Relive the weekend: Bobby,Bums and Blondie

Relive the weekend in music: Grimes bleeped, Bobby swaggered, bums raced and Homebake showed off some Blonde Ambition.

Meredith Music Festival: “One-third music, one-third debauchery and one-third ritual.”

Melbourne’s Musical Mecca, Meredith Music Festival, returned for celebration number 22. There was sun, wind, bums but – for the first time in years – not one drop of rain.

DAY ONE
“The ferris wheel began to glow, the coloured lights that criss-cross the amphitheatre flickered to life, and the immense pines that loom over the stage were lit by spotlights. Furries stepped into their suits, and out came the capes, the onesies and the mankinis. Some seemed determined to freak out the more, ahem, affected among the crowd, with LED suits, fright masks and electric jellyfish all making appearances.”

DAY TWO
“And so, to the morning after. If you were lucky, you were woken by the searing sun or the inimitable sound of tent flaps a-flappin’ in the gale-force wind. The less fortunate, though, started their morning with a marquee slamming into their tent. Yes, those of us blessing the heavens for providing clear skies were forced to come to terms with just how shit wind can be. The rest of the day brought collapsed tents, dust, effing dust, and then more dust. Frustrated would-be finger-painters had a field day with the inviting rows of dust-encrusted windshields, but everyone else was merely reddish-brown, bloodshot, and slightly skittish.”

Homebake: Blonde Ambition

After a year off Homebake returned with international headliner Blondie. While Deb and the boys put on a solid performance, our “homegrown” festival felt a little bit deflated without a local to close out the day.

“Pond showed not only what Australia does right, but what makes the rest of the world envious. While Blondie are legends of the New York music scene, many of the bands now emerging from the boroughs no doubt wish they could have a piece of what’s happening here. What Homebake should or shouldn’t be is, of course, up to its organisers. But what originally started 16 years ago on the lawns of Sydney University as a cringe-free celebration of our country’s world-class arts scene now seems lost in its own race for relevance and ticket sales. Going forward, the need for a well-curated and properly “homegrown” vision is paramount.”

Grimes: A night of witch-house and grave-rave

Claire Boucher aka Grimes landed in Melbourne for her first ever Australian performance. Her fans flocked and she impressed.

“The move from bedroom producer to international headliner has been rapid for Boucher: She would have been forgiven for palming off some responsibility for her multi-layered compositions to a backing band, but here she stubbornly takes on much of the keyboards, vocals, and sample triggers herself. What’s more, rather than settling for the not-unimpressive task of bringing her studio compositions to life, Boucher takes great pleasure in stretching, extending, distending and deconstructing her songs, even dancing gleefully throughout.”