Our Sound has had two editions, both at Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli, and a third date is now on the board. Pre-registration for Our Sound: Festival of Bass 2027 is open for Saturday 2 January at Elder Park, with the lineup still to come. The move is the first real change of shape since Groove Events launched the festival in 2024: a new site, a New Year slot, and a banner that widens the brief without dropping the drum and bass core.
The festival came out of a room Groove Events already knew it could fill. Daniel Michael, director of Groove Events and co-owner of Gluttony, booked Pendulum to DJ at the Fantail during Adelaide Fringe in March 2024 and watched two shows sell out on a stage that holds about 1,500. He told CityMag he had expected one night and maybe 1,200 people. A month later Luude’s show with Chase & Status at Hindley Street Music Hall went in hours. The lesson was not subtle. Adelaide would turn up for drum and bass if the booking and the site were serious.
Our Sound was announced in September 2024 for Saturday 7 December at Bonython Park / Tulya Wardli, the first weekend of summer, the old Stereosonic slot. Pendulum returned as an exclusive DJ set from El Hornet. Luude was the other headliner. Under them sat Dada Jones, sammythesinner and V O E, with Amorositie, Bright Eyed, Fiction, Jane Doe, Patch, Seek N Destroy, The Collective, Tinkerb9l and Vilen, and MCs Pab and Pase hosting. Tickets started at $75 through Moshtix. First and second release were gone before the end of October. More than 3,000 people came through a purpose-built, two-stage site put up by the same crew that builds Gluttony.
Michael’s line at the time still reads as the brief. Drum and bass fans in the state had stayed loyal, he said, and the festival was a tribute to “our culture, our music, our vibe and our sound.” He has also traced the instinct back further than Gluttony: rave promoting in the 1990s, and the Enchanted Forest series from about 1998 to 2007, which ran a hard-dance main stage beside a drum and bass stage. Our Sound was that second stage given its own park.
The second year, in the rain
The second edition landed earlier in the calendar. Saturday 22 November 2025, same park, doors from 1pm. Wilkinson headlined with Pendulum back for another DJ set. Danny Byrd, Ed Rush, Flowidus, Godlands, Lee Mvtthews and Rova filled the main stage. The Collective curated stage two: Wattsy and DT3, Fiction, H3idrun, Jane Doe, NeoVision, Patch, Renegade, Seek N Destroy, with Pase, Griff and EssBee on the mic. Presale opened on 3 September, general sale the next morning. VIP added a shaded lounge, upgraded toilets, bottle service and a festival cocktail list. By late October only final release was left.
Michael called the debut magic and the second year a celebration of a community that kept growing. The day itself tested that. InReview’s review, published on 24 November, describes rain, thunder and lightning over a shipping-container main stage, an LED screen by day and a light show after dark, and a second stage dressed like a record store. Godlands opened on house and trap, the only non-drum-and-bass set, and finished to a full crowd. Wilkinson’s “Afterglow” cut through the weather. Ed Rush played relentless neurofunk. Lee Mvtthews were stopped by a storm and came back after about fifteen minutes. Danny Byrd moved from early reggae-leaning material through pop remixes and rave classics. El Hornet closed on three decks and finished on a ballad-like track from Pendulum’s new album, telling the crowd he loved Adelaide.
The review also noted a distorted second stage, no re-entry, and a wheelchair platform with a clear view of the main stage. The official account posted the next day that rain, thunder and lightning had not stopped them. Afterglow, the official afterparty, ran the same night at Lion Arts Factory until 6am.
Elder Park, New Year, no names yet
That is the whole recorded history: two purpose-built park days, international headliners, a local second stage, and a crowd that treated bad weather as part of the contract. There is no 2026 edition. The third date jumps the summer gap and lands on 2 January 2027.
Our Sound ’27 is billed as Festival of Bass and moves from Bonython Park to Elder Park (Park 26), on King William Road beside the river. It runs from 1:30pm across two open-air stages, a full afternoon and evening, lineup to be confirmed. Pre-registration is open now on Ticket Fairy. Nothing on the bill is public. The Collective’s own page already flags January as a date they are on, which fits the pattern of the last two years: locals are not support, they are half the site.
The interesting part is the change of frame. Festival of Bass is a wider name than a drum and bass festival, and Elder Park is a different kind of room from the Tulya Wardli container fort. The first two years proved Adelaide would fill a dedicated bass day if the headliners were real and the local stage was not an afterthought. The third year has to prove the idea still holds when the calendar, the park and the banner all move. Registration being open, with no names attached yet, is the same play Groove Events used in September 2024. The list comes after the crowd has already raised a hand.
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