Second Essential Festival, on a cloudy, miserable day in the city. At least the music was good.
Rocked up nice and early to catch a bit of the Soft Tigers. A random mess of instrument sharing and rock with electro beats. "Kids out on the street. Too hot to move their feet." Fun, kooky, I didn't get enough.
Caught a bit of the Paper Scissors, didn't really care.
Felt bummed out again with the Lovetones, so next I decided to fall back on a known act and revisit Melanie Horsnell. Quietly pleasant and pleasing pop.
Laura Imbruglia, grumpy looking little surly rockstar that she is. And she had every right to be surly with some of the obtuse heckles she was getting. The sound mix was a dud, but that aside it was a highlight of the day.
There's been lots of positive vibe around Belles Will Ring, so I had to go check that out. Probably around this time of the night, the quality of the acts began to improve noticeably all round. Belles were solid.
Caught a bit of the explosion that is Young & Restless. Front woman shrieking like mad a sight to behold. Not exactly my kinda music, but I can still appreciate the performance on stage. Electric.
Getting old, have to chill out a settle down a bit. Old Man River, I never really paid much attention to him after the Nations By The River project. But this was alright, things were taken into some interesting directions. I was just expecting quiet acoustic dross, honestly. Damning with faint praise?
I left my party to revisit I Heart Hiroshima. Susie the singing drummer was someone I had singled out in the past as an absolute star. Tonight she was again just fascinating to watch. A pre-emptive strike, heckling the audience and taunting and snarling and screwed up faces. A ball of energy. Exciting.