The location for the annual Pyramid Rock festival alongside a cliff face on the Coast of Phillip Island is nothing short of stunning, and with a great line up and a massive sell out crowd, this years festival promised to be a good one. After a three hour a drive, and three hour car/traffic jam, the punters were just aching to get in and start enjoying Pyramid’s second birthday.

Upon arrival tents were pitched, and the festival goers eventually made their way over to the main stage, where by 2pm on the first day, The Flairz were ripping up the stage – Clearly the youngest band appearing at the festival, and still they managed to put on a convincing show. Rock n Roll Ain’t Evil, Rock On and Sidewalk Surfer were a signs that his young band has some serious potential to be soon headlining festivals of their own

Custom Kings were up next to deliver a performance featuring their unique mix of rock and jazz, with bass lines reminiscent of rage against the machine. Instrument swapping featured prominently throughout, showing the crowd how talented as artists they really were.

It was, however, British India who was the rock n roll highlight of the day. The sun was beaming down into the bands eyes throughout the gig, but this did not stop them from putting on a memorable rock n roll show. Outside 109 was dazzling, and EP tracks such as Roses and We Are The Counter Culture were amazing to see performed live. British India is a band that is going places.

I felt it was time for some food at this point, but after realising the que for the food stall was a hundred metres long, I decided to stay and watch Ben Quin. Ben Quin is a solo artist I hadn’t seen a lot of, in fact I can honestly point out the rather embarrassing fact I had never heard of him up until this point. He played with no backing band, just him and his guitar. One word describes his performance… mesmerising. He said nothing between songs; he just remained in his seat singing some of the best blues I had ever witnessed. Seems That Lately and Light were too good to put into words. Absolutely amazing performance by the single greatest solo artist I have ever seen.

Shortly after Quinn left the stage, The Datsuns, one of the festivals’s main draw cards took the stage, and showed Phillip Island why it is that they have attracted so much attention internationally, by playing a great set including live favourites Blacken My Thumb, I Got No Words and Girls Best Friend. The Datsun’s took the crowd into the night time, and left them very impressed at the band’s showmanship and onstage presence.

It was obvious however who the festival goers were here to see, however… as people packed into the place by the thousands, the mood turned to one of expectation…John Butler Trio was up next. JBT has drawn a massive collection of fans country wide, and this was no less evident at 10pm when the band strolls on stage to a massive reception. Mr Butler was clearly surprised at the volume of people packed in front of the stage, when announcing to the crowd “Wow! You guys are really f*****g loud!” As usual, the band was on top form, running through classic tracks Betterman, Zebra and Treat Yo Mama. The highlight of the set however, was Butler’s solo acoustic “little musical journey” he took us on, most of which appeared to be complete improvisation, just confirming to us how talented this man really is.  

As the John Butler Trio walked off stage, it was time for Butterfingers. Much off the crowd retired to their tents at this stage, but a lot were keen to see how Butterfingers’ new material was shaping up. After witnessing such a magical performance by JBT, there is no doubt that Butterfingers had big shoes to fill, and unfortunately failed to do so on most counts. The performance was somewhat bland and uninteresting, although crowd favourites FIGJAM and Every time were fun.

As Butterfingers left, the choice was Stereo MC’s or bed time and reserve energy for massive second day. I chose the second option.

After waking up and spending my life savings on some food, it was time to go and check out much hyped band; Airbourne. For the first three quarters of the set I was reasonably un-impressed, are they just a ‘70s rock n roll cover band? They reminded me a lot of The Darkness, except weaker and less original (if that’s possible). But nearing the end of the set I came to the conclusion that instead of judging the band on other bands they might be similar too, I should take each on song on its merits – and from this point onwards Airbourne impressed. Lead singer Joel O’Keeffe SCREAMED to the crowed as they left “SO LONG AS WE ARE ALIVE…AND YOU ARE ALL ALIVE…ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WILL NEVER DIE!” – probably true…

At about 1pm Bodyjar took the stage and entertained by playing highlights from their grand catalogue, as well as newer ones such as Call to Arms and Another Minute. The hot weather clearly not bothering the leagues of ‘Jar fans who were crammed into the mosh like sardines.

After so much rock n roll, it was a welcome to change to see the brilliant Claire Bowditch and her band The Feeding Set come and slow things up, as many festival goers hid for shade under the large tents to the side of the stage. Her mellow sounds and brilliant voice penetrating throughout the arena and rejuvenating all and readying them for Gyroscope.

I must admit that up until The Pyramid Rock Festival I was not a very big fan of Gyroscope. I had always felt that their music appeared only to teenyboppers, and was more poppy that rock…I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was only by chance that I happened to watch them, and boy was I glad I did. They were brilliant. Legions of fans where everywhere, and from the opening words “Hi were Gyroscope from Perth” ‘til final track Fast Girl it was a fantastic display of, brilliant musicianship and above all, great songs!. Particular mention goes out to bass player Brad Campbell, whose backing vocals were some of the loudest screams I have seen this year.

The Herd came on next, and their Aussie hip hop was great as the sun began to go down, and the crowd’s excitement was particularly evident during tracks such as “77%” and single from their latest album We Cant Here You. The final track was a brilliant version of I Was Only 19 and was dedicated to the Vietnam Vets, in what was a very moving conclusion to the show.

As the crowd had packed in for John Butler Trio the night before, the same happened during Canadian/Australian Multi-instrumentalist Xavier Rudd. Xavier was sensational, and the crowd loved it. Backed by a Canadian gentleman playing 1000 year old Indian drums, he put on a really good show. People were dancing around everywhere, and the atmosphere during the show was one of peace and joy. Conceal Me was brilliant, and obviously no other track was embraced more than single Let Me Be. If you can picture the sun setting over the sea, whilst Xavier played his acoustic guitar keeping beat with his foot and playing one of his three didgeridoos, as the crowd danced around loving every moment…you will probably get a pretty good idea about how that moment felt. Fantastic.

Next up, The Butterfly Effect played a blistering set of heavy rock for the next hour. This band had certainly attracted a large number of fans, as shown by the hundreds of Butterfly Effect t-shirts spotted throughout the festival, and they loved every moment of the set. As they varied between old and newer material, and finished with my favourite of theirs Crave, they confirmed to me that they are certainly head of their field in terms of the Australian heavy rock genre. – Unlike COG, who are obviously  embraced by many fans Australia wide, but for this gig, failed to impress me…maybe its because I had too much expectation for the band following, but it just failed to excite.

The band following, of course, were festival headliners, and Aussie rock institution, Grinspoon. Grinspoon have just released their greatest hits album, and the set tonight was basically just running through tracks from it. Grinspoon are so good at what they do however, their material never gets too dull. At the conclusion of Better Off Alone, it was straight into a 10 second countdown to New Year, and there is no greater band that could have launched us into it. 1000 Miles was superb, as was a track from their first album More Than You Are. Surprisingly it was the newer tracks that got the audience the most excited, Hard Act To Follow and Sweet as Sugar were met my an enormous reception.

Grinspoon had done a great job of bringing Pyramid to a climax, and as Scribe took us out, festival goers returned to their tents after experiencing one of the country’s best and most unique music festivals in recent memory.