ChunGig Review: V-Festival @ Melbourne Showgrounds
April 8th 2008 10:37
The V-Festival hit Melbourne for the first time '08... It wasn't a smooth landing...
If ever there was a music festival in need of the massive sugar and caffiene hit brought on by quickly sculling a six pack of Red Bulls it was the 2008 Melbourne V-Festival. Usually when you walk into an arena for a big rock and roll extravaganza, the atmosphere is charged, the sense of excitement in the air is tangible and the audience can sense something special is about to happen, yet as the crowd slowly filed into the Showgrounds for V-Festival the atmosphere was not one of unbridled enthusiasm but more like a barely suppressed yawn. It was as if everyone had just arrived from a week long bender and were looking for a place to crash rather than some good tunes.
The feeling of lethargy was highly contagious and spread quickly as the few punters that decided to turn up seemed to be going through the motions and appeared highly disinterested. It didn't help that the opening band, Little Red, started 30 minutes late and then only managed to deliver a fairly inspid and uninspired performance. From there it was over to Swedish dance-rap starlet Robyn, who certainly put in a 110% effort but looked out of place on such a big stage.
Local dance sensation Cut/Copy were up next and despite some fervent vocal support from a few diehards in the crowd, never really got going. To be fair it seemed to early in the day for their electro stylings and perhaps at night in front of a more charged audience, they could have given the type of energetic set for which they're renowned on the Australian dance scene.
After three bland acts and a small audience that seemed like they had better things to do, I started to get bummed out. Surely this wasn't it? Thankfully Modest Mouse taking over the main stage signalled that things were going to pick up. The boys from Washington (and Johnny Marr) gave a stirring performance that gave the punters all the hits they came to see. After years of toiling away on the underground, Modest Mouse are now the most fashionable unfashionable band going around today and even if you don't particularly enjoy their music you have to respect them as musicians. The space between tracks is accompanied by a flurry of instrument changes. There's two drummers, guitars, bass, an upright bass, a banjo, a ukelele, a xylophone and a trumpet. Certainly there's a lot going on to be sure and you can't help but stand and admire such talented musicians as they belt out such gorgeous songs like Float On that had the crowd arm-in-arm and singing along.
When Modest Mouse took their leave from an adoring crowd, the stage was turned over to recently reformed British group, The Jesus and Mary Chain. For someone who wasn't very familiar with their work, I found myself enjoying the JMAC's post-punk offerings, however I have to admit that I was more focused on counting down till when the Queens of the Stone Age would take over the Melbourne Showgrounds.
QOTSA: Saving rock n roll, one boring music festival at a time
The pressure was on QOTSA to resusicate what had been a drab festival and from the moment Josh Homme and his crew emerged from backstage and the seductive keyboard of Misfit Love kicked in, the crowd suddenly shook off its lethargy and surged to the front and you knew the wake up call we'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
QOTSA sped along at a frenetic clip as they did their best to squeeze as many stellar tracks from their extensive back catalogue as possible into a painfully short one hour set. Feel Good Hit of the Summer, Lost Art of Keeping Secret and Go With the Flow all got their time in the sun and had the mosh pit heaving before climaxing with No One Knows.
As the head honcho of all things QOTSA, Josh Homme naturally gets most of the plaudits, but special mention has to go to drummer Joey Castillo and new bass player, Mikey Shoes. Equipped with a Black Flag drum kit, Castillo is an absolute monster on the skins and really drives the entire set, while Mikey Shoes plays with such boundless energy that it's impossible not to rock out in his presence.
The stage was now set for the headline act, the Smashing Pumpkins. On their first Australian tour in a decade, the Pumpkins have been getting mixed reviews across the country. In Adelaide, front man Billy Corgan reportedly chastised the crowd for only wanting to hear the Pumpkins' old material, while the reaction to the Melbourne sideshow was mostly positive, so no-one knew what to expect.
He may not be universally loved, but Billy Corgan can still do the business when he wants to
Things started out well with a beautiful rendition of Today and from there Corgan played a mix of old and new stuff with some long jamming sessions thrown in as well. The ten minute jams were good at first, but quickly became tiresome as the crowd yearned to hear the classics. The Pink Floyd cover, however, was mesmerising.
It seemed that Melbourne brings out the good Billy Corgan because while the great man was aloof at first, he began to loosen up and genuinely seemed to enjoy himself as he interacted with the crowd. For the encore, the Pumpkins gave the audience a special treat by playing Zero for the first time in six months before closing things with Cherub Rock.
On the whole, the Smashing Pumpkins set was pretty damn good. If Disarm had've been added to the setlist then it would've been perfect, but the stirring and heartfelt Tonight, Tonight made up for it. Yeah, Corgan was self-indulgent and a tad full of himself, but if you're a Pumpkins fan after all these years then you should know what to expect by now.
Highlight of the Day: Without a doubt, it was Queens of the Stone Age who singlehandedly saved V-Festival from being an insipidly boring and tired affair with a swift injection of hard rock.
Lowlight of the Day The terrible atmosphere where everyone seemed hopped up on sleeping pills. The ridiculously high ticket price probably scared away most sane punters. If this is the best the V-Festival has to offer than it doesn't need to return to Melbourne next year.
| 89 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
Comment by Tyronne
Music Times
Sydney Fun
Vintage Culture
Melbourne DiaryStar