Southbound- the experience

The start of my trip down to south band had the setting of a bad teen movie with everything possible going wrong: forgetting tickets half way down south, traffic jams and loooong lines on arrival to the campgrounds. Nevertheless the great line-up had me excited so once the tent was pegged I glided down to the grounds that were available only for the Friday night campers. A perfect weekend music event is well organized and has both bands you know and love as well as some surprising acts that blow you away unexpectedly. My weekend got all of the above.

For the complete lineup please refer to the sunset events website. There where many amazing artists, so I will share the highlight of my 3 day adventure in the south. Friday night I saw The Beautiful Girls and Angus & Julia Stone perform. Both sets were more acoustic and laid back that their performance on Saturday and gave it a more intimate feel. They both played some more unusual songs so it seemed more aimed at the true fans than to introduce themselves to a new crowd. Unfortunately, although it seemed a little more personal, I found the acoustics in tent did not do them true justice and both sounded much better performing on Saturday.

The Beautiful Girls consist of trio Paulie B, Mat Mchugh and Bruce Braybooke, they’ve been touring the world over the last few years and their performance reminded me a bit of a Jack Johnson performance. The music sounded just like hearing listening to it at home. They give a great solid and relaxed performance without being too animated on stage, feeling the need for large beanie bags and plush couches to chill out on. Angus and Julia Stone were also peaceful and the siblings from Sydney have an illuminative stage presence. They played several songs from their album A Book Like This and accompanied by Julias trumpet their set was bitter- sweet and full of emotion. After the main acts everyone had the opportunity to dance for a few more hours in the Groove Tent with some great diverse DJs, with a special mention to Charlie Bucket.

On Saturday there were so many great acts to choose from but luckily I managed to catch quite a few of them. British duo Mattafix, taken form the Caribbean expression “no problem, matter-fixed” was the biggest surprise for me and in hindsight probably my favorite performance at Southbound. I have listened to their CD several times and liked their songs but I found their live act was so much more powerful and it turned me into an instant fan. Their stage presence was energetic and lead singer Marlon Roudette, originally a steel-pan player from the island of St Vincent, sounded amazing and so effortlessly cool. They played several songs from their last album Rhythm and Hymns and their greatest hit thus far Big City Life from previous effort Signs of a Struggle.

Girl Talk, a.k.a. Greg Gillis, was an amazing act. I have to admit I had never even heard of this DJ but reading up on him he is famous for his energetic eventful sets, which is exactly what the crowds experience was.
I think a good DJ should do three things: know his music, know his crowd and rock his crowd. Girl Talk did all three without flinching and I found myself dancing from the moment I entered the tent to the end of the set. This is truly the first time I have ever seen a DJ have such a great time on stage that he was jumping around like a mad man and items of clothing were flying left and right. The crowd started dancing with him on stage and even the security guards, who usually have a token just-sucked-a-lemon look ended up busting out some moves and letting some crowd surfers do their thing!
His music was a fast passed mix of all hits from the last 40 years, something the average DJ might not touch, but it worked for him. I heard mixes of LL Cool J, Biggie, The Beatles, remixes of dance favorites Love Struck and many more. A great performer who I would definitely recommend to watch if you are up for a dance!

A special mention to The Herd- I only managed to catch a few songs but their set was apparently fantastic, with a full crew and a huge amount of enthusiasm. They started off with 77% and emphasized their political taste whilst turning the tent into a free sweatbox! Kings of Leon were very popular and played to the fans as they chimed through their hour and 15 minute set. Their songs were chosen to give people a taste of their hits but also very much to be played for the die-hard fans (think songs like Knocked Up). Their performance was great and I enjoyed it but I know there were definitely mixed feelings across the crowd as they were obviously experimenting with different tunes as supposed to sticking to one sound.

Groove Armada would need little introduction to inthemix readers with a massive fan base in the groove/dance sector. Andy Cato and Tom Findley have been remixed and added onto dance and chill-out compilations so many times it would have been impossible to miss them. Their set was good and strong and they did perform with the band but a lot of people mentioned they seemed to be lacking something on this night. I have seen them perform before and they were amazing but I felt as the closing and co-headlining act they did lack some power.

I caught the last few songs of Blackalicious, famous for their fast rapping , played songs of new album The Craft as well as old favorites that had us rehearsing the alphabet. There were so many other great bands at South Bound that are all worth mentioning but it was unfortunately hard to get the time to see everyone. Think Jose Gonzalez, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Spider Bait, Regurgitator, The Waifs, Augie March, The Go Team, Lior, The Panics, The Pipettes, Gotye and so many more its hard to keep track.

Sound-wise the main stage seemed to have some difficulties at times with certain band members/instruments falling out completely, and with some performers the base seemed a bit too overpowering. Visually I think that Western Australia should step it up a notch and include more VJs and light shows (although of course enjoyed with Groove Armada) as this seems to getting more popular in the rest of the world.

It was all very well organized and there were lots of extra on the grounds such as rides, shops, food, healing tent with massages and different free workshops such as drumming and Yoga. There were many toilets set up over the grounds ensuring that the lines never got too big (although of course nice and muggy at the end of the night).There could have possibly been some more shade spots (although there were already more than last year) or a spray tent as Saturday was quite hot and even though there was sunscreen available freely sunburn was almost inevitable and people started looking like half-sucked twisties. The money system also seemed a little strange as you could not get cash anywhere, but any potential problems were made up by the sunshine and the great atmosphere of people having a good time.
Another point to mention would be the strong sense of control felt with a huge number of cops around. Although security is important their presence seemed somewhat overdone. The caging of the alcohol is also a minor point as the general consensus was that if you are paying that much for a ticket you should be able to enjoy a beer in front of the stage, which was of course prohibited as under 18s were allowed at Southbound.

All in all a sensational experience leaving me with lack of sleep, a face that looks like Rudolph the Red-Nose-Reindeer and buzzing ears. Anyone who loves their music and enjoys these events should definitely give Southbound a try next year if they have not already. Although there are always points of improvement I think the overall organization was very inventive and thought out and I am happy to say my experience will be a great memory in the cranial library!