I can’t say it enough, but Meredith and Golden Plains are two of the most truly unique festivals that Australia has on offer.
With a constantly diverse lineup and an atmosphere unmatched by other events, Plains and Meredith mark themselves as some of the few events that welcome fans of all musical demographics.
And with both events differentiating themselves as the only festivals where punters dress up to be silly instead of sexy, it’s hard not to feel at home amongst The Sup’s collective party vibe, with the entire crowd creating an incredibly uniform nature of acceptance for everyone to be themselves.
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So with that in mind, before I go into reviewing all of the highlight acts from the festival’s 15th edition, I’d like to quickly give a few honourable mentions to some of the best outfits I encountered over the course of the weekend.
Firstly, big ups to the PHD (Pure Hard Dance) crew who created a 2007 shuffle circle at ‘Inspiration Point’ that felt straight out of a 2007 Feq Square meetup. Also big commendations to the group of moths, who would flock to their friend’s lantern as if it was a light beacon; the singular person dressed up as a ‘Juggalo’ (Whoop Whoop my dude); and the group of Marge’s (or Margeries), who took their costumes so seriously that at one point while waiting in the line for the Taco truck, I saw four of them respectively order their food each under the name of ‘Marge.’
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Now onto the tunes.
Kicking off the weekend’s festivities was Mournington’s finest Stiff Richards, who tore the metaphorical open-air roof off the Sup’ with their high energy brand of punk rock. Although, with the group adopting a more refined approach for hits like ‘Bad Disease’, that came in time. 28 minutes in fact. But at that 28 minute mark, shit got wild. The group busted out their beloved cover of The Chosen Few’s ‘No Fun On The Beaches’, Wolfgang got his rigg out and the crowd went into an absolute frenzy, leading to one of the most receptive crowds I’ve ever seen for an opening act at Plains. By the time they dropped ‘Dig’ as their set’s closer the energy had only continued to grow, with Wolfgang going full Eddy Current spec and riding a punter’s shoulders through the crowd as he screamed the song’s lyrics.
Credit: Dylan Jardine
As the sun started setting, Nigerian-based Mdou Moctar adorned the crowd with their experimental blend of psych-rock fusion and native Tuareg inspired riffs. Led by Mahamadou Souleymane’s impeccable prowess on the guitar, Moctar’s set flowed seamlessly, feeling like a consistently harmonious jam as each song effortlessly merged into one another.
Maintaining the vibrancy of Mdou Moctar, London-based eight-piece Kokoroko got punters up and dancing, with their uplifting Afrobeat style providing the perfect soulful grooves for the early evening.
Combining elements of gothic folk, rock and roll swagger and a powerful narrative style of vocal delivery, Angel Olsen absolutely dazzled the crowd as Saturday’s co-headliner. With a healthy dose of wit to her crowd interaction and a dark and brooding performative persona, Olsen had the crowd simultaneously in awe and hysterics. Hit’s like Dream Thing, All The Good Times and Right Now made early additions, as did the clear crowd favourite ‘Shut Up And Kiss Me’. Closer Without You, left a lasting impression due to its immensely loud singalongs and incredibly harmonious string arrangements.
Credit: Dylan Jardine
Up next was femme punk’s Bikini Kill, who blasted through their set with ferocious punk rock bravado. Fronted by Kathleen Hanna, (the person who famously penned “Kurt smells like teen spirit” on Kurt Cobain’s wall,) who is now a “54 year old punk” and “fucking proud of it”, Bikini Kill well and truly lived up to their title of veterans of the game. Opening with 1993’s ‘New Radio’ before playing deep cuts such as Jigsaw Youth and Feels Blind, Bikini Kill delivered an unmatched energy, getting punters of all ages into it as they showcased their revered style of downtuned punk.
Having seen Methyl Ethyl at last year’s Meadow Music Festival, I decided to duck off and grab some food during their set. So admittedly when they played I was chowing down a hotdog and had an obstructed view, but they sounded as tight as usual. Although, similarly to their set at Meadow, it seemed that the art-pop outfit copped very mixed reports from the crowd. Whilst some loved their continuous, avante-garde style, others found it to be a bit lacklustre, with many commenting on the lack of prominent guitar present in the chorus of Twilight Driving. Although in saying that, I’m not sure I can vouch for all of those crowd reports, as three of the people I spoke to openly admitted that they had got the group’s name confused with the Aussie punk outfit Amyl and the Sniffers. As you can imagine, those punters were in for quite the surprise.
As a late addition to the lineup, Sydney based Korean rap collective 1300 well and truly made the most of their half an hour set. With beats that perfectly blend trap and DNB, impressive bilingual lyricism and a high-octane live performance that got everyone in the amphitheatre jumping, 1300 proved once and for all why they are upstarts worth keeping an eye on. Rocksta and Old Boy hit with colossal effect, as did crowd favourite Cardio! which gave way to huge singalongs, both during their set and amongst the campsite area later into the night.
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If you’re unfamiliar with the term ‘a that guy’, it’s an actor that people rarely know by name but when you see their face on screen you go, ‘oh, it’s that guy.’ Overmono are the ‘that guys’ of modern day electronic music. You may not know them by name, but you’ve undoubtedly boogied to their songs on almost every night out you’ve ever had. Hitting the stage as the Saturday night electronic headliner, the U.K. based electronic duo delivered an absolutely unforgettable live set, tearing through their multifaceted tunes that saw a healthy dose of techno, trance and U.K. garage all intertwined. Providing many memorable moments throughout their set, the duo stood out as one of the weekend’s highlights, with tracks such as ‘So U Kno’ and the unreleased remix of The Street’s ‘Turn The Page’ proving to be unforgettable moments for many of the weekend’s attendees.
Closing the Saturday night was Melbourne/Naarm based rising star Jennifer Loveless, who pulled one of the larger crowds I’d seen a closing DJ attract. With her set merging heavy techno, acid house and subtle Goa-trance elements, Loveless dominated, leaving punters revelling for more as she wrapped up her 5am settime.
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Having stayed up to catch all of Jennifer Loveless’s set the night before, I did unfortunately sleep in for Freya Josephine Hollick and EXEK the following morning. And with both acts releasing standout albums in 2022, I was pretty bummed to have missed them. But, in the words of Led Zeppelin, that’s “nobody’s fault but mine”.
I did however make sure that I rolled out of bed to catch Melbourne punk upstarts Delivery. Showcasing hits off their debut album ‘Forever Giving Handshakes’, Delivery proved to be an incredibly tight live outfit, performing with meticulous accuracy as they toyed with synchronised guitar riffs, fast punk rhythms and an eclectic setlist which saw every member front up for vocal duties. By the time they performed Lifetimer, the group had earnt a wealth of boots in the air (including the cutest darn boot seen over the weekend), evoking an emotional response from the band who were clearly living out a lifelong dream.
Up next was Mulalo, who didn’t fuck around. From the second her set kicked in, she went hard, with huge huge bass drops and hard-hitting trap beats backing her venomous lyrical style. Performing with confidence and the ego to match, Mulalo finished her set by asserting “If y’all don’t know me, you’re going to very fucking soon.” A sentiment that I can’t help but agree with.
As a longtime bandmate, collaborator and songwriter for Gil Scott-Heron, singer and keyboardist Brian Jackson kept people in high spirits with his soulful tunes and enigmatic modern gospel flair. Performing tracks such as ‘Home Is Where The Hatred Is’ and others primarily known as Scott-Heron songs, Jackson undoubtedly left a mark on the crowd, humbly telling punters to put their boots down when they tried to indicate that he was the best on ground for the weekend. Considering he’d been releasing music for half a century now, it felt surreal to hear him acknowledge that this was his first ever time touring Australian, making it all the more special for the lucky few of us there to witness it.
Credit: Dylan Jardine
Coming in as one of the weekend’s surprise standouts was Japanese electronic producer Soichi Terada, who turned the amphitheatre into a zumba class over the course of his hour-long set. With an infectious on stage energy, Terada got everyone in high spirits, with his vibrant, jovial and at times ethereal approach to house music giving the perfect afternoon lift up.
Following Terada were San Francisco based psych-doom outfit Earthless, who marked themselves as favourites amongst the doom metal heads in the crowd. With a tight sound that leans more into the Hot Lunch inspired rock and roll side of doom, Earthless differentiated themselves as having a bit more swagger than some of their sludgier peers. Although, overall their set did feel slightly too jammy and monotonous, at times feeling more like a soundcheck for the punters who weren’t as familiar with their genre.
Copping a clash with the festival’s picturesque sunset, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever came out to a surprisingly small crowd, which by a few songs had grown to the entire festival’s capacity. Impressing the crowd with their blend of acoustic and electric guitars and a constant rotation of band members singing, RBCF’s accessible brand of rock seemingly won everyone over, with the group garnering some of the loudest singalongs of the weekend.
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Soul II Soul provided psychedelic yet soulful grooves, feeling like a mix between Morcheeba and The Happy Mondays, proving to be one of the most accessible and well-regarded acts of the weekend as they eased through their early evening slot.
Carly Rae Jepsen on the other hand, was slightly more divisive.
Whilst she marked herself as a favourite for some, many others found her set to be forgettable. Sure, Call Me Maybe was fun, but in my eyes, it didn’t hit as hard as it had in previous years when it was played as an intermission song. It was also quite an odd choice to include it so early on in her set, as the remainder of her setlist ended up feeling a bit lacklustre. As I said, some loved it, but overall I didn’t feel that she lived up to the calibre of pop diva that Plains has showcased over previous years.
Now before I go on to talk about the greatness that was Four Tet’s three hour set, I want to quickly touch on Milo Eastwood. As the host of ‘The Breakfast Spread’, Eastwood is one of the only people in Melbourne’s music community who by name is unanimously regarded as having a good taste in music. And his interstitial set, in particular the slot before Four Tet, really lived up to that reputation. From Harvey Sutherland’s remix of The Lazy Eyes to the beloved Soulwax reworking of Fontaines D.C, Eastwood knew exactly what to play to get the crowd in a good mood. It almost seems inevitable that within the next couple of years we will be seeing him 50 metres to the right fronting the main stage.
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And now onto Four Tet, who for a reviewer is one of the hardest acts in the world to be tasked with covering. How can you even begin to describe or categorise an artist with so much individuality?
In short, you can’t. As an artist, Four Tet has reached a point in his career where he can do whatever he wants, because no matter what style he throws into the works, he pulls it off. I mean, who else can merge from Ne-yo, to Taylor Swift, to Minor Threat all in the one techno set? It almost seems implausible, but yet through constant edits and tweaks to almost every song in his setlist, he always makes it fit his agenda. Dropping his hard-hitting, unreleased collab with Fred Again and Skrillex ‘Baby Again’ early on, Four Tet came out with 150% intensity, which he then maintained for the entirety of his incredible set.
Making DJ Kiti’s set the hardest slot of the festival. Unsurprisingly, the Melbourne veteran rose to the challenge, performing with an intensity that seemed like she’d rolled straight out of the Rev’s cage and into the ‘sup.
As the festival’s closer, Rick Wilhite chilled it out a bit, playing spacious, loungy house tunes to bring in the morning vibes. Given the stylistic similarities between the acts, I feel as if Jennifer Loveless would have been a more effective act to follow DJ Kiti, with Wilhite’s ambient house stylings feeling more apt to follow Overmono, but nonetheless his set was a lot of fun, with his choice of Blue Monday as closer gaining a warm response from the 24-hour party people left boogying as the sun came up.
