CHECK OUT ALL THE FESTIVAL ACTION HERE!

Canberra festival go-ers put on their festival attire and welcomed the summer sunshine (finally) at Stonefest 09. Thousands of UC students put pens down for the day and took a much needed break from exam preparation to lap up the warm weather and check out some of the nations hottest bands

A Ticketek blunder meant that the Trivs and Super Best Friends had a less than impressive sized audience. It seems a lack of communication was to blame for Ticketek printing a later opening time than listed on the Stonefest website. However the 53 people in the crowd seemed happy to pull up a patch of grass and turn part of their attention towards the stage. Both bands were determined not to let lack of numbers get them down and with their few loyal fans who turned out early to support them, made the most of the early morning time slots by giving it their all. Each winning competitions for their place on the line up, they certainly showed that they were worthy of their spots on the big stage, hopefully their performances will have earned them a place on the stage for Stonefest 2010.

The fluoro was out in full force by the time local boys Hancock Basement took the stage, proving that festivals again this year will be blinded by the brightly coloured clothing. Many forms of Halloween costumes also made an appearance throughout the day with the best by far being the duo of storm-troopers awkwardly marching around the field. A highly commended has to go to the group of mimes who tried their best to stay in character for all of 10 minutes then became distracted.

All around the field punters were treating the day more as a picnic in the park than a festival. The happy crowd was busy tossing frisbees, lounging in the grass and soaking up the rays. Still quite early in the day, the crowd were pacing themselves, content to ease into party mode. Hancock Basement, popular with the local crowd was successful in drawing a few more people closer to the stage towards the end of their set.

The beautiful sounds of Ashleigh Mannix seemed to give the growing crowd a much needed buzz. By this stage punters had food in their bellies, drinks under their belts and were wiping the sleep from their eyes. Giving them a chance to soak up the atmosphere and the glorious weather Mannix, a Canberran festival staple crooned her folky tunes as the crowd said goodbye to the last strands of winter. The field was a-buzz with chatter as the summer festival feeling set in.

Now a sizeable crowd, the lines for drink and food tickets had gotten longer, however the system seemed to be effective as the line for drinks and food were still non-existent. Little did the punters realise that their food and beverage ticket purchases required a little bit of forethought as the dollar amounts on the tickets wouldn’t necessarily make up the amount needed to purchase the items you wanted. For this reason, throughout the day, patrons found themselves giving tickets with higher dollar values and getting no change in return. A smart move by Festival organisers wanting to capitalise on a couple of extra dollars, or possibly an honest oversight, nonetheless, towards the end of the evening patrons would grow increasingly frustrated with losing out on their hard earned festival cash.

Turning it up a few thousand notches, Jerrico from Melbourne took to the stage, proving they had an incredibly supportive fanbase. Jerrico fans had flown in from Melbourne and Perth and taken an early morning drive down from Sydney to watch them for their allocated 25 minutes. Unfortunately due to a lengthy change-over between sets that 25 minutes was reduced to no more than 15 and Jerrico was asked to cut it short, much to their disappointment and the anger of their fans.

Soon it became very clear exactly what the crowd had been holding out for. Art vs Science hit the stage and immediately everyone was up and dancing. Quite obviously conserving their energy to keep up with these lively lads, the festival went from laid-back to loose within the space of a song. Blasting out what is bound to be this years festival favourites Parlez Vous Francais and Flippers they sent the crowd into a spin as they flew in from all across the field. And while Urthboy managed to restore calm momentarily to the now sun-drenched and alcohol-filled crowd, with the first couple of bars of Sending out the Signal, the crowd once again became frenzied, surging forward for a slice of the Urthboy action.

With the day well under way it was time for a much needed trip to the port-a-loos which was an interesting adventure in itself. Each row of loos had a quadrant of open-air troughs in front of it which was unnerving because while waiting in line you were surrounded by…well dude’s peeing. Towards the end of the evening it got particularly messy with “aim” issues and overflowing. Two thumbs down.

The storm clouds rolled in as boy next door Josh Pyke made his entrance. Hoards of screaming females (and I’m sure there were probably a few males in there as well) welcomed him and his band on stage. And this is where it started to get a little sloppy, the aforementioned frisbees were being thrown sky high and hundreds of condoms (that had been handed out by promo people earlier) had been blown up and were floating around on the breeze.

The rain stayed away for the entire festival but a much needed cool breeze rolled in with the cloud cover. British India, Children Collide and Birds of Tokyo were all met with adoration from the crowd although for some punters by this stage they were beyond the point of no return.

Frenzal Rhomb made a gallant return to the stage, Jay obviously hadn’t washed his hair since the last visit to Canberra and organisers mistakenly gave the Doctor a microphone so he made good use of it filling the majority of their 40 minute set with “witty” banter.

The night began to draw to a close but by no means wind down. With fire-twirlers and fire-breathers filling the void between set changes. The crowd was ravenous for Chris Cheney and his band of merry men. About to embark on a European tour this was going to be the last time Canberra would see the smiling faces of The Living End for a while. Determined to give them a send off they deserved the punters sang along at the top of their lungs impressing The Living End with their volume and vivacity. They pulled out the big guns with White Noise, Second Solution and Prisoner of Society finishing up with an encore performance of West End Riot and all too quickly it was over.

Done and dusted but not defeated the crowd began to peel themselves away from the stage to begin the short trip back to res, the long trip home or to kick on at the official after party at Transit Bar. Organisers could not have prayed for a more perfect day with gorgeous weather, a somewhat controlled crowd and a great kick-off to the festival season.

CHECK OUT ALL THE FESTIVAL ACTION HERE!