Two of the coolest bands on the 2013 Splendour In The Grass lineup came together in a rambunctious and thrilling joint-headline sideshow at The Corner, that featured reckless stage dives, extended psychedelic jams and high doses of reverb.
Melbourne locals Hollow Everdaze opened the night with their own brand of rough-around-the-edges garage rock.
Featuring hoarse vocals and three guitars (with one shifted down to act as a bass), the four-piece showcased an abundance of songwriting potential, and proved to make some very loud noises for a softly-spoken band.
After a short set-break, The Corner’s red curtain parted, but much to the surprise of the already-packed out crowd, Unknown Mortal Orchestra were nowhere to be seen. Instead, an unidentified man wearing some sort of wrestling mask briefly gestured to the bemused audience before the curtains quickly closed again.
Much to the relief of everyone in attendance, the next time the curtains opened, the talented trio were revealed, and immediately launched into the II opener ‘From The Sun’. The song set the tone for the entire set, featuring waves of distortion, extended jams, and reverb-heavy vocals. Every song of the hour-long set would receive the same treatment, with the three-piece relishing every opportunity to display their full and immense talents.
‘The Opposite Of Afternoon’ proved to be an early highlight while the infectious ‘No Need For A Leader’ saw the return of the mysterious masked man.
Unknown Mortal ORchestra founder Ruban Nielson’s guitar skills are entirely obvious throughout the whole set (despite stating that “I’m too fucked up to play that bit” after calling a stop to ‘Monki’) while bassist Jake Portrait kept things anchored throughout the extended jams.
In a testament to how far the band has come in such a short space of time, the frontman somewhat bafflingly referred to every song off the band’s self-titled debut LP as ‘old’, despite it’s release in mid-2011.
Drummer Riley Geare had his own chance to lead a jam at the conclusion of ‘How Can U Luv Me’, with a drawn-out percussive breakdown that at times saw Portrait just sitting and watching, while Nielson crouched over an array of guitar pedals and effects.
The brilliant triple threat of ‘Swim And Sleep (Like A Shark)’, ‘So Good At Being In Trouble’, and the one that started it all, ‘Ffunny Ffrends’ brought the set towards a strong finish with some very enthusiastic crowd participation, before Nielson remarked that “It’s our favourite show in Australia I think”.
Set-closer ‘Boy Witch’ descended into a haze of noise and distortion, and just like the set as a whole, the band teased out and improved the track by working as almost one, superb, musical entity in a long, fuzzy jam, proving why they’re one of the most impressive and interesting bands going around at the moment.
After the walls of noise that Unknown Mortal Orchestra produced, not many would have expected it to be the calm before the storm that it eventually proved to be.
With the inventive intro music of the Law And Order: SVU theme and a simple “Thanks for coming, we’re Wavves”, the Californian four-piece launched into three of their biggest songs to ensure the boisterous crowd got going quickly.
‘Idiot’ and ‘Super Soaker’ (with no reference to the recent Kings Of Leon controversy) hastily began proceedings, before ‘King Of The Beach’ had everyone in the venue shouting along with the anthemic “You’re never gonna stop me”.
The set proved to contrast significantly with the other headliner; where Unknown Mortal Orchestra extended virtually every song, Wavves practically rushed through theirs, delivering a set with no dull moments and not giving the enthusiastic audience a chance to breath.
Lead singer Nathan Williams fed off the energy and enthusiasm exuded by the crowd that took every opportunity to take advantage of the lax security by climbing on stage to dive back into the masses.
The constant stage-diving and crowd-surfing was undoubtedly an entertaining spectacular, but was perhaps taken too far when select members actively obstructed the band by knocking over amps and mic stands, while the band’s poor roadie attempted to remove them.
Williams observed that this was the band’s “third sold out show in three years at this single place”, and Australia’s love for Wavves was clearly on display.
Despite constantly being labelled as anything from surf-rock, lo-fi or ‘slacker-rock’, these genres were hardly seen across the night, with Wavves delivering a set of straight up punk rock.
In a mixed setlist that encompassed something from each of the band’s four releases, ‘Green Eyes’ slowed things down, albeit briefly, with an impressively loud sing-along, and the line “I don’t give a shit” proving to be the motto for both the band and the sweaty masses.
Set-closer ‘No Hope Kids’ saw Williams join in the festivities, gleefully diving into the adoring audience, and an increasing number of crowd members followed his lead, while un-met cries for an encore brought the night to a farcically entertaining conclusion.
On a night that proved to be one of contrasting musical stylings and live-performance ethos, both Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Wavves masterfully showcased exactly what each of them do best.
