Live Review: THIS THAT FESTIVAL @ Wickham Park
Kicking off the day were Triple J Unearthed star, Samsaruh. Coming off the back off an epic successful year claiming the #1 played track on Triple J last year, I was stoked to finally see this absolute babe live. Was so stoked to finally see her sing “Beautiful Killer” live, being one of my fave picks of songs of the festival. Straight after, I caught the end of Ninajirachi’s set. The mini dj, recently signed by powerhouse Nina Las Vegas, of NLV Records was a pocket full of fun. Despite being in the absolute peak of the heat of the day, she had the whole crowd in the tent going for it. She had bits and pieces from fellow record member, Swick, as well as a few of NLV’s numbers. Would definitely be keen to catch her again.
Next up, Sydney-gal Nyxen, and for me, one of the highlights for the day. Having missed out on seeing her a few times, I was pretty excited that I would finally be able to catch her, and boy she exceeded my expectations. She took to the stage with a guitar in hand, and took the crowd by storm. She had muso Cyrus come out and sing with her for her remix of the Temper Trap’s classic “Sweet Disposition”. Of course, the highlights of the city were her two biggest bangers, In the City followed by Monsters where she had the crowd singing with her the whole way. She finished off with a mini cover of a Deadmau5 classic. This girl is one to watch.
Thandi Phoenix, another fab Sydney chick, who has been making her way up the scene for the while, brought an enormous amount of energy to the tent. You can always count of her to be the life of the party. She opened with her 2016 hit, “Tell Me Where the Lovers Have Gone” which took the crowd by storm. Backed up with a drummer and DJ, she took us on a while ride. She did a little cover of Kid Cudi’s “Day n Night” which was a hell of a lot of fun. Always love seeing this chick live, her voice is seriously one of the best new female soul voices we’ve in Australia right now.
Back at the This stage, Amy Shark, Australia’s pride and glory was up next. After falling in love with her debut album “Love Monster”, I couldn’t wait to see it live. She seems to be in total awe that so many people have come to see her sing, but she really looks at home on the stage. Her voice is seriously amazing live, even better than on her album. Highlights of the set for me were “I Said Hi” and “All Loved”, although her cover of “Teenage Dirtbag”, was close behind, where she had all the sweaty crowd hugging and singing along with her, which is what I think an Australian festival is all about.
Another Aussie hip-shop all-star Illy was next up on stage. He brought so many positive energy and charisma to the stage, it was seriously a lot of fun. Illy’s lyrics when you really listen to them have so much being, he is passionate feminist, which you can especially see in his album Two Degrees. My fave songs from his set included Papercuts where he collaborated with Vera Blue (although sadly she wasn’t there to sing it with him), but it was still equally as great, and Catch 22.
We then had three-piece indie electronic band SAFIA, who had recently just dropped a new single “Starlight” (which I hope means a new album isn’t too far away!). They had a huge crowd turn up for them, coming into the sunset, we had the absolute pleasure of getting to listen to the amazing vocals of Ben Woolner. Woolner’s vocal range is absolutely incredible. Every tune of the set was a banger, it was really hard to say what the stand out was, as they just had the crowd singing along to every single song. Perhaps one of the best was when they were playing “Counting Sheep” and as the ticking went on, it got louder and louder, and the crowd was going wilder and wilder. I couldn’t go past “Take Me Over” and “Listen to Soul, Listen to Blues” – SAFIA for me were the highlight of the whole festival – I can’t wait to see them again.
As it started to cool down finally outside, we had The Rubens take to the stage. These lads are slick, with a number of bangers and albums under the belts now, they held the crowd captive for the next hour. For one of their latest ones, “Never Ever”, they had Sarah, who features with them, come out and sing live, which was just so pure. The boys also covered Chance the Rappers “Same Drugs”, which had the crowd singing along and also the highlight of the set for me. “Million Man”, another recent one but different kind of one from the boys, really set the tone for the evening, with a mix of 70s style guitar, funky deep piano tones, and the suave voice Sam Margin. They finished up their set with their Triple Hottest 100 #1 of 2016 Hoops, which of course the crowd erupted over, chanting with them “Never back too soon”. The boys always keep me coming back for more.
Now, the headliner, RL Grime, was one not to be missed, although he did keep us waiting, but heck, it was well worth the wait. When we were finally blessed with his presence, he opened with “Era” one from his new album “Nova”, which just made the crowd go wilddddddd! Being a massive EDM fan, and RL Grime fan, I was absolutely stoked with the production of this set. RL Grime brings a mix of up-beat pop with some down-right dirty dubstep which you can’t stop moving to. We had a bit of a mix between his old and new tunes, alongside with a few songs he collaborated with such as “Waiting” with What So Not and Skrillex, plus his own take on Fisher’s banger “Losing It”. Highlights of the set included “Stay For It” where he had cannons blast streamers and “I Wanna Know” where we had fireworks christening the skies. What an absolute way to end the day.
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