Domingo 19 Out 2008, 4h:26
Sat 18 Oct – Sounds In The Grounds
That’s right. Festival season is upon us once again. And in these days when no self-respecting festival will deign to charge you much less than $150 for vast lineups containing two or three acts you know well alongside two dozen you’ve never heard of, what an opportunity the crowd at Sydney University’s Manning Bar have presented us with in Sounds in the Grounds. Four of Australia’s hottest acts for forty bucks? Could we possibly go wrong? The short answer is “No”.
The action was split into two stages: upstairs and downstairs in Manning House. On arrival, we headed upstairs to check out Melbourne’s Children Collide. They were tearing it up. These guys attack their instruments with all the ferocity of a pack of wolverines, but control the output enough to create a coherent wall of sound. In what proved to be a constant thoughout the night, the sound mix was continually defeated by the sheer volume the speakers had been jacked up to. This actually kind of suited Children Collide, but it caused problems for some others.
Cue current Sydney darlings Van She in the downstairs stage. Their debut CD, “V”, is a beautifully produced piece of nuanced electropop, and tonight’s playlist was exclusively lifted from it. Unfortunately, the excessive volume completely distorted the songs and diminished the effect. Van She have a great live reputation, but it seemed as though the PA was really dialled up to suit the night’s headliners who, as we know, are a completely different kind of beast.
But what a beast! Midnight Juggernauts came on stage like a ragged trio of dark Sith Lords and immediately set about destroying our eardrums in the most glorious possible way. This pulsating orgy of synth and bass was almost enough to bring on visual hallucinations. The operative word is power, something the traditions of heavy metal and grunge have long treasured. This is also the secret ingredient held by some of the greatest electronic acts over the years, but Midnight Juggernauts seem to have taken it to a new level. It was impossible not to be swept away by the rolling tsunami of their surging mega-pop. Awesome.