West Coast Blues and Roots2010 - Fremantle

Thu 1st Apr, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Toxikon’s Gallery

The most noticeable thing about the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival this year, was the ingenious little red cardboard chairs that dotted the ground, which may have saved the backs of a few mums and dads, (although, a lot of them, being Leeuwin Concert Veterans, remembered to bring their own fancy low deckchair.) What it did unfortunately do is encourage a whole lot more sitting than usual; adding to some congestion issues, and possibly a bit of crowd apathy. Everyone knows a standing crowd is a dancing crowd. Still, it was a pretty clever little idea, and great for the laid-back atmosphere that Blues & Roots inspires. The grass was also a nice change from the festivals of summer, it was actually green and lush; in some places it was left long; lovely for sinking your feet into while you sat back and enjoyed the show.

The layout initially was impressive; stages tucked away at different angles and behind little hills went some way toward reducing inevitable sound-bleed. The stalls were vibrant and interesting, full of awesome clothes printed with Salvador Dali paintings, jewellery shops and the usual hippy market stalls. The food vans, in fantastic Sunset Events tradition, were varied and interesting and mostly healthy alternatives to the usual soggy chips, sloppy burgers and dagwood dogs of death that are often the only festival fare available. As the day wore on, and the punters started to hit the bars in earnest, the thoroughfares between stages started to jam up a little, making the trip between the Big Top Stage and the Park Stage a little tedious. But what can you do? It was a sold out festival after all, so you had to share a space with 20,000 other people. Even the very well considered plan of a walkway between picnickers and standers at the main stage didn’t help much when people couldn’t understand the concept of a walkway.

Irish folk duo The Swell Season, (with band in-tow), were the first memorable act of the day. Glen Hansard was also a member of The Frames, and this connection showed through in some of the lilting, crescendoing violin melodies. They populated their act with a few clever references to local icons in the songs, and confessed to coming to Fremantle to pay respect to Bon Scott every time they come to WA – (they must be ACDC fans, but we won’t hold that against them). They had a great ability to get the crowd involved, with Hansard at one point convincing the crowd to show off their angelic voices in a beautiful, wordless melody. Their sound, to anyone who hasn’t heard them previously, is a little like Mumford & Sons, with similar passionate voices, and folky, heart-grabbing tunes. But of course, they did it first, so you might say Mumford & Sons sound like The Swell Season.

Newton Faulkner took up the big stage, with many an adoring fan, but those of us who were impressed by his Hand Built by Robots tour with Old Man River in September 2008 were sadly disappointed, as most of his new material seems to be decidedly more poppy and dull, we didn’t even waste our time hoping he would get any better, opting to see what else was on offer.

Jon Cleary (& Co) had a good crowd of revellers, lapping up his New Orleans style rhythm and blues. His style bared some similarity to Billy Joel, even down to the jaunty little cap. It was great to see some people getting their groove on up the front and in the isles, but the Theatre Stage unfortunately was just too full of chairs for people to truly show their appreciation for this act.

77 year old John Mayall is renowned for his influence in the Blues arena. He spent Sunday marvelling fans with his ability on the keys, and he also plays a mean harmonica. Unfortunately the set seemed a little flat though, and maybe it was just because of high expectations, but he actually seemed a little overshadowed by his backing keyboardist, who was playing some truly inspired blues organ melodies.

Not-so-much blues or roots, Latin hip-hop spectacular Ozomatli put on a great show, complete with their trademark in-crowd performance antics and gorgeous coordinated dance moves, they really livened up the day, and managed to get a whole lot of people up off those bloody cardboard seats. Special mention goes to the emo kiddie, sitting up against the barrier, looking so far out of his comfort zone, as he scowled and texted away to someone – possibly lamenting that his parents had dragged him along to see some real music. He may not have been having a good time, but he was certainly a source of amusement for us.

74 year old Blues legend Buddy Guy was just dripping with charisma. He plays with such skill and finesse that he puts so many younger guitarists to shame. Guy has mastered the concept of less is more; instead of a constant barrage of noodling on his beautiful caramel Stratocaster, he would wow us with some guitar, then sing us a few lines of the song. Most of the subject matter was women, and it was a little disconcerting that he charmed us so easily, without quite being sleazy; you can tell that he is still very much a ladies’ man, despite his age. He may be the only person who can say the words “looky here” and make it sound suave. He didn’t take himself too seriously; playing the guitar with drumsticks, and at one point even turning it backwards and playing it with his chest, with just a twitch of his shoulders. He managed to play music with just one hand that would trump what some artists spend months trying to perfect with two.

Matisyahu was one of the best acts of the day. The Big Top Stage, as always, is such a great space – the sound is contained and the light show is always beautiful. While it might be a little questionable to fit this exuberant Hasidic Jewish hip-hop/reggae artist into Blues or Roots (although who really knows what ‘roots’ is? perhaps reggae is roots), it was none-the-less one of the highlights of the entire festival. The interesting thing is that while there has never been anything cool about religious pop, there is something about the music of Matisyahu, which while religious, is very also appealing to a wide audience. It may not be the subject matter, so much as the music and delivery. He seems so sure of himself, and so grounded in his faith, that it comes out as unpretentious and nothing at all like the lecture in good behaviour so common in Christian Rock. He seems to be so comfortable and joyous about what he is singing that it actually feels spiritual. He was jumping around the stage like a mad man, spinning around in the air, with ear curls and prayer shawl tassels flying out like helicopter rotors. He inspired some of the weirdest dancing ever seen at a festival; the crowd were absolutely taken with him.

Having anticipated Jeff Beck all day, it was a little disappointing when he finally graced the stage, after a 20 minute delay. If you didn’t know anything about Beck besides his affiliation with Jimmy Page through The Yardbirds, and his reputation as one of the world’s greatest guitarists, you may have been shocked at first sight. He was a bit like a peacock – with silver arm bands, and a sleeveless shirt with white cravat (or it may actually have been a puffy shirt… shudder ). He posed and pranced the whole time, and the music actually seemed secondary to his unintentionally amusing stage-presence. His supporting bassist and sometime singer was amazing, as was his drummer, but they both seemed to be competing with Beck for the limelight, and the result made them a little bit disconnected from the audience. There was a keyboard and synth guy off to the side also, who sang in a few songs with the kind of voice-modulation that Daft Punk is famous for – it really didn’t fit with the music at all. Of course it wasn’t all negative – his gorgeous rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow had at least one mum and dad cuddling and swaying. His performance of A Day in the Life by The Beatles was pretty amazing, and had the crowd intent for the duration; erupting into massive applause at the end. Whilst leaving the tent to see what else was on offer, it became apparent that they might be returning for an encore; but considering they started 20 minutes late, and there was another band on after them, it seemed like bad festival etiquette, and the decision was made not to turn back.

On the way to check out Crowded House, it was hard to ignore the sounds and lights coming out of the Theatre Stage tent; it was begging to be investigated. The previously mellow venue was now sans-chairs, and Tijuana Cartel were busting out some energetic grooves, awesome for a willingly dancing crowd. The combination of synthesizer, Flamenco guitar, steel drums, congos and of course some wonderful cowbell, made for a great party atmosphere: somewhere between fiesta and nightclub. It seemed unfair to only see the end of their set, so these guys go on the list to check out next time ‘round.

Apologies to die-hard Crowded House fans, but the headlining act was not particularly spectacular. This is not surprising really, the band has been described as “a small-talk band” because an inordinate amount of their songs mention the weather. Whether it was a long day of reclining in the sunshine, slugging back the Howling Wolves making everyone tired, or just a different kind of crowd (including families), but people just didn’t seem to be getting into the show. Neil Finn seemed a little awkward, and uttered some words that many of us would have been quite happy to have never heard, “We’re not really Blues or Roots, but we’ve certainly had a lot of roots…” [crickets]. They did make a heroic effort to adapt a tune to make it bluesy, and no one could help a bit of a touching sing-along to Don’t Dream it’s Over.
Perhaps it’s just a matter of something you loved when you were growing up seeming a little cringe-worthy now. Like watching a movie that you adored as a child; losing all the magic that it once had. Rather than desecrate that little place in their hearts reserved for Crowded House, some people chose to head off early.

It really was a lovely day, very clean, as we have come to expect from Sunset Events endeavours, and thankfully the usual festival bogan contingent was absent. It didn’t have the excitement and grand finale of most festivals, but it was supposed to be a family-friendly, peaceful kind of day, and in this, it was a great success.

Toxikon’s Gallery