Stonefest 2010 @ University of Canberra

By Grace Keyworth

Stonefest day dawned hot and steamy with forecast afternoon storms. That didn’t stop six thousand music lovers descending on the ovals at the University of Canberra for the 42nd Stonefest festival.

I arrived at the gates at the advertised opening time of 10.30, only to be told that it would be another half an hour before they opened. Just as the first drumbeats could be heard from the main stage, security started the very thorough bag check process and ushered the eager early arrivals in.

I made my way to the front of the stage to watch the local band and Triple J unearthed competition winners, Los Capitanes. It was an energetic thirty-minute set by the six young musicians, with much jumping around and on stage antics, but not a lot of class. The lead singer stopped halfway through a cover of Missy Higgins’ Scar to pour water on his nipples, a move that got him heckled by the handful of punters watching.

The band took the lack of audience with tongue-in-cheek humour, re-naming one of their songs, ‘Thanks for opening the gates just as we started playing,’ and suggested to photographers they edit some fans in later. Their music had a fast beat and quick lyrics coupled with the paced drama of trombones and trumpets, providing songs that had the small audience eventually tapping their toes.

By the time Operator Please started in the early afternoon, a decent crowd had arrived and people were now standing at the front of the stage. The five young band members were obviously well rehearsed, but I couldn’t help feeling that the girls were the stronger members of the band, making a big effort to connect with the audience.

They played a series of their old songs such as Just a song about Ping Pong, Leave it alone and a fun cover mash up of Push it andMilkshake.

Xavier Rudd sat alone on stage with an array of instruments surrounding him, opening with a beautiful slide guitar on his lap. Barefoot and wearing ripped jeans, his look matched his laid back tunes, which were a firm crowd favourite and the size of the mosh pit quadrupled during his set. Finally Stonefest was feeling like a party as people were hoisted onto their friend’s shoulders and sang along to the well-known songs Time to smile and My own eyes. Xavier displayed his versatility, being able to play the didgeridoo, drums and sing at the same time.

In his final song, Let me be, the looming clouds let loose and the crowd got drenched. Those that had ponchos whipped them on, while the others embraced the rain and began a frenzied dance.

Spiderbait were up next, and the three piece showed a solid performance overall, singing Awesome, Sunshine and finishing with Black Betty. Kram was very impressive by playing such an intense drumbeat while singing the rough and loud lyrics. The whole crowd was upstanding for them, but you couldn’t help feeling it had more to do with the wet grass than their urge to support them.

Does it offend you, yeah? came all the way to Australia from their native England just for Stonefest. Their fast, energised beats certainly got everyone moving, while a new slower take on their hit Dawn of the Dead showed off their softer side. The sound quality was an issue for this set, with the vocals being drowned out by the other instruments. Lead singer James Rushent even stopped between songs and yelled at the sound tent to turn up his microphone. This seemed to be a recurring problem during the day, with multiple artists complaining on stage about the ‘technical difficulties,’ and audience members saying they couldn’t hear the vocals.

Bliss and Eso were the second last act of the night. The Australian Hip Hop group displayed why they are so famous by producing an engaging performance. After the hard dance tracks of Does it offend you, yeah? it seemed a little out of place in the line up and perhaps for the sake of keeping the rhythm, they should have gone before them. They played Down by the riverand Eye of the storm which really got the audience singing along. They also showed off their raw skills with a beat boxing performance and an impressive DJ scratch session demonstrating why they deserve credit as one Australia’s finest bands.

Pendulum finished the night with a killer set. This was the band most punters came to see and pulled immense support from the audience. The stage screen was used to broadcast a multimedia presentation with a montage of images flipping to the beat. They played The Island, Watercolour and Propane Nightmares along with their remix of the ABC News theme song. The enthusiasm of the band members on stage was evident with MC ‘Verse’ doing inspiring jumps around stage. The poncho clad audience joined in with the jumping, expending the last of their energy from a very wet, but very fun filled day.