Typical extremely lengthy cobbler music review post
I hope you read and enjoy all this
I caught up with a mate who flew down from Cairns for the festival for breakfast. I had some delicious eggs benedict (is there a more delicious breakfast? I don't think so). Then my mates weren't going until a bit later so I went in with him and his girlfriend and two mates. We got there about 1:25 or so, which was enough time to catch most of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble's set, which was fucking great. The sight of nine black guys playing horns (among them a fucking tuba) was very cool. They played this, which was a great highlight and a damn good way to start off the day (this is the band I was talking about iyup)
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Party Started - YouTube
Then I walked around for a bit. The line to get drink coupons was long as so I went to the one on the other side of the festival, which was not as long. But I didn't feel like waiting that long so I did the old make-it-look-like-I-got-a-text-message-and-then-stay-where-I-was-thus-cutting-in-the-line trick, which worked a treat. Then I discovered each can of premixed spirits was 12 FUCKING DOLLARS but I still handed over my coupons. I was going to hang around for The Walkmen, but I could hear The Family Stone tearing it up so I went back to that stage, and they were awesome. Sounded so good. Everyday People was awesome, as were Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again, Stand and pretty much the whole set.
Then I met up with one of my two mates during the half-hour break between The Family Stone and TV on the Radio. Their set got better as it went on... I think I'll enjoy them much more at their own gig Tuesday. Not to say they were bad in any way. Repetition, a song I don't really love on the album, was great live, and Wolf Like Me was awesome. About five minutes before they took the stage there was the blast from I Was a Lover, but alas, they didn't play it
hoping they will during the week.
There was an hour break till CYHSY, so we got some food. I got two things of hot chips and it was the only thing I ate for the whole day. Drank three JDs too quickly apparently and got a bit bloated. The stage CYHSY were on (and also The Walkmen, Mogwai and the Lips) was in a cow paddock so the ground was soft and muddy and it kind of stank. It was also not really sheltered so the wind was getting a bit cold by this time. Anyway they were pretty good. I only knew or recognised a few songs (only heard the self-titled once). This song was fucking great, and got the very, very indie-looking/dancing crowd jumping.
The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - YouTube
Pure indie pop-rock goodness. Was one of the highlights of the day.
That was their second-last song so we ditched them after that for The National. Man oh man. I know we've all seen them live before, but fuck I can't help but just sing their praises endlessly. They would go very, very close to being the best live band going today, and in fact they probably are. They played a fucking great set too, which went something like
Anyone's Ghost
Mistaken for Strangers (was thrilled, they didn't play it when I saw them in Jan)
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria (seriously, how fucking good is this live? Now a veteran of two National gigs, I'd say it's their Streets. Not in
that way, but in a would-be-fucking-gutted-if-they-didn't-play-it way. Puts the studio version to shame)
Afraid of Everyone
Conversation 16
Sorrow
Apartment Story (pretty sure they played this. could be wrong though)
Abel
England (phenomenal live)
Fake Empire
Mr November
Terrible Love (Matt went into the crowd, my mate got to touch him, jealous)
They are just in top-notch form. I can't think of a single song that doesn't improve out-of-sight live, and that's not an attack on their studio output, they're just that good a live band. And I think that's pretty incredible for band with a deep baritone singer and a lot of slower songs. The only thing that slightly ruined the experience (not the music!!) was the crowd. The dude I was with only knew Bloodbuzz and stood there pretty much motionless the whole time. It was understandable (his gf dragged him along, he really only knew four or five songs for the whole day) but a bit of a bummer. And then there were the drunk dudes next to me who fucked around and talked through the entire set. I hate to come off like our good friend muldy, by all means enjoy the festival, but fuck off to the back if you're gonna wrestle each other or have a full-on conversation during the songs. I put my water bottle on the ground at one stage and one of them grabbed it to throw it somewhere, and when I stopped him and took it back he was indignant. Dickhead. But it was a great set otherwise, Matt was funny (there's an open-range zoo (meaning you can get right up close and personal) very closeby and he said they were "looking forward to getting drunk and touching the rhino's horns... and that's not a euphemism").
They ended, we got some more food, then caught the last song of Mogwai's set. I don't know what it was but had a fair bit of vocals, and was pretty electronic. It was an awesome song.
Portishead... we were positioned a few hundred metres away from the stage so as to get a good spot for the Flaming Lips who were on the other stage afterwards. They didn't impress me greatly... but everyone has been raving about their set so I imagine it probably would have been much better up really close. I was really hoping to hear Machine Gun before we left for the Lips, and thankfully they played it, and it was fucking awesome, and I got heaps of weird looks cos I was jumping around and playing airdrums like an idiot. Then right after that they played Glory Box which was also awesome, I was expecting to miss it, thinking they'd play it last. Then we left for the Lips, and got a spot about 20 or so metres from the stage.
Portishead's set:
Silence
Mysterons
The Rip
Sour Times
Wandering Star
Machine Gun
Glory Box
Chase the Tear (sounded cool but we were walking away)
Cowboys
Threads
Roads
Wayne came out for the soundcheck which was really cool. Seemed like he was in a great mood, he was smiling and laughing as we cheered every time he strummed the acoustic and mumbled lines from Yoshimi. I was feeling pretty sick by this point but it hardly mattered. Unfortunately the organisation for the festival was pretty shit, so Wayne and the organiser had to come out and talk about how to safely get home, and their set was pretty short too.
I was so excited to see them. Judging by all the reports I was in for a hell of a show. And it is truly a unique experience. You all probably know all this but I'm going to say it anyway since it was my first time seeing them. Warped colour video of a naked woman with her vagina resembling a vortex. The band came out through a door in the light wall thing, waving to the crowd, it was like they had just landed from outer space (probably sums up their show pretty well!) then Wayne got in the orb, performed fellatio on the naked woman, and came into the crowd as the band played some hard-rocking intro (or song I didn't know). The dude is such a fucking showman. I was slightly to the right of the stage so I didn't get to touch the ball but it was a delight to watch. Then he went back after a minute or so, got out, grabbed a confetti-launcher and they unleashed into Worm Mountain. Sounded fucking awesome and fuck it's so cool to watch with the confetti going everywhere. They released a shit ton of balloons as well but I didn't get to touch any. They played She Don't Use Jelly, which was heaps of fun, jumping around screaming "vaaaaaaaaaaseline" "maaaaaaaaaaaagazines" and "taaaaaaaaaangerines". Yeah Yeah Yeah Song was an insane amount of fun too, and in between singing Wayne was popping giant confetti-filled balloons with the head of his guitar. They played a slower song I didn't recognise, Drozd played a song using some app on his iphone, awesome... then over the last 10-15 minutes they played Yoshimi and Do You Realise?? The former was great, but I kinda think it suffered from turning it into an ISHFWILF-style slow acoustic ballad singalong. Do You Realise?? was fucking ecstasy. I was nearly crying, I was so happy. All the confetti, the soaring guitar/synths and Wayne's voice, it was all so perfect. I spose a cynic would say all the theatrics take away from the songs, but I think it adds to it. As cori said on fb, "it's a bunch of great, crazy joy, isn't it?"
Great way to finish an awesome day, though I'm very, very happy I'm seeing them Wednesday night because it was such a short set (with no Race for the Prize). Bought a great Lips t-shirt too.
Plenty of people complaining about the organisation. It wasn't great, but it was the inaugural festival, so glitches can be expected. The long queues for food definitely were very bad. A lot of people complained about the long queues for drink coupons and then drinks, and how they missed bands they wanted to see. That's stupidity to me. Are you there to drink or see the music? Fuck.
One more thing... I really do feel sorry for all my stupid mates who won't go see the Flaming Lips. They all would have loved that show, and I try to convince them and they just say "shut up with your gay indie shit".