A transcendent and intangible experience that’s often referred to as the greatest music festival on the planet, Meredith Music Festival made its grand return over the weekend.
Meredith is the one event that regardless of the lineup, I find myself patiently looking forward to each year, and I’m not alone in that sentiment. With a consistently great lineup, no targeted demographic and an unmatchable atmosphere of acceptance, it makes sense that Meredith is one of the only events that now retired punters dust off their boots to attend (and raise) yearly.
So as you can imagine, the last 1,000 Meredith-free days have felt like an absolute eternity for most of us, making the return to the ‘sup for Meredith’s 30th birthday one of the most special yet.
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After an afternoon of cracking tinnies and offering cheers over “how good it is to be back”, Melbourne-based punks Rot TV kicked off the Friday night festivities. With a nonchalant on-stage demeanour and an Aussie garage punk output similar to Radio Birdman and Civic, the local up-and-comers tore through their set garnering an incredibly positive reaction to originals ‘Ready To Die’ and ‘I’m Not Like Everybody Else’.
Up next was Coburg’s finest Surprise Chef, who impressed the crowd with their atmospheric hip-hop-inspired funk/soul instrumentals. As an act that incorporates such mystifying key and percussive arrangements to their sound, I would have loved to have seen them perform a twilight set but nonetheless, the Melbourne based soul outfit absolutely adorned the crowd with older funk favourites like ‘New Ferrari’ and ‘All News Is Good News’ before going veering into more ominous tones on newer songs such as ‘Iconoclasts’ and ‘A1 Bakery Pledge of Allegiance’. With the group’s lead guitarist Lachlan Stuckey rounding out the set by giving praise to his bandmates and sending a shout out to his mum (who was grooving in the front row,) it was hard not to feel proud for the Melbourne based outfit who were quite openly fulfilling a lifelong dream. An incredibly well earnt feat by the local legends.
Standing out as one of the weekend’s highlights were Japanese krautrock outfit Minami Deutsch, who ushered in the Friday night with their blissful combination of kraut, psychelia and shoegaze inspired rock. With their set comprised of singles from 2018’s heavily psych-rock inspired release ‘With Dim Light’, as well as their most recent release, the disco orientated ‘Fortune Goodies’, Minami effortlessly ebbed and flowed between refined motorik rhythms and ethereal psych harmonics, seamlessly combining their setlist into a continuous jam-like nature. Having previously hosted the likes of Ty Segall; King Gizzard, GOAT and Dungen, Minami Deutsch certainly maintained the standard, upholding Meredith’s proven knack for presenting the best of the best when it comes to psych-rock acts.
Erika De Casier drew an unfortunate clash with the esteemed Meredith sunset, which sees majority of attendees rush to Inspiration Point to capture the iconic view, but for the scarce few that remained down at the stage the Danish singer/songwriter impressed with her noughties inspired brand of anthemic pop.
Headlining the Friday night was revered Melbourne singer/guitarist Courtney Barnett, whose wry vocal delivery and sharp, distorted guitar licks immediately had punters in good spirits. Opening with ‘Rae Street’ off 2021’s Things Take Time, Take Time, before quickly going into ‘Avant Gardener’, Barnett had the crowd in the palm of her hands, in particular when more rock focused numbers like ‘Nameless/Faceless’ and ‘Pedestrian At Best’ made appearances later in her set.’
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London based three piece The Comet Is Coming absolutely dazzled audiences with their left of centre infusions of jazz, electronica, funk and psych-rock. As a very meticulous and conceptual group that has altered their sound upon each release, you would assume that Comet would primarily stick to the work of one album, however through an impressive use of organic instrumentation mixed with electronics such as synth’s and MPC’s, Comet’s set blended tracks off all the group’s albums, effortlessly contrasting hard-hitting funk grooves and ethereal, space-inspired dissonance. An absolutely mesmerising performance that left punters revelling about it all weekend.
SHOUSE were one of the few acts that faced mixed reviews from a lot of attendees. Some had issues with the sound, others just seemed to find their set a bit lacklustre, personally, I quite liked it. Sure, their set did feel as if it was more or less just an hour long build up for ‘Love Tonight’, but for the time of the night a vibrant house set was just what was needed, especially when it includes an on stage choir.
As the final act I caught on Friday night Big Wett certainly left an impression. But, how could she not? It is pretty hard to disregard an act that gets on stage and confidently states, “This next song is called Eat My Ass.” With a musical output and lyrical style derivative of Peaches and a vocal delivery akin to Die Antwoord’s Yolandi Visser, Big Wett’s set was infectious, with her hard-hitting synths and tongue in cheek lyricism getting everyone up and about for a final Friday night boogie.
By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was fairly happy to sleep in, at least just for a little bit. But god damn, in retrospect that is a choice that I now regret, as apparently Our Carlson was absolutely phenomenal. Admittedly the Blackwood based musician is an artist I’m not too familiar with, but after the high praise sent his way on the weekend he will most definitely be one I’ll be checking out as soon as possible.
I did however make it down for punk up comers Clamm, who (based on my experience) never seem to play a bad set. Tearing through tracks like ‘Monday’, ‘Liar’ and ‘Bit Much’, Clamm proved just why they have been creating such a buzz around the Melbourne gig scene, with the crowd going into an absolute frenzy as they smashed through their tight set.
Babe Rainbow brought in the vibrant, party vibes of the day with their French/Latin inspired brand of psych-rock. Newer singles such as ‘Inner Space’ garnered a huge reception from the crowd, as did favourites such as ‘Johny Says Stay Cool’ and ‘Peace Blossom Boogie’. However, it was the inclusion of older singles that really stood out, with singles such as ‘Love Forever’ and ‘Planet Junior’ providing the perfect soundtrack to the afternoon vibes.
Former Death Row producer DJ Quik provided a pump up for all the old-school hip-hop fans in the crowd. As a producer with an illustrious list of credits and an even larger list of uncredited work, Quik’s set consisted of the many hits he’d been involved with over the years. And when I say hits, I mean HITS. King Kunta; In Da Club; Ambitionz Az A Ridah; the dude has worked on it all, making his Saturday afternoon set one of the most accessible and upbeat sets of the weekend.
English post-punk outfit Dry Cleaning impressed with their unique combination of grunge-esque rhythms and poetic vocal deliverings. With Florence Shaw adopting more of a narrational spoken word vocal cadence in lieu of a sung approach the group’s sound was delivered with a matter of fact feeling to it that perfectly matched the group’s simmering grunge instrumentals.
Private Function’s an act that play around a lot and always come across as a bit of a stocking filler when they are announced on a lineup. As more or less a straight up punk rock act, they aren’t an act that you’d describe as groundbreaking, nor are they one who is trying to be, instead, Private Function just try to provide the funnest show they can. And it always works.
With punters half laughing at the group’s on stage antics and and half head banging to the group’s undeniably banging tunes, Private Function’s set was an absolute blast. ‘Albury Wodonga’ had the crowd singing along, ‘I Wish Australia Had It’s Guns Again’ had people laughing and ‘I Don’t Want To Make Out With You’ had the mosh moving, but it was the notable guest appearance of Joanne for a cover of the disco off-cut ‘Jackie’ that really saw boots in the air.
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As the headliners for Saturday night the general consensus was that Caribou were great, so I guess I’m going a little bit against the grain with this one. Whilst all the hits that you’d expect to hear like ‘Odessa’, ‘Silver’ and ‘You Can Do It’ all made appearances, they just didn’t quite hit like they do on the band’s recordings. For an act that is quite meticulous and minute in many of their transitions, melodies and percussive arrangements, their live display felt quite subdued and at times almost hazy, making it significantly harder to resonate with the song’s intricacies. It was still an incredibly fun set, but felt more shoegazy than the upbeat indie house feeling the group are known for.
Although in saying that, Caribou lead vocalist Dan Snaith’s following set under the pseudonym Daphni absolutely excelled, bringing in off-kilter house vibes, hard hitting percussive breaks and meandering key arrangements that were absolutely enigmatic for a late Saturday night slot.
Rounding out the night with the sunrise slot was Melbourne up and comer Darcy Justice. Having seen her name pop up on a tonne of lineups as of late I’d been really keen to check out her set. Upon seeing it, it’s evident why she’s been making such a quick name for herself. With seamless transitions, an eclectic track selection filled with some absolute rouge cuts and thumping techno basslines, Justice’s set was the perfect closer for the night, leaving the last remaining punters in good spirits as the sun began to rise.
At that point, it was hard to not look around and revel in just how good it was to be back in the ‘sup.
It’s good to have you back Meredith.
