Southbound 2012 - Day Two

Thu 12th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

Sunday morning dawned overcast and threatening rain but the clouds soon dissolved as people stood patiently in long long queues for coffee. Who would have thought that one coffee outlet wouldn’t be able to cope with the demand of thousands of coffee loving campers? Bussleton Football Club was on hand again to ensure punters got an affordable and fast dose of bacon and egg roll and OJ fortification, and the yoga hippies gave punters the chance to stretch out the kinks from the night before, and limber up for a day of dancing.

When the festival gates opened, punters were faced with a choice between the chipmunky goodness of Gossling in the tent, or some standard indie rock from JJJ’s sweeties, Split Seconds on the main stage. Only five people were feeling energetic enough to dance to the latter’s cover of Blur’s Coffee and TV followed by the single All You Gotta Do, but five is better than none.

Alpine looked and sounded pretty, and their set suited the relaxed atmosphere in front of the main stage. They were a sweet little addition to the morning fare – a bit like a danish pastry for breakfast. Nice, but without much substance.

The Vines stepped up the energy and enthusiasm, and people could be spotted sprinting for the dance-field with the first chords of Highly Evolved. The dancing only became more frenzied throughout the set; the band seemed pleased with the response, and put all of their energy into entertaining the crowd.

It would be reasonable to expect that Tim Finn’s set would take it all down a notch, but it didn’t at all. Playing a selection of songs from his long career, all beefed up and powerful, especially when compared to all the dreamy airy fluff pouring out of the airwaves last year. He had the crowd singing along for most of the set. With Missy Higgins next on the bill, there was some speculation over whether the two would perform their Stuff and Nonsense duet, alas it was a missed opportunity. Higgins’ set however, was a surprising highlight. She drew the biggest crowd seen on the main stage thus far, and the sound quality was perfect. She had an instant rapport with the crowd who hung on her every word. Even when she sang new songs, the crowd displayed their encouragement by waving hands in time. She stopped to take a photo of the audience and asked them to wave their arms about to create a spectacular sight. Her rendition of Scar left more than a few people blinking tears and rubbing away goose bumps.

The Jezabels kept most of the gathered crowd in place with their lovely Kate Bushy vocals, though a few lost interest and wandered off to see what else was happening around the place. By late afternoon, The Coconut Lounge had become a frenzied time warp of jungle, dnb and dubstep – It seemed that people were being sucked in and swallowed, unable to return in time to see their next scheduled band – certainly the crowd just kept on growing from this point until the end of the night.

The Kooks had the crowd singing and dancing along as they played hits off their three releases and evidently had as much fun on stage as their audience. It was quite evident that for many people, this set was the one they had come to Southbound to see. At its conclusion, there was a lot of crowd movement as people declared their loyalty to either John Butler Trio and Pnau.

The Pnau crowd just kept on building as lights flashed, drums thumped and the shifting silhouettes on stage struck appealing poses. The band didn’t waste time with talk, just powered through a rocked up set of live dance, heavy on the bass with an irresistible driving beat. It wasn’t just the crowd packing the tent from the outside that kept punters in, the performance was mesmerizing. No More Violence of course, had the crowd involved in the call and response and from some sections of the tent, the response was clear as a bell. Punters emerged dazed from the aural pummelling into the calm ocean of John Butler’s final tunes. For his part, Butler was gracious and engaging, his audience rapt with attention and joining in wherever they could. Most music lovers in WA would have seen JBT on more than one occasion, so anyone walking past was invariably drawn in for a visit and stayed till the end. Perhaps it was something else, but it seemed that the band left the crowd suffused with a vibe of love for their fellow man.

With the exception of the dubstep in the coconut club, and the lounge DJs, that was then end for Southbound 2012. Although a few happy campers did have some fun with the last of the toilet paper, once the music stopped, on the whole people were sated, and content to head off to their tents and chill with other campers until the lights went out. The campsite carnage and toilet toxicity we have come to expect at the end of a festival was almost non-existent, a true credit to the organisers.

This year, Sunset Events proved that they can present a festival whose value is much more than the sum of its line up parts. A most enjoyable weekend of music, arts and camping.