Armidale Big Chill Festival features Birds of Tokyo, Lisa Hunt, Dragon at sportsground

The Armidale event, featuring a program of world-class entertainment, brought a large crowd to Armidale Sportsground, where the oval was littered with a variety of food and boutique alcohol vendors.

More than 2000 people had passed through the gates on Saturday, and mayor Sam Coupland said the event would be back next year.

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The first Big Chill Festival was held in 2021 with bushfire recovery funding, and it was locked in for three years, making this year the final event supported by the government.

But Cr Coupland said the council was already looking at holding it again in 2024.

And he said the sportsground had proved to be an ideal venue, saying it was going to become the home of festivals in Armidale.

While there were visitors in town for the festival, Cr Coupland said the majority of the crowd was from the local area.

"That's what The Big Chill was initially designed for. The funding we received three years ago was to let communities build themselves back up and give them something to look forward to."

While it was the last year with government funding, he said the council would roll the dice by holding it again in 2024, saying the festival was now a proven success.

"It's been absolutely fantastic. It's in its third year but it's going to continue," he said.

On stage the music started early Saturday afternoon with The Tambourine Girls opening the festival, followed by Zac & George and country singer Tori Darke.

As the sun was setting, the crowd was enjoying a set of soul classics from Lisa Hunt.

The New York-born entertainer was a popular performer when The Big Chill was last held in 2022.

When it came to the food, Uralla's Pie Mechanic's were selling their newest food invention, named after a Uralla local with a passion for smoking meat.

New England mobile caterers Smo-KING Barbecue proved so popular they had sold out by 7pm.

"I think we did 1000 serves," Sigourney Keyte said.

Their food was all gone before Birds of Tokyo had even made it to the stage at 7.30pm.

The band's set wrapped up the first day of the festival.

It continued on Sunday with another legendary Australian band - Dragon - topping the bill and the band spoke to the Express backstage on Sunday morning.

Lead singer Mark Williams reflected on the last time they came to Armidale, which was for A Day on the Green at Petersons Winery in 2012.

This time he noted that the weather was colder.

"But it's called The Big Chill Festival, not the big warm festival," he said.

By the time they hit the stage, young music fans Tess Maurice, Ami Frost and Grace Boughton were front of the mosh pit, but we're excited by more than just than music, having managed to receive the drum sticks used by Birds of Tokyo and Des Cortez during their sets.

"We met one of the sound guys last night and he said he'd get them for us, then we met one of the bands," Grace said.

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