It was a completely sold out event for Groovin’ the Moo at Bendigo’s Royal Showgrounds. This year the festival boasted a line-up of more international acts than previous years as well as a few chosen bands from this year Triple J Unearthed competition. It was a well-planned festival with two main stages next to each other, (Main Stage and ‘Udder’ Stage – cute) which enabled limited waiting time, making sure the audience didn’t have an opportunity to get restless. There was also the ‘Moolin Rouge’ tent for those who preferred some heavier beats.
Starting the day off was one such Triple J Unearthed band Oh Pacific, a relatively new band from Bendigo who played an enthusiastic set of their self-described rock/pop music to those who arrived early. Sydney band The Jezebels played at just the right time as the showgrounds filled up, and the audience was pleased to see them back from their U.S tour as front woman Hayley Mary’s arch vocals pierced the Bendigo sunshine. Over in the Moolin Rouge tent The Go! Team (UK) were putting on an animated performance despite just completing an exhausting European tour, with singer Ninja appearing to have recuperated fine and leading a crowd that was steadily peaking.
The much talked and blogged about Darwin Deez played to a curious if not altogether entirely converted crowd. This band has generated a lot of hype, and they certainly delivered with their amusing lyrics and vocal stylings comparable to those of Julian Casablancas.
Norwegian dance punks Datarock played to an already jumping crowd, the duo still popular and still getting good festival spots considering their last album was back in 2009. New Australian music favourite and ARIA Award winner Washington got the girls in the audience dancing in a way only Cyndi Lauper could do back in the 80’s, her still earnest nature and continual thanking of the crowd for making her set almost contradicting the level of fame and popularity she enjoys in Australia now.
The only ordinary part of the day came from so called ‘hip-hop’ acts House of Pain and Bliss n’ Eso. Two extremely safe choices, and although not an urban festival it would have been more fitting to find two extra indie bands than the very watered down hip-hop that was performed. Most disappointing was House of Pain whose hit ‘Jump Around’ is still a club favourite almost twenty years after its release. Although the signature siren call during the opening had the audience running towards the stage to dance, as the group also performed covers during their set including a Snoop Dogg track, ‘Jump Around’ just could not come out fresh.
Australian Hip-Hop duo Bliss n Eso had more of the crowd favour than House of Pain, and a later time slot, but their message does not exactly fit the traditional medium of a hip-hop structured song. Rapping about how their grandmother taught them never to take any shit and then endlessly dropping ‘mother fucker’ in to their Parramatta patois makes their schtick an acquired taste, but hey, the crowd seemed to love it.
Those not into Hip-Hop might have headed over to the Moolin Rouge tent for Architecture in Helsinki. These Melbourne favourites brought their wide electronic instrument repertoire to the stage, and long time fans would have been excited to hear songs off their new album Moment Bends.
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The Drums kept the Udder Stage crowd dancing with their signature tinny indie pop. Lead singer Jonathan Pierce was the highlight, as he cruised around the stage with as much theatricality as a young Bono. Old favourite ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ still generated a hearty response from the crowd two years after its release.
Birds of Tokyo proved (not surprisingly) immensely popular, judging by the number of hands in the air at least. Easily the band the crowd was the most enthusiastic about all day. These guys unfortunately look set to be future festival favourites.
Also representing the United Kingdom were the hugely popular (The)Wombats, who came all the way from Liverpool to promote their new album This Modern Glitch, released during the week. Fans weren’t to miss out, however, as they played all the old favourites as well to the crowds delight, ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’ which was welcomed by a raucous crowd with much cheering and dancing.
True fans of UNKLE would have perhaps gone to their sideshow at Billboard the day before, but the electronic band (who deserved a spot on the main stage) still put on a killer set, with many of the younger members of the crowd receiving a welcome lesson in electronica and sampling from the masters of the genre.
Cut Copy headlined but it perhaps wasn’t the victorious homecoming they might have liked. The band seem to hardly play any instruments live these days, rather just jumping around to sequenced tracks, and perhaps this new clinical approach to their sound is what saw the audience leaving in droves. Or maybe it was simply a shame that half the people in the audience were intent on getting back to Melbourne via public transport or wanted to avoid traffic and so scattered away. The numbers spoke volumes about the whole day however, and apart from being a welcome injection in to the local economy, the event can seem to do no wrong in the eyes of the fans.
– Hannah Joyner
