If I had been at all unsure of what to expect at the Inaugural Golden Plains festival, I was given a pretty good idea within moments of my arrival. My good friend and I drove in on the Staff lane, hoping to lord it over all the regular punters who would be stuck in the traffic jam – yet there were no other cars to be seen. What’s the point of getting to go in the express lane if it’s not any quicker? Instead we were greeted by two of the Golden Plains staff. The first immediately asked if she could have one of our beers (no point in wasting time I suppose), the second then asked me, “Have you ever been here before?”, to which I replied, “No, I haven’t. “Just pace yourself,” he said. Thanks for the advice, I thought, and off we went to pitch our tent and crack open the first tinnie.

The name Golden Plains is probably a bit misleading – if anything they are more grey/brown. The entire place was a dustbowl, and the wind so severe that you couldn’t look into it without dust burrowing into your eyes. Every single wrinkle on your face would trap the airborne soil, so it would appear like somebody had drawn lines on your face with a dark pencil. It was in these abrasive conditions that the Inaugural Golden Plains Festival took place, but the nature and atmosphere of the event would make such weather annoyances trivialities. 

At the heart of the Meredith code is the desire for a hassle-free environment. “No Dickheads,” it states on the ticket. The structure of the festival itself aims to foster such an atmosphere. The use of only one stage is also very important; it gives the festival a centrepiece – creating the desired sense of community. So while there were only around 6000 attendees, it felt like more. At night, lanterns and bare, coloured light bulbs illuminated the amphitheatre in a dull glow, like an ancient tribal celebration.

The mornings were a different experience all together. It would seem that many Australians have out of control caffeine addictions. I have never seen such a long line of people waiting for coffee – some reported having to wait up to two hours; why anybody would waste so much time is beyond me. There was quality live music just hundreds of metres away, yet the chai-latte collective were intent on trying to sustain the inner urban trappings of their city lives. Shameful.

The bands were almost all great. I will only say that continued questioning along the lines of “How are you, Australia?”, and “Are you ready, Australia?” became quite grating. Why do international bands (especially American ones) feel compelled to address the audience as if it was a single entity? Minor gripes aside however, the performances were of a very high quality. While by no means an exhaustive account of every band that played, these groups were the highlights in my mind.

SATURDAY

The Drones

Against the backdrop of the setting sun, The Drones were a great band to really get the festival going, bringing their brand of Australiana to an expecting audience. Hard, cutting riffs pierced any shell of ambivalence I felt coming into the festival, yet to be honest, I was as much taking in the surroundings as I was concentrating on the music. The triangular shape of the stage roof made me feel as if I was watching a band play in a giant barn, as such the Drones were completely appropriate, roaring through ‘I Don’t Ever Want to Change’ in blistering style.

Dexter

This guy knows how to work a crowd. Dexter mixed together modern classics with old favourites, and after the sonic assault of the Bellrays, I think the crowd was ready for good times dance music. When he began to spin The Police’s ‘Roxanne’, Dexter remarked, ‘I just have to play this classic shit for you guys’. His enthusiasm was contagious, providing what little encouragement was needed to a crowd of people who were obviously looking to party hard. 

SUNDAY

Eddy Current Suppression Ring

In the current period of generally horrible band names, Eddy Current Suppression Ring is a notable exception, in that it sounds at least vaguely original. There are a few bands that need to be told that having city names (especially Moscow and Tokyo, and just Eastern European cities in general) in their title is massively overdone. Who knows, maybe one day there will be a super band that incorporate all of this – Wolf Fire in Montreal Police Club. Thus, Eddy Current Suppression Ring has already made a good start before they even pick up their instruments. They did not disappoint. Amongst the swirling dust and empty Melbourne Bitter cans they could not have provided a more Australian atmosphere. Each song was saturated with garage rock authenticity.

If you could imagine Eric Bana’s ‘Peter’ fronting a band, this is a pretty good idea of the Eddy Current Suppression Ring aesthetic. Brendan Suppression careened around on stage and with the crowd below, growled his bus stop poetry – it was a sight to behold.

Comets On Fire

I was very keen to see Comets On Fire, as I am always immediately interested in any band described as psychedelic. Sounding like a cross between MC5 and the Grateful Dead, their live show was rather like watching burning magnesium. I don’t know whether they take acid or not, but lets keep the dream alive – they sure did rock out. Their set was at a time entirely appropriate for psychedelic bands – under the setting sun. As I stood sipping Melbourne Bitter I couldn’t help but be transported back to the panhandle of Golden Gate Park in ’66, as the Dead played to even freakier and more laid back folks than the ones present at Golden Plains, and that is really saying something. I have never smelt so much dope in all my life. There was more grass in the air than there was on the ground.

!!! (or chk chk chk)

!!! were without doubt the musical highlight of the festival and are one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Up until this point, I had never been too interested in what is considered dance rock by today’s music world, but !!! completely changed my perspective. Why? Well for one thing they actually made me dance. Their sound is a perfect hybrid of post-punk guitar, minimalist synth and disco beats; more than anything else though, they are blessed with charisma in abundance. Their lead singer, Nic Offer, was strutting around stage like a rock ‘n’ roll messiah (or a coked up Mick Jagger), making ridiculously grandiose dance gesticulations with his arms, utilising his entire wingspan.

!!!’s entire set melds into one in my memory, with a notable exception, the second last track they played. Halfway through mega dirty and loud synth kicked in and the whole crowd, including myself, went wild. There is nothing quite like seeing thousands of people collectively lose their minds in rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy. At this same point the stage floodlights kicked on, highlighting the transcendent moment. There is a lot to be said for a good light show. Often they are fairly cringe worthy, but with the right band and the right light effects they can supercharge the atmosphere, as they did for !!!’s set.

Avalanches DJ Show

!!! were a tough act to follow, but the Avalanches DJ Show did so admirably. It was a set full of crowd pleasers, most notably a number of Daft Punk songs. There comes a time, when a song is more than 10 years old, that people are allowed to admit that they always liked – it becomes retro-chic. A lot of people in the audience probably would not have appreciated Daft Punk in 1997, thinking it too commercial or something like that, but nobody in the audience seemed to hold such concerns in 2007.

Leaving at 10am on Monday morning, wanting nothing more than a double cheeseburger, I was aware that I had been a part of a pretty great festival. In an era of corporate dominance at music events, it is special to buy lunch at a stall where the money goes to the local cricket club. It’s akin to a return to a time in the musical world where the dollar was secondary to the atmosphere and the people (if such a time ever really existed). Most importantly though, you can sense that most people there appreciated it, that there was awareness they were lucky to be there – a consciousness of gratitude. It was that feeling that was the highlight of Golden Plains. The music was cool to.