Electric Lake II Festival @Commonwealth Park, Canberra(13/11/10)

Mon 15th Nov, 2010 in Gig Reviews

SEE THE PICS HERE!

Mother Nature has a lot to answer for in this town, particularly over the past couple of months. Having to be postponed from its original date, local festival Electric Lake made a triumphant delayed return to the Commonwealth Park Amphitheatre for its second year running, and managed to drag al the study-laden kids out for a day of sunshine, hayfever, local fanfare and buckets of rain.

First up was Heute Und, all covered in black and with a lot of grunt for a performance that early in the day. Incredibly tight and incredibly talented, they were the perfect start to the day.

Next up was a gang very new to the stage, The Warm Jest. Playing a set of previously unheard songs, it was a perfect mix of reverb, atmospheric beats and Ian Curtis-like vocals. Totally comfortable at the wheel is Shoeb Ahmad of hellosQuare Recordings fame, and it’s got to be said, another brilliant project from the all round music man about town.

The sun began to seriously beat down and slatherings of sunscreen applied around the time Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens took to the pergola stage; her dream-like vocals sending everyone off into an early afternoon comatose state of relaxation. But, all of this was seriously shaken up as soon as punk duo Crash The Curb hit the cement. Their sensibilities for harsh vocals and heavy drum beats blew the ampitheatre to bits and had everyone sitting up, paying attention and trying to keep up with the drum pedal.

Loud and unrelenting Jerkstone was the perfect follow-up, building on the abrassiveness Crash The Curb had left behind. The vocals fell a little bit behind the set as a whole, which was disappointing given how impressive the guitars were.

Instrumentalists Mornings were another standout performance of the afternoon, their deep, rolling sound perfect for the late afternoon sun. Individually they’re incredibly talented and as a collective they’re utterly brilliant.

And, insert bucket loads of rain now. Yep, midway through Voss’ set the heavens opened and with horrific determination did not let up for quite some time, rendering the festival prematurely over. Sadly, this left goers without sets from Killing Birds, The Fighting League, Waterford (it takes all my strength to avoid making dad jokes about the band name and weather conditions) and Cat Cat completely. And with a mass opening of umbrellas came a mass exodus from the ampitheatre.

Just goes to show that you can’t fight City Hall or Mother Nature. But you can always put on or attend an excellent festival. One that’s free, overflowing with talent and fill an ampitheatre with local support.

SEE THE PICS HERE!