When you’ve put on one of the biggest touring festivals the country has ever seen, in Soundwave, what do you do next?
Well, for one Mr AJ Maddah you put on another one. “Not content wit his mammoth Soundwave 2013 lineup, Maddah created Harvest, bring punters more fantastic bands to enjoy. While nowhere near the scale of the hard and heavy rock festival, Harvest finished up its rounds in Brisbane on Sunday with quite an eventful day.”
Taking place in the beautiful surrounds of the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, and possibly Brisbane’s best live music venue, Riverstage, Harvest couldn’t really get much better.
Unfortunately the only thing holding back perfection was the temperamental weather that had lashed the Sunshine State all weekend. However, amongst all the storm clouds and severe weather warnings the event got off to a bang with New Jersey band River City Extension.
Having the opening time slot at any festival is never an easy task but the seven-piece band did their best at trying to get the early risers as involved as they could with crowd sing-alongs, to no avail.
They did do a mighty fine job however, at giving punters a pretty fun and upbeat start to the day in their half-hour set – complete with banjos, violins, keys, and maracas.
Not only were the small crowd treated to their indie rock sounds, but lead singer Joe Michelini’s banter did a good job at giving the audiene a few chuckles. With a good energy and a promise to see us again next year, River City Extension finish their set on a bang.
Next to hit the stage was Philadelphia four-piece, The War On Drugs. With some thick bass lines and hard hitting drumming, the band dedicate their first few songs out to Tim’s Guitars, Roger Manning and fellow Harvest act, Cake.As the violin intro to “Come On Eileen” starts, the heavy rain sets in and people everywhere come running down to the front of the stage to dance wildly
From the synth keys to the melodic guitar riffs, The War On Drugs provide another fun and rocking sound that keeps everyone up and having a good time. Adam Granduciel’s Dylan-like vocals and rocking talents on guitar keep the set very enjoyable even as it comes to a close.
As the afternoon crept on, it was time for easily one of the most talked about acts of the festival, Dexys; or formally known as Dexys Midnight Runners. One by one the members of the band ran onto the stage to start playing their instruments before Kevin Rowland himself strutted on to unleash his unique vocals, booming over the crowd.
Kicking their set off with “I Love You (Listen To This)”, Dexys hit the ground running and continued their show with “Lost”.
Joined on stage by a female vocalist, the show turns into somewhat of a theatre performance with Rowland’s voice complemented by the raspy vocals of his female counterpart.
As the violin intro to “Come On Eileen” starts, the heavy rain sets in and people everywhere come running down to the front of the stage to dance wildly to the band’s biggest hit. As the song comes to a finish, the sun returns and the crowd start to disappear as Dexys bring their set to a close.
With revellers drying up in the sunlight, Silversun Pickups took to the stage next with their rocking set of distorted guitars and fast solid drum beats. Unfortunately some sound issues plagued the quartet, but they still managed to deliver a set that got the fans moving and cheering regardless.
Meanwhile over at the Riverstage, Dandy Warhols wrapped up their slot in front of the packed masses with some heavy bass and reverb rolling up the hill.
Returning to the Windmill Stage saw another one of the day’s most exciting acts in Cake. Another band on the bill spawned from the 90s, the Sacramento outift was here to deliver their hits plus a few new tunes.
Gathering a nice gathering, the quintet takes to the stage to mass applause before breaking into “Frank Sinatra”, with their diverse instrumentation from trumpets to vibraslaps. The funky sounds continued throughout their songs “Love You Madly” and “It’s Been A Long Time” to keep people dancing.
“We are Cake and we are here to serve you”, were the next words from frontman John McCrea’s mouth as they lead into a song off the new album entitled “Moustache Man”.
The groovy guitar riffs and odd instrumentation here and there make Cake’s set a whole lot of fun and with the band telling fans that they’ll probably never make it back here, the punters go wild.
“Stick Shifts And Safetybelts”, “Rock And Roll Lifestyle”, “Wheels” and “Never There” bring closer the end of the set, but it’s when the trumpet intro to “Short Skirt /Long Jacket” starts that people start losing their minds. Finishing with “The Distance”, Cake played one of the most enjoyable songs of the festival.
The next part of the day didn’t come as too much of a surprise as the menacing storm clouds came rolling in. Throughout the day the rain had come and gone but with a flicker of green across the sky and the roar of thunder, an announcement from the stage came over to inform the crowd that the festival would have to evacuate due to the impending hail storm just before Ben Folds Five were to hit the stage.
As the mass exodus lead the festivalgoers into the nearby QUT building, the hail came bucketing down, offering a chance for some more game than others to play in the storm.
From one very amusing drunken play fight to a couple doing a nuddy run, the hail storm offered up some entertainment of its own.
After the short delay, the crowds were finally let back in and with cheers they all ran back in.
Heading straight to the Riverstage for the next act was one cold and sludgy mission but well worth it for the highlight of the night, Beck.From one very amusing drunken play fight to a couple doing a nuddy run, the hail storm offered up some entertainment of its own.
Taking the stage twenty-five minutes after he was due, Beck and his band came out to a wall of excitement from the fans and wasted no time opening the set with “Black Tambourine”.
The sound moving around the venue is loud and clear as the rhythm section and Beck’s guitar are absolutely rocking. “We’re gonna have to cut it short but we’ll cram as much as we can in” exclaims Mr Hansen himself before “Think I’m In Love” finishes on a little jam of Prince’s “Raspberry Beret”.
Playing their last show of the year, the band pump out “Strange Apparition” followed by a couple of acoustic numbers that are quite nice and peaceful.
Bringing a sitar player on stage, Beck now switches back to his electric and the band rip into “Qué Onda Guero”, “One Foot In The Grave” and “Devil’s Haircut”. With the sitar on stage the band play “Loser” before closing their set out with “Gamma Ray”, “Where It’s At” and a rousing version of “E-Pro”.
Having played some bluesy numbers with slides and sitar, Beck brought around the end of one very diverse, interesting and fun day of music.
Be sure to check out all the photos from Harvest Brisbane in our gallery here.
