Meredith Music Festival,Meredith (14/12 -16/12)

Wed 19th Dec, 2007 in Gig Reviews

There were three standout moments of the seventeenth annual Meredith Music Festival. Eddie Current Suppression Ring, Andrew WK and going to the glorious new non-flushing eco friendly, composting toilets.

It is very rare, if ever, that I would commence a review talking about the toilets, but dear god, the addition of one hundred, waterless, odourless, composting toilets to the Nolan farm, was actually deemed the best non-musical moment of my convoy’s Meredith history since discovering Kofta balls three years ago. I’m currently hunting down Aunty M to present her with a gold-plated toilet brush.

Anyhow – enough with the potty talk for now.

Lady Strangelove were the perfect way to kick off Meredith Friday. It was hot, our pergola had collapsed once and I was already mildly burnt. LS proved just what I needed (along with a bevy or two) to get back into the joyous Meredith Mode. These lads are all psyched out guitar and superb harmonic reverb. And rather than falling into the ever growing number of oh-so average Jonestown wanna- be’s in Oz – Lady Strangelove proved they may just become the most talked about thing to come out of Adelaide since the acid- barrel bodies.

I was well and truly Meredith-moded by the time the Galvatrons hit the supernatural amphitheatre at 9pm in a most awesome futuristic manner. They sprinted around the stage, flying v guitars in hand, providing punters with immensely enjoyable, Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure-type moments, and made everyone in the audience secretly smile as they proclaimed “We are the Galvatrons, we are from the future – and you Meredith kids, you turn out all right”! Bless.

Dr. Dog, despite having one of the worst names since the band, Gee that’s a Large Beetle I Wonder if it’s Poisness, actually jangled the amphitheatre beautifully with their harmonies and shins-like melodies. The sky darkened and the mood in the crowd swayed as preparation began for the almighty Eddie Current Suppression Ring.

It is safe to say that everyone standing in the crowd ( well at least the first twenty rows ) for Eddie Current Suppression Ring were itching like maniacs at the prospect of seeing the lads finally graduate to this time-slot on the Meredith music bill. The energy in the crowd was palpable as we all waited nervously and expectantly to see whether this band that we had watched tear apart the smallest rooms in Melbourne could do the same with this crowd of thousands.

Hitting the stage just before midnight, Brendan was all nerves and mania as he prowled around in front of us. As he worked himself up so did the crowd. The people surged as Brendan flung himself into the audience, who obediently moved him around above them whilst he screamed directions into the mic. Eddie Current more than proved themselves and cemented themselves as a standout of the entire festival.

Sweating and exhausted following this set it was well and truly time for bed.

In an odd timeslot Black Lips took to the stage early on the Saturday and proved to be the most disappointing performance of the festival. I heard only amazing things about these guys. But they did not translate well to this stage or time of the day and their music could have been that of one of many garage-ey bands to come out of the states recently. Perhaps they have to be seen in a smaller venue to be appreciated, but I found myself wandering away, despite my best efforts to enjoy them.

Most people at Meredith this year, were pretty darn interested to see what Andrew WK was going to come out with for his solo performance. And, to tell you the -truth – for the first 10 mins of his set, I thought we had been well and truly stooged as he stood at his keyboard, dressed in head to toe white, playing some very self-indulgent keyboard solos. Surely this couldn’t be what THE Andrew WK had brought to Oz? And just like that – as fast as AWK lost his devoted few, he ripped us back by the throat – full throttle. It began with a drum solo on the keyboard and built up to half an hour of pure entertainment. He lept around the stage, preached bout Love and belted out hits including the oh-so awesome Party Hard , to one killer backing track.

As he leapt into the audience we praised him, arms outstretched. He had us eating out of his crazed hands. Arm swaying, monkey dancing, love chanting. If he’d asked us all to make love for world peace to the person next to us – we would of. AWK left me a little crazed and very satisfied.

Although I’m not a huge a fan of Midnight Juggernauts, they kicked off the Saturday evening superbly. The crowd lapped them up and I nearly swallowed my tongue when I saw two fluro-clad youngsters crowd surfing to Shadows.

Then it was time to grab some aluminium -bottled wine and sit at the top of the amphitheatre to watch the sun set the way it only does at Meredith. I glowed with my girlfriends as the Chinese lanterns lit up and the crowd became entangled in some beautiful moments with Gotye.

We were all well bevied as we pushed down the front for the Hoodoo Gurus. Putting the youngsters to shame, Dave Faulkner and his boys had us dancing and air-punching to all the Guru hits. No-one can deny that screaming the words to Miss Freelove, although far from cool, isn’t bloody satisfying.

The night began to get a little sloppier from here on in. I watched jealously as half the crowd donned three D glasses (where the hell did they come from? ) to watch the action on the big screens and enjoyed a very 90’s moment as I reached for the lasers in a new addition to Meredith- The Meredith Light show.

Following a ride on the Meredith Eye during Cut Copy and some unavoidable interactions with carnies, it was the moment that many of us had been waiting for – Beth Ditto and her Gossip hit the amphitheatre.

Beth was in fine form and all mouth. She spent much of the set in true Ditto style doping some gems which included swearing at men for pissing on the seat to berating them for being rapists and most memorably proclaiming her joy at Ike Turners recent death.

Since this moment I have heard mixed reviews on the Gossips set. I had friends further up the back who found the set self indulgent and her ranting endless. I was not one of them. I loved watching her make the audience uncomfortable yet entertained, in a way I haven’t seen a band do before. For me her performance embodied an ethos of pure punk – she pushed us all, but kept me hooked. Despite all of this – her voice was impeccable. She has lungs of steel. And when she threw herself into the audience belting out Standing In the Way of Control for her final number – I was jumping up and down on my esky screaming right back at her.

And from then on, the night turns to a blur. News that Muscles had cancelled (we can only guess he was too busy doing lines with Daft Punk) wasn’t a great disappointed given we were all well and truly ready to run off into the night and have some very Meredith Adventures.