It’s hard to believe that just three years ago, The Thrills, Veruca Salt and Pete Murray pulled a few thousand punters from Perth and WA’s southwest to a park on the edge of Busselton. Since that first event, Southbound has assumed the role of WA’s second summer festival in scale and to many, it surpasses the Big Day Out as favourite.
But unlike those other summer events, Southbound isn’t just a big concert in a field. It looks, sounds, feels and smells like a festival – like the distant relative of Glastonbury or Reading, linked in to the family tree via East Coast cousins Meredith and Splendour – the difference being that even without the bands there is plenty to keep you occupied and amused.
Early on the Friday, as campers struggled with pegs and struts in the heat, Abbe May and the Rockin’ Pneumonia broke in the base camp big top for its second year. Though the band played to a modest smattering of early drinkers, May’s massive lungs meant you could just about make out her tunes no matter where your tent was pitched. Fellow WA acts New Rules for Boats and Institut Polaire played as the crowds built up but it was Angus & Julia Stone who attracted the first big crowd of the festival, entertaining the boozy masses as tent city finally started to take shape. But as opposed to the more serious business of Saturday’s lineup, the Friday acts seemed to sink into the role of party starters and the likes of Lior, The Waifs and The Beautiful Girls created the ideal soundtrack to a laid-back and casual drink as the sun set.
Woken by that uncomfortable feeling of heat trapped under canvas, the little hand hadn’t even passed 12 before the crowds had filled The Other Stage to salute WA favourites The Panics. Criminally underrated for half a decade now, the polish and shine of new album Cruel Guards has broken the band to a new, deservedly large following and the pre-beer o’clock crowd showed just how much pull they now have. Although frontman Jae Laffer ’s voice floundered slightly during the early songs, their performance came together as the crowd began to respond. Playing tracks mainly from the new record, the appearance of Twin Sisters and My Best Mistake from previous album Sleeps Like a Curse and 2004 single Cash provided some much-needed variety before hit single Don’t Fight it drew the loudest cheer from the packed tent.
Overlapping with The Panics meant The Silents, plying on That Stage, drew a crowd about the same size as any given Saturday night at Amplifier. Nevertheless, they had no trouble filling the ridiculously large stage with their soon-to-be-epic sound. Even during the quieter moments of The Panics’ show, the sounds of Generation Space and Ophelia made their way to the stage next door, while punters leaving The Other Stage walked straight into the jangly guitars and fuzzy breakdowns of Future and Little Girl Lost.
Angus & Julia Stone’s second set of the weekend pulled an even larger crowd than their first, marking their rise and rise with a slot on the festival’s main stage. Playing for just over 40 minutes, their set was essentially A Book Like This – something that didn’t seem to bother much of the crowd. But while plenty of punters were lined up in front of This Stage, lots more were sprawled out under the shadecloth in the huge bar area. And after the Stone kids had finished, the sounds of five hyperactive teens (aka Operator Please ) had no trouble flying across the venue, making it all too tempting to leave the safety of the shade and the convenience of the bar.
But those who ventured over to The Other Stage were rewarded, with the smooth and sweet sounds of Jose Gonzalez. With a set split roughly 50-50 between debut album Veneer and 2007 effort In Our Nature (plus a Massive Attack cover), the Swede attracted that stage’s biggest crowd of the day – thanks presumably to a Sony advertisement.
But the success story of the early afternoon was Brightonian party act The Go! Team, who dragged the previously indifferent crowd into festival mode over the course of their hour-long set. Their two drum kits, banjo, harmonica, samples and whatever else they could stick in their mouths and/or hands helped make them easily the most eclectic act of the festival. Vocalist Ninja did her best to get every last audience member to ignore the sweltering heat and put their hands in the air and chant along and, judging by the reaction to set closer Keys to the City, they’d won plenty of new fans. The only downer was the lingering presence of Built to Spill on That Stage and Neville Staple’s Specials on The Other Stage – perhaps better scheduling could have made things easier or perhaps there was just too much to fit into one day.
Another disappointment was Gotye, who wasted too much of his allotted set time setting up, leaving the crowd restless and impatient. And when the show finally got under way, it wasn’t enough to command the crowd’s attention for long at all.
On the main stage, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club also took their time setting up but, unlike Gotye, the trio made up for lost time with an explosive start to their set. In Took Out a Loan and Weapon of Choice, both from new album Baby 81, bassist Robert Levon Been ricocheted from one side of the stage to another while spitting his lines out over the curious crowds below. To his left, Peter Hayes had ditched the Edward Scissorhands look for a Johnny Cash/James Dean coiffage and looked every bit the part with his cigarette smouldering away while tucked neatly into the headstock of his guitar. Rather than selling the new album, the show pulled together the best tracks from their four albums, including Ain’t No Easy Way, Stop and Spread Your Love. Possibly thanks to their punishing itinerary, maybe due to wearing all black in 40-odd degrees, they appeared slightly weary and lethargic compared to their usual selves – nevertheless, it was definitely up there with the best showings of the day.
Over at That Stage, Augie March played Cold Acre, One Crowded Hour and a major key version of There is No Such Place to a sizeable crowd, while Girl Talk completed yet another nasty three-way clash next door. Inviting a swag of lucky fans up on stage as dancers, Greg Gillis mashed up every daggy track your uncle ever owned and brought the house down – despite playing to a disappointing crowd. And closing with the ridiculous fusion of the Notorious BIG with Elton John’s Tiny Dancer, the loved-up section of the crowd were well-and-truly in gear for the night ahead.
While Muscles made up for his recent cancellation on the Perth leg of the Daft Punk tour on That Stage, Spiderbait showed off their chops on This Stage as the I’m-only-here-for-the-headliners crowd started to stand its ground. They might not have done anything great in the bigger half of a decade and their biggest hit might be a cover but after a few drinks anyone with a heart would be singing along with Calypso and Buy Me a Pony. Respect.
But for a lesson in how to rock the main stage, look no further than Kings of Leon. It’s less than four years since the Followill brothers (and cousin) packed the side stage at the 2004 Big Day Out. And now with three albums, indie’s favourite rednecks have a hard task fitting all their best songs into a headline slot. This meant that tunes from 2003 debut Youth and Young Manhood were relatively rare, with a strong focus on last year’s Because of the Times. But the crowd didn’t seem to care. From its reaction, tracks like opener Fans, Knocked Up and Charmer are bigger hits than Red Morning Light and Molly’s Chambers. And one could be forgiven for mistaking this jangly southern retro band for a stadium rock act, as frontman Caleb sported a new do: short and spiky and unlike anything ever written in the Kings of Leon Style Directory. The biggest cheer of the night, though, was reserved for On Call, yet another sign that the band’s latest album is the one they’ll be remembered for.
With Regurgitator, veterans of the festival circuit and co-headliners of the first Southbound back in ’05, and Midnight Juggernauts on That Stage and The Other Stage respectively, the majority of the crowd kept its place for closing act Groove Armada. While they might not sell as many records as Kings of Leon and they might pull a vastly different crowd, the Southbound tradition of closing with dance and electronic acts on the main stage (Ozomatli, Basement Jaxx) creates the kind of vibe you don’t see at a Big Day Out. Unlike Groove Armada’s greatest hits set in Fremantle back in April, their Southbound set drew mainly from last year’s Soundboy Rock album. And tying it all in together to create a seamless, flowing hour-and-a-bit show, the live band sound merged perfectly with an epic lighting show second only to Daft Punk’s pyramid spectacular. And no, it’s not lame that they played Superstylin’ twice – it was awesome both times.
And now, as the campers scrape the grot out from underneath their fingernails and the Saturday-only punters wonder if hot showers and warm beds really was worth it (the answer is ‘no’), we’ve got just 51 and a half weeks left to start planning for next year’s. Let’s hope every Southbound is this good.
