To say I was excited to see Custard and Neil Finn is probably one of the biggest understatements of the year. I was EXCITED. However they didn't make an appearance until Saturday afternoon, so what else was happening before that?
For starters, for the first time ever, we were only half an hour late leaving St Kilda. Normally we end up getting into the Meredith line around 10am, but this year we were there at just after 9am with what felt like every single other ticket holder. I think the warnings of camps shut down and long waits to get in encouraged lots of people to come early, just like us. Oh well, the more the merrier. We ended up in a great camping spot and got set up.
PUTA MADRE BROTHERS opened the music on Friday afternoon. These guys were lots of fun! Great accents, great show and two of them were super cute. WIN.
JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD played later on in the night and we really good. Their sounds was totally raw - just the two of them (as someone commented to me, 'Not much of a Brotherhood eh?') and they fluctuated between early sounding Nirvana and Kings of Leon. The singer looked like a King of Leon too. The drummer was awesome though - he keep jumping up to yell into the microphone while he was playing. Fun times.
CLOUD CONTROL played a solid set with a few well known hits. They were fun, even though they looked like they were 12 years old. Did I mention I am getting old???
LITTLE RED played a fun fun FUN set at Meredith two years ago (the wet year - remember that one?) so I was looking forward to this set. Unfortunately they have caught the 'Eskimo Joe' syndrome and turned into massive douchebags (AKA I am too cool for school now that I've achieved some commercial success and despite this being a festival set I am going to play all the obscure shit off my new album). They played a grand total of ONE song (maybe two) from their hugely popular debut album. I was really disappointed that they didn't go for the hits.
C.W. STONEKING played a chilled out Saturday afternoon set. The majority of which was spent by me trying to work out where the hell his accent is from??! I thought he was Australian but now I am not so sure.
THE FALL made me feel like I was missing a vital ingredient in what was going on... I actually asked someone if they were taking the piss after the first song, but no sadly, that same weird yelling/screeching from the very odd singer continued for the rest of the set. I don't know that it's possible for him to look anymore bored than he did either - lighten up dude, you're playing Meredith! This was a shame because their drummer was super exciting to watch and the rest of the band were really solid. Ok, I just googled them and it all makes a bit more sense now, but I think most of what they had to offer was lost in translation...
CUSTARD was probably the most fun set of the weekend. They appeared in the weak sunshine on Saturday afternoon to a crowd of quite a few die-hard fans. Some of us sang along to every SINGLE SONG in a celebration of all that was good about the 1990s. The highlight for our group had to be the synchronised dancing and singing that went with "Hit Song" as well as the shimmy-ing during "Ringo". The guys seemed to have a good time to, telling us 'it was good to be back!'.
COMBO LA REVELACION provided the usual attempts at very white people to dance like the girls on stage with varying levels of success. Mainly unsuccessful on my part. But always fun!
NEIL FINN arrived in a sunshower of goodness to one excited little festival-goer (me!). Being a huge Finn Family Fan I was super exited to see Neil as I'd never seen a solo set and I really like both his solo albums. Unfortunately for me (but hooray for everyone else) he only played one song from his solo material ("She will have her way") as well as a few Finn Brothers songs and one Split Enz song (he opened with "One Step Ahead" and I was so excited that I had a little cry). He did end up playing some of his less known material too, but it was mainly a Crowded House singalong with all the family favorites including "Fall at Your Feet", "Better be Home Soon", "Don't Dream its Over" and "Distant Sun". Highlights for me were "One Step Ahead" and "Into Temptation", but he also did "Silent House" which was nice as their new material is hugely underrated. There was a lot of hand holding and hugging during his set and it was the most wonderful thing I've ever seen at Meredith.
SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS played to a hyped up crowd who were ready for a bit of a dance - and dance she did! How does she stay to upbeat for the whole show? I was exhausted just looking at her. But they were excellent and heaps of fun, despite the rain that arrived at the same time.
DIRTY THREE probably played for too long and have left me feeling that they were boring. Sorry. It was wet and cold.
We didn't last much longer after that. A speedy getaway after THOSE DARLINS on Sunday morning meant we made it back to Melbourne much earlier than usual at 3pm.
What a wonderful weekend. Meredith, how I love thee!
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