4 Nov 2014: Get physical – that’s what the folks at Experience 22 want you to do at the provocatively named Adult Playground. The outdoor festival aims to bring sports and music together, but before you dismiss it as an attempt to bring back nasty secondary school Sports Day memories, hear us out.
First off, this isn’t your average beach party with volleyball and futsal. It’s all about games and activities that are out of the ordinary, such as Bubble football (where players don a rubber orb), bossaball (tennis on an inflatable court), and soaring on ‘jetpacks’ (strap on a water-powered jetpack and take flight). And upping the musical ante of the festival is a line-up of local acts – indie-pop band The Sam Willows, acoustic duo Jack and Rai, and folk-pop singer-songwriter Gentle Bones will be on hand to keep the party going strong.
If you still insist on remaining a couch potato, however, there will be plenty of nibbles you can munch on. Two food trucks – The Travelling C.O.W. and Kerbside Gourmet – will be rolling by, and you can quench your thirst with cocktails from the beach bar. The non-alcoholics can beat the heat with all-natural popsicles and frozen sorbet from Popaganda.
Adult Playground came as a result of Experience 22’s years of know-how in organising smallscaled sporting events, says the company’s general manager, Ellen Goel. But when she realised that attendees would also enjoy spending a full day with their friends ‘trying out unconventional sports’, the idea for the playground was born. ‘They picture themselves drinking beer, tuning in to cool music and having a good time, so we wanted to create a festival that brings together sports and music on a whole new level,’ she says. Go get your beach bum on!
GWEN PEW 