Groovin the Moo, Maitland Showgrounds, May 12th, 2012

Another beautiful day in sunny Maitland. The cows and horses were just hanging about as usual, but the natives were getting restless. May 12th saw the regional touring festival, Groovin the Moo, visit this small city just north of Newcastle. Thinking that the show ground wouldn't fill until late afternoon us weheartmusic kids wandered in early to grab a comfy spot and take in some of the earlier acts.

San Cisco have been quite elusive to me in terms of seeing them live. Sold out shows have always stopped me, but not this time (although the festival itself was indeed sold out, but this time I was a winner)! These kids whom I have fondly labelled TAF (twee as fuck), fully lived up to my expectations. Twee melodies, perfect for dancing around like a small child (many such children were spotted at this very moment). 

Big Scary were excellent; very unexpected. Just a two piece, but they were more than capable of getting the crowd to their feet and dancing. Catchy riffs and strong vocals. What made them appear even better was the fact that were followed by Matt Corby. Who is Matt Corby? Well, he’s very talented at playing “middle of the road” tunes and not rocking the boat. People around me seemed to recognise his tunes and the crowd seemed mildly impressed, but I was stumped. Not a stand out, in my opinion.

One band that I had been hanging out for were The Maccabees. These boys from London provided everything my Britpop-shaped heart required for the day (which is good because I managed to miss the Kaiser Chiefs). Very danceable tunes played by five lads. At this point I couldn’t tell whether the crowd was actually loving the bands or whether screaming and waving their arms in the air was just their default position.  Either way there was a lot of musical appreciation being given.

Lordy! I’d never seen this guy, but Andrew W.K. you are not a musician; you are not a performer; you claim to be a "party-er", but you are borderline insane. Hilarious! Song after song, each less distinguishable from the next, Mr W. K. Was definitely the vibes man of the afternoon.

In terms of the acts that played in the “tent of techno”, which I have questionably named it, here’s a brief run-down…. Hermitude definitely didn’t play their best set. They made it super poppy for all the wasted teens and tweens (yes, there were quite a few wasted youngsters even at 2pm-ish). They were still enjoyable though and as always their best song goes off with the “batshit” crazy dancing from the pretty Asian singer girl. Mutemath followed up with some well-needed tunes for sitting down and chilling. Purple Sneakers DJs were reported to have gotten the “party started” with some good tracks, whilst the kids either got their dancing feet going or sat (or standing in the drinks line) in the sun lapping up the essence of sunburn. 360, although quite self indulgent onstage, puts on a good show with lots of “you are the best crowd ever no exceptions!”. Wavves  were a little out of place on this stage and by all report severely confused a great deal of the dance-music-lovin’ kids. Muscles was very impressive and so much better than he used to be.

 All in all, another excellent day in the sun, sipping over-priced beverages and consuming mystery meat sandwiches all in the name of live music.

Sally

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