I had my first taste of the Melbourne Arts Centre’s Supersense festival back in 2015. Almost two years to the date, I had the pleasure of being a part of the ‘festival of ecstatic’ once again.
Supersense is a biennial three-day festival that makes the best use of Melbourne’s multi-faceted arts precinct of any festival I have seen. I’m talking all of our major concert venues, the bowls of the Arts Centre’s underground labyrinth (there is an underground labyrinth!) and multiple stages.
I like to think of it as a multi-day city-based festival akin to the large music festivals of summer. With this in mind, by far the best way to experience the festival is via a festival pass which grants you access to a sizeable number of performance and access across the venues. At $270, you should keep in mind that Supersense needs to be added to your festival budgeting spreadsheet.
The festival is designed to immerse audiences with a smorgasbord of international talent. Immersion is the aim of the game and I was lucky enough to attend a performance by Spirtualized. I had no idea who they were and I tried to keep it that way until my curiosity got the better of me. A quick Google brought up that the three piece band was formed in 1990 and fell under the ‘space rock’ genre…
I left it at that and just decided to let myself be immersed. And immersed we were. As their performance started we weren’t greeted by a three piece outfit but rather a mini symphony orchestra, choir and of course the dynamic three-o. Ecstatic is an understatement as the performances lifted us to higher-highs including a 10 minute ‘drop’ that had the violinists frantic. If you haven’t had the chance to appreciate Spiritualized’s music I’d suggest starting with Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.
If you missed Supersense in 2017 you’ll have to wait until 2019 for the next iteration. It’s definitely worth adding this one to that trusty festival spreadsheet.
– Rukmal
Co-founder of The Plus Ones, Rukmal lives and breathes events.
For more events at the Arts Centre Melbourne head on over to its what’s on page.
