Spoiled for choice over the Australia Day weekend in SE-QLD, I chose to celebrate the settlement of our fine land by attending Fuzzy and Ten Pound Crew’s second annual Hear & Now festival at Brisbane’s Riverstage. The 100% Australian event featured an eclectic mix of top-rate home-grown local talent with non-stop entertainment to the punting troop over the 10-hour day.

With sweltering heat and exceptionally high humidity in the days leading up, one could only hope the weather gods were going to be kind on the day, as the outdoor amphitheatre section of the Botanical Gardens – with its steep hill gradient from the actual stage – provides no protection from Mother Nature at all. Despite a moderate reduction in temperature, as Australian as Vegemite, Slip-Slop-Slap was indeed the order of the day, so too was packing a light-weight rain poncho given the impending threat of medium to heavy showers. As a proud born and bred Aussie gal, dressed in representative green and gold attire, I ensured on this day I was only supporting Australian Made; unfortunately that meant not flying the Australian flag, or anything in symbolic form for that matter.

My arrival was delayed by 45 minutes, unfortunately missing out on Brisbane duo Bitrok for their Dex‘n’Fx opening set. Known for getting the party-started, the talented lads get the crowd-rocking whenever they grace the stage, and by accounts of my more punctual crew they didn’t disappoint this time around, setting proceedings off with Groovin. Grafton Primary were in their comfort zone early on too, delivering their musical syllabus of intense vocal synth-infused electro, seemingly inspired by the new romance era of few decades passed. Very easy on the ear, the driving basslines of their tracks provided plenty of energy for those dancing directly in front of the stage.

All the essentials one has come to expect of such a quality event were well set out in the enclosure of the Riverstage. The in-situ toilets on location were accessible, along with addition of well-maintained portaloos and rows of demountable cubicles, which seemed to be adequate given the size of the crowd. Ample too were the two separate cash-bar tents, with more than enough queues accommodating an easy transaction. Australian beer was the prime alcoholic beverage of choice for sale, with no dark spirits appearing on the menu. Mind you, given the temperature and need for maintaining hydration there were plenty of other cold refreshments on offer – not only from the bars, but the food and beverage vendors we’ve come to count on at such events. One thing that was a little disconcerting – but is evident as a sign of the times – is the precautionary measures that were taken, of removing the lid of any plastic drink bottle sold that could potentially be misused and cause injury if hurled full and closed at any suspecting punter or performer. The only thing thrown around on the day, as a result, were blow-up balls, smiles, laughter, and one’s body mass grooving to the fabulous tunes.

Given the bright light of the day it was noticed that when Danny T played his set early afternoon the lighting and projected visuals on the backdrop were in full swing, along with powerful crisp wattage emanating from the hanging speaker stacks. As the second DJ to play the in-between sets as live acts setup, Danny T was causing everybody on their feet to cut the floor with his distinctive blend of jackin’, funky-tech and fidget house. Everywhere you looked peeps across a spectrum of ages ranging from youth to the young-at-heart 40 & 50 somethings were bouncing. At this stage of the day the ‘Hill’ was still only sparsely scattered with small groups of punters, but there were certainly no shortage of people expressing their Australian pride, with all matter of merchandise displaying the flag, along with plenty of green and gold in some form or other.

A rather unusual but very welcome addition to this type of event was Brisbane’s classically trained opera-turned-pop singer Kate Miller-Heidke. With the slick and smooth transition of the stage set-up, Kate’s band soon appeared and the first few chords of Little Adam were belted out. There was an amazing rush of young fans down towards the stage, and in a conservative one-shoulder strap black taffeta dress with ruffles at the back she appeared, her long blonde locks tamed with a Sven Vath-inspired gold taffeta/lame dome cap. Kate Miller-Heidke as a young superstar certainly knows how to make a statement each time she enters the public domain. Following on, Kate seemed to have the whole crowd moulded in her hands like putty, belting out the all-popular I Like It Better When You’re Not Around, The End of School, and Gods Gift To Women. She also moved effortlessly from the microphone to her keyboard, often playing with a hand-held mic. Before closing the set with the catchy Can’t Shake It, in spirit of the day she also sang a tribute to ‘one of the Australian greats’, sending shivers down the spine with her rendition of John Farnham’s The Voice. It’s not often a singer can cause goose-bumps to erupt along with the euphoric chill that accompanies them, but displaying their superbly broad talent, Kate and her band also broke into melodies of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody to showcase her amazing vocal range. Oh my, it was truly an unexpected treat!

I wondered how you could follow such a classy act, but soon enough the Stafford Brothers and Timmy Trumpet upped the anti, playing the national anthem to an immediately upstanding crowd who all sang Advance Australia Fair in glorious harmony. Seasoned at getting people to stand up and take notice, they had everyone dancing through to their very last beat, as Kiwi born-Gold Coaster’s Matt and Chris rocked the Riverstage with familiar remixed house tracks, reaching their crescendo with Voodoo People as though The Prodigy’s spirit remained from last week. Before making way for the next band the Stafford Brothers teased the crowd with one of their new singles, inviting their cousin to the front of the stage to play guitar and sing the lyrics. There’s no doubting the Stafford family boys, along with Timmy, are one talented outfit!

Up next, the unusually named Bluejuice took to the stage, and their interaction with the crowd was akin to a good ol’ seasoned Aussie rock outfit, exclaiming to the legion of fans in front of them “it’s too hot to pretend to be cool!” I had never heard of these guys before, yet I absolutely loved their stage presence and songs, especially the couple that were like listening to mid-80s ska outfit Madness. It’s hard to categorise their unique style, but I soon discovered that Bluejuice is the resurrection of the majority of Sherbet from some 3-plus decades ago – yet they didn’t seem that old (at least from I was sitting). In case you’re reading this and you hadn’t heard of them either, they’re described as delivering intense, funky intelligent hip-hop, in “a sweat-soaked psycho-live performance”. If you get the opportunity to catch this fun, crowd-loving band anytime soon, take it!

Geared up with his ‘Super Visual Disco Party’, Sampology’s DJ set is unlike anything you’ve heard before; it’s a rather rare VJ/DJ performance that requires aural and visual concentration to experience the full ‘party’. Very well planned, Sampology has a pre-programmed collection of video files, music clips, TV and movie excerpts, which are all ultimately controlled through his actions on the decks and mixer. Manipulating both the video and audio files live, Sampology superbly orchestrates the audio in sync with the visual feed that is projected onto the large screen behind him. So, imagine if you will, ‘samples’ from just about any famous Aussie film, video clip, TV show, from decades even before young Sampology was born, all seamlessly put together with perfect synchronisation, and you’ve got the special Australia Day edition of ‘Sampology’s Super Visual Disco Party’.

The electrifying live band *The Herd have a rather unconventional stage set-up. They’re a very large hip-hop group with diverse individual talents, and they perform their songs with a multitude of musical instruments, laptops and sequencers. Clearing the massive stage arrangement after their set, without delay the Juggernaut DJs continued the top notch fun throwing down a mix of oldie-but-goodie tunes like KLF Last Train to Trancentral and Blur Song #2.

No doubt the most anticipated acts of the day were Regurgitator and Spiderbait, with the Bang Gang DJs squished in between. Unfortunately due to a quick visit to the first-aid with my friend my attention was not with the short slot of the Bang Gang DJs. Regurgitator have an exhausting gig calendar this time of year, but the electronic rock ensemble didn’t show any signs by offering up yet another energetic performance fronted by the dynamic Quan. Playing I Will Lick Your Arsehole, Destroy This Town, I Sucked A Lot Of Cock, Kong Foo Sing, The Drop and Polyester Girl, the crowd were well and truly warmed up for when Spiderbait took to the stage just a half-hour later. Getting amongst the revellers, I became immersed watching the trio, and all I can remember are the beautiful vocals of Janet singing Sunshine on My Window, followed by Kram with his awesome cover of Black Betty.

Totally blown away by the excellent programming of the day, the non-stop musical entertainment and the pleasant experience of just being out and about enjoying the Australia Day weekend, at this point I decided it was time for this Aussie gal to call it a day. Do I hear an Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!