Come Together 3 @ Luna Park(10-11/06/2006)

Wed 14th Jun, 2006 in Gig Reviews

As the masses entered her mouth opened wide, her eyes shone brightly with excitement, as she knew they were all going to Come Together. As they collectively writhed passionately to the music her eyes lit up further. At the end of the night when they all left, bedraggled exhausted, soaked with sweat they were all pleased they’d Come Together.

A festival with the name Come Together, held at Luna Park, what an opportunity for some dodgy double entendres. Held over two days this year, the third Come Together was a different affair to those of last year, with international acts invited and the days split; one a punk, hardcore and metal day, one day for the rest. In addition to the whole festival thing, our old friends from the Coca-Cola Amatil Bottling Company had their Coke Live ‘n’ Local thing happening with sets from Evermore, You Am I and Augie March.

So now I hear you asking what was it like. Well, it was the good, the bad and the bloody ugly all rolled into one, over two days of music. From the outset I’ve got to say that the whole screamo metal/hardcore thing is completely lost on me. Why you’d want to see a band that plays really fast and loud and then has a lead singer that screams in an uncompressible manner over the top is just plain weird; maybe I’m just getting old. As a good portion of the bands on the first day were of that ilk, most of the day was spent hanging out with a bunch of photographers, whilst they rapidly took photos for three songs and then went off to ogle each other’s lenses.

It was a real shame that the weather for both days was so bad as Luna Park really is quite a magic location, so instead of being out enjoying the sunshine and the rides, most of the festival punters spent their time indoors, shying away from the rain and cold.

Of the bands from day one, the picks really came towards the end of the day; that’s not to say there weren’t other interesting moments. Take for instance The Nation Blue, whose lead singer decided that bashing both his head and guitar on the ground would make a great effect two songs in. Needless to say he ended up with a gash in his forehead and a headache for most of the set.

The best costume award went to those crazy zombies from Zombie Ghost Train. When they ventured out into the park later in the day, fans and tourists alike photographed them. Later in the day I ventured off to the Utopia Stage to watch The Giants of Science who put on a great set playing material off their debut record to the appreciation of the small assembled crowd.

One of the really interesting things to watch over the course of the day were who the punters were there to see; crowds came and went depending on the act, with bands like The Hot Lies, I Killed the Prom Queen (Again lost on me), After the Fall, Gyroscope, Strung Out and The Butterfly Effect drawing large crowds. It was unfortunate that the mixing on the main stages at times was so atrocious that it was embarrassing. For a period during the After the Fall set the vocals were so washed out that they were incomprehensible, which is just irritating, if a song has vocals you want to hear them.

One of the most interesting episodes of the day came when Some Girls hit the stage. There’s no other way to describe them but shit. They were without a doubt one of the worst acts I’ve had the displeasure of experiencing live. If you have a problem with that, flame away. It was obvious from the crowds reaction they agreed with my sentiments as when it came time for them to exit stage right and for After the Fall to enter stage left, the crowd was screaming abuse at them only to have the abuse returned by Some Girls’ lead singer. This led to an unfortunate bottom bearing incident and security’s eventual intervention, as they needed to be removed from the stage.

The big surprise for the day were The Butterfly Effect who played an awesome set, I’m really looking forward to catching them a couple of times on their forthcoming national tour.

As mentioned before, day two was really more up my alley, and the day kicked off with a special secret You Am I set. Tim looked surprisingly sober, but I’m certain the OJ he was drinking had a little something else in it; hair of the dog. It was incongruous that anything alcoholic had to be disguised, including a couple of taped up cans of VB. Playing a short set that took in the gamut of You Am I’s material from their debut ‘Sound As Ever’ through to ‘Convicts’. The band spent a great deal of time taking the piss out of the situation they found themselves in, surrounded by cameras and TV gear. It was thoroughly enjoyable and gives one hope of great things to come on their forthcoming national tour.

As with day one a great deal of time was spent darting around visiting different acts. Of note during the afternoon were the performances of Downsyde and The Devoted Few. The Downsyde set really did get the whole party started with everyone bouncing and grooving along. It was just a really nice party set with a great vibe. When Canberra locals Koolism hit the stage the man at the decks DanielSan was scratching to the classical sounds of  ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’.

Rocking up to the Coke Live ‘n’ Local stage once again I was lucky enough to be one of a handful of people watching as Augie March played ‘One Crowded Hour’ for the cameras. As the audience entered I witnessed the Live ‘n’ Local warm up for the third time and then Augie March went about playing their set, which satisfied and impressed.

Bolting back out to the main stages meant seeing the last half of The Mess Hall’s excellent set and all of The Panics’ set, which blew away the unfortunately small crowd.

Rat Cat’s set was a hint of nostalgia for all assembled, particularly if you’d known them during their hey day in the early to mid nineties. A disappointing, and at some points painful, greatest hits set from Magic Dirt followed. Whilst there’s great material there, the performance was a tad on the pedestrian side.

A band who really did impress were The Herd, who played an almost faultless set this evening. Their performance had energy passion and really had everyone in the crowd moving and grooving. In a complete change of pace Augie March followed them on stage and were impressed by the number of young people sticking around to watch their set, commenting that normally their live shows were populated by people in the 45 – 55 age demographic. Again their set was almost faultless, although the time spent retuning did get a little painful in the end.

The day was closed by Regurgitator. Whilst enjoyable, their set really didn’t have the kick required to send punters home exhausted yet happy with their day, organisers would have been better served possibly having The Herd close the day.

All in all Come Together number three was enjoyable, some bits were better than others and it has left me with a real taste for some of the upcoming tours.