Parklife Festival @Riverstage, Brisbane(25/09/2010)

Mon 27th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Check out the Parklife gallery here

In one of those walks through Brisbane city and down to the Brisbane Riverstage, an inordinate amount of shirtless dudes, denim cutoffs with bikini top clad neon orange girls and some seriously early party people signified Parklife – originally slated for a Gold Coast location – was well underway, despite momentarily torrential downpours. Festival access is surprisingly swift, but unfortunately some early highlights by John Steel Singers, Last Dinosaurs, Gypsy & The Cat and Pam Pam Pam! are missed.

Washington accrues one of the largest crowds for the early afternoon, capably bashing out her slow-dance indie numbers on the Nord. The vocals are low and the mix in general is foggy, no doubt due to the wet weather contingency garbage bags covering lights and speakers. Her cover of The Divinyls’ I Touch Myself is by far the set’s standout, testament that even this popular indie darling’s material can’t always be a crowd pleaser.

England’s overnight success story The Wombats take to the Kakadu Stage armed with a predictable but infectious arsenal of danceable indie. After what threatened to be a washout, the sun finally emerges and spirits are high. Spurred on by tunes like Kill The Director, Moving To New York, their latest Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) and of course Let’s Dance To Joy Division, punters that have forgone the main stage are quickly turning dampness from the recently ceased rain to a sweaty lather.

A walk-by slice of Dan Black (who’s apparent genre is ‘Wonky Pop’!?) reveals three men playing over what sounds like a sample of Rihanna’s Umbrella. I don’t stick around long enough to know for sure, but upon arrival at the Cave Stage and hearing the less than amazing sounds of Memory Tapes, I wonder if a longer listen would have been the better option.

Smooth wheel-spinning producer/dj duo Classixx are a welcome touch of class. Formally known as Young Americans the American lads bang out a set of soul soaked retro disco with a paradoxically modern flavour and I find myself mentally organising a party and booking these guys to play it. The one downfall to this seriously cool sound is the sudden influx of shirtless Dianabol abusers. Meh, close your eyes and focus on the cool.

The journey to getting there is unnecessarily long and upon arrival the Riverstage, ah-hem Sahara Stage, is chaotic to say the least. Soulwax is a name synonymous with legendary live performances and today’s unfortunately early slotting is certainly no argument for the negative. The four piece play a steadily building set of live electro sporting various far reaching ingredients. I hear punk, rock, dance, grunge and unabashed disco, all deliciously glaring. Before the suited foursome is done, not an inch of the hillside is unoccupied and thoughts flashback to last year’s logistical nightmares and I cross my fingers.

The always entertaining Busy P is etch-a-sketching and mixing up a storm as the light starts to fade and I decide upon experience over enthusiasm and head Kakadu-ward to catch the second half of Mix Master Mike. He became a household name from his services to The Beastie Boys and so naturally familiar tracks and samples feature. When you’re watching a two-time DMC World Dj Champion you want to see his hands. Unfortunately you can’t. The set is loaded with fun-as-hell classics and the vibe is generally rad, but the giant screen dividing it’s display time between blissed punters and other random clips just seems such a waste – show us those fucking hands!

Catching a glimpse of Missy Elliot or Groove Armada at The Riverstage was never going to be possible without setting up camp before sunset, so it’s a choice of hiphop or the ever bohemian The Dandy Warhols. Their fashions and hair-dos are ultra-cool but unlike most ‘scene’ bands, they’ve been running this look for that whole decade and a half that it took to be in, go out, and come back. The Dandy’s set of deliciously stoned indie-rock starts slowly. The 4 members are more or less lined along the front edge of the stage, but singer *Courtney Taylor-Toylor*’s vocals spend the entire set far too low in the mix. With 10 full-length releases to draw from, it’s always going to be tough to know ‘em all, but the set plays out with suprisingly easy access. Each song is offered a generous, but not gushing, response. We Used To Be Friends comes early and delights while predicably late and nonchalant is everyone’s favourite Bohemian Like You.

A pair of familiar grey dinner suits grace the stage behind a sizeable mixing desk. Unfortunately it’s tragic circumstance that mean Australia gets a second serving of the Soulwax brothers, this time under their 2manydjs moniker. Though surely a large percentage of ticket holders were excited about seeing English synth sensation Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, the all too convenient understudy rocks through a set of filthy electro that’s determined not to be anyone’s spar bridesmaid. The screen at the back of the stage is continually changing and is regularly adorned with band logos or clues as to what artist or track is currently in the mix. Loads of cracking tunes get a run including gear from fellow electro behemoths Justice, Crookers and Afro Jack plus some not-so-lateral samples from MGMT, AC/DC, Guns N Roses and strangely enough John Paul Young’s Love Is In The Air!

Aussie synth-pop favorites Cut Copy seem to have been laying low lately, but if they’ve been lazing by a pool and not sharpening their act, the rust doesn’t show. In an obvious statement to answer the ‘where have you been?’ query, the Melbourne 3 piece showcase a couple of new tunes inspiring a luke-warm response. There’s every chance though, that this is purely due to the timeslot and a bunch of peaking punters wanting the hits. The hits are there too. Hearts On Fire, So Haunted, Lights And Music all get fists and hearts pumping, yet for some reason I remain largely unmoved. By the end of the set I’m drowning in a feeling of ‘seen and heard it all before’. Has it just been a long day of has this music got that short a lifespan?

Reviewed by Jake Newell aka Yaki, with additions by misscrystle aka Crystle Fleper