Groovin’ The Moo has grown to be one of the most exciting music festivals in Australia, and the 2014 edition played host to what was quite possibly the event’s strongest and most diverse array of artists to date.
This year marks Groovin’s 10th anniversary and sixth visit to Bendigo. The organisers have sorted out a lot of the festival’s early logistical issues, and should be commended on an exceptionally well-run event. One minor nuance was a severe lack of phone reception; by now, one would expect signal boosters to be implemented, as they are at most other festivals these days. With that out of the way, let’s talk music!
This year’s Triple J Unearthed winners Outlines took the main stage opening honours and delivered a short but enthusiastic set of eclectic pop-punk tunes. Commendably, the band were forced to find a replacement vocalist/guitarist to play with them at the festival, with regular frontman Daniel Casley currently overseas. Local Bendigo muso Steven Hammer took on the role and nailed it.
Continuing the Bendigo-exclusive contingent, Melbourne’s My Echo introduced the steadily growing crowd to a healthy selection of anthemic punk-rock tunes, with a notable amount of The Living End influence. Six-piece Lurch & Chief soon followed, and brought to the stage a unique style of blues-infused indie rock that induced smiles, singalongs, and some pretty bizarre dance moves throughout the audience. Triple J curated track ‘Mother/Father’ saw an increased number of wandering punters turn their attention towards the band, noting familiarity with the song’s catchy hook.
Watching Robert Delong is like watching a happy kid with way too many toys, but nobody would question the fact that he can play the absolute shit out of all them. With a Wii remote, Xbox controller, and multiple gaming joysticks tuned into Delong’s impressive electronic instrumental array, he recorded and looped his way through a bass-heavy set that provided an early tester for Groovin’s mainstage audio arrangement.
A trip to the bar during the light-hearted indie rock sounds of The Jungle Giants yielded a familiar sighting of punters lining up for drinks with a handful of empty cans. For quite a few years, the festival have put a $1 recycling tax on each alcoholic beverage sold – redeemable by returning your can and any others that you pick up along the way. It’s an effective system that rewards festival-goers for doing the right thing, and keeps the place looking a little bit more respectable. It would be nice to see a similar concept implemented by other festivals in the future.
Melbourne’s rising rock n’ rollers Kingswood were actually one of the opening bands at the 2013 Bendigo Groovin’ The Moo, and there were zero complaints heard about having to see them play two years in a row. Heads were bangin’ to opener ‘She’s My Baby’, and they continued do so throughout the highly entertaining set. Discarding and ridiculing a sidestage note that prohibited artists from stage diving, frontman Fergus Linacre descended into the crowd and sought ably provided assistance in singing the band’s highly popular track, ‘Ohio’.
Illy did hardcore fans a solid by playing his Amity Affliction collaboration ‘Youngbloods’. Punters soon walked to the ‘Moolin Rouge’ stage to see Byron Bay’s titanic hardcore outfit, Parkway Drive. Vocalist Winston McCall informed the crowd that Parkway Drive are the “loudest, heaviest, and most obnoxious band that you’ll have to deal with all day”. Interestingly, the group did look quite isolated on the lineup. However, you wouldn’t know it by the huge reaction that they received, with the usual chaotic moshpit antics erupting from the first crushing riffs.
The festival has proven consistently over the last few years that even in relative isolation on a festival lineup, these heavier bands have a willing and enthusiastic market that will consistently come out and meet them. This raises the question of why other genre-diverse major festivals (e.g. Splendour In The Grass) have consistently been averse to booking Australia’s premier hardcore acts, and whether or not this will change in the future.
A short walk back to the mainstage featured the annual Groovin’ The Moo segment known as ‘people run towards the stage from all directions to dance along to the only song they know by a breakthrough artist’. Past examples include Matt Corby with ‘Brother’ and San Cisco with ‘Awkward’, both eclipsed by this year’s featuring artist that was Vance Joy with his Triple J Hottest 100 winner ‘Riptide’.
Back at the Moolin Rouge, Violent Soho had the difficult task of maintaining Parkway’s moshpit energy, but they were more than capable of doing so. Mosh circles sprung up all over the place as the punk-rock four-piece fingerpicked and shredded their way through a blistering set. Each of their studio albums was well represented, with ‘Love Is A Heavy Word’ and ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend’ joining the hugely popular ‘Covered In Chrome’ as set highlights.
Aussie prog-rock overlords Karnivool delivered a particularly heavy set that drew evenly from their three studio albums. It started raining during the dying passages of ‘Set Fire To The Hive’, but it did little to put the fire out as most moshpit partakers were thankful for the cool-off. ‘Themata’ and ‘New Day’ saw the set out with mega audience participation.
After a series of hard-rock bands, The Naked And Famous and The Jezabels provided an enjoyable breather before Dizzee Rascal brought an energy storm back to the crowd. The UK emcee brought his A-game to Bendigo and ripped through a bass-heavy set that had the earth shaking. Hits such as ‘Holiday’, ‘Dance Wiv Me’, and ‘Bassline Junkie’ had everyone bouncing, but nothing compared to ‘Bonkers’. Dizzee requested circles to open up in the crowd, which eventually merged into one giant bounce-pit as people went absolutely ‘bonkers’.
The Presets saw out the night’s proceedings, giving punters one last chance to dance to their renowned brand of electronica. After the excitement of Dizzee, and despite an impressive light show, the duo’s performance actually felt a little dull and slow to start with. However, it soon picked up as they moved towards their stronger, dancier material such as Apocalypso’s ‘My People’, and classic single ‘Are You The One?’.
Leaving the festival via a quick date with EDM duo Disclosure, it was easy to look forward to a short drive home. For Bendigo locals who are used to travelling long distances to get their festival fix, this makes the Groovin’ The Moo experience all the more special.
