Groovin' The Moo @ Hay Park,Bunbury (14/05/11)

Thu 19th May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Despite three acts, including major draw cards The Wombats, pulling out of the WA leg of the Groovin’ the Moo tour, the show still managed to sell out. This is no surprise given the amount of homegrown talent featured on the lineup. The lack of police and sniffer dogs invading the grounds added to the relaxing atmosphere that surrounds the regional festival.

The festival attracted many weird and wonderful costumes. Aside from the morph suits, which tend to make an appearance at every major music festival, there were Teletubbies, Spiderman, Vikings and one particularly entertaining gorilla monkeying around. The set up of the festival was well designed, giving punters ample space to move, and no matter were you were stood had a decent view of the stage.

As the early festival goers poured through the gates, Perth Indie pop quartet San Cisco eased punters into the day with their summer sounds on the main stage. Juwana had a completely different idea under the shade of the Moolin Rouge tent, playing fast paced punk to raise the crowd’s energy levels.

It was clear to see why local Bunbury lads Antonio Paul were the Triple J unearthed winners. Their delightfully upbeat tunes won over the crowd. Looking very comfortable on the big festival stage, they threw themselves around and had no problems interacting with crowd. There is no doubt that they won over a few new fans.

Whether you’re a fan of Darwin Deez ’s indie pop melodies or not, there is no denying that they put on one hell of an entertaining show. Throwing in choreographed dances between songs, everyone’s eyes remained glued on the stage for the duration of the set. At the conclusion of the set, they threw a signed beach ball out to the crowd. It took a while for punters to realise the thing was signed, it was still been thrown around a few songs in to *Boy & Bear*s set.

Sydney based indie folk band Boy & Bear pull off an incredible sound live, it’s almost as if you are listening to a CD. Their performance however was not enough to keep punters watching the stage, who used this set as the perfect excuse to go grab a bite to eat. It would have been wise to save their better-known songs, such as Rabbit Song and Fall at Your Feet, for the end of the set.

Old school hip hoppers House of Pain played to a disappointingly small crowd. Despite this, they still put on a good show. During the final song, people seemed to appear out of nowhere to Jump around with House of Pain. Seeing every body on a festival ground, including those confined in the drinking cage, jumping up and down in unison is a spectacle to behold.

Gyroscope are without a doubt one of the most energetic live bands you will ever see. They always put 110% into their performance, and that energy is infectious. Playing four songs off debut album Sound Shattering Sound sent the long time fans wild, whilst the new material, such a Baby I’m Getting Better, satisfied the newer fans. Throwing in the first verse of Midnight Oil’s Beds are Burning during Fast Girl proved to be a massive sing a long.

Whilst some lucky competition winners were dancing on stage with Datarock over in the Moolin Rouge tent, New York post punker’s The Drums were entertaining a sizeable crowd on the Udder Stage. Vocalist Jonathan Pierce appears to be taken over by the music, writhing and spasming to the beat.

An act that seemed slightly out of place on the festival bill was Gotye. Although the music is not made to dance to, it is very interesting to watch performed live. Mr. Wally De Backer is a talented all rounder, it is difficult not to watch that man in awe as he seamlessly moves from instrument to instrument. Some of the more restless punters must have spent his set making condom balloons as there a large amount being thrown around during the final song.

One would not normally associate the words ‘Mosh pit’ with the band Birds of Tokyo. But the tunes of the Perth pop rock group seem to bring out the animal in people. After making a grand entrance to some creepy circus music, they launched straight into a set that easily satisfied both old and new fans.

It was scary to walk past the crowd of crazy dancers during Art vs. Science’s set, for fear of getting hit in the head by flailing arms and legs. Art vs. Science aren’t exactly lyrical geniuses, but the simple repetitive lyrics make for good crowd participation. Predictably Magic Fountain was the highlight of the set, people who were sitting down at the back suddenly ran to the front to join the pit of crazed fans. The show was chock full of lasers and flashy lighting effects. On the opposite end of the scale, UNKLE decided to forgo the flashy light show, instead opting to bathe the stage in smoke and basic lighting. This created atmosphere to go along with the moody music.

Bliss n Eso sure know how to work a crowd. For the duration of their set, there was not one person in the massive crowd standing still. It is largely unheard of for a band to do an encore at a festival, so it was no surprise that they successfully fooled the crowd into thinking they had finished after leaving the stage. Many people began to leave, but to everyone’s surprise, they re appeared on stage to perform crowd favourite, Addicted to Life.

While a large amount of people left the main stage area to go see Drapht, a sizable amount remained for Cut Copy. As the festival was nearing it’s conclusion, people danced the night way, most likely to keep warm, the temperature had dropped ridiculously, it was freezing!

As people shuffled away into the night, with beaming smiles, it is safe to say that the day was a massive success.