So I went to On The Bright Side Festival yesterday and after buying my ticket pre-sale you could say that I had waited long enough and gotten fairly excited about the whole thing. I wanted to take photos with my Diana Mini but it decided to get jammed and eat my film instead, ruining all my dreams of film shots of great bands.
So instead I will rant on about the festival using other, well credited photos. Also if you are one of my friends and you read this post then you get to use your “I already read your long rant about On The Bright Side” card when you next see me and I promise I wont go on about it….too much.

We started the day at Hans, waiting for slow service and terrorising the other diners with our loud crimps and Total Eclipse of the Heart renditions. I had some delicious Rekorderlig  winter cider, must try it hot sometime. After much cheap alcohol consumption we headed off to the Esplanade, the right way thanks to me as I knew which side the entrance was on and no-one else did.  Once we got there nothing too anecdotal happened except for standing in the mud and secretly spiking drinks.

The fist band I saw was The Grates. I used to be obsessed with maybe 3 of their songs and I was quite happy that they played Science is Golden but after that I was a bit tired of all the yelling and spinning so left the tent for more muddy times.
After the Grates had finished Wathieqa used her cunning ways to get us almost to the front like she did at Laneway. And there we stayed from 4pm until the end at 10:30pm, just like we did at Laneway, many many hours without water and toilets yay! Chantel couldn’t do it again so it was just us two left to enjoy the closeness to the bands and the pain of the crowd pushing us against the barrier.

We were fairly near the front for The Kills, one of the lineup that I was dying to see. I think it’s safe to say that everyone has a crush on Alison, regardless of gender. She is pretty much amazing. She also reminded me of Cousin It as she always had her hair over her face, maybe Cousin It’s older sister who never goes to family dinners because she too busy off being cool somewhere.

They played most of my favourite songs, but I do hope they come back soon for a solo show because I really wanted to hear The Last Goodbye which I knew they wouldn’t play because it’s too slow for a festival. I love how emotional Alison gets when she sings it, an incredible mind behind those bangs. Unfortunately I had to stand behind a tall guy who smelt like old sandwiches who was standing behind and even taller girl so I had to keep moving side to side, holding my breath, to see properly.

After The Kills we saw Tame Impala who I like but have sort of gone off recently. The best thing about them live is the bass, and it’s so much better than on the record (if that’s even possible!) because it goes right through you ahhh.
After them was Modest Mouse who Wathieqa was going mental for. I like a couple of their songs but she was just overly hyperactive so it made me really excited which meant we had a good dance.

The stand out performance of the day was The Hives, hands down. I’d been familiar with their songs but didn’t really listen to them but I will now. How good they are live sort of determines how much I listen to a band because every now and then I’ll think “I remember them playing this and it was awesome!”.  Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, the lead singer, is a great performer and really got the crowd going. He would say “Ladies and Gentlemen” but pause in between them so we could hear the high pitch screams of the ladies then the low bellows of the gentlemen, so cool! He also blew me a kiss, but Wathieqa thinks it was to her so I just settled on that it was to both of us. Nicholaus Arson Almqvist who plays guitar is so hilarious and scary at the same time which made the show so much better. And who doesn’t enjoy men in tuxedos and top hats?
My most favourite thing that happened all night was when Pelle asked everyone to sit down. And he meant it. So imagine hundreds of people who are squished together in a festival situation trying to sit down, hilarious! I turned to look behind me and it looked like a giant Guess Who board. If everyone with a beard had leant forward it would have been half the audience gone!
 I touched that one!
 I…uh…touched that one!
 I almost touched that one but I’m quite alright not touching Jarvis Cocker to be honest.

Pulp of course were last and the band most people were excited to see. I was excited, the woman behind me was too excited and gave me lip about not knowing the lyrics. Ummm I was 7 years old when they last played in Perth so excuuuuse me! They were excellent of course, lasers helped. Although I didn’t know the words to any songs other than Common People I enjoyed all of Jarvis’s bum wiggling and simulated sex to the air all the same. He also mentioned that they went to Cabin Fever and Fat Shan records so I can see their business increasing rapidly. I did feel sorry for their keyboardist Candida Doyle who looked like she would have preferred to be at home with a nice cup of tea and a good book. I just wanted to hug her and call her Aunty.
After Common People it was all over and I headed to get the bus back to my sister’s house. On the way Chantel and I did Kings of Leon a la Mighty Boosh Live which worked quite well because I had half lost my voice so it was at that not-so-sexy gravelly slightly manly stage.  I pretty much fell into a post-festival coma until this morning when Dad came in to turn off the alarm for the shop. I was still sort of in a weird haze on the way home, I was holding my iPod in my hands so still that I couldn’t feel them anymore. When I got home I made some delicious and perfect porridge, thanks to the trotski & ash recipe.
 Here ends my rant about the On The Bright Side Festival and porridge.

Photos of The Grates, The Kills, Tame Impala, The Hives and Jarvis Cocker by Jarrad Seng on WA today
Photos of Modest Mouse and Candida Doyle from Faster Louder