Words: Lara Pacillo // Photos: Jack Fenby
Sharni Honor describes Porch & Recreation as a big warm winter soup.
The two-day festival simmers together music, art, food, wine, DJs and community at the Burnside Ballroom on Friday 12 and Saturday 13 June, presented by Sharni and her team at Porch Records — an Adelaide-based record store and live music project.
“There’s this incredible winter period of festivals that happen all over the country and incredible international music that comes everywhere except Adelaide,” she says.
“We had a pretty cool opportunity with some of these festivals to link up and create a space to tour this music to Adelaide, and do that with our signature Porch flavour.”
Running alongside Vivid Sydney, Melbourne’s Rising, Hobart’s Dark Mofo, Brisbane’s Open Season and Perth’s Arrival, Porch & Recreation’s lineup balances international artists with national and local names while expanding further into visual art for its second year.
Friday leans jazz-heavy, headlined by Chicago spiritual jazz collective Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, alongside Drifting Clouds, The Pro-Teens play MF DOOM and Jack Davies Trio.
Saturday shifts into broader genre territory with Brooklyn-based songwriter Mei Semones, DJ JNETT, Kaiit, Way Dynamic, Godtet, Ella Ion and The Bait Fridge.
On Saturday in particular, the festival’s visual art experience comes into focus, with Capital Waste, The Bait Fridge and Kerri Wright leading projections, live painting, installations and “some weird fruity kind of characters” moving through the crowd. Parwana and Peel St Restaurant will keep bellies full across the weekend.
“For us, we find a lot of creativity in bringing together what we think is really interesting music,” Sharni says.
“This is a combination of music that we love, records that we sell in the shop and just a really interesting program that maybe isn’t happening in some of these other cities.
“Our thing is to amalgamate lots of epic music in one spot, in quite a unique setting, and make something really interesting.”
It’s no coincidence Sharni has made Burnside Ballroom home to as many Porch Records events as she can over the years.
“I just think that place is like a time machine,” she says.
“You roll into what just feels like a bit of a council setup, and as soon as you step inside the double doors, it’s the most breathtaking space I think the city has to offer.
“It’s this art deco 1960s absolute dream, and there are all these secret pockets. There’s this upstairs cocktail lounge, which we’ll turn into a vinyl room where you can sit down with a negroni. There’s an entire mezzanine level, so if you just want to sit and watch the music from above, you can do that. It’s just such an interesting space.”
Across Porch’s 13-year history, Sharni has consistently gravitated towards underutilised spaces and community-driven experiences.
Her independent music projects began in 2013 with Porch Sessions, touring artists through backyards across Adelaide before eventually expanding nationally. In 2019 came Summertown Studio, a hybrid cafe, retail space and live music venue that became home to Porch Records.
“It’s been this beautiful evolution of really interesting experiences in music and maybe places where we’ve felt there’s been gaps locally. That’s been the main drive across our different projects,” she explains.
Sharni says Adelaide has an energy unlike anywhere else she has experienced in the country, which motivates her to keep building events locally.
“We have such a strong connection with each other. I feel like we really show up and support each other across the board and across experiences, across genres,” she says.
“In the last couple of years in particular, there’s been this real uprising of lots of people just doing independent stuff again. Lots of wicked new bands, labels and different events. I just feel like there’s a real buzz in the city at the moment.
“We all share, collaborate and talk to each other, which is such a rare experience in what can sometimes be quite a competitive zone. I just think it’s really unique and special here.”
Sharni hopes people leave Porch & Recreation feeling nourished by the music, the space and the people around them.
“I’d love for music lovers to come to this event, but I’d also love curious people that might not know anything about the lineup to step into this space and find music that they’ll genuinely love,” she says.
“We’re trying to make it really accessible across the board. Lots of different genres and lots of opportunity for people to just have a really genuinely lovely time.”
Porch & Recreation: Friday 12 June – Saturday 13 June // Burnside Ballroom, 401 Greenhill Road, Tusmore 5065
