What follows is part one of an extensive (tedious??) recount (gloat??) of my experiences at the 'fest. For those of you with itchy feet, here's the three word summary: Best Goddamn Bluesfest Ever! Click on the pic below for an overview of the program. Acts I saw are highlighted in blue.
Day One: Thursday
Despite the fact that the opening acts weren't starting until fiveish, we got up early to play a round of golf at the Lismore Workers Club course. It's a lovely course, and it would have been a good chance to unwind in readiness for five days of peace and love, but I was not at the top of my game. As anyone who plays golf knows, this is a euphemism that means I walked around the course silently spewing white hot frustration, frequently stopping to whack the ball 20m into the next patch of rough.
Still, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and, to paraphrase Brad Pitt, at least no one was throwing my severed penis out of a moving car. After we handed in our clubs we had a pie and a couple of Tooheys Olds at the clubhouse. For some reason, Tooheys really does taste better on tap and in NSW.
After a powernap back at the country club at which we were staying (aka my uncle's boarding school) it was time to hit the road. I was keen to get to the fest by 4:00, since there was to be an unadvertised performance by Ben Kweller in the smallest of the four stages. We took the back roads into Byron to avoid the inevitable traffic jams, and got a park 10 mins walk from the site of the festival. We had arrived.
This is a smaller version of a very big stitched image (click to enlarge, though). If anyone really wants to see the huge version, I'll have to get a Picassa account or something. I haven't had time to photoshop the joins out yet.Ben Kweller (solo)
By the time we'd gotten our wristbands on and scooted over to the APRA stage, BK's set had already started. There were bouncers at the entrance to the tent and a small line had formed. The evil Coke overlords control this stage - entry is permitted to the first 300 people who supply the Coke reps with a (usually fake) email address and mobile number. Apparently registration had finished and the tent had reached capacity. I hung around outside anyway, because the performance was being displayed on a big screen just above the entrance, albeit accompanied by the muffled sounds emerging from within.
Gradually, people started to leave the tent. I jumped into the line, and within minutes was transported into the dark bowels of the Coke marketing machine. As I passed down the metaphorical corporate esophagus, I was greeted by a smiling blond succubus, who offered me a choice: would I prefer a free Coke, or a free Coke Zero? Feeling somehow dirtied, I reached out for the Coke. If I was going to be forced to look refreshed for the cameras (which were recording the performance for a Coke Live 'n' Local show), I opted to do so with the product that didn't taste like liquid cardboard.
In any case, Ben Kweller was worth selling my soul for. He sang a few tunes off his latest album while playing guitar, then switched over to keyboard and did some of his older stuff. I think he had a bit of a cold, but no one seemed to mind. His style of music's really suited to intimate venues like the APRA stage. I'm sure he won over some new converts, proving that good can come of even a Coke marketing excercise.
After his set, Kweller answered a few questions, including one about whether the Bens (superband comprising BK, Ben Folds and Ben Lee) would ever re-form. BK said that that would definitely happen at some stage, although he didn't know exactly when, and that it could involve a whole album and a world tour! Sweet.
The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars
These guys are always a great opening act for any festival. Everybody listening has fun, loses their inhibitions, and walks away ready to listen to more music. High energy stuff, with the bassist playing his guitar over his head for two whole songs, all the while swaying and grinning like a crazy man. Their sound is a mixture of Cuban influences and African beats. A happiness injection.
Ben Kweller
At 7:00, Ben was back with his band on the largest stage. The band worked well, and they tried to throw in a few blues undertones to the performance, but the large crowd weren't really up for some of BK's slower numbers with quirky lyrics. The sound levels weren't quite right, and at times it was hard to hear the vocals. Still, it was a special performance for me because I'm a long time fan, and haven't seen him do his stuff live since the Bens tour years ago.
John Mayer
The only John Mayer stuff I'd heard previously were his radio friendly pop tunes. I was skeptical, but my travelling companions assured me he'd be worth seeing. They were dead right. Mayer is a guitar god, and the crap that makes it onto the radio doesn't do him justice. I saw more awesome guitar solos than I could count over the course of the festival, but John Mayer still sticks out in my mind as a highlight.
Wolfmother
I really didn't know what to expect from a live Wolfmother performance, but hey, if you're at a festival and they're playing, you can't not see them, right? It seemed like everyone in the entire festival shared the same view and was crammed into the Mojo tent. Wolfmother didn't disappoint. I'm a convert, and if you can catch them live, I'd recommend it. For a band that's been touring for - what, about a year? - they put an amazing amount of energy into their show. The lead singer really has an amazing voice, and can bust out a pretty decent solo. They finished on 'The Joker and the Thief', and the crowd just went nuts. A kickarse end to our first day.
3 comments:
You saw Bela Fleck. Damn you. He went from Perth to the eastern states without dropping in at Adelaide. Did he have a person from Tuva doing harmonic singing? Did the sax players play two saxes each? Was there an electric bassoon? Did the drummer play on a crazy guitar shaped drum machine? Did Victor Wooten play Amazing Grace entirely using harmonics, and finish it by playing a suspended chord and then resolving the suspension by re-tuning one of the strings?
Yes to a lot of those questions. All will be revealed as the saga continues later this evening...
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