 Photo: Kylie Keene Before attending any music festival, Rave consults closely with our in-house meteorologist, and has CSIRO analyse mud samples from the site venue for disease-carrying bacteria. Satisfied with the results, we emerge, blinkingly, from our sun-protected condos (actually located underground – you can’t be too careful) and make our first tentative steps into V Fest 2009.
 Photo: Kylie Keene Dousing the Other Stage in a thick veil of psychedelic rock, young West Australians’ Tame Impala trap the early afternoon in a time warp. While the band’s sound is unashamedly retro, their use of long instrumental interludes brimming with heavy washes of fuzzy reverb hint at genuine authenticity. Half Full Glass Of Wine proves a favourite among the crowd.
It would appear no one told Welsh songstress Duffy that she was going to perform at That Stage during the day in slightly uncomfortable heat, her caked-on make up deteriorating slowly to reduce the glamour she was aiming for. Alas, the supposed new queen of UK soul is a victim of her own vocal prowess, cramming a vibrato quiver or ascending wail into every available space.
 Photo: Kylie Keene Finnish / French duo The Dø are still relative unknowns in this country, but their versatility and infectious enthusiasm win them a lot of new fans at the Other Stage today. Singer Olivia Merilahti is spitting rhymes one minute and singing over jangly folk-pop ballads the next, and an extended version of the melancholy On My Shoulder is a clear highlight.
 Photo: Kylie Keene Guy Garvey is responsible for the best stage presence thus far, cracking jokes with band members and audience alike at That Stage. Elbow’s set is tight and packed with their most anthemic tunes, as pumping fists remain in the air throughout the performance. Mark Potter and Pete Turner are engaging to watch on guitar and bass, responsible for much of the momentum in songs like Grounds For Divorce and Mexican Standoff. Set closer One Day Like This is their greatest triumph, with the extended outro built for a good ol’ singalong.
The inimitable Jenny Lewis struts out on stage with a kind of suitable indie authority over at This Stage. Showing Duffy what a real southern belle sounds like, Lewis belts out her soulful indie country rock with a voice that could launch a fleet of WWII bombers. Taking to her Wurlitzer for several songs, there’s a lot of gorgeous slide guitar, but the choir is missing.
While we continue to wait for that hotly anticipated debut album, The Temper Trap’s immense, ringing indie art rock sounds like it’s preparing for evening slots alongside your Kaiser Chiefs and Killers. Their sound is even more extraordinary spliced with frontman Dougy’s soulful, impassioned vocals – his falsettos would make Marvin Gaye proud! New single Science Of Fear closes a truly storming Virgin Mobile set.
 Photo: Kylie Keene  Photo: Kylie Keene  Photo: Kylie Keene  Photo: Kylie Keene “Tough gig,” remarks Wolf & Cub frontman Joel Byrne to the crowd that barely thickens past one deep from the barrier. Like its namesake, the Virgin Mobile Stage gets little respect, and although shunted into a corner, the blistering double-drum rock act refuses to be the underdogs. Seven Sevens is the set highlight, as is an overzealous punter hopping the barrier to collide with several security personnel.
 Photo: Kylie Keene  Photo: Kylie Keene A small but appreciative crowd assembles at the Other Stage to bask in the glory of Dare, the seminal synth-pop record released in 1981 by The Human League. Booming baritone frontman Phil Oakey joins the glamorous Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall, accompanied by keytair-wielding back-up, including an energetic gent with long-hair, beard and Jefferson Airplane-style headband! The pristine synth melodies are at their loveliest in Darkness, Seconds and the soaring The Things That Dreams Are Made Of, but the biggest cheers are reserved for Love Action, Don’t You Want Me and an encore performance of Oakey’s Giorgio Moroder collaboration Together In Electric Dreams. No earlier underground stuff like Being Boiled is revisited, but we got a perfectly rendered live version of Dare, so who’s bitching?
As the vast majority of punters jostle for a good position to see The Killers, a tiny throng of happy-go-lucky types assemble in front of the Virgin Mobile Stage to see Jackson Jackson. The Austalian band are an intriguing bunch who border on the experimental. Incorporating elements of jazz, blues and hip hop over a pounding electro-clash backbone, the band are completed with backing singers and their Motown-esque dance moves. Harry Angus guides the band through Triple J favourites Eliza and stand-alone dance classic, All Alone.
Their stage is lit up like Vegas and their shtick is breathtakingly cheesy, but you have to hand it to The Killers – they know how to put on a really, really good show when closing This Stage. Sounding polished and expensive, they open with an energetic Spaceman, and run quickly through a series of hits, including Somebody Told Me, Smile Like You Mean It and Human. At one point, Brandon Flowers – who is looking as sexy as hell these days – stops the band mid-song to deliver a monologue on the power of love [no Huey Lewis cover? Dang! – Live Ed]. 20 years from now, The Killers will be playing Caesar’s Palace, and it’s going to be awesome.
In three short years, V Fest has brought a bewildering number of great acts to Australia – as the world economic crisis deepens, there’s no way of knowing whether the dream run of V and other festivals can continue, but for now, as festival-goers file out of Avica Resort into the drizzling rain, everyone is buzzing and contented.
MATT THROWER, ALASDAIR DUNCAN, MITCH ALEXANDER, JACK LANGRIDGE & PAUL RANKIN
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