After days of unexpected rain and intense hail storm warnings, it was today that seemed to be blessed (or cursed) with the full-brunt of what summer 2005/06 is bound to have on offer. I couldn’t seem to make peace with the idea of waiting for hours on end with the early arriving masses, queuing around the block for entry, so I vetoed plans to get in early and catch myself some midday live action courtesy of The Presets, The Herd and Architecture In Helsinki.

Instead I rocked up in style, without a queue in sight, making it inside just in time to catch the tail end of the new look Rogue Traders. They had the crowd in a sweating, heaving mess of fun and festival euphoria in the Big Top. As they wrapped things up it was time to have a quick look around the site and catch up with a few wandering friends, before settling in a comfortably close place just in front of the main stage, to welcome Sydney’s new favourite saviours of rock.

Wolfmother came on, not a moment too soon, to loud and appreciative applause from the Homebake masses, all fighting their way across the muddy grounds to find the perfect place to catch the onstage action. The trio ripped things up and turned them out nice and loud, beginning with a healthy dose of material from last year’s self-titled EP. The boys had the crowd going nuts, everyone quickly forgetting how uncomfortable and squashed they were up the front in the heat of the afternoon sun, all fighting for a space to dance and jump around.

It was like a set you would have expected to see back at Woodstock in the 60s, with their distinct flavour of balls-out rock, served hard and straight up, much like a fine scotch should be. After a hefty and energetic dose of drawn-out stoner rock classics from the EP, they delved into some newer material from their recent debut long player and the crowd viciously lapped up every last sweat soaked drop, along with their chosen cans of alcohol for the day (which by this point, were being devoured with record-breaking enthusiasm).

Then it was time for some blissfully nostalgic moments as they whipped out a shiveringly perfect, skin tingling version of the epic The White Unicorn, as the crowd got happier, redder and visibly drunker. The last kiss from the Wolfers for today, was a sublime, goosebump-inducing version of Mind’s Eye. Ha! And who said rock was dead?! It’s certainly alive and kicking freely from the hearts and minds of three young Sydney locals, who’ve been busily spending the year abroad, taking the world by storm. After a thrilling set like that, it’s easy to forgive them for keeping me magnetised to the stage like a flea to a dog for 50 minutes under the sun’s harsh rays, in turn missing Decoder Ring’s entrancing offerings.

Next up it was time to seek some shady solace in the Big Top in time for Paul Mac’s set. I was welcomed to the sounds of Katalyst & RuCL’s “When I say hey, you say Ho” – ah, far too much for my current rock drenched mind to handle at this point! As 5.30pm approached Paul Mac was spotted side of stage and met with riotous applause and cheering, but what else can be expected as Homebake’s favourite son makes his long awaited return? Without a second to wait he jumped onstage, beaming with adoration – it seems the feeling is mutual today. He’s joined by the gorgeous Lenka from Decoder Ring for a pumping, crowd-exciting version of the album’s opener and title track Panic Room. There certainly is no dismissing that this girl has a blissfully enchanting voice, full of character and playfulness.

Before we know it, she’s farewelled us and vacated the stage, only to make room for a spunked-up Sarah McLeod who joins Mac to belt out a blistering version of Never Been Before. Now I must say McLeod’s voice hasn’t done anything much at all for me since her early Superjesus ‘Eight Step Rail’ days. It’s just a little too masculine and seems to lack a wide range (in what I’ve heard since). But seeing her onstage roaring through the track, I must admit, she blew me far, far away with the sheer power of her voice and the range it seems to have against an electronic background, rather than guitar grunts was stunning, I now have a new album fav.

Just as Sarah exits, like a play running on time and according to plan (which is rare in music) the delightful Peta Morris entered the stage with all of the grace, style and charm of a diva. With her platinum hair, leopard print, ear bling and the shiniest pair of aviators rock has ever seen. Her voice, as usual, was silencing from the very first note of Sunshine Eyes. She may be short, but she sure makes up for it with sass and volume! But, the magical moments continued as the ever sweet-voiced and baby-faced Abby Dobson took the stage to lull us into oblivion with something old and something new from the glistening Mac catalogue. The other magical festival moment of course came as Peta Morris returned for a sizzling Just The Thing. An amazing return, Mac and co left us speechless, breathless and smiling from brow to brow, what a performance!

Left happy and thirsty after a good dance, I made my way past the main stage to check out an old favourite of mine. As Ben Lee charmed the crowd with his soothing pop tunes and cute little jokes between, it was good to see him in as good a form as ever and winning all new fans from the younger generation. After setting myself up with a drink, it was time to make a mad dash back to the Big Top in order to get a decent spot up front for some all-time favourites of mine. After getting there, finding a spot through the arrogant, inebriated shirt-less posers, it was time to sit tight and wait it out for some action. After a few minutes of watching the stage being set up and having short conversations with disposable five-minute festival friends, they took the stage.

But, what’s this?! No Peter? Again? Man, as soon as you get used to something about the live Pnau set up, make sure you don’t get too attached, cause it’s entirely likely that the live format will be shaken and stirred before you see them again, usually into something even more mind-blowing than before. I was just getting used to the greatness of seeing the duo together again in a live form – nothing beats their original onstage chemistry and how ‘on the money’ and stripped back their sets were. This evening Nick is joined by two live drummers and a percussionist, so that should really pump up the intensity of the set to a fine degree. They belted right into a highly excitable set, playing a strong amount of long-unplayed material from Sambanova and a few glistening beauties from Again with sexy new cuts thrown in for good measure, including a deliciously raucous version of Donnie Donnie Darko which illustrated the true power of the onstage players. Nick’s Teenager partner-in-crime Pip came out to help finish things off in an insanely punk electro rock jam-off that had the crowd going off. What can I say, Pnau are still alive and going strong and were welcomed back to the Homebake Big Top this year.

Something For Kate were now taking pole position on the main stage, and as Paul crooned his way through a few old favourites I couldn’t stand to stay there too long for fear of destroying any good old SFK memories I may have had. They’re a great band, but onstage action hasn’t ever been their strong point, so to have the honour of main stage at this time and after a powerhouse set from Pnau, just seemed wrong.

Next set of the day for me was back at the Big Top as Cut Copy took prime position. They started off with a slower track, which didn’t really seem to do much for the crowd who’d been waiting around for an electro pop beast to rear it’s weary head straight up, the only action we really saw from this one came from Dan’s signature hair flicks. Thankfully they shifted things up a notch or four between the first and second song, and that’s where things stayed for the rest of the set as they got the crowd moving, shaking, singing and clapping to a bevy of Bright Like Neon Love classics; drooling and sweating over some killer fresh cuts and right into the festival spirit with a sonicly charged version of Rendezvous from their debut I Thought of Numbers EP – which sounded criminally like Tiga’s You Gonna Want Me during it’s final stages… is it likely this Melbourne trio served as some inspiration to the electro maestro?

As the Big Top cleared out, we made our way through with the masses as everyone fought their way through the mud and drunken passers by to get the best visual position we possibly could for the Finn Brothers. They treated us to a timeless, taintless hour and a half of pure splendour and nostalgia to send us happily into the night with. Today was definitely a day of brilliant sets, rather than the usual running around to catch brilliant songs from many of the acts, I caught more of each act, because I was given a reason to stick around. Well done, another brilliant memory to go down in my Homebake memory bank!