Despite not being the most well known of the street festivals in Sydney (even though it’s really the only decent one I’ve been to), these guys certainly manage to get some of the hottest acts in town…. and even more surprising: they managed some of the first great weather of the spring!
Arriving to the Victoria Road stage just after noon, Cloud Control (all the way from the Blue Mountains) were setting to the stage. Now these guys have been lighting up the stages of dingy pubs and clubs around the city for ages now; usually playing to an audience of drunken teenagers and those arty early 20s types who still pretend to be the former. While this may seem like a generalisation, it is at the very least the only environment that I’ve ever encountered them. So it was lovely to hear them under a blue sky without a beer in hand.
It really is hard not to like these guys – Alister is a great singer and they are all amazing musicians. Of particular mention is the song “Into the Line,” which channels their inner Arcade Fire (they must be rather sick of that comparison, I do apologise) but remains totally their own. In a word, it’s pretty epic live, and you can’t help but have a smile on your face as you bob your head along. And other tracks off their EP like “Vintage Books” and “She’s Crazy and She Doesn’t Care” are not only great songs, but just damn fun live. I highly recommend this band – even if you do have to see them in the depths of Oxford Street. Judging by the upcoming “Death Cloud” tour they’ve got coming up, however, it looks like they’ve got a promising future ahead of them. Check their MySpace page for more information.
Richard in your Mind were up next, playing their first gig in many months. In that time they had replaced two members of the band, but still managed to retain the sound of the original line-up, while naturally not being nearly as tight as I remember. These guys have always had a couple of great songs, and it pretty much remains that way. I’ll always enjoy seeing one of their live sets, and with the Marrickville Festival definitely being a practice run for them, I look forward to a future show when I can see a tighter set from the guys.
After some “misc local hip-hop” acts took to the stage, we next had Art vs. Science, of which the street press has been raving about for a while now. Basically, they are just like The Presets, except there are three of them, and thus in the long run have a much better chance of a killer live show. I really enjoyed watching them live, even if a street festival definitely wasn’t the place for that sort of music. Remember the dingy clubs I mentioned before? That’s where you need to see these guys, and I’ll definitely be doing it the first chance I get. While the Presets comparison is inevitable (there are heaps of guys out there doing the same thing, after all… it’s just the way of the Sydney live scene at the moment) these guys are definitely a cut above the rest. Right now they only have a couple of good catchy numbers to their name, but then again, so did the Presets when I first saw them. I would be very surprised if these guys didn’t become one of the bigger acts in town in a few months, especially if the street press has its way!
The last two acts of the day were The E.L.F. and Cassette Kids, and I can’t say I’m a big fan of either. In the case of the latter, it’s not because they aren’t talented, but rather the opposite. These kids can play some mean tunes, but for some reason they crank out generic music that is little more than background noise. I don’t doubt they are capable of more, and I’ll definitely be keeping my ears open for the day they move on to some less generic tunes. After all, there aren’t many decent bands with female lead singers in town. And as for Gerling’s Darren (aka The E.L.F.), I really can’t stand him either. Launching to the stage with a computer and a microphone, he sang along to some pretty poorly mixed beats. Some of this stuff might sound OK on a recording… or to people peaking at 2am… but otherwise it’s just irritating. There was this one guy up the front, however, who totally disagreed.
As for the rest of the street festival – it was a lot of what you can expect from a Marrickville Cultural Festival. The Illawarra Road Stage had the cultural shows and some more diverse music. Chase the Sun were the only band I caught on that stage… they had a great blues and roots vibe going for them. Very enjoyable. And of course you had the mandatory supplies of junk food and the bric-a-brac stores that make street festivals what they are. Already looking forward to seeing who they pull out of the Sydney live scene to perform next year, because you certainly can’t beat the price of free with this sort of quality.
