Easter weekend. There was a Blues & Roots Festival somewhere further up the coast. There's an Easter Show somewhere around Homebush or wherever. And somewhere out in the water, there was the very first Cockatoo Island Festival.
Not having thought things through to any great detail, we got to the island pretty early and had hours to kill wandering around exploring the place before any seriously good bands started playing. The island is a strange place. With not many people around when we landed, it lacked the typical festival vibe. The overcast weather with occasional rain didn't help much, covering large sections with muddy puddles. Stages separated into the upper and lower section of the island meant a lot of walking, up and down the island, to get to the right stages on time.
Before we get stuck into the music, the place also had a strong emphasis on other forms of entertainment. There were people chiseling something unidentifiable out of sandstone blocks. There was a very empty karaoke room. Island tours, paintings, yoga classes and lots of other stuff we can't even begin to comprehend.
The first band we really paid attention to was Dappled Cities Fly. Personally, as much as I love live music I consider recorded music to be far more important and as I have still not heard anything from this much hyped local group that sounded good on the radio, I couldn't really get into their set. They still managed to draw a pretty good crowd, two singers leading a typical rock band. After seeing them, I still don't get why they are so popular though.
Literally down to the main stage to see Machine Gun Fellatio rocking out in a giant metal shed. Much larger crowd than expected for such a silly band that, last I noticed them, were playing a side stage at Homebake no more than four months ago. I expect some people there were just too tired and lazy to make the trek to the top of the island to check the other stages. Understandable, really. Typical shenanigans of shows past, replace (my favourite) the Widow Jones with new girl Feyonce, and replace the much abused teddy bear with an ice skating boot and it's the same show you may have caught them play two years ago. Oh, and they seem to do a whole lot more costume changes these days. If you were in the mood, no doubt this would be mad fun. But arriving a bit late into their set, we couldn't manage to get a good spot to see the activities up on stage properly and with this band, that really is a large part of the show.
So back up to see the Offcutts and the shock of the day: no one's there. Sure, we got there a bit early and all, but by the time the band came on stage, still, shit all turn out. Total injustice to the band I had in the past labelled as Band To Watch In 2003.
Think my Band To Watch 2004 was NuBreed. Shit, where are they now? Band To Watch 2005 is the Grates, in case you want to keep score and watch them fall into obscurity like all my past predictions for rock stardom.
Anyway, Offcutts. Regardless of disappointing crowd turnout, they still managed to pull together an entertaining set. They still get paid and I got to actually see a personal favourite up close and shout requests at them, which they duly ignored. So we all win in the end, sorta. Would have preferred if they had played more of their electronic tunes, but this had some pretty neat moments too. By the time they were due to get off, the small crowd had been totally won over and we shouted enough for the lead singer and bass player to play us an extra tune while the drummer and the guitarist began packing up their equipment in the background. A strange scene fitting for a strange day. When they drop their next album (soon, apparently), Band To Watch 2006, Offcutts. And I'm not saying that just to jinx them for not playing "Mushroom Cloud" like I asked.
Back down hill and caught the tail end of New Buffalo's set. Better than what I had expected, think I got to see Sally play out properly one of these days. Sooner rather than later.
Gomez was at the main stage and the massive crowd is still there. I still don't get it. Is Gomez really that big? Or are people just not bothering to walk to the top of the island? We stayed around for a while, the music was pretty good. I hadn't realised how many Gomez tunes I had lodged in my head beforehand. Surprising especially considering I don't have any of their albums. A sleeper hit rock band? Why not?
It is about this time in the day, after seeing a bit of Gomez, that i seem to have just lost a few hours. Tina Harrod, Mick Hart and Inga Liljestrom was somewhere in that heady mix of lost time. If it happens again I shall consult a doctor about it.
Of course, those who know me knows whenever the fear and the confusion sets in, I find refuge in dance music. So Loonaloop was assigned with the task of clearing my head and help finishing the strange day off on a bang. A mixed brunch of kids on a mixed brunch of instruments, live drums, violins, modified didgeridoos and whatever. Lead girl had some powerful vocals and some funky dance moves. Styles varied from some questionable techno through house and dark trance to some nicely tribal breakbeat/drum'n bass. Again, it was a mixed and varied set.
The second day of the three day Cockatoo Island Festival has been fun. Weather could have been better. Things started off a bit quietly. But by the end of the night there were quality sets wherever you chose to be. I myself couldn't resist staying exactly where I was in the shabby looking warehouse with the broken roof panels and blacked out windows because this "stage" is finishing off with none other than the Bird.
I like to think it was because of my stalker-esque ramblings to the band members when i bumped into them mid last year after their show at the Opera House and started yapping on and on about all the Bird gigs I had been to and how I had missed their double bass player. For tonight they got the guy back on bass and the lovely, lovely double bass. One of the Singh brothers was there as well on tabla. But that's not so out of the ordinary for the Bird.
As to be expected, the set was mind blowing. No need to just take my word for it. At the end of the night on the ferry ride home you can hear stories of people who had just witnessed the madness that is the Bird for the first time and nothing can shut them up about it. These kids are just truly something extraordinary. They had the whole room burning up with frantic kinetic energy. They had girls jumping on stage topless. Granted, that may say more about the amount of alcohol consumption then the quality of live drum'n bass on the island. Still, I can't think of a better band to close the night on a high and to get everyone mashed up and wasted one way or another. Best set of the day without a doubt.