IT was a big weekend of music but it wasn't all in Port Fairy. MATT NEAL was one of the 10,000 people that headed to the ninth annual Golden Plains festival at Meredith.
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THE first thing everyone wants to know about Golden Plains is 'were The Village People any good?'.
The answer is both yes and no.
A left-field pick amid the usual non-mainstream up-and-comers and alternative favourites - one probably apocryphal story suggests they were booked by organisers during a large drinking session - the "band" comprised six costumed men (and only two original members) dancing and karaoke-ing to a backing track of their hits.
On it's own, that's not good. But the sight of 10,000 very happy punters having a ball as they join in the moves and choruses of YMCA - that's pretty cool and something of a genius masterstroke by the bandbookers, whether they were drunk when they booked them or not.
It's curveballs like this that keep Golden Plains fascinating. Veteran attendees of the event and its big sister the Meredith Music Festival have been spoilt by so many great performances over the years that "great" is no longer enough - we want mind-blowing or, at the very least, different. The Village People were the latter.
The Meanies opened proceedings on Saturday morning, continuing the tradition of veteran-ish punk bands playing first while the kinks in the sound are still being figured out (because punk isn't supposed to sound perfect).
Returning act Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks were solid, New York singer-guitarist Sharon Van Etten was enchanting, and many rated Swedish sisters First Aid Kit as one of the highlights of the weekend - the latter were perhaps the only mind-blowing act of the first day.
Crowd consensus suggested some of the big drawcards of Saturday - Neneh Cherry and the much-vaunted pairing of DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist - left something to be desired, while Courtney Barnett and Radio Birdman were good but may have been better suited to other timeslots.
Sunday had it all, including the strange performance of Melbourne electro artist Banoffee, the cool country-rock sounds of The Felice Brothers, and an enthusiastic set from hot-right-now punk-dub band The Bennies that included their killer version of TISM's (He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River and their popular single Heavy Disco.
There were a few boots held aloft - the Golden Plains symbol for "mind-blowing" - during First Aid Kit, but Sunday yielded some seriously boot-worthy performances, the first of which was Bombino.
Led by guitarist Omara "Bombino" Moctar, the band brought West African rock to the Supernatural Amphitheatre on Nolan's farm, blending Bombino's soaring guitar solos with rock-solid grooves that got the crowd bopping in the hot afternoon sun.
If that didn't blow your hat off, the next band was likely to. Hailing from Japan, Soil & "Pimp" Sessions boast a sound they proudly describe as "death jazz", and while they're definitely more "jazz" than "death", they were also definitely fun.
Frenetic, unhinged and raucous, their wild jazz stylings led plenty of punters to hold their shoes aloft.
Sunday continued with Total Giovanni, who had their fans - one of my friends spoke to a couple that had flown in from Singapore especially to see them - and were followed by Swedish hardrockers Graveyard, who rocked out '70s style.
Conor Oberst, backed by The Felice Brothers, was engaging with a country-tinged set, but the highlight of the night was Something For Kate, who delighted the faithful and converted the unbelievers with an impressive set.
While Paul Dempsey and co didn't play SFK's biggest hit Monsters, foregoing what could have been the weekend's big sing-along moment, their set was still awesome, including Electricity, Three Dimensions, Cigarettes & Suitcases, Captain and a surprisingly cool cover of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean.
Much-hyped punks Parquet Courts and talented blue-eyed soul performer Nick Waterhouse were good, but felt like warm-ups for the main event AKA The Village People.
As mentioned, it was technically not great and perhaps better suited to an RSL or cabaret show, but in terms of mass party-time fun The Village People proved to be a winner.
In hindsight, it all goes to show how amazing Golden Plains and Meredith are. No other festival could likely pull off a line-up that shares both Radio Birdman and The Village People, or that swings from Japanese death jazz to West African rock to the Italian-inspired synth disco jams of Total Giovanni in the space of just three sets.
Once again, Golden Plains was illuminating, intriguing and endlessly entertaining.
