Parklife @Wellington Square,Perth (26/09/10)

Tue 28th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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The weather had only recently started to warm up in Perth, and already it was time for Parklife 2010: heralding the start of yet another festival season. Warm sunshine and blue skies had smiles all round, and early on it seemed like even the strange clash of music cultures (tiny indie girls vs fist-pumping dance fans) wasn’t going to be a problem at all. Even before any acts had taken to the stage, Wellington Square was fairly full of punters soaking up some sun and enjoying the high-spirited fun of some Brazilian drumming. Ten points to the dancing girls in their G-string bikinis; managing smiles while ignoring the leering men behind them.

You have to hand it to the Parklife organisers – they are absolutely spot on with location. Wellington Square has the advantage of being smack-bang in the centre of Perth, making the use of public transport a breeze. The square itself (actually, not so much a square in shape) is huge, and Parklife used the space really well. The four main stages were far enough to allow people to flow smoothly between and prevent audio clashes from shared-timeslots. But! Enough of the logistics, you came here for the music…

Sweetheart of all sweethearts Washington kicked off the opening timeslot at the Atoll stage to a healthy-sized crowd. Opening with 1977, Washington proved to be more of a pocket rocket than the delicate thing she appears to be. Not skipping a beat, she launched straight into wildly popular The Hardest Part (not to be confused with a dreary Coldplay ‘hit’…) She is an enigmatic and boundlessly energetic performer – not to mention being an absolute maniac on her keyboard, at times throwing her whole body into the joyous key-pounding. Declaring that it was “not too early for some drunk dancing,” Washington then flew through a slew of hits: from How to Tame Lions, Clementine and Teenage Fury. The latter took the tempo down a touch too far, and became a dead lull in her otherwise upbeat set. Other than that, the Washington set was so much fun that no-one noticed that she’d outplayed her timeslot – oops! Putting the final song up to a crowd vote, Rich Kids only just lost out to song-of-the-moment Sunday Best. It perfectly wrapped up a tight and tenacious performance, which had every indie-kid singing along lyric for lyric.

A short walk over to the Kakadu stage (where do they come up with these names?!) and another excitable indie lot were getting ready for New York’s own Darwin Deez. Frontman Deez is one weird guy, and has a haircut that looks like he lost a fight with a pair of garden shears. The Deez musical experience was just as odd: rather than start with a song of their own, Deez & Co opened with a choreographed dance to Peanut Butter Jelly Time. Yes, the song from the cartoon. It was super-strange, yet utterly fantastic and got the assembled crowd in the right mood for bustin’ moves. Up in the Clouds proved that Darwin Deez are the best good-time band around town. Michelle Deez rocked the bass like nothing you’ve seen before – they were clearly having the best time, and it really makes you want in on the fun. Constellations, The City and the wickedly enjoyable Bad Day were performed with unbridled joy by Deez, and were all bookended with naff dance routines. Truth be told, the dancing did get a little too much; sometimes you just wanna hear two songs in a row. But it’s clear what Deez was going for: fun! And was it ever. Closing with Radar Detector, there wasn’t a single body that wasn’t movin’ and shakin’. Mission accomplished.

The energy-levels kept rising as the day moved on, with a frenetic and fantastic performance by The Wombats. They kicked off with Kill The Director, and instantly had the crowd onside with a hyper performance. Besides, who doesn’t love to belt out ‘THIS IS NO, BRID-GIT JONES!” at the top of their lungs with a few hundred like-minded strangers? The Wombats know exactly how to straddle the line between professional and mad-hatter fun, never going too far in one direction. They rocked around the stage at full force, but their sound is always studio perfect; Matt Murphy’s accented vocals ringing out clear as day. Played live for only the second time ever, Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves) was a bona-fide dance fest. While Tokyo had prompted an ill-informed Bluejuice member (read: idiot) to label the Wombats as “Bloc Party rip-off merchants” on Triple J in the past week, their Parklife show proved anything but. The less dancey songs took precedence, with Backfire At The Disco, Patricia the Stripper and Moving to New York encouraging all the Parklife misfits to raise hell under the sun. Of course, it all culminated in a raucous rendition of Let’s Dance to Joy Division – after which, a foot rub and an icy glass of water would have been greatly appreciated.

Surprisingly, the lull in the afternoon came with Kele, formerly of Bloc Party fame. Whilst all great party songs in their own right, his set of alternative-dance ended up sounding a bit one-and-the-same. The man himself cut a strong presence standing alone at the mic, but unfortunately he didn’t do very much more than that for the duration. “For the new fans” – his own words – he played out Everything You Wanted and Tenderoni to perfection. Most of the buzz and energy came from the crowd, rather than Kele himself. But then again, letting the crowd do the work with that wonderful lyric “Dale, dale I’m a deero” (the sing-along that no one understands) was a good way to make the set seem more special than it was. The highlight was easily one “for the old fans,” Kele closed the set with Bloc Party hit Flux. Was it a nod to the band which brought him fame, or an admission that these Bloc Party songs are his meal ticket? Regardless, it was damn good and a stand-out from his electro show.

Later on in the cool of the night, 90s wunderkinds The Dandy Warhols graced the stage in front of a distinctly older crowd. Unfortunately, the fans from the Dandy’s heyday might have been a little disappointed by the ravages of age – early on, one punter yelled out “Zia, you used to be hot!” Ouch. But, all was forgiven when the quirky opening notes of We Used to be Friends sailed out into the night air. If you fear that things have changed at Camp Warhol – don’t. They are as resplendent in 90s grunge as ever; Courtney Taylor-Taylor sporting a flanno tied around his waist and Zia McCabe wearing an ankle-length, off-white crochet dress. However, the years may have taken a slight toll on Taylor-Taylor’s voice. He sounded uncharacteristically gravely during Friends, as well as strained and under pressure for You Were the Last High. But any signs of demise were fleeting, and his vocals soared smoothly and breathily for (You Come In) Burned.

The atmosphere was electric, and punters united in their love for a band who are as familiar as old friends. It was a beautiful sight to see four Dandies as smoky silhouettes perform a sort-of serenade with Lance. They were chatty and bizarre, making odd cat-calls and commenting on the sheer beauty of the people of Perth. And Perth loved them right back, particularly as they rode out their set with a triple threat of hits: the everlasting Bohemian Like You, Get Off, and Boys Better. It is a strange and rare moment when a band exiting the stage leaves a feeling of sadness that it’s over. That’s when you know just how amazing they are.

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