A few weeks ago the lovely crew at Groovin' The Moo HQ invited me down to jump around in their Bendigo paddock for the opening leg of the nation's premier regional music festival. And although I spent most of my time taking it easy in the well-equipped VIP bar and lounge area, I did venture out into the mosh pit to catch some of best acts in action. Here's what I thought of their performances:
The Jezabels: The Sydney alternative/indie group put on a nice display for those who arrived early. A few album tracks were a bit lost on the crowd, but hits such as the suspense-filled Hold Me definitely stood out.
Washington: The quirky, short-haired popster pleased her legion of fans at the front of the stage with her Triple J-friendly hits such as Sunday Best and The Hardest Part. However, they weren't exactly festival anthems, and the rest of the crowd (myself included) pretty much uttered a collective 'meh'.
House Of Pain: The veteran US hip-hop act had arguably the best stage presence of all of the acts on the day. This was especially the case with their landmark old-school hit Jump Around - which saw everyone in the park do just that.
Gyroscope: Providing the first (and, I think only) fight circles of the day, the Perth rockers were a little rusty to get going. However, they found their feet towards the end, with hits Safe Forever, Fast Girl (with a snipet of Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning) and Snakeskin all delivered in style.
Birds Of Tokyo: Although their performance in the festival environment was nowhere near as captivating as their brilliant headline show at Festival Hall in October last year, BOT still put on a fantastic show. Big hits Wild Eyed Boy, Plans and Sillohetic were standouts.
The Wombats: The Liverpool lads had a lengthy delay at the beginning - starting around 15 mins later than scheduled and frustrating several punters. But when they did hit the stage, they were brimming with energy - as they performed several tracks off new album This Modern Glitch. Closing trio of Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves), Moving To New York and Let's Dance To Joy Division all had the crowd in raptures.
Bliss N Eso: Hmmm. There's no doubt BNE can work a crowd, but in my opinion, their live show needs a little tweaking. Despite lots of fantastic visuals and camera shots to compliment hits such as Party At My Place, Happy In My Hoodie, Eye Of The Storm and Down By The River - the guys kinda spoiled things with their avalanche of "Australia is the best country in the world" and "Give it up for my DJ" talk between songs. A OK set, but they've still got a bit to do if they want to take the Oz-hip-hop crown off Hilltop Hoods.
Cut Copy: Finishing the day off with a giant groove, on paper Cut Copy didn't seem like the most obvious choice for a main stage closer. But their set showcased everything we love about their unique dance-rock tunes - as hits such as Hearts On Fire, Lights And Music and Need You Now were all delivered superbly.
So there you have it. There wasn't exactly one massive standout act who completely owned the day or left me raving for more (eg: Silverchair or Empire Of The Sun last year). But in terms of a more consistent lineup and patron comfort (most notably after last year's massive lines debacle), GTM 2011 definitely hit the spot.
The GTM brand can only get bigger and better and I look forward to seeing what they can produce next year.
