Project Description

GRAPEVINE GATHERING

@ Roche Estate

30/11/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Jess Moog

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Ah yes! It is me! I am back from my weird winter hiatus. I know all three of you readers definitely missed my presence and are audibly rejoicing over the fact that I have returned to your dusty blue-lit screens. But come on, settle down will yah? You’ve got a review to read.

So, Grapevine Gathering. I should probably start out by saying that I haven’t been to a festival since like early March, which is a relatively hefty period of time, especially for someone as social and hip as me. Baha who am I kidding, I’m about as cool as a crumb of belly button lint these days. But this isn’t about my plummeting social existence, this is about a festival; a festival that I actually went to, and that I actually thoroughly enjoyed!

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I began the day with a brekkie roll and a wine spritzer, the perfect combo for a fun day out. The bus system this time round was much swifter than last year, with the majority of Newy punters snagging a seat barely ten minutes after joining the queue. The actual bus ride was also pretty great, with the driver pulling over halfway trough the trek to let off a bunch of chicks who were about to piss themselves. Seeing those floral dresses whipping up the hill to squat behind a tree was truly a pearler start to the festival.

We managed to get in just as Michael Di Francesco, aka Touch Sensitive, took the stage. This Sydney producer REALLY knows how to awaken the Boogie Monster in all of us, and I don’t mean the lame scary kind, I mean the crazy eye-rolling, hip shaking kind. Groups of people were pouring into the festival every minute or so, and every single one of them let the beat move their bum. Touch wasn’t just working the decks either; he was plucking a bass throughout his entire set! I’m a total slut for a boarish bass line, so after purchasing myself a drink I got straight down and dirty on the grassy d-floor. He kept throwing out tunes like ‘No Other High’ and ‘Pizza Guy’, before shooting us straight between the eyes with juicy track, ‘Lay Down’. This set definitely touched all my sexy, sensitive parts.

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Speaking of sexy, I was all of a sudden rather wet. And not even the good kind, it had just started raining! Being the ultimate doofus that I am, I forgot to bring a rain jacket with me, which meant that my naturally dead straight hair was now excruciatingly damp and even bloody straighter. But the blessed VIP balcony managed to save the day (shoutout to the publicist for giving my pleb head access to it), and shortly after, on came Jack River. She was belting out sweet stuff straight from the get go, encouraging punters to brave the storm and dance themselves dry. Eventually the weather Gods succumbed to Jack’s voice and parted the clouds to let in some sun. Off came the plastic rain capes and out came the bangers, with songs such as ‘Confess’, ‘Sugar’ and my favourite pick, ‘Palo Alto’, receiving lots of praise from the crowd. The drummer sounded mint throughout the set, as did Jack of course, and the band eventually capped off the set with great song, ‘Fools Gold’.

Next up was Late Nite Tuff Guy. I didn’t catch too much of this one unfortunately as I spent most of the time having a boogie in the Chapel, which was literally a small blow up church with a DJ in it. I even got to witness the beginning of a fezzie wedding, definitely something you don’t get to see every day, but I didn’t stay long enough to see them actually tie the knot due to my declining hydration and throbbing bladder. When my mates and I eventually emerged from the sweaty church though, I was pleasantly surprised by the playlist of sensual, old school songs that was coming out of the stage’s speakers. Despite the pungent stink of the portaloos I was having a gay ol’ time in the toilet queue, with the group’s groovy remix of Fleetwood Mac’s tune ‘Dreams’ getting me through my uncomfortable cramps.

Mallrat hit the hill to one of the biggest crowds of the day so far. On she swanned with her colourful DJ before immediately throwing us all into lovable song, ‘Nobody’s Home’. Shortly after, ‘For Real’ came on, quickly followed by ‘UFO’, and both were met with an insane amount of punter participation. The crowd was so amped up by this point that there were now about three alcoholic beverages soaking through my hair, bra and undies. But clean undies are for crap people anyway, so I kept on shaking my saturated ass! Mallrat constantly looked genuinely stoked with how enthusiastic the crowd was; witnessing an artist get emotional is definitely one of my favourite parts of seeing a gig. My only qualm is that she seemed to rely heavily on a vocal track, sometimes even more so than her actual live voice, which is a bit disappointing to see, especially for an artist as sought after as Mallrat. Nevertheless, she kept sporting a smile, and concluded her time in the sun with popular tune, ‘Uninvited’.

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I decided to grab some grub, so I was pretty distracted for the majority of Crooked Colours’ set. From what I could hear though, they played true to their sound, with their live set consisting primarily of funky beats and soft guitars. Crowd-pleasers such as ‘Flow’ and ‘Hold on’ were received well by the masses, as was radio track, ‘Do It Like You’. I really loved the band’s magical background visuals, with the swirling colours correlating to their awesome album covers. Randomly, I kept seeing people stumbling around the festival with crutches and moonboots on. It was nice though; not even a bung leg can keep us music-lovin’ fuckers down! I also spotted a girl reading a book in the crowd? She was either super bored or super cooked, I really don’t know.

My friends and I waded into the sea of groggy bodies to secure a decent spot for Flight Facilities, and thank god we did because they opened with true belter, ‘Arty Boy’! It was getting dark now, which meant the stage looked grander than ever, with the subtle smoke machine and pretty teal lighting accenting the dreamy tunes gloriously. There was a buttload of bangers on the bill tonight, including ‘Claire De Lune’, ‘Crave You’ and new song, ‘Better Than Ever’, which was sung by stage guest Ric Rufio. I’ve also got to give a giant shoutout to FF’s accompanying singer, Owl Eyes, who honestly blew my mind with how fucked up gorgeous her voice was. Always in time, always on pitch, always filling my earholes with sweet, sweet music. She especially shone in one of my favourite pieces, ‘Heart Attack’, and helped finish the set with whistly wonder, ‘Stand Still’.

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Now, you might have to bear with me on this one, because this band was one of my all time favourite acts throughout my grossly hormonal and tumultuous teen years. These sweet Irish gems were amazing when I saw them at the age of 16, and they were just as amazing to see six years later. Two Door Cinema Club, my puberty saviours, ran onstage to an incredibly rowdy audience. They opened with recent song, ‘Talk’, and although I wasn’t originally a fan of their newer stuff, their flawless execution instantly converted me. I was super impressed with the range of Alex’s live voice, and even more impressed with Kevin’s insane bass abilities. His sensual string skills were so damn great; it was like he just kept shooting groovy daggers straight through my aching, adolescent heart. Suddenly ‘Undercover Martyn’ was playing; an absolute eargasm from their first album that sent the winery fricken wild. It was quickly followed by ANOTHER eargasm, otherwise known as ‘I Can Talk’, and by this stage I really didn’t know if my soul could take any more. Turns out, it could, with other tunes like ‘Are We Ready?’, ‘Something Good Can Work’, ‘Eat That Up, It’s Good For You’ and crowd fave, ‘What You Know’ shaking me to my gooey core. But the cherry on top, the piece de resistance, was definitely their concluding track. My ultimate favourite Two Door song EVER, the crazily wonderful, ‘Sun’. Honestly, no words. It was just the best fucking thing ever.

And there you go, my Grapevine experience, completely done and dusted in the best way possible.

Thanks.

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