I can’t believe it’s been two years since I last reviewed the Newtown Festival – in fact it was one of the very first reviews published on the AU review (which was a very different can of worms back then…). But here we are, back again, sitting under the beautiful (though temporary) summer sun, watching some of our favourite local bands play for a gold coin donation in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park.
I arrived just in time to see old friends The Snowdroppers – whom I last caught (and interviewed) in March at Bluesfest. Combine a bit of “risqué” humour with an incredibly impressive performance and you’ve got yourself one hell of a show. They call themselves purveyors of foot-stompin’, boozed-up blues, and you really couldn’t describe it any other way. This is blues done with a dirty edge, and you can’t help but get swept up in all of it – love it. They were briefly joined by another staple of the 2010 Bluesfest lineup, Mojo Juju – who would return to the mainstage soon after as Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants. But for the moment, she just wanted to dance.
Mojo Juju is one of those performers who has found her brand of Blues and Jazz meets Cabaret, and made it their own – putting together a pretty fun live show in the process. While it wasn’t the case in Bluesfest, I definitely felt there was a missing ingredient this afternoon. This is the sort of band that feeds very much off the reception from the crowd – and with the crowd mostly seated here, I think herein we find part of the problem. Nonetheless, a wholly enjoyable set.
I moved over to the impressive Essential Stage to finish off my regretfully short day (how did I miss Megastick Fanfare!?) with rousing performances from The Paper Scissors and Richard in Your Mind. The former, who are in a sort of “Paper Scissors v2.0” mode – recently given a new lease of life on a new record deal – have been sounded pretty damn good of late. Their brand of indie pop rock (or whatever you’d like to call it) is something of its own category, and as a band they’re always a delight to watch. Of course, while their recent single “Lung Sum” sounded a treat, it was their old favourites – i.e. “We Don’t Walk” – that stole the show.
Richard in Your Mind closed out the day in style. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Richard in Your Mind have never sounded better. Whoever brought up the idea of bringing Spod into the equation was an absolute genius. It would be a crying shame not to see this band do wonders on the national stage – but for now I’m pretty happy to feel like I have them all to myself. The set ended with an avalanche of drums, harmonicas, beats, guitar licks and cowbells to send us on our way. It really doesn’t get much better than that…
Taking place on what felt like the first real day of Summer, Newtown Festival gave all attendees yet another day to remember. Not much has changed in two years – the layout remains the same, as do the sorts of stalls on offer – but thankfully the crowds were at a reasonable level this time around – I remember it got a bit out of hand trying to get in and out of the place two years back, and that was certainly not the case this year. Congratulations to the organisers on yet another fantastic event and we will of course see you all again next year – or the year after, depending on how early I get out of bed…
