Golden Plains: Day Two @Meredith SupernaturalAmphitheatre, Meredith(13/03/2011)

Thu 17th Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Following an enjoyable enough first twenty-four hours of Golden Plains the fifth, punters again rallied with enthusiasm for the festival’s fine cuisine. A hearty breakfast would precede the festival’s best day, the promise of fine local and international acts alike tantalising eager music-enthusiasts.

Melbourne’s own Graveyard Train would kick things off, a genre-based band with a particular charm surrounding their craft. With a lumbering western twang soon evolving into a wild, gallpoping brilliance, the band exploded with an entertaining display of country-infused rock. Graveyard Train appears determined to curate the ideal soundtrack to a pistols-at-dawn showdown, sounding fantastically removed from Meredith’s grassy fields. Their music spruiks qualities of an imaginative trip, encouraging their building crowd to become swept up in the grizzly, mysterious frenzy. Hell, one of them played a chain. How do you play a chain? You whack it. You whack it good.

This noted, Graveyard Train won’t appeal to everyone. It can verge on formulaic and seems a bit niche at times, but if you remain open-minded give it a go it’s easy to get carried away with their alternate world. Golden Plains’ patrons stooped to this form of surrender and could not help but jive to Graveyard Train’s meticulous frequency. Their finale was perhaps their most memorable moment, the band proclaiming bluntly “You’re all gonna die!” – that is, before encouraging every patron to make the most of their time on earth. It was a hippie philosophy adored by the crowd and one that ensured hearts had been won. All in all, good stuff.

The second act for the day were the much-hyped Boy And Bear, fresh from selling out a few headline shows of their own. There was a magnificent hybrid of rock, folk and baroque pop to be embraced, the mix performed to precision. In addition, their harmonies proved simply sublime, their vocal potential mined to the fullest. Those in the know, however, tended to approach the idea of Boy And Bear with caution. Though most were unable to fault their execution, their obvious similarities to their contemporaries – such as Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear – can become wearying, particularly for those already familiar with the Sydney-siders’ offerings.

It’s a problem when a cover of Crowded House’s Fall At Your Feet is your most popular attraction – even more so given that, only months earlier, Neil Finn himself had owned the Meredith stage by way of the same song. Without being too snarky, one feels that Boy And Bear, as great as they can be, simply need to forge their own individual path. The derivative nature of their current tact despite such gems as Mexican Mavis and The Storm will continue to haunt them unless they ascend to meet new creative challenges. Their ticket sales are encouraging, certainly, but this set ultimately proved a point of contention between festival patrons.

The local stretch of the mid-morning had come to a close. It was time for a change. Introducing a serious contender for most awkward band name of the festival: Wildbirds and Peace Drums. Touted as an experimental band from Sweden – well, that’s a sentence that now scarcely requires completion. The majority of the set concealed a minimalist collaborative approach from the husband and wife duo, with drums and vocals often the only sounds to be heard. Yup, it was experimental alright. That’s fine, but the the suggestion that they should experiment with extending their ensemble to, say, having another instrument wouldn’t be too outrageous. There’s stripping things back then there’s Wildbirds and Peace Drums. The only advantage of their aesthetic approach seems to be that it successfully shows of Mariam Wallentin’s stunning voice. Unfortunately, that would be about where the appeal began and ended for most, with a set too kooky and yet somehow lacking in any serious hook or impression to shift much interest in the long term.