Saturday was time for the Sounds of Spring music festival. The weather has been spectacularly warm and sunny for three weeks, and then, the weekend where we had fully planned outdoor activities, the heavens opened.
This caused havoc right from the start, as it instantly changed my opinion on what I was planning to wear. It's a dilemma, because there's so much to consider - warmth, cooling, sweat, dirt, comfort, sun exposure, suitable footwear, accessories, and on top of all this, of course one has to look cool. I went for the Russell Pty Ltd sundress top, as planned, but wore longer pants underneath, rather than the initially proposed shorts. Cheapo brown canvas sneakers on the bottom, red beads (of course!) and massive sunglasses, and we were underway. Dan opted for a polo and shorts, with equally cruddy shoes.
First we walked down to West End, to have a little caffeine infusion at Ugees. We met some Mexican marine scientists and some Aussie firends, and had such a fab time chatting that we could easily have missed the festival. We ducked out super quickly, and hopped on a bus in to the valley, where we walked a couple of blocks, then jumped on the tail of a 1km long queue. Just to get in. Then we joined another queue for wristbands (to prove that I'm over 18 - ha! AS IF I ever even get asked for ID anymore!) all the while checking the time, and terrified that we would miss the John Steel Singers, probably our fave band of the minute. We got in just in time to see them, and the rain started up. So we bought some overpriced ponchos, and danced away in those, leaving my poncho wetter on the inside than the outside.
Once inside the festival, punters had to purchase tickets which could be exchanged for food and beverages. So we jumped in our third queue of the day, which snaked along in front of the stage. We got our 30 tickets, watched some of The Boat People, then ditched them to hang out with some local acquaintances. A wave of thirst washed over us all, so we got in our fourth queue, to enter the licensed area of the venue. At the front of this queue, we were asked for ID *again* before being shoved back into the queue by the security guard, who I swear was memorising details for identity theft or similar, he stared at the ID for so long. So we got in to the licensed venue, where we got to join queue #5 to exchange tickies for beeries. Our friends somewhat sensibly double parked themselves with beer, but we downed our $5 cans of Extra Dry and headed off to see the next band. There was a reasonable view of the stages from the licensed areas, but not of the bands we wanted to see, besides which I am not down with paying $70 to stand around and drink cheap nasty beer. I can do that at home for free.
So we aimed for the Corner Stage, where bluejuice were scheduled. They performed as expected - hyperactively. Early on, Dan said "How many songs til jake climbs the speaker tower?" I guessed 5, but Dan picked it at 3. A highlight of the show was his first tower climbing attempt, when his mike chord wouldn't reach.
From bluejuice we slung a token glance at The Spazzys, but spent most of the time chatting to another friend we bumped into (2 degrees of Brisbane) and then, in the interests of doing something Authentically Brisbane, we checked the Gin Club out. They played the Time Off stage, a much smaller stage which was close to another licensed area, the queue for which now snaked all the way across the showground. It had a grass area where we could sit down, chill out, and watch the pissheads mud-wrestle.
We left early to catch the second half of the Muph n Plutonic. The whole stage was running late, so we actually ended up seeing the whole set. It was abotu this time when the Festival Fever got me. Where you plan all the acts you want to see, but halfway through the day, I scrap that and just want to dance. So Muph n was perfect. We had planned to move on after that, but decided that the Resin Dogs suited better than Spiderbait, so we aimed for the front, and scored ourselves a good little spot. During the set, a couple of drunk tools decided to muscle in, and three different guys were throwing punches at Dan, while the security guards, 2m away were yawnign and occasionally shining a torch at someone on their mate's shoulders. Tops. But the Resin Dogs were really really good. Better in Brissy than anywhere else I've seen them.
So after all that wrestling, Dan needed some chill-out, and conveniently, epicure were on around the corner. We watched them, and decided to go our separate ways while I danced out my Fever at The Herd, and Dan went to check out Cog.
From there, we met up out the back of the Grinspoon stage, watched one song, decided that they were arrogant and over-rated, and headed for home.
Even in our sober state, we were unable to read the bus timetable properly, and waited 30 mins for the 10:54am bus. Whoops! we started walking home, but after standing and dancing all day, we piked in the middle of the CBD, and got a cab.
It was a big day, and my calves are still stinging! But would do it all again, of course!
