What are the aims of Bondi Blitz, and it’s benefit to young people?

Bondi Blitz is a free music festival that stands apart from other extortionate festivals. For the bands themselves, there’s not really any places musicians under 18 can play to a large audience so we’re giving them a stage, these young and upcoming bands, to actually get on the stage, play in front of a large audience that isn’t just their school assembly. It give all those budding musicians somewhere they can perform in front of hundreds of people and then also the event itself is actually organised and put on by young people. I”m there managing but we’ve got two young people on stage MC’ing, two young stage managers, young people on the merchandising stalls, young people doing all the promotion and social media.

How does the event relate to the ideals or aims of Youth Week, which is finishing up this weekend? 

We run this event every year and it’s always in Youth Week. Waverley Council and Woollahra support Youth Week and there is high demand for having this event in youth week so we get a lot more support from local council.

Can you tell us about some of the artists who will be playing at Bondi Blitz this weekend?

So we’ve got artists coming from all over the country. We’ve got a band coming from Melbourne, Storm the Sky, and coming from Canberra, Brisbane, wider Sydney and a handful of local bands which play down at the beach on smaller gigs throughout the year. And we ran a competition last year, The Battle of the Bands, and the winner got a guaranteed spot on the Blitz stage.

It’s taking place at Dolphin Park on Bondi Beach – how does that venue help to create a unique atmosphere for the event?

It’s a beautiful setting with the beach event and we are the only live music event on Bondi Beach – so it’s a great opportunity for the bands. It’s a daytime event as well (11.30am-5.50pm) and we chose the Sunday because the beach is usually busiest on a Sunday and that would give the bands a large audience. And we also try not to clash with other events taking place around Sydney and that way we get more people coming.

So it’s drug and alcohol free event and all about a relaxed atmosphere? 

We promote that it’s all ages and that goes back to giving young people a space or an environment to listen to live music and party and have fun without the influence of drugs or alcohol being there, giving them an alternative. It’s a great day, there’s no entrance or exit you just rock up in any direction and you can sit on the beach or the grassy knoll or get a bit of a mosh put going on.

Bondi Blitz is taking place on Bondi Beach at 11.30am-5.30pm. Be sure to head there to rock out to some tunes this Sunday arvo.

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SLAM is an Australian festival that takes place on South Cronulla Beach as well as Noosa, Scarborough, St. Kilda and Surfers Paradise. SLAM Festival is committed to nurturing the sport of beach volleyball, from the absolutes rookies just looking to ‘have a go’ to the competitive professionals wanting to pit their skills up against some of the nation’s best. The day also includes an after party where live music and Coronas will run abound.

The 2014 SLAM Festival is split into competitive teams and social teams and involves a round robin competition that determines play off rounds in three division from highest to lowest. Each of these division – Cup, Plate and Bowl – have prize money and sponsor prizes. The top prize is $800 cash, 6 cases of Corona plus more. As well as prizes for first and second place in each of the three divisions across both competitions there is also a $200 cash prize for the winners of the best dressed competition at each beach.

The competitions have a specific set of competition rules and protocols enforced by an official which can be found on the SLAM festival website. They generally follow your basic beach volleyball rules such as switching sides at the half-way point of the game, not being able to touch or go under the net, ensuring the ball is cleanly hit or pops off the hand, no open hand digs on the first contact, one toss per serve attempt, an unlimited number of substitutions per game, assigned positions at the start of the rally, clockwise player rotations upon winning a side-out and continuous play if the ball hits the inflatable line and bounces back into court.

Registrations costs $50 per player, which includes a minimum of three games. Teammates must be 16 years or older to play and teams are able to have 6-8 players in the social comp and 4 players for SLAM competitive. Registration on the day begins at 9am and competition starts at 10am. Simply register via the SLAM Festival website to enter you and your mates for the competition now.

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