LUSH Festival returns to Clarens over Easter Weekend from 18 to 21 April and this year the festival welcomes a brand-new home. Noah’s Cheese on the farm Node, located just outside of Clarens, is the spacious new location for LUSH.
Life is all about experiences. Savouring beauty. Finding hidden treasures. Creating memories with family and friends. This year’s Lush Festival showcases some of the most amazing experiences imaginable that will leave your soul spellbound.
LUSH festival Director, Damon Forbes, is especially looking forward to this year’s festival. “We are incredibly excited to be moving to Noah’s Cheese farm, a place with rich heritage and our new home where we will start to mould a lot of permanent elements. These structures will ensure that the site functions well for many years to come, where our and your memories continue to grow. Clarens is a really beautiful area and a favoured holiday destination for people from Gauteng and we wanted to help show off this gem of the Free State. We were determined to make sure the festival continued in the best possible way, so we also needed to listen to our audience who loved the area.” He continued, saying “With that in mind, we needed to change certain things and in the end it was inevitable that we had to move farms but stay in the area. This happened primarily because of two key issues: Firstly, we found that as the festival grew we had to move people further away from their cars, which lead to far distances to walk and meant carrying their bags and tents. We now have a different layout where there is enough space to camp with your car and access to the festival is closer for everyone. Secondly, we are on top of a hill now and not in a valley anymore, so this means we have a different soil make up and there will be no clay on the actual site, and that will drastically help with the water and drainage on site. I, together with Danie and his wife Mirikie – the owners of the farm, look forward to hosting you at our new home.”
Noah’s Cheese, nestled in the shadows of Sandstone mountains in Clarens, gives LUSH a beautiful new home and scenic experience. The farm also provides a much bigger space for campers who’ll be able to park their cars next to their tents. The organisers are also building a permanent structure on the grounds with warm shower units for all campers. For those who have camper vans instead of tents, the space is there for you to join. There are tented sites, glam camping and dedicated electric points as different alternatives for individuals to select, making the experiences more varied.
Being a three-day festival, organisers have ensured there’s ample accommodation for festival goers, who can make use of the onsite camping, the town of Clarens which also has self-catering hotels, B&Bs, backpackers, lodges, and guest houses. There are also a variety of guest farms and country inns available in and around, as well as the Clarens Xtreme Ox wagon’s at Linwood, Linwood B&B and offsite camping at Golden Gate Parks board and Bokpoort. The ‘tented hotels’ are also supplied by Under Cover Canvas with each tent equipped with beds, power points for charging phones, private showers, and breakfast. By having these different facilities, festival goers can choose where to stay depending on their specific needs.
The live performance line-up for this year’s LUSH Festival is a stellar one with the initial announcement of Wheatus, Youngr, Kim Churchill, and Juzzie Smith who have been confirmed as the international live acts and the local line-up seeing Spoegwolf, Jeremy Loops, Goodluck, Jo Black, TiMO ODV, PHFAT, Shortstraw, Refentse, Desmond & The Tutus, The World Of Birds, Hellcats, Cockles., Tazers, and Gunshot Blue announced as the first of many to take to the various stages at LUSH.
Wheatus are one of those rock acts with classic anthemic hits that have stood the test of time from their debut album and still ubiquitous single “Teenage Dirtbag” (released in 2000). The single alone has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and come 2020, they’ll release a new and expanded edition of that album. Wheatus’ vast SA fanbase will be excited to see them take over main stage at LUSH this year.
Youngr is an exciting edition to the international line-up. Since breaking through with his self-released debut single ‘Out Of My System’, the multi-talented musician has racked up over 34 million streams on Spotify, 26 million views on Facebook, 4 million views on YouTube, and sold-out tours across Europe and North America. His phenomenal live show has travelled to over 50 festivals including SXSW, Latitude, Ultra Music Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival and The Meadows Music & Arts Festival. Prior to his first release, Youngr had initially begun to make a name for himself with his unique and remarkable one-take live videos and dancefloor friendly bootlegs, with his take on ‘Sweet Disposition’ by Temper Trap going viral and racking up over 15 million views in the first two weeks.
Australian folk, rock, singer-songwriter Kim Churchill joins the LUSH line-up with his much-anticipated live performance that has seen him play at Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz festival and the East Coast Blues and Roots festival. He has had a number of songs like ‘Window to the Sky’ charting on the world renowned Triple J radio station that has built his global profile. Fans can look forward to hearing tracks such as ‘Window To The Sky’ and ‘Second Hand Car’ performed live at LUSH.
For those who love a challenge, there is the usual Trail Run options on site, as well as all the activities set in and around the town including MTB trails that rest against a breath-taking backdrop, guided tours, White Water Rafting, abseiling, and horseback riding along the majestic countryside.
The White Water Rafting at the Clarens rapids on the Ash River, just outside Clarens, is fed by the Trans Caledon Transfer Tunnel, which pumps water from the Katze Dam high up in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho. The crystal clear water flows down the Ash River all the way to the Vaal Dam creating the perfect playground for rafting enthusiasts.
Lush promises to be the festival where memories will be made with a fun escape for locals and international visitors alike. Let’s make memories.