Day 3 started off sunny and damn hot!! First up today would be the much hyped, part Baltimore, part New York, part Brisbane, 3 piece ,The Death Set. Again, as with day 2, we started with a nice healthy dose of punk rock. But The Death Set can’t be pigeon holed as punk, actually they can’t be pigeon holed as anything. Like most of the music that has been coming out of Baltimore at the moment, they have a sound of their own. The Death Set play a mix of danceable punk, with hip hop interludes between songs and a bit of random beeps and blips thrown in for good measure. To say I was blown away would be an understatement as I couldn’t help but dance, mosh and pull out my random (and quite possibly embarrassing) hip hop moves throughout their tremendous set. The Japanese crowd ate it up and when the singer jumped into the crowd he was just about mauled by their rabid fans.
Jason Mraz didn‘t do much for me. Its not that his songs were bad, because they were actually quite good. He just spoke to the crowd as if they could understand him. Continually trying to get the crowd to participate in stupid exercises, he received nothing but a sea of blank expressions and silence. Mr Mraz this is Japan. They don’t speak English!!Seasick Steve, the man I’ve heard nothing but good things about, played in the, hippy haven, “Field of Heaven.” Steve, could quite possibly be the most quotable man in music at the moment. Everything to him is “all good.” From his guitars worth a total of $125 “it’s all good.” To it raining down on us mid way through his set “it’s all good”. And it was!! Steve sings songs about anything and everything. About his dead dog, or little bugs called “chiggers,” that lay eggs on you and even about a wine called “Thunderbird” that supposedly “tastes like shit for the first half, then fine for the second half”. It seems that what ever pops into his head he can write a great blues song about it. What a guy!!
We unfortunately missed the first few songs of Ben Folds due to the rain, but no matter, the rest of his set was impeccable. As the rain poured he played through a number of Ben Folds Five classics and a bit of his solo work. Also playing a new track off his forthcoming CD (due out in September) called “Hiroshima,” About him falling off stage (in Hiroshima) and continuing to play through his set while bleeding all over his piano. It was a great track and it has made me quite excited about the new album. Closing with his Ben folds Five hit “Underground” brought back memories of High School days and silly falsetto sing-a-longs.
The Go! Team had their fans going bonkers. The fact that they have Japanese people in their band (and the fact it was raining) meant that the Red Marquee was just about overflowing with people trying to get a glimpse. The entire dance floor was covered in about 2 inches of water but that didn’t stop anyone from dancing and grooving to the Go! Team’s unique style of hip hop.
As the rain continued to pour and the ground turned to mud, we conceded it was impossible to walk the 20 minutes to the White Stage to see the Breeders. Feeling beaten by the weather we grabbed a Japanese curry and waited for Brazilian sexed-up, dance rockers, CSS.
CSS played a dazzling set of tracks from their brilliant “Cansei De Ser Sexy” and a few off their newest album (which I‘m still yet to hear). CSS have a great front woman who had the whole crowd glued to her every move. The rest of the band were extremely energetic and the crowd was jumping to there every beat. They really know how to get the crowd into it and with the reception tracks like “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above,” and “”Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” received, you’d hate to be the band to follow CSS on stage.
Last up for the night and for the festival (a tear) were the Mercury Music Prize nominated, Neon Neon. Their electronic/indie tunes turned the crowd into zombie like figures who weren’t quite dancing but weren’t quite swaying either. This is in no way a bad thing. It was actually quite funny to watch!! It all changed though once they welcomed “Their hero” Har Mar Superstar to the stage. The crowd just lost it!! They started wiggling and jiving as Har Mar sung in his astounding falsetto and Neon Neon became more of a dance act than an indie act. They continued to play groovy, up-tempo numbers for the remainder of the set, playing pass the parcel with instruments and letting Har Mar hang around as if he was part of the band. A fantastic set indeed and a great way to end what had been, quite possibly, the best festival I have ever attended.
