Meredith Music Festival @Meredith, Victoria 9/12/2005-11/12/2005

Sat 17th Dec, 2005 in Gig Reviews

The weather chart perused, touring map studied and camping box raided…off I set for a weekend adventure to the Meredith Music Festival held in Meredith, country Victoria.

We were some of the lucky few to receive the very limited Friday tickets, although when we arrived at 10pm, we were informed that there were already 8000 people through the gates. By headlights we searched for an appropriate place to pitch the tent, a little further from the action….was my only pre-requisite.  Set up camp on the Freeway Of Love…so it was named! By half moonlight we rushed to set up the tent and prepare the bed ready to accept our weary heads later on. It was a speedy walk to the Supernatural Amphitheatre, arriving just in time for The Mess Hall.

The Supernatural Amphitheatre is much like a half bowl affair facing a large shed type structure. At night it was a stunning sight, lanterns and glow-in-the-dark iPods painted on speaker screens. There was no question, it was freezing here at night, the punters decked out in jumpers and beanies.

Despite the cool night air, The Mess Hall played a blistering set. The Mess Hall comprising Jed Kurzel and Cec Condon, on guitar and drums respectively, were very animated tonight and set the assembled crowd right off! ‘Fuck Homebake, this is awesome’ shared Jed provoking a roaring response from all (the very busy boys had played Homebake the previous weekend). They launched into Metal and Hair. Shortly before they had belted out a Nirvana cover then moving onto Shake Shake and Pills proving that they suit an all manner of venues and environments.

The clouds were brewing something nasty by this stage, with some threatening sprinkling but not enough to dull the excitement. J-Live hit the stage to quell the fans of hip hop. He must have been doing something right judging by the response of the crowd; however it just wasn’t my bag. I decided to venture around the joint and found a very user friendly space, everything within a short non-taxing walking distance. Food of all types, healthy and unhealthy, including sushi, hot dogs, standard yet delicious corn on the cob and the like. Placed firmly in my memory bank was the Genovese coffee stand, a weekend-long festival necessity.

To end this so called ‘quiet’ night (with a 3am close) the feisty You Am I were to close the festivities. A rare appearance from the forever busy foursome with frontman Tim Rogers announcing ‘we just finished recording our new album in Sydney about two hours ago…and this song is called Gunslingers’ as they launched into a new and very upbeat track. You Am I delighted the ever excitable punters with a healthy mix of old and new tracks. Tim was in great form tonight, seemingly as excited as everyone else was, to be here tonight, as they gave us Berlin Chair ‘this is our greatest hit’ and it was a ‘fucken cracker’. It has been a while since I have heard this song live…and the completed it with some windmill action on the guitar…nice!

I just had to call it a night and laid my weary head on the pillow in our icy tent with the anticipation of a massive weekend still to come, exhaustion ensued!

Saturday morning appeared very early, as I woke to the dulcet tones of engines and the pungent aroma of exhaust fumes, I realised the gates had been opened for the remainder of the festival goers. It was up and out as we headed down to the Supernatural Amphitheatre to check everything out by the light of the day. Shocked by the queues for a caffeine hit and yet totally determined to receive it, I noticed that a load of people were rather dazed and confused, wandering about aimlessly until the first act off the rank, a Brass Band from Ballarat belted out some Christmas carols. The number of peeps ballooned from 8000 to 13000 and the Amphitheatre had filled quickly by the time The Grates had hit the stage. The space quickly becoming a sea of camping chairs, picnic blankets and even lounge suites. The Grates put in a solid set and displayed exactly why they are the newest hottest things.

It wasn’t long before the dust was being kicked up that I realised that this was no place for the fainthearted. Up next was the party inducing Architecture In Helsinki. Beginning with nine people on stage, complete with horn section and expanding to 14 by the end of their set, the guys and gals seemed to be having their own individual party on stage. Don’t get me wrong, they are good at what they do, it just didn’t grab me.

For the moment I had been eagerly waiting for, The Kills padded on to the stage. With Alison, or VV as she is also known, prowled the stage warming up. These two London based individuals form a powerhouse duo, banging out Superstition, Fried My Little Brains and No Wow. They showed us they were really getting down to business, very minimal banter with each other or the audience as they played Kissy Kissy to which the punters seemed stoked to hear. For such a short set of 45minutes, they packed in material from Keep On Your Mean Side and No Wow. Even with Alisons’ hand in a bandage, after having injured it at the Sydney gig, didn’t faze her. Hotel wowed us with his superb nimble fingers and seemed to converse with the crowd only using his guitar. With the reaction of the Meredith punters and The Kills convulsing around the stage, this was a killer set.

I caught  Billy Childish and The Buff Medways via distance as a sustenance and shade stop was required. During my travels around the site, I soon realised this was definitely an event to visit with a group of friends, whilst the atmosphere was relaxed during the day, I didn’t find it to be a particularly friendly engaging crowd.

As the afternoon slowly but surely warmed up, we were treated to Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks. Finally I had found some shade, cold beverage in hand, sprawled on a picnic rug and Malkmus and band provided just the right mix of cruisy rock for the afternoon through to early evening. They woke us up with a cover of Daddy Cool’s Eagle Rock which prompted all to sing along.

It was certainly time to shake things up, and who better than Cut Copy to move us from evening to night, with a 50 minute kickin’ set. Many and esky was spilt during their time with us. This is an act that appeals to a wide variety of people, a real cross over act, sampling Daft Punk and other well known sounds. By this stage one couldn’t even notice the dust bowl that is the amphitheatre, neither did anyone seen to care. 

Time for some old fashioned rock replete with long hair, Marshall stacks and usual rock ‘n’ roll antics ‘play some rock ‘n’ roll Meredith are you ready to ROCK???!!!!’ Joel Airbourne yelled. Airbourne had arrived. Playing their limited but rockin’ material….they literally lit up Meredith.

This had become a marathon effort by this stage, as Scottish exports Sons And Daughters took to the shed! The only song title I heard being Dance Me. These guys are not a band to miss with their huge range, gravelly voices, touch of country and the real secret being in their lyrics. Keep your eye on Sons And Daughters.

Since I arrived at the Meredith site, wandering around the amphitheatre, everywhere one looked, a Wolfmother shirt staring you in the face or their disk blaring from car stereos in the campsites. Wolfmother weren’t disappointing anyone tonight, opening with Dimension. These guys are on fire at the moment and this evening it was blatant. Andrew Stockdale entertained us with the windmill movements on his guitar, turning his back to us during the beginning of White Unicorn in the lead up and moving to the psychedelic sounds of Apple Tree, Forest Of Gnomes, loads of solos and instrumentals. After Colossal, Wolfmother ended on Minds Eye to a bit of a predictable yet fantastic end to their set.

In a twist, the timetable stated The Avalanches DJ set, the Meredith Mystery Act came on instead. One man arrived on stage with a full face helmet much like you would see a fighter pilot wearing, and guitar and well, that was about it. What was to follow though was a real blast. Bob Log III is the name he goes by, a one man band. His vocals are distorted by the helmet creating a distinct tinny sound while he plays his slide guitar. With songs titles such as Boob Scotch and Clap Your Tits, it was surely amusing. Very dirty blues was where it was at. There is quite some controversy surrounding the identity of Bob Log III, but one thing is for sure he captivated most of the crowd in some way. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, my guitar is wanting to tell you something’ as he invited ladies up to the stage to sit on his knee while playing some of the abovementioned songs, ending with the sight of largely endowed women clapping with their breasts. At the end of that performance was when this writer had to call it a night…to prepare for one more day of festivities.

Sunday dawned, and an absolute stinker was on the horizon. Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the Tai Chi, but I heard it was a peaceful event. First act up for me of the day was Matt Walker and Ash Davies, pretty simple really, drums and guitar. Perfect recovery sounds for a Sunday. One could say that the peeps roaming the grounds were relaxed, but I think it looked more like a case of one trying to deal with the ‘fallout’ of a couple of days and night of partying. A little King Marong and Safara, African drumming and rhythms from West Africa, later and Clare Bowditch and The Feeding Set I once again set off to explore.

The cinema was a very natural place to be, dubbed the Outlands Cinema Ecoplex, there was a screen hitched up between two trees which would have been a stunning spot at night, where showings of The A-Team, From Dusk Till Dawn and a snippet of Meredith Music Festival history.

Another hot and spicy day had most of the more fragile festival goers scrambling for any type of cover from the harsh elements. It was time for the Meredith Gift, a peculiar event whereby anybody present at the festival could enter into a race run at the front of stage. This is not just any race, however, it was a race to be done in the nude, according to the Meredith website, it is ‘the world’s most stupidest foot race’. Only a few rules to follow, including ‘no clean underwear can be worn, any competitor wearing lycra will be set on fire and farting by competitors to increase their foot speed is permitted but not encouraged’. This year a heat was held, where competitors are set free down the hill where a lucky 10 collected bags, they then moved onto the race whilst wearing said bags. It was won in the midst of a dust storm….by a guy.

All in all, a brilliant time was had….and we made the journey home in a satisfied silence…and I am still finding the dirt in my clothes. For another festival that keeps getting bigger and better each year, next year I will come armed with more camping buddies.