“Who on earth is that band rocking the socks off the main stage?” I thought to myself as I entered the Bluesfest showgrounds for my third day. “Led Zeppelin? The Mars Volta?” Whoever it was, they sounded absolutely incredible. I would later find out they were Carney, from Los Angeles – one of the surprise highlights of Bluesfest. Hold out for our Monday coverage (when they performed again) to learn more! Unfortunately, I was only able to experience their set from a distance today.
As the day moved on, the crowds began to swell to their largest size of the week, and I caught Nashville-based quintet Old Crow Medicine Show. The group have been impressing crowds around the world with their brand of American roots music. They bring us their take on “traditional banjo strummin’ tunes”, with a bit of lyrical tongue-in-cheek, playing tracks like “Never Let No Woman Rule Your Life”. On the more serious side of the equator, they performed a cover of “Botany Bay” to bring a bit of Australiana into the set. The group held their own on the stage, sounded amazing, and proved they
were deserving of all the accolades
Galactic, who we covered on Thursday, followed Old Crow on the main stage and gave another performance fit for kings. You might start to see a bit of a trend here in my reviews of Bluesfest – with a couple of exceptions, there is almost nothing bad you can say about the Bluesfest lineup. Peter Noble and co. have once again pulled together a truly impressive group of talents for a week that has no equal on the Australian music calendar. Meanwhile, Mojo Juju and the Snake Oil Merchants (pictured above) – part burlesque, part cabaret, part folk, part rock and roll – showed how Bluesfest really does have something for everyone.
The group were today making their third of four appearances on the Caba Caba Ray Stage, meaning plenty of punters would have the opportunity to experience this fantastic act. While one may expect a group of this nature to use cabaret or burlesque as compensation for a lack of talent in other areas, I can honestly say this was a band of true musical, shoe-stompin’ talent. Anything else they brought us was simply icing on the cake.
Kaos Kreepshow (pictured above) followed, another repeat offender on the Caba Caba stage, a four-piece who put together a collection of exciting sideshow acts to entrance the Bluesfest crowd. Much like Mojo Juju and RockWiz before it, Kaos lived up to their name and proved a welcome escape from the norm; and a surprising one at that. We had a record-breaking sword swallower, a woman whose ability to perform human origami was nothing short of incredible, and a man who enjoyed using his nipples as a pulling device. As they put it themselves, they were there to show that anything was possible, and for that they succeeded ten times over.
I caught the end of Newton Faulkner’s set next, as I chomped away on some delicious noodles (I’m sure you’ve heard how good the food is at Bluesfest), and heard a rousing cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody”. To play this song well is an impressive feat for anyone – and for a man playing with nothing more than his guitar to do so brings it to another level entirely. While I can’t say I’m a pre-exposed fan, he definitely won me over with his skills on that stage tonight. The tent was so packed for Newton’s set that it literally looked like it might explode.
Following the 25-year-old UK native was a Southern Californian who has gained a massive following of his own in the last few years: Donovan Frankenreiter (pictured below). As much of a fan of the waves as he is of the music, there was no better place to see the acclaimed singer/songwriter. And he agreed.
“On my Mind” opened the set, with “Life, Love and Laughter” not far behind. Of course “Free” was a big hit with the crowd, who sang along to every word. There’s nothing quite like the Byron Bay sing-along, and Donovan did it proud. His backing band were just as impressive, too, with one of the members trumpeting with one hand and playing keyboards with the other. Phoar!!! It was the heartfelt “Call Me Papa” that proved the highlight of my set.
I caught a bit more of Poor Man’s Whiskey after Donovan, catching them using the Theremin! At one point, Eli Jebidiah thrusted his crotch at the device to form the sound, his red panties showing through. Nice. There’s got to be a first time for everything. Did I mention he was dressed as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz? They also used beer cans to open up their interpretation of “Money” – renamed, appropriately, “Whiskey”. Too cool.
The easy highlight of the day came next in the form of Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, the 13 piece bringing the sounds of Havana to the Bluesfest stage. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever danced like that before. It was an absolute blast. I didn’t know the music, with a couple of exceptions, but it was clear that these were performer’s who’s skills are hard to match, let alone beat. One of the guys even pulled a Jimi Hendrix and played the guitar from behind! And it was amazing! Pure fun, pure skills and lots of dancing, on stage and off; this is what Bluesfest is all about.
And this was a tradition that the Gipsy Kings continued, helping me bring my Saturday night to a satisfying close while the majority enjoyed Jack Johnson on the main stage. But how could I say no to hearing “Bamboleo” live? Although the 90-minute set which led to the iconic tune drew a bit tiring at times, I kept my dancing shoes on and I can’t say how much of a thrill it was to hear “Bamboleo” with the entire tent singing along. Not a bad way to end a night if I do say so myself.
While Gipsy Kings continued playing one more track after the song we’d all been waiting for, my friends and I ran towards the buses into the city, and we found ourselves a victims of the large crowds the day had attracted. Despite missing the onslaught of people yet to come, our wait in line nonetheless stood at around 70 minutes, during which time the crowds became a bit unruly – members of the line chanting in mob-like form to keep people from cutting in. I even saw a woman tackle another (nice!). So I suppose we were at least entertained! In either case, this is something that should be looked into for next year. It did get a bit crazy. But by the time we got back to our accommodation, it was already forgotten – “Bamboleo” ringing in our ears and rocking us to sleep.
A last minute mention for today is Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges (pictured above), the Texan Bluesman who is no stranger to our shores. One of the benefits of the media pass was that the media tent was set behind the scenes, next to the Gibson guitar tent – set up for the artists to play around in. One never knew who they’d get to see, and on this day, a few of us got to witness Eugene jamming on the guitar – and boy was it impressive. He is indeed the “real deal”.
