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Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre - Sat Mar 6 - Mon Mar 8
Sat Mar 6
Voted Australia’s best music festival, the Meredith, Victoria-based Golden Plains welcomes us with (temporarily) sunny weather. Having arrived in the scenic area, we set up camp among the bushland and head to the main festival space.
Looking textbook-nerdy on the Supernat stage, Melbourne’s Crayon Fields entertain the crowd with twee indie-pop. Next, old-school R&B revivalists Clairy Baby Browne & The Banging Rackettes go down a treat at the start, but their energy plateaus afterwards – something the hairy, sweaty Monotonix could never be accused of. Being passed around the standing area, the half-naked Israeli trio play their entire set among fiercely moshing punters, hammering out primal garage rock with the Iggy & The Stooges-like abandon and prompting the security to issue a safety warning.
The crowd visibly grows by the time Londoners The Big Pink rattle the already drizzly atmosphere with their loud shoegaze-pop, culminating with Velvet and Triple J fave Dominos.
The most dance-friendly act today, New York’s Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra keep our feet moving with their funky Afro-Cuban rhythms before the freshly-reformed indie godheads Pavement roll out a triumphant “greatest hits” set, the geek-cool incarnate frontman Stephen Malkmus cranking up ‘90s staples like Stereo and Cut Your Hair to the partying masses.
The rain resumes in earnest as grunge forefathers Dinosaur Jr. seal Saturday with a towering performance. The solid “new stuff” is interspersed by generous doses of “old stuff” – namely You’re Living All Over Me, Without A Sound, Get Me, Feel The Pain and the phased-out Freak Scene, J Mascis regularly going off on epic, fuzz-drenched solos. Both ear-shattering and seminal.
Sun Mar 7
Still feeling a little battered after a massive Saturday, we sit and watch Wooden Shjips (insert your own amusing pronunciation here) from afar. The US four-piece’s swirling psych-rock and echo-soaked guitar leads make for a good Sunday afternoon listening, the stoned take on Neil Young’s Vampire Blues being a standout. A more peaceful, easy feeling follows in the shape of Katalyst and Steve Spacek project Space Invadas, who maintain the laidback vibe with cruisy soul-funk.
You couldn’t imagine a more token sleaze-rock band than Nashville Pussy, yet the Southern-fried combo are seasoned entertainers, pummelling out an incendiary set of greasy originals and covers like Nutbush City Limits and Slade’s anguished Why Why Why. Trailer park pride ahoy!
One of Brooklyn, NY’s hippest collectives, Dirty Projectors are decidedly not a festival band. Dave Longstreth’s yelping vocals and unorthodox guitar style are as intriguing as his complex, oft-bizarre songs, however the sextet would look and sound more comfortable in an indoors venue.
Having deliberately missed the wah-friendly Tame Impala kids, we return for Tucson, Arizona’s Calexico, who duly deliver the finest performance of the festival. Running a gamut between Ennio Morricone-like spaghetti western soundscapes, Tex-Mex and intoxicating Latin shuffle, the alt-country royalty conjure moments of unfathomable aural beauty with Sunken Waltz, the chorus from Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and Love’s poignant Alone Again Or.
Despite Tex Perkins’ trademark showmanship, The Cruel Sea are no match for the earlier sonic grandeur with their earthy funk-rock. Almost immediately after the signature double of Black Stick and The Honeymoon Is Over, the biblical storm arrives and we make a run for the tent; sorry Midnight Juggernauts, Opulent Sound, Gaslamp Killer and Optimo – we’re tired and soaked.
Mon Mar 8
…we get rained on some more, pack and leave. Thanks, Aunty Meredith!
DENIS SEMCHENKO
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