BEFORE a chord was strum, the 17th Gum Ball promised to be the strongest edition since its audacious inception in 2005.
With international headliners like Seattle sound luminaries Mudhoney and Canadian southern rockers The Sheepdogs booked alongside Australian royalty like Something For Kate's Paul Dempsey and The Baby Animals, expectations were high.
But, of course, music festivals aren't played on paper. All the headliners delivered on their promise - in partnership with a stacked under card of quality - and the appreciative Dashville audience delivered the atmosphere in spades.
Long ago the Gum Ball became about more than just music.
It's a cultural event, which brings together families and friends across all demographics in a celebration of performing arts and community.
Even if you never watched a single musical act attentively all weekend there's enough extra curricular activities to keep you entertained.
Older kids mingled at the skate half pipe, while the little ones marvelled at Curious Legends' luminous creatures and the adults socialised at the bar or stretched out any morning dustiness at communal yoga sessions.
By every metric Gum Ball 2023 could be considered a major success.
The three-day festival was curated into three distinct nights - Friday was for the alternative rock-loving Gen X crowd, Saturday served up a party dose of nostalgia and Sunday offered a more reflective evening of singer-songwriting.
While a large portion of the Friday night crowd were there to welcome grunge legends Mudhoney, two emerging Australian bands demanded attention.
Sydney psych-doom architects Turtle Skull shook Dashville into submission with their theatrical and fuzzed-out riffs.
Their sound draws comparisons to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's darkest moments.
Brisbane's Full Flower Moon Band, might have a pretty name but they perform a demonic brand of psych-rock. Led by the charismatic frontwoman Babyshakes Dillon, they produced a sludgy and hypnotic sonic of assault that had Dashville craving more.
In between Newcastle-based tribute act Chris Cornell Concept performed faithful renditions of Soundgarden and Audioslave favourites, but their addition felt out of step with Gum Ball's original music ethos.
The night culminated with grunge originals Mudhoney, who are undoubtedly the most high-profile act to ever perform at Dashville.
For those too young to experience the early '90s grunge explosion - Mudhoney provided a direct link to that iconic time through their visceral punk energy.
Even at 61, frontman Mark Arm's raw vocal could almost strip the bark off Dashville's gum trees as he tore through crowd favourites Touch Me I'm Sick, Suck You Dry and Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More.
The Gum Ball crowd were there to party as two women climbed on stage before diving into the audience as if it was the Big Day Out circa 1993.
The crowd swelled for Saturday and they were treated to one of the finest new voices in Australian music in Shannon Busch, aka indie-soul singer Wilsn.
The Melbourne artist's late afternoon set to support her recently-released debut album Those Days Are Over was a highlight, but there was plenty of competition from noise merchants Party Dozen and garage punk stalwarts The New Christs, led by Radio Birdman's Rob Younger.
By 8pm Dashville was ready to party and Bob "Bongo" Sparkie's Skyhooks Show provided the soundtrack.
Sparkie, who was Skyhooks' original rhythm guitarist, appeared genuinely blown away by the reaction as the crowd in full voice sung back the likes of You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed, Ego (Is Not a Dirty Word) and Horror Movie.
It didn't hurt that rather than replace late singer Graeme "Shirley" Strachan with an impersonator, female singer Laura Davidson brought her own theatrics to the role and imbued the '70s glam rock hits with fresh vigour.
Canada's southern rockers The Sheepdogs might have been relatively unknown to the Gum Ball audience, but the crowd was quickly besotted.
The band looks like the fictional Stillwater from the film Almost Famous and borrow their riffs from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Canned Heat and Thin Lizzy, but it was impossible not to be seduced by their honeyed harmonies, muscular rhythms and flamboyant guitar playing.
However, if night two belonged to anyone it was Suze DeMarchi. At 59 she still commandeers the stage with the same smouldering star power that made Baby Animals the most exciting Australian band of the early '90s.
Baby Animals delivered all their blues-rock hits - One Word, Early Warning and Rush You - and it sounded as vital as 1991.
Anyone expecting a chilled Sunday afternoon session was rocked from their siesta by Newcastle's Ben Leece & The Left Of The Dial.
This was Leece at his very best. Fiery and passionate, he came armed with new single Big Red Black - an explosive call-to-arms for Indigenous rights and the yet-to-be-recorded The Books, about the abuses of the Catholic Church.
Sydney's Flowertruck also endeared themselves to new supporters with their quirky brand of indie pop, which borrows from The Smiths and Talking Heads. The performance was worth it just for bassist-vocalist Charles Rushforth's facial expressions.
Melbourne's Cable Ties were another to leave a lasting impression. Guitarist Jenny McKechnie painted brutal sonic tapestries without a lick in sight, she simply relied on raw power chords as she locked into her rhythm section.
Gum Ball became more reflective as the ethereal Coda Chroma, the delightfully-witty Darren Hanlon and melodic Ainslie Wills all delivered impressive sets.
However, nobody came close the entire weekend to commanding the audience like Paul Dempsey.
Once unfairly-maligned as a dour and distant performer, Dempsey is anything but in 2023. Armed with just an acoustic guitar and his extraordinarily agile voice, he bewitched Dashville with a collection of solo songs, Something For Kate favourites and well-known covers.
The highlight was a beautiful performance of Jeff Buckley's Last Goodbye, where Dempsey somehow captured the original's emotion and drama with just a guitar.
Pre-festival Dashville chief Matt Johnston admitted he hoped fans didn't expect the line-up of 2023 to be repeated every year.
He's right. It's gonna be a mountainous task to top Gum Ball 2023.
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