Laidback Southbound defies festival blues Southbound Music Festival 2014 - Band "Chet Faker" on stage. Picture: www.ThomasRoyPhotography.com Source: Supplied THOUSANDS of music lovers have proved that, while other festivals around the country might be struggling, Southbound has a special place in the hearts of West Australians. The happy campers turned the two-day Busselton event into a giant singalong birthday party, as the event celebrated its 10th anniversary with a stellar line up of acts. The Cat Empire, US indie rock band Vampire Weekend, Australian electro duo Flight Facilities and Beyonce's singer-songwriter sister Solange were among performers for the celebration, which kicked off yesterday. Sunset Events managing director and promoter David Chitty was ecstatic that numbers - about 12,500 each day - were up on last year's event amid all the negative talk of a crisis in the Australian music festival scene. Mr Chitty said laidback Southbound, which was launched on "a hunch" during the team's "younger and greener days," had grown leaps and bounds as they learnt more about what makes a great event. "It's an awesome feeling because when we started we didn't really know what would happen," he said. He said the 10th birthday bill was on par with previous strong line-ups at the festival, which has featured acts such as The Flaming Lips, The Hives, Dandy Warhols, Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand and The Temper Trap. Thousands of music lovers have headed to Busselton for the Southbound Music Festival 2014. "We love the line-up," Mr Chitty said. We didn't want to go too over the top, we just wanted to put on a really good show for the artists and fans. He said the team would continue to work hard on the festival in the future. "We believe in what it does for WA music culture," he said. Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and WA band Pond are on stage before Brooklyn-based psychedelic rockers MGMT close the event. Police said there had been around 40 drug detections and 25 summonses issued for drug offences last night. A spokesperson for St John Ambulance said two people had been treated for drug-related reasons. By lunchtime today 76 people needed help, mainly headaches and dehydration. Festival promoters said they were happy with the behaviour.