Bimbadgen Estate, Hunter Valley
Saturday February 24, 2018 :
I tell you, it can get damn hot up in the Hunter. We arrived early for our next A Day On The Green instalment to ensure we threw our rug onto the best patch of grass that we could find, and then baked until the sun set behind the hills. The saving grace was the ‘Almighty Monster’ of a lineup that gave us eight hours of raucous rock.
Melbournites and ‘90s Triple J favourites, The Fauves, opening the big stage reminding me just how much I enjoyed their 1996 Future Spa release, so much so that I pulled the CD out of the rack the day after the show. ‘Self Abuser’ and ‘Dogs Are The Best People’ were great to hear live, and frontman, Andrew Cox, he’s one funny bugger. His mid song commentary had me in stitches – “nice to see the organisers taking a risk and putting the headliners on first” – too good.
Following a short break, a trip to the bar and a couple of salami rolls, the ultimate stoner band, Tumbleweed, saunters onstage with a wave to the crowd and a cheeky grin. Oh how I have missed your thick fuzz guitar riffage. ‘Daddy Longlegs’ was embraced by the punters, and the sweet smell of MJ was to be had while the band powered through ‘Stoned’. Tumbleweed and a spliff are a match made in heaven.
The Lemonheads set can be summed up by the question I put to my partner as this old man walked on stage, “is that Evan Dando? Well fuck me dead.” The fresh faced kid of the ‘90s looks like my old disheveled uncle, half cut after Christmas lunch. You know, disheveled is an appropriate way to describe what was delivered. It felt lazy, ill-prepared and gave very little of the beauty that is within It’s a Shame About Ray and Come On Feel the Lemonheads. The highlight of the set was seeing Bill Gibson (The Eastern Dark) join the band onstage for ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’.
It was left to Veruca Salt to restore my faith in Rock, and they did it in style. ‘Straight’ opened the blistering set with crunching guitars and sweet vocals, followed by ‘Shimmer Like A Girl’. Nina Gordon’s and Louise Post’s twin Gibson SG assault is a beast. American Thighs and Eight Arms to Hold You were albums that I absorbed in the ’90s, and hearing their tracks live 20 years after their release was a revelation. ‘Shutterbug’ and ‘Volcano Girls’ killed it, and when ‘Seether’ was delivered, the crowd wet themselves. Their set was way too short.
The professional festival spruiker, Kram, led Spiderbait to the stage and revved up the crowd, demanding their attention. I have seen Spiderbait many times, in clubs and on the festival stages, and it is hard not to get caught up in their frenzy. ‘Calypso’ and ‘Buy Me A Pony’ are air-punching fodder, ‘Fucken Awesome’ is the best sing-along, and ‘Black Betty’ is always going to be the set closer with the most. But it was the addition of ’99 Luftballons’, sung in German by bassist Janet English that left little doubt that this Spiderbait set was a special one.
Finally the bite of the sun was gone but the heat was still in the air as The Living End arrived, opening with a cut that is nearing 20 years in age, ‘West End Riot’. A couple from Roll On, the title track and ‘Uncle Harry’ followed before they returned to their debut self-titled with ‘All Torn Down’. From four early cuts straight up, the band moved to the future. Hunter Valley had the privilege to be the first audience in Australia to hear ‘Drop The Needle’, a taste of the band’s next album, and if this single track is anything to go by, it’ll be a pearler. ‘Keep On Running’ hit the spot, and ‘White Noise’ is as catchy as all hell. To close out the night, the band dove back to their debut with ‘Second Solution’ and ‘Prisoner of Society’. These guys are a well oiled machine.
The Almighty Monster tour delivered on all fronts, all bar The Lemonheads “dead-zone” in the middle of the day. The tour continues Saturday March 3, Petersons Winery, Armidale NSW, Saturday March 10, Josef Chromy Wines, Launceston TAS; Sunday March 11, Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong VIC; Saturday March 17, Leconfield Wines, McLaren Vale SA.
Reviewer : Catherine Shelvey
Photographer : Kevin Bull
THE LIVING END
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SPIDERBAIT
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VERUCA SALT
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THE LEMONHEADS
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TUMBLEWEED
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THE FAUVES
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