Dip, dive, socialize, get ready for the saturday night
I have respect for a band that can get 10 000 odd people to get down, down, down on the ground in the middle of a concert and even more when the same band would proceed to bring percussion into the crowd at the end of the set and start a conga line. This band is Ozomatli. Another band who I didn’t know what to expect and it was perfect programming to have them follow Fishbone. Not only were these really great and diverse in their range of music from some ballads to rap to down right funk, they were a great band who put on a fantastic show. Lots of photos with this one as not only is there 9 or 10 guys in the line-up but they all liked to show-off.
Look Mr Angelo Moore from Fishbone has joined the show.
Keeping the crowd going with a beat.
Getting in the crowd to party
It’s party time in the crowd.
Man, I can’t wait for these guys to come back to Australia
The middle night of the festival at the Mojo Tent was a night where the crowd got down and danced and danced and danced. First up was Fat Freddy’s Drop who started the vibe and then it was Fishbone who were back in Aus after a 11 year wait for long time fans and ready to convert a whole new generation of kids to the Fishbone madness. I hadn’t heard of Fishbone before so I was in for a treat and man. They went off especially the lead singer/saxophonist Angelo Moore who by the end of the set was missing his jacket, tie, shirt and his suspenders were barely holding his pants up. Sigh he is an entertainer. They also managed to spend a fair bit of time either crowd surfing or hanging out in the crowd and I don’t think security really knew what was happening most of the time because they would jump up on the speaker stacks one minute and the next be down in the crowd. Sigh they were great.
I can’t find any recent videos on youtube but here is an oldie – only two of these guys are still in the line-up today but it is a goodie.
The only time to buy Easter Eggs is after Easter when they are half the price. Especially when your sole purpose is to have fun taking photos of the chocolate delights. We went to The Farm today so my box of eggs and bunnies came along, as The Farm has acres upon acres of green grass, they are after all a turf farm and unlike Brisbane they aren’t affected by that thing called “The Drought”.
Oh what a delightful time I had carefully styling my shots, placing the eggs down in a random but calculated array, finding the perfect bush for the bunny to hide behind and so on.
Here is a family of Lindt Gold Bunnies following each other on the turf. Don’t they look so cute! There is the Papa bunny and the two little kittens. They are crossing the turf back to the warren where Mama bunny is waiting. After I finished with the Bluesfest photos I will post some photos of Lindt bunnies adventures at The Farm and Easter egg fun time.
The half way day and the day it all started to get better, I was getting to know the festival and had finally tuned into the vibe of the festival and now knew what to expect.
1. The Gin Club
The Gin Club are a local Brissie band that I have total respect for, not only do they play some pretty cool tunes but they are all multi-instrumental and seamlessly play a game of musical chairs throughout the set which I find mighty impressive.
2. Jackson Jackson Up Close in the Coca Cola Live n’ Local stage
I ended up seeing these guys twice. The first was on Day 2 in the Live n’ Local tent with about 200 other people and a whole swag of video cameras. I didn’t really get into the music on the first day, however when I saw them again later in the festival I was loving it. They really grew on me. Will talk more about them when they played at the Mojo on Day 4.
3. Alice Russell
This lady has soul I only caught the end of her before Amos Lee started but dang, this lady eats Joss Stone for breakfast. What a voice and a more soulful stage presence as well. The version of the White Stripe’s Seven Nation Army is pretty sweet.
4. Amos Lee
I wasn’t too fussed on Mr Lee, possibly because of the group of women who pushed their way in front of me to scream and flutter their eyelids at Mr Lee the entire way through the set, continuously proclaiming that they are the biggest Amos Lee fans. Might have to go back and check out some of his stuff to have a second listen.
5. Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin
110% pure Americana. They had the fiddle, the banjo, the mandolin, tambour and of course the guitar. True storytellers these blokes.
6. Fat Freddy’s Drop
Excuse the pun but these guys were phat (the first and last time I will ever use that word). A seven piece roots/dub band out of Wellington, NZ who knew how to get the party started in the Mojo tent. The trombonist Joe Lindsay could shake his body like it was no one’s business.
The last three bands of the night all deserve their own posts as these guys had the entire Mojo tent at their command, from conga lines to getting down or waving those hands.
Day 2 was a whole lot better than at the end of Day 1, I wasn’t quite sold on the whole BluesFest yet as I kept thinking back to the magic that was Woodford, that however started to change on Day 2. Day 2 was the start of a fantastic four days.
1. Bluezone at the Crossroads Stage
Nice group to start the day off. I know I enjoyed their set but I can’t really remember much else about it.
2. Dallas Frasca at Crossroads
Wow. This duo were rocking my socks. Loved the vibe they had and the atmosphere they got going inside the tent with some great folk rock.
3. Paolo Nutini at Mojo
I only heard a couple of Paolo’s songs as I was passing through to get a Byron Bay Doughnut and from what I heard I was impressed, really great voice.
4. Rodriguez at Crossroads
I got to the Crossroads tent nice and early as I wanted to get a good spot for Bo Diddley and I actually ended up dozing off for most Rodriguez’s set, I really needed the sleep.
5. Bo Diddley at Crossroads
Hey Bo Diddley!
Loved this guy, Loved his band (male drummer and 2 middle aged women on bass and keys), loved his talking to the crowd and most of all loved the rap he did where he had the video cameras turned off as he didn’t want it recorded. At the end he got up and did a call and response session with the drummer which was great to see. He is very obviously getting old though. He is 80 though, I guess.
6. The McClymonts at Jambalaya
I listen to two FM stations in the car, the first is JJJ, the other is 98.9FM (for the best country). My tastes are diverse lol. This meant that I had heard The McClymonts a few times before the festival as they get pretty good airplay on 98.9. Seeing them live was a 100 times better than listening to the radio. They were a lot more country than most of the other artists but really put on a great show.
7. Joss Stone at Mojo
Joss was good, she really does have an amazing voice. I felt that whilst the songs were great, her showmanship was a bit lacking with the nervous schoolgirl giggle that she kept on doing between songs. Amazing voice though, way better than on the CD.
Had a great backing band and backing singers.
ahh sweet love. ALO or Animal Liberation Orchestra. We all knew going into the day that Jack Johnson would be there for a few songs with ALO. Byron and the fest were awash with rumours about JJ, “saw him out in the surf this morning”, “a mate mowed his lawn the other day” or the message that the festival director posted saying “ALO will give that sound that only Jack Johnson’s musicians – who comprise quite a large part of this band can do. An absolute special for JJ fans- trust me on this. ”
ALO were pretty great but they sort of faded into the background as people were eager for JJ to come out and then when he did the tent errupted with cheering and clapping. The setlist was pretty great as well.
ALO set list.
01 Wavy Gravy Intro
02 Maria
03 Try
04 The Gardener
05 BBQ
Jack Johnson comes on and sings the following with ALO.
06 Inaudible Melodies
07 What’s Gone Wrong
08 Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down
09 Breakdown
10 Wasting Time (IV Song)
11 Mud Football
12 Walls of Jericho
13 Good People
Encore:
14 I Shall be Released
If you press the play button you can listen to Jack doing I Shall be Released off a The Band tribute album called Endless Highway
[audio:Jack Johnson – I Shall Be Released.mp3]
Finishing off with The Band’s I Shall be Released was so special. I turned to the girl beside me who I had been chatting to through the night and squealed. She didn’t know the song though. Her boyfriend however was Will off Home and Away, which is my brush with fame for the w/end. I was standing there chatting and dancing, the entire time thinking man, you look really familiar but not saying anything and then when we were leaving some people started going, “It’s Will off Home and Away”. Then it all clicked.
After ALO and Jack Johnson I headed back to camp. I had planned to stay to see The Magic Numbers and Bela Fleck and The Flecktones but JJ had blown me away that the others would have had a pretty hard act to follow.
The drive down to Byron was not the most enjoyable due to all the roadworks that is going on to upgrade the road capacity and the sheer mass of people heading south for the Bluesfest or making an early start on their Easter weekend away. I arrived safely and in one piece. More importantly I managed to find a really great campsite, only a short walk to the toilets and the bus stop as well as having trees on the western side to keep my tent cool in the afternoon sun 🙂
I was quite impressed with how I set up my tent and fly but I didn’t remember to take a photo till I was breaking camp on the last day which meant that the photo wouldn’t have shown much. Funny thing happened when I made it out to the festival site as in front of me in the line was my little brother’s former girlfriend with her best friend, both of whom I proceeded to see quite a bit round the festival. I thought that was funny.
Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars (myspace) (movie site):
These guys rocked, but alas I don’t have any decent photos so you. You should check them out as soon as you can, the fusion of western popular music with African percussion lines is incredible. The music also is full of meaning and stories about life as a refugee in West Africa. I could take of taken this band home and placed them in the living room and listened to them all day long. This is the music of life. They are pretty heavy tourers so you should check their website for dates and head out to see them.
Ben Kweller
ahh. Mr Ben Kweller is currently supporting John Mayer on his tour at the moment and I must admit that they are two artists that I have known about for a long time but never really gotten round to checking out their music to any great extent. Both put on a really good show. Ben seamlessly moved from guitar to keyboard from sweet sugar coated indie pop to something a little deeper.
John Mayer
Before and during his set, the crowd would occasionally break into chants of “Jessica, Jessica” in reference to his girlfriend Jessica Simpson, we all knew she was back there somewhere but we also all knew that if he did bring her out his cred would have gone down with the crowd. He certainly is great with his guitar but towards the end for me all his songs were sort of merging into one sound. Listening to a couple of his songs now though I am really digging it, so who knows.
Wolfmother were up after John Mayer and whilst many people love Wolfmother, they and The Grates are the two much hyped Australian bands at the moment that I just can’t get into at all. So I left the Mojo Tent and wondered over to Crossroads to take in some Ziggy Marley. I didn’t stay for long as my bed was calling me but I enjoyed what I heard. Luckily for me since I left before either Ziggy or Wolfmother I missed the chaos that was the buses on the first night. Which gradually became more organised towards the end of the 5 nights when we all knew where to go.
