Harvest Festival @ City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane (18/11/2012)
Growing up as an indi teen in the 90s I somehow managed to miss out on seeing The Dandy Warhols, Ben Folds Five, Beck and Cake. Lucky for me, the curators of Harvest Festival sought to fix this fearful gap in my live music experience by putting together the most amazing 90s line-up since Livid Festival!
Kicking off with the Dandys at the river stage revellers watched from high on the hill as the storm clouds gathered and the sky split and spilt its contents just in time for the opening tracks ‘Godless’ and ‘We Used To Be Friends’. While it was fun dancing in the rain to ‘Bohemian Like You’, once the rain passed it wasn’t quite so much fun walking around saturated to the under-dacks.
Walking through the gardens to the Windmill Stage, the sun was out again in full force. Silversun Pickups, opening with ‘Skin Graph’ off their latest release Neck of the Woods, played with passion. I was one of the many who packed China Town Mall to see them play Valley Fiesta in 2007, and the band were still showing their appreciation for that incredible gig. With regular bassist Nikki Monninger “down with a bad case of the pregnants”, Sarah Negahdari of The Happy Hollows won over the entire crowd by her infectious excitement and love for the audience. She played the whole set with a beaming smile, and in her vocal solo for ‘Little Lovers’ she looked as if she was about to burst with sheer joy. There was a long haired gent in the crowd near me who actually matched Sarah in the excitement stakes, and when the band finished with ‘Lazy Eye’, he was lucky enough to catch a drumstick, causing enough happy tears to make those around him think it was raining again. In lieu of taking notes at a gig I often record short videos, however this was not even a remote possibility in the Cake set. A few awesome songs into their show, ‘Frank Sinatra’ and ‘Love You Madly, John McRae went on a rant about recording clips saying “you don’t need to own every moment. Just live in it. If you have your face stuck in a gadget, it just becomes an acquisition process.” |
He then split the audience into ‘aggressors’ and ‘escapists’, and engaged some fabulous audience participation for ‘Sick of You’. McRae then continued to demonstrate his love of the vibraslap in ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle’, ‘Stickshifts and Safety Belts, ‘Never There’, ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’ and ‘Going The Distance’. This set was the highlight of the festival for me and I’m glad I spent the gig dancing my arse off instead of ‘acquiring’ footage!
Excited for the next item on the agenda, Ben Folds Five, we looked to the sky and saw great green clouds had blocked the sun once more. The crowd was buzzing with talk of hail stones and flash flooding for 20minutes before an announcement was made that we all must flee for cover. Bone shaking thunder cracked around us, and trees that once provided welcome shade were now acting as lightening rods.
Scattering in all directions, the crowd found shelter wherever they could at such short notice and those that were caught out in the hail found that their plastic ponchos were little help. Without any word on whether the festival would recommence, our party headed home for warm clothes and dry shoes, eagerly scanning social media for an announcement from the organisers. This finally came through and we made our way back to the sodden parklands. |
The familiar cry of “I was never cool in school” welcomed us back to the Windmill Stage for Ben Folds Five. The rain was still persistent but the crowd had returned in force and raised their voices for the new single ‘Draw a Crowd’. However, for the emotional trakc ‘Brick’, all you could hear was the rustle of plastic parkers. The mood was lifted for ‘One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces’ and the crowd pleaser ‘Kate’. Closing out with ‘Do it Anyway’ and ‘Song For The Dumped’, it was a brilliant festival set crammed with old favourites.
Back to the Riverstage for, the funkiest white boy alive, Beck. By this point the timetable was completely out of whack and therefore we missed a good chuck of tracks, however what we did see was incredible. ‘Que Onda Guero’ was trumped by ‘Devils Haircut’, with ‘Loser’ upping the stakes yet again. Looking up the hill from the stage the crowd was writhing with crazy dance moves for ‘Where It’s At’ and anyone who didn’t come back after the storm missed one the best sets of the festival.
Rain forced Santigold to cram her set into 30mins, but her and her dancers coped well with the short slot and the water logged fold back speakers. They charged through the costume changes, eccentric dance moves, two men in a horse outfit and even piled 20 people up on stage for a boogie. It was a fitting end to a crazy day of extreme weather, huge highs and not a low in sight. Kirsty Visman |