As Australia Day drew near, it was fitting to see three triple j success stories joining together to kick off the long weekend for their Melbourne fans.
Instantly captivating, Montaigne’s opening set blended brand new unnamed tracks with those from her 2014 release, Life Of Montaigne, including A Cinematic Plea For An End and I Am Not An End, plus recent single Clip My Wings. Montaigne soon ditched the microphone stand to let loose in I’m A Fantastic Wreck, reaching her vocal and visual peak whiledancing across the stage with quirky limb extension.
It wasn’t long until the crowd put their hands together for Queensland’s Art Of Sleeping. With a deep, sultry tone, Caleb Hodges was a versatile and incredibly powerful frontman, especially in the rock anthems Empty Hands and Voodoo. Moving through I Could Make You Happy, Bleeding Out, Above The Water, The Cage and Crazy in classy fashion, the indie-rock unit sang about the pleasures and perils of unrequited love.
Standing under a flood of yellow lights, Sydney foot tappers Boy & Bear looked as suave as ever. Dave Symes’ rolling bass riffs led the group into Old Town Blues, which was followed by the newbie, Where’d You Go. Steadfastly honouring older material, the folk rock heroes offered up fan favourites Rabbit Song, Lordy May and Bridges before fast-forwarding to their latest record Limit Of Love.
From the slower tempos of Break Down Slow and Man Alone to the tambourine shaking of Hollow Ground and A Thousand Faces, the 2015 release sure is diverse. Mixing it up with a rendition of Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black, Boy & Bear had the entire crowd in their emotionally-charged palms.
The clear standout was 2011 hit Feeding Line, alongside Golden Jubilee and Southern Sun. Between the gutsy trio of guitars and many layered vocal melodies, the collective’s onstage efforts didn’t go unnoticed.
BY PHOEBE ROBERTSON
Photo by David Harris
Loved: The oldies going hard in front of me.
Hated: The oldies going hard in front of me.
Drank: Sweet nothing.
