Rifflandia, Victoria's largest arts and culture festival, was nothing short of entertaining and diverse as dozens of acts performed across four days in Rock Bay from Sept. 11-14.
With three stages running simultaneously – the Main Stage, the Dome and Lafflandia – there was constant movement and amusement, with performers ranging from headliners such as NXWorries, Alessia Cara and Public Enemy to comedians to DJs.
Genre-bending was the name of the game, with alternative/indie one moment, trap music another, continuing on to hip-hop, rock, R&B and more.
While a party atmosphere permeated throughout the festival, there were also pockets of calm and relaxation. Shhhlandia, a zone for the sensory sensitive, included bean bag lounge chairs; Chillandria lounge offered a place of respite; and Kidlandria enhanced the festival's family-friendly appeal. In RiffMart, there was the opportunity to shop and even get one's hair done.
On Sunday, the festival's Love-landia event featured live weddings with a marriage commissioner.
The audience contributed to the festival atmosphere, with many taking part in wardrobe theme days; Thursday was Glittery Alien, Friday was Ruffled Cowboy (see best dressed here), Saturday was Businesswear, and Sunday was Layered Creature.
The event was hosted entirely on the Matullia Lands at Rock Bay this year, compared to 2023's festival, which took place over two separate weekends at Royal Athletic Park and Matullia Holdings land, at the corner of Pembroke and Government streets – the site of this year's festival.
Other Rifflandia 2025 highlights included The Victoria Symphony plays Daft Punk, The Funk Hunters feat Chali 2na, Shakey Graves, Macy Gray, Sleater-Kinney, The Dead South, Walk off the Earth and William Prince.
