Little Boots live at Parklife

On the weekend I and many other of the youths around Melbourne attended Fuzzy and Future Entertainment’s Parklife at Birrarung Marr on the Yarra, signalling the coming of summer and the festival season.

It was a stellar Melbourne day with the sun coming out to shine and many youngsters coming out to show some post-winter fake tan and party. I kicked off the day with a raucous performance by Sydneysiders and Triple J favourites, Art Vs Science. It was very well received by an enthusiastic crowd, with the band even getting some mime-costumed lads to come dance up on stage with them, and an excellent way to kick off an epic day.

Next, I headed off to the Water stage to catch the up and coming superstar of Australian dance, Shazam. He played a pumping set despite the roadie for Little Boots deciding that it would be a nice idea to start their sound check right bang in the middle of Shazam’s set, the nerve! Boy, oh, Boy was I angry! But the adorably dweebish Shazam persisted and finished off a set of future indie hits without complaint. After they hurried Shazam off stage at the end of his set, we were regretfully informed that not only was her roadie obnoxious but that British export Little Boots was running late and would be a few more minutes before she came on. Luckily, when she finally did arrive, sporting some cool Saiyan armour and some not so little heels, she busted out a rapid fire of hits without fault.

I then battled through a overwhelming crowd at MSTRKRFT to catch some club hits from the remix masters. From there I rushed over to the Fire stage to enjoy a tight and rich performance by quirk-pop darlings Metronomy, with a recently new line up and wearing some rad lights. As night approached we got our party on to Yacht Club DJs, spinning a barrage of hits spanning all genres and pumping up the crowd with some rock star antics including multiple journeys into the crowd on top of an inflatable boat… or yacht? We then retreated back up the hill to watch Metric play a subdued 45 minute set with more of a rock and roll flavour, leaving early to secure a good spot for Empire Of The Sun’s debut Melbourne performance.

The people flocked to the Water stage to catch Luke Steele’s extravagant performance featuring multiple costume changes, an accompanying acid-trip lightshow and dancers dressed as swordfish. People sang along and the crowd swayed but in comparison the set was rather lack lustre and was missing that Nick Littlemore charm. At the end of the Empire Of The Sun journey through time and space, I popped back over to the Fire stage to catch The Rapture channel some Sting and do some sweet justice to the dance rock genre. A fantastic way to cap off an evening!

And if my experience of the day is anything to go by, I think they got it wrong…

…at Parklife, people still dance.

Big Day Out 2009

The Lineup:
Bluejuice
Calvin Harris
Dizzee Rascal
Eskimo Joe
Girl Talk
Grinspoon
Groove Armada
Karnivool
Kasabian
Kisschasy
Ladyhawke
Lily Allen
Lisa Mitchell
Magic Dirt
Mastodon
Midnight Juggernauts
Muse
Peaches
Powderfinger
Rise Against
Tame Impala
The Decemberists
The Horrors
The Mars Volta
The Temper Trap

Also, check out the interview with Muse’s Matt Bellamy this friday in the The Age as he talks about his creative ideas for this year’s stage effects: “We’ve always used music and video in combination with our theatrical moments. The design of the stage brings across certain ideas we always have been interested in”.

Grizzly Bear

In light of the recent release of the Falls Festival line up I thought we’d check out Grizzly Bear – an artist that made me do a little dance in my head… and then in my room.

Grizzly Bear have been one of those bands that I had a little bit of a secret relationship with. I don’t know how they mysteriously found their way onto my iTunes and I can’t for the life of me remember who put them there, but I’m bloody thankful they did.

I was blissfully unaware that they were due to release a new album until my radio started humming Two Weeks. The music filled the car and left me with good vibes for the rest of the day. I was pleasantly surprised when the radio host confirmed that we were in fact listening to a Grizzly Bear track from their new album, Veckatimest. It was one of those rare occasions, like getting the ballot for Falls.

After I got my hot little hands onto a copy of the album, I listened so much that I felt like it had become the theme tune to my life. Their songs even earned the prestige of joining my travelling-to-uni collection. Any of their songs will put you in high spirits. Grizzly Bear are definitely soul soothers.

This album is a little different to their earlier stuff. It’s a lot more conventional and a little more pop. But honestly, it doesn’t matter. Old or new – I’m still happy.

I recommend Veckatimest if you want a bit of soft rock with an edge. And to all those planning a trip to the Falls Festival this year, I hope you soak up all the grizzly on their very first Australian tour.

Phoenix live

French indie-rockers Phoenix are playing tomorrow night at the Palace Theatre, following the release of their latest album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

If you haven’t listened to the album before you’ll be presently surprised by the warm vocals of Thomas Mars methodically complimented by a blend of fast guitar riffs and tight snare drums.  This combination isn’t really surprising considering the four-piece band originated from the suburb of Versailles which also produced Daft Punk.

For those not lucky enough to get your hands on a ticket, head over to their site and listen to their beats:

myspace.com/wearephoenix

WeArePhoenix.com