Review: Kurt Vile & The Violators, Blank Realm @ Woodland
Meredith Music Festival is always something that greatly excites and disappoints many. With such an immensely fantastic mix of musicians (including the last ever Grinderman set), but only a few tickets to lucky ballot-winners, it’s always a shame to miss out. Lucky for this little punter, I scored myself a golden ticket to see the one and only long-locked prodigy that is Kurt Vile.
Being his first ever tour to Australia, it seems perfectly fitting that Vile & the Violators are playing in the smaller-sized dive that is Woodland. The venue is a perfect fit for the music, and it’s obvious that the crowd here this evening is champing at the bit to catch a glimpse of him onstage, with a strong wall of people building around the stage from the set of opening support act, Kellie Lloyd.
Having only caught the last moments of Lloyd’s set, I think it’s best to say she is most definitely worth a second, nay, third visit. The Screamfeeder bassist has been around for many-a-set in our lovely town, and I will make sure upon next opportunity to honour thy set more carefully.
Following Lloyd was another local treasure, Blank Realm. Yet another band I’ve heard so much about but haven’t seen nor heard live, I was interested to see what arrived on stage before me. Mixing some serious punk with a dancey feel, or as they define themselves bio-wise, “Hard-Boogie”, the set was an interesting one with some songs sounding amazing, and others leaving much to be desired. The instrument change between drums and vocals is becoming more and more regular, but in this case it was very refreshing!
Suddenly, the Violators appeared on the stage one by one, performing a very lengthy and in-depth sound check. And then some more. And finally joined by Kurt, the set kicks off.
The set was exactly what you would want from Mr. Vile and company; acoustic songs built of solid perfection and integrity mixed with surreal lo-fi floating dreams that fit Vile’s vocals perfectly. Alternating between new tracks from Smoke Rings For My Halo with older tracks from his rather extensive back-catalogue, it was the set that any Vile fan would have had wet dreams over.