As the Birds of Tokyo so beautifully put it before their final song – ‘be good to yourself, and love your friends,’ whilst the sun poured down on sunscreen soaked patrons, this sentiment illustrated the atmosphere of Canberra’s first summer music festival.
Arriving shortly after Hancock Basement’s set, it was clear that the crowd was steadily growing in size. After recently performing on the Billabong Surf tours, it was Ashleigh Mannix’s turn to present her thoughtful and subtle brand of acoustic pop. It was the perfect way to start the day, with her pitch-perfect voice and considered lyrics instantly creating a relaxed atmosphere amongst the crowd, in songs such as ‘Power of a Girl’.
The tone changed quickly after Mannix’s 40 minute set, as rockers Jericco and MM9 presented music only suitable for angst-ridden teenager’s bedrooms. As these two generic acts took place the crowd wisely took the time to build their levels of excitement and inebriation.
Urthboy was the next highlight, as he performed intelligent and dance-worthy hip-hop. Performing with The Herd’s energetic Jane Tyrell, guest vocalist, and DJ Augusto on the turntables, Urthboy’s tight rhymes drew the crowd into a frenzy. The highlight of the set belonged to DJ Augusto, as he re-arranged the Amerie tune ‘One Thing’ on a beat machine.
Sadly, the biggest let-down of the day belong to Josh Pyke, with his moderately endearing acoustic performance. Even during his hit song ‘Middle of the Hill’, Pyke appeared to be awkward in the festival setting.
Art Vs. Science swiftly injected life and energy into the proceedings, but were quickly followed by British India, Children Collide and Birds of Tokyo. These bands, whilst mildly intriguing in their loud noise making, sounded like reincarnations of each other. So by the end of their sets I felt it was time to be shocked, and taken out of my average-rock-induced slumber.
The perfect band to wake me were Frenzal Rhomb, as lead-singer Jason Whalley sang and shocked with equal measures of wit and subversiveness. Not often do you hear such creativity amongst the Hard-Rock genre.
Last on for the day was Stonefest headliner’s Living End. The crowd went ballistic as they performed from a repertoire spanning 15 years, with renowned hits ‘White Noise’ and Prisoner of Society’ . Although they saved the best for last as lead-singer/guitarist Chris Cheney performed a Rockabilly solo performance of Waltzing Matilda. In ‘Moment in the Sun’ Chris Cooney sung ‘am Going to get out before I get to old’. Judging by the band’s performance they certainly don’t appear old enough to be thinking about retirement just yet.
Whilst the music was enjoyable overall, the undoubtable highlight for me was the Mr. Fibby run ‘La Petite Sideshow’. A mixture of circus and drama, the Canberra troupe performed masterfully, and created a horrifying, yet strangely amusing alternative to the live bands!
Stonefest was the ideal start to summer, and hopefully with Trackside and Foreshore forthcoming, it will be a summer to remember.
