Live Review: SCENE AND HEARD FESTIVAL @ Wickham Park
Featuring your dad’s dream Aussie rock line up, including Spiderbait, Killing Heidi, and The Living End, this festival was truly one of the cleanest, most inspiring gigs I’ve ever been to. I feel like y’all should book your tickets for next year already, because honestly you do not want to miss out on this sweet snack of a festival.
As we walked into Wickham Park, the first thing I noticed was how delightfully short the line was; mind you this was probably because of our later entry due to my poor organisation skills (classic) so I sincerely apologise to the first great bands I missed! We made our way to the main stage to see Killing Heidi, weaving through the mini covens of picnic rugs and camp chairs. The band was already doing a bloody good job when we arrived, with Ella’s vocals hitting those speakers fiercely and flawlessly. Her outfit was equally juicy: a tight pink leopard-print jumpsuit that all of a sudden made me very aware of how lumpy my figure is. She looked BOMB. They played crowd faves such as ‘Mascara’ and ‘Weir’, and their overall performance was lovely to witness.
Ancient festival scriptures (if they existed) dictate that the time between sets is entirely devoted to a drink and a whiz, so my friend and I went to do just that. But this wasn’t just any ordinary fezzie toilet experience, this was the BEST fezzie toilet experience I’ve ever had! No bladder-wrenched line, no condoms on the floor, not even any used tampons sitting in the sink. It was the cleanest, most satisfying wee a festival-goer could ask for! To be fair, there was one worrying incident with a grossly clogged portaloo, but there was a fresh toilet nearby so I didn’t even mind!
Next to grace the stage was fun duo Sneaky Sound System. Their electro sound didn’t exactly fit in with the whopping rock line up but it was clear the crowd was still majorly keen to see them. The pair kicked things off with the tune ‘I Love It’, spicing up the relatively placid audience right from the get go. They continued on by pumping out ‘Kansas City’ and ‘Pictures’, which received huge choruses of appreciation from the punters on the floor. Singer Connie’s blonde fro was bloody mesmerizing, as was her fantastically flowy outfit. I mean this woman literally looked like the goddamn Earthly Mother of Groove Music! My only issue is that they used a lot of pre-recorded voice tracks, rather than just letting Connie work her vocal magic solo… Nevertheless, their set was super enjoyable, and their closing track ‘UFO’ went down better than a hungover bacon sambo!
By this point my belly was itchin’ for some grub, so we sat down with some chips to watch the next act. I should probably quickly mention that Lindsay ‘The Doctor’ McDougal, resident host and MC, was incredibly adamant that people remain sun-safe, so we also made sure to sit in the shade. It wasn’t long until Something For Kate got up on stage and immediately impressed the crowd with their effortlessly lovely songs. Paul Dempsey’s voice is an absolute delight live, and I swear his beautiful melodies satisfied my body just as much as the food did. Also am I the only person who thinks he sounds EXACTLY like Pete Murray?? I dunno, I’ll have to mill it over. But anyhoo the band’s energy was just enough for their type of music, with Steph the bassist whipping her hair around in a very rockin’ yet responsible manner. They played a bunch of popular songs, including ‘Monsters’, ‘Deja-Vu’ and even their super cool Like A Version of Florence and the Machine’s ‘Sweet Nothing’, all of which got the audience impressively stirred up.
Speaking of the crowd, it was so awesome to see such a massive age range of people there. I saw fluro-drenched twenty-something year olds, fedora wearing thirty-something year olds, about a thousand ridiculously drunk forty-something year olds, and it was GREAT! A fabulously refreshing palette of people compared to the usual shirtless hunks chewing their gums and bikini-clad bimbos with glitter in their buttholes.
We made our way back to the side of the stage for Spiderbait, who I reckon were the definite highlight of the day. I swear they didn’t even play that much music; they were just so fricken good at entertaining everyone. Kram’s ability to gear up the crowd over and over again was such a dope thing to experience, as was his sensational drumming and vocals of course. All three of them smashed it out of the park when it came to executing their songs, with Whit’s cool demeanour and Janet’s equally cool bass playing adding to the hype of it all. I was actually loving the huge representation of female musos throughout the day too, with almost every major band featuring a kick-ass woman! Spiderbait treated the crowd to an array of fine tunes, including ‘Calypso’, ‘Old Man Sam’, and the belter everyone was waiting for; whoooaaahh ‘Black Betty’ BAMBALAM! Ugh such a fun set, go see Spiderbait guys.
The sky was dark by now, and the entire festival had gathered at the main stage. I was lucky enough to secure a spot right near the front, so I began preparing myself for the onslaught of pushing. The Living End walked on and, as I expected, the crowd went totally ballistic… but would you even believe it; I wasn’t pushed once! This day honestly just kept getting better and better! Scott was tackling the double bass with an insane four-finger picking technique, and was doing heaps of cool tricks while repping a sweet bowler hat so he pretty much won me over instantly. Chris’ frosted tips took a while for me to get used to but his deliciously raspy voice went down a treat, as did the wonderful drumming up the back.
They honestly couldn’t have played a better setlist if they tried, smashing out a couple of tunes from new album Wunderbar, as well as a bunch of classics including ‘Second Solution’, ‘Roll On’, ‘White Noise’ and ‘West End Riot’. Also apparently Melbourne’s been talking smack about how us Newy folk can’t sing? Pfft well suck a fat one Melbs ‘cause Chris reckons we KILLED it during the crowd choruses in ‘Wake Up’. Nothing sounded as great, however, as the park-wide singalong to their concluding song ‘Prisoner of Society’, giving us all the opportunity to release our inner bratty selves!
Honestly this was one of the most enjoyable days that I have had in a while, and the weather wasn’t too shabby also. Cheers to all the BAND-BALAMS for the rockin’ ride!
Maybe I’ll get off the couch more often eh?
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