.

Sidebyside is ensuring their festival will be a safe one by working with CityMag’s resident sexologist Jamie Bucirde and her business On the Cusp, to provide workshops to their management teams and staff on preventing sexual harassment and approaching potential social issues that could arise in the event space.

They’ll also have a series of posters on display around the event to raise social messaging and allow patrons the opportunity to submit testimonies about their party-going experience.

“We’ve always had a really strong social policy and push that ethos through the fabric of the brand,” Henry says.

“Whilst we believe that we do push a strong ethos, and have a great community representation, this stuff does exist and so we want to just make sure that we’re doing everything we can to provide a safe environment for people to share.”

The Sidebyside team is all about safety and good vibes. Picture: Jack Turner

For three weekends, Sanctuary will be held along the River Torrens in Helen Mayo Park, with the Sidebyside festival opening its Fringe season.

Featuring two stages and kicking off at noon, the event will showcase a diverse mix of nature and underground music culture.

“I find the human connection of the day party pretty unsurpassable,” Elliott says.

“It allows artists to play music that they might not normally express in a late-night setting. At two o’clock in the afternoon, the feeling of a place is very different to the way that it feels at two o’clock in the morning, and the way that plays out in a dancefloor environment can be very special.”

Sidebyside will feature international artists including Dutch DJ Tom Trago, Germany’s Bashkka, and the UK’s Zedbias.

Aussies on the bill include Andy Garvey, Sophie McAlister, Thilini and Tornado Wallace.

Adelaide-born Alley O will return to Sidebyside after performing under her alias Eluize. Alley spent three years working and living in Sydney before calling Berlin her home for nearly a decade.

Dayparty vibes are all love at Sidebyside. This picture: Chi Catalano

 

During her time in Europe, she engaged in music performances across the continent as both Eluize and Alley O. While Eluize explores acid house and techno in her performances, Alley O’s musical style is “euphoric” and “joyful”.

Alley fell in love with nightclubs and the electronic scene by going out and even had a stint as a door girl at Electric Circus for some time.

Alley O says festivals such as Sidebyside provide valuable opportunities for local artists to showcase their talent and gain visibility among city-goers in Adelaide.

“The guys [Oscar, Elliott and Henry] put so much love and attention to the details,” she says.

“The sound’s great. Aesthetically, it’s beautiful. They put a lot of attention into the lights and the stage production and the stage builds and everything.

“All the people that went were just really, really nice community space. I really liked it.”

Sidebyside’s platform for performances, sharing, and enjoyment contributes to the enrichment of Adelaide’s culture and community.

“You might have an experience where you discover some music that changes your life in the same way that this music has changed our lives,” Elliott says.

Sidebyside will be on from the 24th of February starting at 12PM. It will open Sanctuary, a Fringe venue that will have music and DJ sets each weekend, running until March 16. Tickets are available on the Fringe website.