In the past 12 months even the most enduring festival brands have suffered under the weight of the market realities for large-scale events in Australia. Crowds have considerably shrunk, with ‘festival fatigue’ arguably driven by the fact we’ve often been subjected to sub-par experiences as the events got bigger, but not necessarily better. However, what the recent Música festival in Sydney demonstrated was that demand still exists for a ‘boutique’ experience; essentially, what festivals felt like before they exploded in popularity.

Popping up amongst this in 2011 is Harvest Festival – a tour that’s managed to generate a fair amount of excitement, due mostly to the presence of UK veterans Portishead at the top of the bill, as well as a slew of other classy acts. A pet project of AJ Maddah, the notorious promoter responsible for the somewhat organisationally patchy, but still extraordinarily successful Soundwave tours, he’d partnered with renowned Irish promoter Declan Forde to make Harvest a reality. “We do feel that what we’re setting out to do with Harvest is different from other festivals, and that it will be a success both commercially and in terms of the quality and overall vibe of the events,” Forde told The Music Network earlier this year.

Entering the event via the Church Street end of Parramatta Park on Sunday, it’s quickly evident that Maddah and Forde have indeed made every effort to distinguish Harvest Festival from what we’re used to in Australia. Trees are the backdrop everywhere you look, meaning the venue is perfectly in tune with the titular theme that runs throughout the day, and walking in the first thing you see is ‘HARVEST’ spelt out in giant letters to your left, with other lettering and signposts scattered across the venue mapping out where you are, and where you’re going.

Where to start with all those little details? One of the stalls serving coffee and crepes on the way to the mainstage is staffed with a bunch of friendly lasses dressed up in French-themed costumes, who actually greet you in French – while a five-piece brass band performs on the roof. Varied costumed performers stalk the grounds, happily posing for photos with punters, and the art community is present in too many instances to mention – the organisers had actually put a tender for local artists to be involved on the day. My favourite moment is when several friendly folks walk up and hand me a round polystyrene ball on a paddlepop stick, with an eye painted on it – called an ‘eyescream’ apparently, I was assured it was an “art thing,” and it joins me on my travels for the rest of the day, the source of much silliness and “WTF” looks from other punters (if they aren’t carrying one around themselves).

Walking down the hill, you can see the ‘Great Lawn’ mainstage, and The Family Stone are capably warming things up as the remarkably relaxed and down-to-earth crowd mills around, dancing, sitting and watching, or otherwise chatting amongst themselves. Harvest has definitely attracted the right kind of discerning punter, and putting Family Stone on early in the arvo is programming perfection. They might lack the iconic Sly as frontman, but nonetheless, there’s zero doubt the collection of seasoned performers in front of us have centuries of performing experience between them. The sound is loud and crystal clear, meaning their cries of, “Keep funk alive!” are heard all the way back up the hill.

Strolling past the Great Lawn towards the further reaches of the venue, past the not so big ‘Big Red Tractor Stage’ that hosts the more leftfield electronic acts throughout the day (beginning with Warp signees PVT), it’s a little bit too close to the main stage to avoid sound bleed (pretty much the sole production gripe for the day). Another few minutes walk and you arrive at the secondary ‘Windmill’ mainstage, flanked by an actual windmill of course, and it’s time for Buffalo alt-rockers Mercury Rev. Again, a superb slice of programming, their blissful dream-like pop goes down a treat, with everyone again allowed the luxury of either throwing themselves into it, or otherwise relaxing on the grass.

They’ll only hold my attention for half their set though, as TV On The Radio are starting back at the Great Lawn. The band has overcome some heavy trials recently, losing bassist Gerard Smith to lung cancer around the release of their fifth album Nine Types of Light; but with how much gusto they throw into their performance, you wouldn’t know it. Over their last two superb albums we’ve seen them gradually bring a more polished, melodic musicality to their music, but their performance today more closely echoes the beautiful chaos I’ve associated with their earlier work. Unfortunately, this doesn’t blend so well with the sound bleed trickling in from the nearby Red Tractor stage – throwing in another off-key element just makes things too chaotic, but as mentioned, it’s the sole production gripe for the day.