The third edition of Golden Plains took place in the beautiful “supernatural amphitheatre” just outside of the town of Meredith on the weekend, and what a weekend it was.
The two nights of music were filled with some of the most awesome acts in Australia and abroad today.Early on in the festival Melbourne’s Deaf Wish kicked punters into gear with their high octane rock ‘n’ roll before the eclectic line up took those confined to the single stage on all the ups and downs of this vast variety of styles.
Seeing Deaf Wish walk off the stage and electromatic maniac Dan Deacon walk onto, well, the mosh pit where he had set up his desk of electronics ready to instruct the crowd to carry out some tasks that a lesser man would’ve lacked the organisational skills to pull off.
A highlight of the night was the spectacular Canadian quartet Black Mountain, whose latest album ‘In The Future’ found itself on repeat in the car on the way up. Their 16 minute epic ‘Bright Lights’ (taking up nearly half of their set) was a highlight of my weekend.
The original post-rockers, Glasgow’s Mogwai hit the stage shortly after sunset, wowing the ever more intoxicated crowd with their epic guitars, but one couldn’t help but feel it just wasn’t loud enough. A Mogwai show where your ears aren’t bleeding afterwards just doesn’t seem quite right.
Of Montreal changed the pace. As one punter slurred to me shortly before their set “Mogwai are this much *hic* fun,” while holding her hands close together, “but Of Montreal,” she (possibly) said as she stretched her arms out as far as they could reach “are this much fun!” and she was right, they really were that much fun.
Despite their electro-pop seeming way out of place in a night of guitar heavy riffs, you just couldn’t help but be amused by the on stage antics of bizarrely costumed dancers and brightly dressed musicians.
Day two eased punters out of their hangovers with the softly spoken Luluc, followed by a spectacular performance by Dan Kelly and the Ukeladies - complete with a genuine mobile phone solo by the most loveable duo in music (that’d be the Ukeladies) who called each other and feedbacked their phones into the microphone.
John Doe (singer/bassist from X - the American one) and Jim White (former Evangelical preacher) then gave us some good old fashioned bluegrass, gospel and country numbers... “with a hip hop beat”. Their spectacular performance left punters wondering whether White’s bible bashing was in jest or he seriously accused us of being “godless Aussies”. Either way, the two of them put on a great show.
[A sidenote to that - what is with the hip-hop beat coming into alt-country performances? First Steve Earle and now this? Stop it already!]
Pivot teased the crowd with their upbeat electro-rock but Old Crow Medicine Show stole the show (and put us straight back into bluegrass mode) but these Nashvillians were the last respite for those still hurting from the night before.
As My Disco hit the stage, the audience’s minds were destroyed. One of the absolute highlights of the weekend were their incredibly tight and brutal-like-a-sledgehammer set which is likely to be the sole cause of everyone at least halfway up the hill having a ringing ear today.
The rest of the night leapt from a bizarre combination of noisy modern electro and 60s garage rock in Quintron and Miss Pussycat, to afrobeat from Tony Allen (no, NOT Lily Allen’s dad), who really felt out of place in a near headlining spot playing to a crowd who really didn’t “get” it, to The Drones who were so on fire the CFA were on hand if they got any more out of control and of course the headliner Gary Numan.
Now Numan - who deserves a paragraph all to himself - came on shortly after midnight, celebrating his 51st birthday. His neo-industrial sound came across as a watered down version of the bands he so awesomely inspired in the 80s and 90s, but at the same time it was interesting.
He played ‘Cars’, he played ‘Down In The Park’ and he played ‘Are Friends Electric?’ and very few people there knew any more hits, so he could get away with playing his new album and fortunately it’s a good record. But having seen Nine Inch Nails a week earlier, it’s difficult to praise Numan’s show despite his worthiness as a genuine influence on musical history.
Golden Plains as a whole was hugely successful, the weather was welcoming and we look forward to seeing you all again at the Supernatural Amphitheatre in 2010.
