March is finally here and that can only mean thing – music festivals. Don’t be confused, summer may be known as the traditional time of the year for music festivals but autumn has its fair share too, with six festivals taking place in various parts of the country during Victoria’s Labour Day long weekend. In country Victoria the masses had sold out the third annual Golden Plains festival, best known for taking home the Best Festival award at the 2008 FasterLouder Festival Awards. With a loaded line-up, sell-out audience, and ideal location all in place, could the festival lock itself in for a repeat victory?

Of course, the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre which hosts Golden Plains is also home to the Meredith Music Festival, which in December took in a larger crowd and the biggest rainstorm the area had seen in some time. Areas of the amphitheatre and surrounding campgrounds were destroyed, as grass was quickly trodden up turning into mud, and dirt turning into… well mud as well. So between December and March the people behind the two festivals got to work, laying fresh grass and setting out clear paths to the stage. There was still a bit of dirt around, but plenty of thick grass surrounding the stage meant you could grab a spot looking towards the stage (or at least a stilted couch) and take it all in. Kudos to Aunty and the team.

Following the stoppage of a cricket match so the opening band could perform an extra long sound check, the Nolan Family and a few organisers welcomed us to the festival. The first act of the day was Melbourne doo-woppers The Harpoons who declared that they were playing in front of the biggest crowd that they had ever seen. The Harpoons share similarities with fellow Melbournians Little Red in that both acts play a throwback sound that peaked about three decades before any of the band members were even born. Guitarist Jack had the annoying quirk of announcing the band’s name following the conclusion of each song, but the music produced was nice, if not a bit samey.

Deaf Wish tried to shoot fireworks into the crowd with their short/fast/loud noise, but the spacious Supernatural Amphitheatre caused the noise to become more of a fizzle. Nothing against the group who sound tight as ever, but their sound carries much better in a tiny venue then this venue can provide. It’s all incredibly distorted and right at the end all three guitarists place their guitars against the speakers for maximum feedback, while the drummer pushes over part of his kit to remind the audience that they were rocking out hard.

Dan Deacon wanted to do some ‘hippy shit’, but his set of songs from album Spiderman Of The Rings came off more as an aerobics lesson for the ADD generation. After getting the crowd warmed up to the sweet sounds of Salt-n-Pepa and leading us through a very specific 15-to-1 countdown (‘dogs love Fanta, it fucking rules’) before getting straight into Okie Dokie. For those who had seen Deacon during the man’s previous visits of Australia it was more of the same but on a bigger scale – Deacon based himself in the crowd seemingly worried that the audience would break his table and ruin his gear while getting the crowd to run around in circles. Towards the end, Deacon led the crowd to create an enormous human tunnel that ran in two directions while he played Silence Of The Wind Overtakes Me. The crowd seemed pretty split on the performance – either reacting like it was one of the better sets of their lives, or bored of it all pretty quickly.

In Australia for the first time ever were indie-rockers Black Mountain and based on their performance they’ll be returning pretty soon. ‘We’ve been here for ten days and we fucking love it,’ said Stephen McBean playing under a deep blue sky with only a hint of cloud. The set for the most part was instrumental rock and when there were lyrics they were a tad on the repetitive side (Bright Lights). The band was the first big sounding band of the day – heavy guitars with garbled ‘ohhhs’ from Amber Webber made for greatness. If there was one bad thing from Black Mountain it was out of their own control – a poor sound mix detracted slightly from what was easily the best set of Saturday.

Following an extra long changeover (it shouldn’t take sixty minutes to take down/set up gear at a multi-stage festival, let alone a single stage one) came the much loved sounds of Glasgow lads Mogwai. Just as Black Mountain did previously, Mogwai sounded big as the crowd lapped up their post-rock stylings. The band followed a formula – first they’d play the quiet track, then they’d play the loud track, then they’d play another quiet track, then a really long really loud track, and repeat. Volume would grow until the explosion of sound has ripped your spine out of your body, but the next track would sound like a dirge played at a funeral. Perhaps Black Mountain playing right before Mogwai detracted a bit, perhaps quiet/loud mix got a tad boring; perhaps it needed to be pouring down as it was in December for the set to have a huge impact; whatever the problem was it just didn’t see Mogwai at their best.

With a fair few crowd members dressed up and a stage covered in smoke, of Montreal hit the Supernatural Amphitheatre to provide a supernatural set of their own. Everything about this set was tightly choreographed, from the on-stage skits to the outfits the band was wearing. The setlist which contained songs mainly off latest album Skeletal Lamping would have been fine if they didn’t sound so average – a mixture of sound problems and the band’s inability to perform live. Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider saw frontman Kevin Barnes prancing around the stage more like someone seen on Young Talent Time. A tiger fights a ninja during We Can Do It Softcore If You Want, and a jockstrap wearing man gives himself paper cuts during She’s A Rejecter while hardcore fans elbow each in attempt to grab sheets of paper thrown to the crowd. Barnes appeared in a rat suit for closer I’d Engager and the band exited to cheers, not playing an encore. of Montreal may be getting hype for their live performances but they didn’t show it at Golden Plains, which is a shame given how good Skeletal Lamping is.

Soon after You Am I hit the stage and while Tim Rogers admitted that he hated music festivals; this didn’t see the band play anything other than a great show. Playing as a six piece with violin and xylophone players helping out, the Sydney band opened with Damage and fit in a bunch of crowd favourites, from If We Can’t Get It Together to Purple Sneakers to Berlin Chair. While the enthusiasm from the of Montreal fans up front was replaced with head nodders, the crowd took it all in with one throwing a North Melbourne scarf at the stage which Rogers Rex Hunt’d (kissed it, threw it back). You Am I ended up closing with Piano and many headed back to the campgrounds for an evening of slumber, if not a bit of rocking out in the campground to car stereos.

The bands started way too early on Sunday, and a tired Holiday Carmen-Sparks of indie-rock kids Bridezilla wished us good morning at the early time of 1:47 in the afternoon. Complaining that the cold wind made things really hard on her fingers, Holiday and her band performed a mixture of new tracks such as Queen Of Hearts, and EP tracks such as Chainwork. Shame they sounded incredibly dull. Pivot on the other hand was the exact opposite – pulsating rhythms to get those falling asleep up and moving in the early afternoon. Laurence Pike was a tour-de-force behind the drumkit, with a performance so good that he could have got away with playing all day long.

The great thing about music festivals are getting that left-field act that play a set that everyone ends up talking about. At Golden Plains it was Old Crow Medicine Show. The Old Crows had came from Nashville, Tennesse for the festival and made many new fans with their bluegrass sounds that got most people up and tapping their feet. Ketch Secor did most of the talking to crowd, declaring that he was ‘fixin’ to blow’ his harmonica for Down Home Girl. A huge beach ball was hit in front of the stage while I Hear Them All and Alabama High-Test, and the crowd grew larger and louder as they played Tell It To Me and final track Tear It Down. Playing this Thursday in Sydney and Friday in Melbourne, I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a last minute sell-out via positive word of mouth.

The Church played a crystal clear set of quality Australian rock. The four-piece from Canberra took us from day into night playing essentially what were the band’s greatest hits (was there any doubt they’d play anything else?). The Church opened with Tantalized and continued on with top song after top song – Block, You Took, and Reptile all heard during the set. Steve Kilbey was in fine form, mentioning that he was ‘having a fucking disagreement up here’ before throwing a fake punch at Marty Willson-Piper. He mentioned that With You must be a good song ‘because they played it at the Grand Final about three years ago’, and the declared that the band would play a cover version before starting Under The Milky Way. There was nothing bad about this performance, a truly excellent selection from Aunty Meredith.

Following another extra-long changeover, Tony Allen and his five piece band got the funk going under a full moon. ‘I should be giving a round of applause to you,’ said Allen during a set that was affected by more than a few sound issues. For those who wanted a change of pace the Ecoplex Cinema offered an impressive selection of various short films and documentaries. While I Need That Record!, a documentary regarding the death of record stores was scheduled to be playing, viewers were offered TV Carnage instead. TV Carnage was a video mixtape of various pieces from American television, cut up and glued back together for hilarious results and addictive viewing. Highlights included a news story on ‘mosh pit madness’, ice dancing footage to Nivana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit (complete with dancer wearing flannel), a talking Holy Cross giving evidence regarding the murder of Jesus Christ in court, and a rap video from MC Miker G and DJ Sven (YouTube it). Perfect stuff for those who had a few too many and want to chill out.

Of course not everyone wants to sit at a cinema all night, especially when you have someone like Gary Numan about to perform. While some in the crowd dismissed Numan as that guy behind Cars and not much else, little did they know what was coming up next. With the stage black for a few minutes of silence, a blast of thunder and light filled the Supernatural Amphitheatre and we were off to the races. Sounding at least ten times louder than any other act that graced the stage, Numan opened with In A Dark Place in a sea of purple. On stage he looked like a real rock star, slowly pacing around stage while blasting lyrics into his microphone.

Taking a few punters by surprise the set was made up of industrial rock with newer tracks Haunted, The Fall, Pure, and Jagged all getting airtime – more Numan Inch Nails then electro hit parade. That’s not to say that the older tracks didn’t get played but they were given a twist – Metal was filled with booming repetitive drums while Down In The Park turned down the synth to give extra power to guitars. The synth was turned back up for Cars but it was the guitars that dominated the song, while the crowd bounced up and down in royal blue lighting. Informing that the crowd that it was his birthday, Numan and band closed up Are ‘Friends’ Electric ?. With the crowd chanting for another final track, a bemused Numan and band returned to play We Are So Fragile and finish his set. Walking back to the campgrounds the mood seemed to be split down the middle – people were either asking ‘What the hell was that rubbish?’ or declaring the set to be the best they had even seen. This writer takes the latter, considering the set to be the best of all weekend, and one of the most entertaining of all time. Happy Birthday, Gary.

On Monday, many waiting at in the long lines for coffee or a breakfast burrito and reflected on the weekend. The festival still has many great things going for it – a special environment, interesting people, somewhat decent food, and of course the music. But on a purely music standpoint, there just weren’t enough great performances for the festival to be any more than good overall. Problems with act changeovers and sound detracted from the full festival experience, and despite the crowd being made up of mostly friendly people who are there for a weekend of music and fun, the dickhead quota becoming more noticeable. Ultimately, Golden Plains in 2009 was a fun music festival to attend, but whether it’s the best of 2009 is another thing all together.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS FROM GOLDEN PLAINS HERE