VIDEO, GALLERY: Dan Sultan rocks in royal tribute to Prince

Mere hours after the legendary Prince was announced dead aged 57, Dan Sultan played a soaring rendition of Purple Rain for the soaked crowd to close his headlining set on evening one. Sultan had performed the ‘80s classic before, but never with such poignancy.

Sultan’s delivery of the chorus and the closing three-minute guitar solo cut through. The man is a genuine rock star with the custom leather jacket to boot.

However, there was more to Gum Ball than Sultan. Sold out before the weekend for the first time, it was a triumph for organisers and the crowd of 2500. With 30 acts on the three-day bill, it was great value for the punters who snapped up the $190 early bird or $215 regular tickets.

Gum Ball also continues to grow as a family affair. There were literally hundreds of children of all ages playing in the ship sand pit, on the skate half pipe or doing arts and craft. Each gaining a greater musical education than they ever could from One Direction.

Night one served up the stronger line-up, headed by Sydney blues-rock two-piece Polish Club. Think vocally a cross between Little Richard and Otis Redding, backed by throbbing drums and guitar. The concoction attracted an excited throng of dancers.

At the other end of the rock’n’roll spectrum, five-piece The Belligerents delivered a psychedelic haze in the rain. Flamboyant frontman Lewis Stephenson wore the highest pants seen on a rock stage in years, but he had the tunes to pull it off.

Organiser Matt Johnston has obviously developed a love of horn sections because Sex On Toast and Cactus Channel were the first of many saxophone and trumpet-driven groups over the weekend. Not all delivered.

Saturday kicked off with Newcastle funk band Dr Peach, who performed Love Letter by Clairy Browne and the Bangin Rackettes, who four years earlier had rocked that very same stage.

Other notable performances included a slice of female angst from American Kristin Hersh, a more sedate set from Jeff Lang and a typically fun Dashville Progress Society. Dashville focused on a more funky repertoire than usual, highlighted by Grandmaster Flash’s The Message and David Bowie’s Thin White Duke tune, Young Americans.

Some of the more humourous moments of the day came from Grand Junction Hotel publican, Ben Quinn. The laconic emcee gave colourful descriptions of the acts throughout the day, but a favourite was his introduction for folk-electronic musician Caitlin Park. Quinn said her sound was, “Imagine Kraftwerk with Joan Baez doing the stacks on while somebody punches a goat in the face.” Personally, I couldn’t hear the goat, but Park showed plenty of songwriting talent, despite a sore throat.

When the sun went down the magic really began at Dashville. Punters could finally enjoy a starry country sky and the tunes from the warm confines of the various bonfires scattered around the stages.

Van Walker’s Heartbrokers gave the surrounding gum tree forest a shake with their slab of pub rock. Jeff Lang returned as well to provide his fret-board magic.

The full moon starry atmosphere then took a ghostly turn when Bellbird’s William Crighton stepped up for a raucous set of dark country rock. With a voice that blended the Australiana of John WIlliamson and broodiness of Johnny Cash, Crighton was transfixing.

Throughout the set artist Indeah Clark painted a moon mural onstage. Then like some pagan ritual the painting was held aloft and marched through the crowd and thrown into a bonfire. Burn baby burn.

Many punters had turned in early by the time headliners You Am I graced the stage. Ever the showman, You Am I frontman Tim Rogers wore a Mexican poncho and a moustache. Rogers, noting the large portion of children in the crowd, uncharacteristically kept his stage banter relatively PG.

The festival set was heavy on hits. Purple Sneakers, Soldiers, Rumble and Jewels and Bullets were all dusted off. You Am I finally gave into the incessant calls for Berlin Chair, by ending with their seminal track. “This is a great little festival you’ve got going here, we’d love to play longer, but there’s curfews and all that,” Rogers said.

It’s fair to say almost everyone else at Gum Ball was in agreement with Rogers about this great little festival.