Live Music: Sunset Sounds Day 1
Words and pictures: Kate Scantleton
Day One – Wednesday Jan 5
I’m just going to put it out there: Sunset Sounds 2011 was the wettest festival I have ever been to. Mother Nature played Brisbane a pretty darn cold-hearted hand over Wednesday and Thursday last week. Luckily though, it takes more than a tonne of torrential rain to frighten off the crowds of Brisbane!
Kicking off the festival were local heroes Ball Park Music. Fresh off the tour van from Falls and Southbound, these guys have had a great run with festivals this summer, and it showed in their tight set (which to my approval included a cover of Custard’s Apartment). Unfortunately, crowds were slow to arrive and there was more or less a few dozen festival goers there, which put a bit of a dampener on the set. Nonetheless, these guys will be something to keep an eye out for over the coming months.
Kicking off on another stage was Cloud Control, who also showed how well-accustomed to the Aussie Summer festival season of 2010/11 they are. Mixing in JJJ favourites of There’s Nothing in the Water and This is what I said, they had the slowly growing crowd hanging off their every beat. Keeping the ball rolling, they mixed in a cover of Kid Cudi’s Pursuit of Happiness, and more to my personal liking, they broke into a verse Pepper by the Butthole Surfers halfway through Gold Canary. From when I last saw them live, these guys have really worked created a brilliant live set and fantastic stage presence. I can’t wait to see them again.
From here, I quickly migrated back over to the Riverstage to catch much of Sleigh Bells’ set. Having heard so many good things about them, I was expecting great things, but was a little disappointed with the result. Certainly, lead singer Alexis Krauss gave the crowd a real workout with her dancing and fantastic voice, but being the traditionalist I am, I found it a little saddening that they were playing to a backing track of drums and additional guitars. That’s not really a two-piece, it’s just half a band.
Following up after that set was the Cold War Kids, which I would have to say was the highlight of the Wednesday for me. Having seen half of their set at Splendour in 2008 due to the stressful Band of Horses timetable clash, I was excited to see an entire set from these guys, and they really didn’t disappoint. Ironically, the torrential downpour began during Hang Me Up To Dry, and the crowd loved it.
Cold War Kids completely nailed the set list considering the small time they had due to their early placement, playing songs off both of their releases, including Mexican Dogs, Hospital Beds and We Used to Vacation, and a few new tracks from their newest release, to be out in 2 weeks on Jan 25. From what we heard, it’s likely to be just as good as the first two releases.
Following on from the high of Cold War Kids was Tame Impala. Although the music was wonderous and a fantastic soundtrack to a summer festival, they were an absolute bore to watch on stage. With no banter, hardly any movement and a backdrop that didn’t do much to impress, I was personally a little let down. Luckily for them, many of the punters didn’t seem to notice and were happy dancing in the rain to the grungy rock. Set highlights were Half Full Glass of Wine and Desire Be Desire Go.
Moving back to the Garden Stage, I caught the end of The Soft Pack. Having heard very little about these guys other than a recommendation from a friend, I was well impressed. Mixing a quirkiness somewhat reminiscent of the Wombats with solid alt rock like British India, I would gladly check them out again.
Finishing off my evening early, The National were up next. There is something so sophisticated and poetic about lead singer Matt Berninger’s demeanour on stage, and this made the set so much more intriguing and lovely to watch. Having never seen them live before, I was a little sceptical as to how they would go translating their recordings to the live stage, but I was so happy with the outcome, the highlight of the set being Bloodbuzz Ohio. With the rain teeming down during the end of the set and the lights of the stage reflecting prettily, it was all too magical and surreal.
With the rain making life ever so difficult with the increasingly flooded grounds and torrential showers (including putting my camera into shut-down mode for the rest of the festival), and Interpol’s set seeming so far away, I voted to take the safe (and now quite regrettable) choice of bailing early before the onset of pneumonia took full swing and my feet turned into prunes forever.