Good Vibrations Festival 2010

Review: It was a dark and stormy night by the time I arrived at the Sydney arm of Good Vibrations. I arrived late after strongly considering not going at all. The Killers and Friendly Fires had cancelled, there was a five hour gap between Salt n Pepa and the next band I wanted to see, and it was raining. Hard. I was beginning to regret not taking the organisers up on their offer to fully refund the tickets - a peace offering extended the day after the headline act pulled out.

In the end I gritted my teeth, zipped up my raincoat (no brollies allowed in the festival) and made it down for the final set of the night. Two hours before the end and muddy punters were already leaving in huge numbers. Not a great sight as you enter a festival, but it meant the crowds were a little sparser once you were inside and everyone seemed to enjoy the extra leg room.

At the main stage, Basement Jaxx fans were more than happy to put up with the rain. Having always found them to be better on record, I left after a shouty rendition of “Good Luck” by Lisa Kekaula to check out what was cooking elsewhere. Nearby Z-trip was doing his mash up thing in a well-contained tent that amplified the sound much better than the open air main stage. He delivered a great set, talking to the crowd and finishing with a humourous flourish. The final two songs were the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and “I Still Call Australia Home”.

I also ducked into Chase and Status, who I’ve seen in clubs but never live. It was a worthwhile ducking. The band was tight, Status (or was it Chase?) jumped between instruments and the visuals were really, really excellent. Too bad the crowd was elsewhere.

Perhaps it's unfair to review a festival after attending so little of it, but the truth is that the hour and a half I experienced weren’t worth leaving the house for. The half hour spent leaving through crowded, bottlenecked exits were just plain unpleasant. However, those who stuck it out the whole day gave positive feedback. Perhaps they had made up their minds to have a good time, and therefore they did, with the rain just adding to the comraderie of the event. Or perhaps the standard of Aussie festivals is just a bit… average.

Sarah Theeboom