Busybee
Norgdom
Perth MusicSaturday 27th December 2008
Mandurah Western Foreshore
Another warm summer day greeted the thousands of kids that turned up in Mandurah for the fourth instalment of the Rollercoaster Festival. Being the only rock festival situated in Mandurah, it has become something that a lot of locals really look forward to and something to do during the Christmas break that isn’t necessarily family based. Unfortunately today there were many issues with crowd control and many complaints about the ever rising drink prices.
Perth’s own Tame Impala were on stage early to the growing stage and their reputation has continued to spread around WA thanks to playing as many gigs and festivals as they can. Their psychedelic sound was not what everybody expected but it was definitely well received with flashbacks for many to the 70’s. There was bongo solos, crazy dancing and ten minute songs that had people in the crowd swaying and dancing along. A great cover of Blue Boy’s Remember Me was the highlight of their set.
After a short break French electro pop outfit The Teenagers walked on stage excited and ready to try and withstand the Australian heat. Vocalist Michael Szpiner announced with his French accent that this was the first time the band had been to Perth and that they loved it here despite the heat and that he could only stand on one side of the stage due to being barefoot and half of the stage covered in sunlight. The band sounded great but half of the crowd were not expecting the flamboyant frontman and did not appreciate his dancing. Three girls from the front were invited on stage to sing along to the hit ‘Homecoming‘ and did really well despite giggling throughout.
Operator Please were on next and they are not strangers to music festivals in WA having appeared in many of them over the last couple of years. The band have changed a bit with new keyboardist Chris Holland replacing the departed Sarah Gardiner and violinist Taylor Henderson getting a lot more involved with singing. The band also no longer do their cover of Devo’s Whip It and has been replaced by a cover of Salt n Pepa’s Push It. It was about this part of the day where the crowd started throwing plastic bottles onto the stage getting very close to hitting band members. Vocalist Amandah Wilkinson caught one person throwing a bottle and proceeded to call them a cunt and that if they didn’t want to hear the band then they could fuck off. The band then continued on with their set and as expected ‘Just A Song About Ping Pong‘ generated a huge cheer from the crowd as well as some crazy dancing.
It was then time for a bit of a change in style as electro rockers Cut Copy started to play. As the festival was starting to run a bit behind schedule Cut Copy were forced to only play 8 songs but they did a great job in playing them despite the tough circumstances. There was also sound sound issues early in their set but Cut Copy pleased the crowd with songs mainly from their newest album In Ghost Colours including Nobody Lost, Nobody Found, Far Away, So Haunted, Unforgettable Season, Out There On The Ice, Lights And Music, Future and closed with their huge hit Hearts On Fire.
Perth boys Gyroscope generated a huge cheer from the crowd as they walked on stage and after the best year of their careers, they were ready to rock. Starting with All In One and Doctor Doctor the crowd were moshing and jumping around like they were possessed which is what Gyroscope hope for at all of their shows. This was followed by Beware Wolf, 1981 and Dream Vs Scream with frontman Daniel Sanders and bassist Brad Campbell almost knocking each other over with their out of control playing. Driving For The Storm and These Days allowed for a bit of a breather for the crowd as well as the band but everyone got straight back into it with Safe Forever. Sanders jumped down into the crowd and sang most of the song in the mosh pit or crowd surfing and then jumped on top of a speaker to finish the song. Gyroscope finished their set with Australia, Weapon.Enemy.Friend, a cover of Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning, Fast Girl and Snakeskin all with some idiot on top of the sound tent evading security and a huge brawl happening just near the first aid tent.
The sun was finally setting in Mandurah and Sneaky Sound System came on stage confronted with a agitated crowd. The band were in great form having just returned from a very successful string of shows in the UK. Crowd pleaser Pictures opened their set with vocalists Connie Mitchell and Black Angus syncing perfectly. This was followed by When We Were Young, 16 and Hip Hip Hooray with Connie announcing to the crowd that their new drummer was none other than Perth’s own Sibbsy, formerly with Eskimo Joe. During Crazy the crowd continued to throw bottles on stage and during UFO a bottle actually hit Connie in the face which forced her to fall down. After a minute Angus announced that Connie’s eye was now bleeding and the band walked off stage, forced to finish their set early.
After a bit of a break an announcement was made that if anything else was thrown on stage the festival would be over but The Living End were prepared to play. There was still shock in the faces of many of the crowd but The Living End pushed on playing a great set including Raise The Alarm, How Do We Know, What’s On Your Radio, Loaded Gun and Who’s Gonna Save Us. During Second Solution there was another incident when someone from the side of stage ran right up to Chris Cheney and attempted to sing along into the microphone. The intruder was quickly wrestled off stage and the band continued to finish the song. Moment In The Sun, Make The Call, Wake Up, West End Riot and All Torn Down were playing with rocking enthusiasm and a lot of sing alongs. The set and the event-filled festival finished with Roll On and White Noise and The Living End proved they are still on of the best live bands in the country.
