Markets and outdoor festivals
Live music for Adelaide markets and outdoor festivals
For a market or an outdoor festival, I bring a folk pop set of 1 to 3 hours, with just my guitar or with guitar and piano.
I play covers spanning the 1950s to now, and my rugs, fairy lights and vines show the whole site where the music is.
For festival programmers, there's also my original show, Into Halves live.
- Outdoor sets for markets and festivals across Greater Adelaide
- Guitar alone, or guitar and piano, for 1 to 3 hours
- Covers across 8 decades, with room for your requests
- Rugs to mark my patch, with fairy lights and vines
- An original show and a press kit for festival programmers
Open-air sets
Music for a crowd on the move
A market set is music for a day out: people browsing the stalls, queuing for coffee, sitting on the grass with lunch.
I bring live music to markets and outdoor festivals from the Adelaide Hills to the suburbs of Greater Adelaide.
Years of busking and gigging shaped my sound, so an open-air crowd on the move is familiar ground.
With a covers list that runs from Nancy Sinatra to Noah Kahan, there's a song for the grandparents at the coffee cart and another for the teenagers by the food trucks.
I tailor each set to the crowd and the feel of the day.
I mix my own songs through the covers, so your market also hears an Adelaide songwriter's own music.
2 set-ups
Guitar alone, or guitar and piano
I play both on my own, and each carries a big, rich sound, so choose by the space and the mood, or let me suggest the one that suits your site.
Guitar alone
Guitar and voice is my most compact set-up, folk pop at its most direct, for a smaller patch of your site.
Guitar and piano
I move between guitar and piano through the set, with my vine-wrapped keyboard at the centre of my space.
The visual set, outdoors
A stage you can spot from the stalls
On an open site, my rugs mark out where the music lives, so people wandering between stalls can see where to stop and listen.
Fairy lights and vines climb my keyboard and mic stand, and I choose an outfit for the day, from a Sunday farmers' market to a festival stage.
This photo is from The Jade on the night Into Halves launched, and the same theatre and character come outside with me.
From my covers list
Songs from the 2000s to now
These run from Wheatus and Kasey Chambers to Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter.
I mix them with older songs from the 1950s on, to suit the ages browsing your stalls.
2000s
- Teenage DirtbagWheatus, 2000
- The CaptainKasey Chambers, 2002
- Seven Nation ArmyThe White Stripes, 2003
- Put Your Records OnCorinne Bailey Rae, 2006
- ValerieAmy Winehouse version, 2007
- SteerMissy Higgins, 2007
- Dog Days Are OverFlorence + the Machine, 2008
2010s
- BudapestGeorge Ezra, 2013
- Mess Is MineVance Joy, 2014
- Love YourselfJustin Bieber, 2015
- PerfectEd Sheeran, 2017
2020s
- As It WasHarry Styles, 2022
- Stick SeasonNoah Kahan, 2022
- Good Luck, Babe!Chappell Roan, 2024
- ManchildSabrina Carpenter, 2025
15 of the 44 songs on Solly's sample covers list
For festival programmers
Quick facts for your programme
The bios, photos and logos to go with these are in my press kit.
- Artist
- Solly Fern, folk pop singer-songwriter from Adelaide
- Covers sets
- 1 to 3 hours, guitar alone or guitar and piano
- Covers span
- Rock 'n' roll, country, pop and classical, from the 1950s to today
- Original music
- Into Halves, a 4-track EP, out now
- EP launch
- The Jade, Adelaide, Sunday 19 July 2026
- Instruments
- Guitar, piano and voice
- Voice
- Elder Conservatorium, Classical Vocal Studies
- Plays across
- The Adelaide Hills and all of Greater Adelaide
From covers to originals
When a festival wants my own songs
As a festival performer in Adelaide, I offer programmers covers sets and my original show, built on my EP, Into Halves.
Its 4 songs sit in the gap between the person I perform as and the person I really am.
At the EP's launch at The Jade, the set held its 4 songs and 6 more that are still unreleased.
They're songs for the unmoored and for children of divorce, about the power of persistence.
Hear the EP and read about the show on the original show page.
Tell me if you'd like a covers set, the original show or both across your festival.
Booking a market set
Your market or festival, step by step
- 1
Send me the details
Your market or festival, the date and the hours, through the form at the foot of this page.
- 2
I reply with my availability
Then I'll suggest a set length between 1 and 3 hours, and guitar alone or guitar and piano.
- 3
Tell me about the site
Where on the site the music sits and who you expect to wander past, so I can choose the set-up that suits it.
- 4
Share your must-play songs
Send any requests ahead of the day, and choose covers, the original show or a mix.
- 5
On the day
I lay out my rugs, wind the fairy lights and vines through the set, and play.
Questions
Questions from market and festival organisers
Do you play at markets and outdoor festivals?
Yes, I play outdoor sets for markets and festivals around Greater Adelaide, Hills included.
Choose guitar alone or guitar and piano, for a set of 1 to 3 hours, with no extra charge for travel anywhere in the Greater Adelaide region.
How long is a market set?
A market set runs anywhere from 1 to 3 hours.
Let me know when your market opens and when it's busiest, and I'll suggest where the music fits best in the day.
Can festivals book your original show?
Yes, festival programmers can book my original show, built on my EP, Into Halves.
The original show page has the songs, the streaming links and the story of the launch.
Where can festival bookers find your press kit?
My press kit holds 2 bios, short and long, with photos and logos to download and every streaming link.
Can I send song requests ahead of the day?
Yes, I welcome requests, so send your must-play songs with your booking.
What should I tell you about the site?
I bring my own PA, unless your site supplies one, and I need a power outlet and a space at least 2.3 metres wide and 1.6 metres deep.
Tell me where the music will sit and whether there's a stage.
A word on the crowd you expect helps me suggest guitar alone or guitar and piano for the space.
Are you insured to play markets and festivals?
Yes, I hold $30 million public liability insurance.
Your market or festival can have the certificate of currency for its stallholder or performer records.
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Market and festival bookings
Send me the day's details
Tell me about your market or festival, and I'll check the date and write back.
Say whether you'd like a covers set, the original show or both, or ask me to suggest the best fit.
It helps to know
- 01The event, the date and the hours
- 02Where on the site the music will sit
- 03Covers, the original show, or both
- 04Any stage or sound equipment on site