Live Review

Maroochy Music & Visual Arts Festival @ Horton Park Golf Course

What a huge week it’s been for seeing live music. From Tuesday right through to Friday BIGSOUND had taken over the valley with approximately a billion acts strutting their stuff on the big stage. After much debate on whether or not I had enough fuel in the tank (both metaphorically and literally) to drive up to the Sunshine Coast city of Maroochydore for the second annual Maroochy Fest, it was decided that yes, yes indeed I would. 

I enter the old Horton golf course at around 11am, quickly familiarising myself with the old stomping grounds from the year before. There is a whole heap of attractions, including three music stages, a mini art gallery, an interactive gaming centre as well as some of the best food trucks you could ask for. In fact, 2016 MasterChef runner up Matt Sinclair was the one to take the festival’s food offerings to delicious new heights, alongside everything from wood fired pizza to Latin street food experts. 

Around comes 11.30am, where one of the acts I’m keenest to see throughout the day, Vera Blue, gracefully makes her way on stage. Vera, or as her parents know her, Celia, took command of the stage while being ridiculously happy and humbled in doing so. Her setlist flies through favourites such as Settle, Fingertips, and of course, finishing on breakout single Hold. All the while managing to showcase some new songs, as well as her famous cover of Jack Garrett’s Breathe Life

After Vera finishes her set, I decide it’s probably time I should get some breakfast/lunch into my system. I head over to the food parlour closest to the stage, and get a Loaded Fries, with cheese and pulled pork. They were incredible, a bit pricey at $10, but appreciated nonetheless. 

Anyhoo, we’re now at the point where Japanese Wallpaper takes the stage. Having interviewed Gabriel just days before for 4ZZZ at Bigsound, I had a newfound respect for the man, in that he is straight up one of the nicest, politest, chill dudes you will ever meet. He treats us to a set list containing favourites such as Cocoon, Breathe In, and Waves. For the finale, Brisbane songstress Airling joins Gab on stage to perform the duo’s 2015 hit Forces. Although it was a little disappointing that he didn’t play the song I identified him to, Between Friends, his set was still incredible. 

Then Ngaiire took the stage, and was pretty good. I’d never really given her the time of day to listen to her music, so I couldn’t really get into the groove she was emulating to the rest of the crowd. However, from a complete outsider’s perspective, I thought she did very well, and current single House On a Rock is definitely becoming one of my favourites. 

In the break between Ngaiire and Bad//Dreems, I decide to go for a wander around. It’s at this point that I stumble across the absolute gem that was the Ghetto Blaster Stage, about 100 metres at most from the main stage arena. This absolute pocket rocket of a dance-floor was very contained, and very energetic. Throughout the 5-10 minutes I spent there, I was treated to absolute bangers, including the likes of: Fat Man Slim’s Be Faithful, DMX’s Up In Here, DJ SNAKE Lil Jon’s Turn Down for What?, and of course Jay-­‐Z & Lincoln Park’s Numb/Encore. A definite, well ­needed pick-­me-up from the chill vibes of the main stage. 

Being freshly awoken by the Ghetto Blaster Stage, it was time to return to see South Aussie legends Bad//Dreems take over the stage. If you haven’t checked these guys out, honestly you need to. Think Violent Soho meets Men at Work – one of the most undeniably Australian acts doing the rounds. How else could you describe a band that literally started off their set with the advice to go get a $1 Bunnings sausage sizzle from across the road of the festival grounds (perfect location). The lads flew through a set including favourites Hoping For, Only Friend, Dumb Idea, and finishing on the absolute pearler that is Cuffed & Collared

At this point, the sun was starting to go down, and the hot Sunny Coast sun had eased off a little bit to transition into a very cool twilight. Tom Gaynor, otherwise known as Allday, was next up on the bill. My absolute lord, can the man get a crowd excited. This was my first time seeing the man perform, something I’ve been meaning to do for a fairly long time. Rocking a black and red Metallica T-shirt, jumping from side to side of the stage with every syllable he rapped and acting as his own onstage DJ, Allday proved to be one of the most hyped performers of the day. 

The sun is behind the clouds now, but it’s still not night time. It’s perfect weather for Melbournians City Calm Down to take the stage. Pulling one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen for a daytime act, CCD absolutely blew everyone away. Jack Bourke’s smooth, deep voice having the ability to soar triumphantly out of this world to hit the absolute nail on the head every time is simply a feat of its own. Having been in love with this band since stumbling across their debut EP Movements back in 2013. The band impressed with songs Pleasure & Consequence, Son, Your Fix and Rabbit Run

George Maple took the stage next, the first of the full nighttime sets. I’m not entirely sure how I felt about her set. It seems on paper she did everything that a great performance would entail. She came out with high energy, pitch perfect lyrics, and on-point beats, but it just seemed a little dull, like there was no real essence to it. It just seemed as though she was only up there because her agent had booked it, not because she REALLY wanted to. I don’t know, maybe that was just me. Regardless, she did slay on songs such as Gemini (her collaboration with What So Not), Talk, and a very good remix of Kendrick Lamar’s M.A.A.D. City and Beyonce’s Diva

One of the festival’s main drawcards, Matt Corby was then called upon to mesmerise the audience and remind them what love is. Corby showed off his talents on vocals, guitar, and even his flute playing abilities throughout the set. Being humbled and happy as anything, the Sydney-sider delicately impressed, showcasing songs from his debut album Telluric, released earlier this year. Alongside this, favourites such as Smooth Lady Wine, Monday, Resolution, and Brother impressed. 

After Corby’s finish, the half hour between sets seemed longer than any of the others throughout the day. For this reason, I decided to go wandering again, and this time ended up at the Champagne & Oyster Garden stage. It’s here that I stumbled across Melbourne indie-­punk outfit Batz, whom I actually fell in love with hard-­out on the spot. With an array of politically incorrect one-­liners (NSFW or for reviews), teamed up with the fact that their songs were absolutely great, the quintet got on the right side of me ASAP. 

Now was the moment we were all waiting for, party starters Peking Duk came out to the main stage. Oh. My. Lord. Having interviewed Adam from the electronic duo in the lead up to this set, it was discussed as to why they appeal to everyone. Literally because they are just a big ball of fun rolled into two human forms. The set was introduced by a video of David Hasselhoff, and consisted of just absolute banger after banger after banger. The beat drops were so heavy and full-on that you were literally forced to jump along to it. At points, I’d even wondered if they were secretly controlling the weather – it rained heavily for their first few songs but then died off as soon as the music cut off. It was kind of fantastic, it was almost as if Peking Duk were literally giving a 4D experience. 

It has been criticised in the past, how Peking Duk often predominately play other peoples’ songs, and get credit for being a great DJ group (which is literally the definition of what great DJ’s do, lmao, but anyway), but last night the two announced that they had been working very hard in the studios on their debut album, and actually premiered them to the world at Maroochy Fest. They aren’t available to hear right now, but let me tell you, they are certified bangers. The team finished up with their biggest hit, High, which came alongside smoke machines galore and about twenty rolls of toilet paper being shot out into the crowd. It was great. 

At this point, it was raining rather heavily. I decide to make my way back to the Champagne & Oyster Garden stage, where one of my absolute faves, Alex Lahey, was closing the night. She reminisced on the last few days of Bigsound in Brisbane, having played six shows in the last five days and pretty much being flat-­out with relentless media interviews. She stated that Maroochy Fest was her favourite show of the last week, especially since everyone there was braving the heavy rain and storm which was brewing. Pure fan dedication. Alex flew through a set including Ivy League, Wes Anderson, Let’s Go Out and of course, You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me

Overall, Maroocy Music & Visual Arts Festival, you were fucking great. For a festival only in its 2nd year of operation, it has already cemented itself as an absolute powerhouse of all boutique festivals currently floating around. Keen as hell to see what they pull out of the hat for next year. 

- Jakob Rosenblatt

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