Harvest Festival - 18 November 2012, Brisbane Botanic Gardens

Sigur Rós. Beck. Ben Folds. Cake. Silversun Pickups. And they were just my picks! With a line up like this, how could anyone even consider missing the 2012 Harvest Festival? The Brisbane leg of the tour was held at the Botanic Gardens, which provided to perfect backdrop for the festival. But due to the severe storms the day before it was well after the advertised time of 11am when the gates finally opened.

Up first on the menu was the Trouble with Templeton at The Big Red Tractor stage. The sun was shining and it was swelteringly hot. Despite this, the early festival goers provided them with a remarkably large crowd to play to. This is a band I had heard a lot of on record, but never heard live, and I was pleasantly surprised by the how they presented themselves. Their music, a mixture between indie pop and rock was the perfect way to kick start the day.

Up next were The Dandy Warhols at the Riverstage. I was lucky enough to be third row in, and it was a surreal experience. With a career spanning decades it is hard to fault the band, and why they were playing so early in the day was beyond me. They played all their big hits including “We Used to Be Friends” and “Horse Pills”, but the highlight of the set has to be the antics of the keyboard player, Zia McCabe. She is so charismatic is almost funny, but in a good way! Early on in the set there was an intense downpour of rain seeing the entire crowd don their attractive plastic ponchos. Special mention must go to the guy who decided instead of wearing a poncho; he would MacGyver one out of an orange garden bag. Kudos. Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor’s vocals are just something else. His effects mic just gives the vocals that something special that we have come to know and love from the charmer.

Back at the Windmill Stage were the Silversun Pickups. With a new bass player in toe, the band is showing their true colours on the festival stage. They always put on an entertaining show, and it was seriously awesome to play the festival show.

At the same stage was where CAKE showcased their almighty talents. I love Cake unconditionally, and seeing them live for the first time was something that I was beside myself with excitement about. Here’s the thing. The opening of their set was rad. The last 20 or so minutes of the set was even better. The middle frustrated me. It’s not that that was the section they had all the new material in. I bought the CD, I like those songs. But it was the way frontman, John McCrea held himself in that section that exasperated me. He held the opinion that no one knew these songs and that no one would care about them and he spent a good 5 minutes talking about this fact. He then spent 10 minutes explaining to the crowd how he was going to get some sing-along happening. In this time they could have played another two, maybe three tunes that we all wanted to hear! It was a little pretentious of him. What they did play was awesome! I am eternally thankful that they did play “ Short Skirt/ Long Jacket”.

Again at the same stage, Ben Folds Five were due to play. It is at this point in the afternoon, I have to mention the crew that worked at Harvest. A guy came onto the stage to warn the crowd of a severe storm warning that could contain hail. He told us that if he came back and told us to move, then move would have to. 10 minutes later, this same man came back onto stage and said that we had to evacuate the grounds. It was all handled so well. There was no panic, and everyone was co-operative. Apart from the drunken few who thought they were too good for the system… Only a very short time after, the downpour started. It was like someone turned a tap onto full. The entire festival crowd ran to the nearby grounds of QUT finding shelter anywhere they could. There were hoards of people crowded into doorways, under staircases, and in under croft areas. That’s when the hail started.
45 minutes later we were allowed back into the now muddy and sloppy parklands and the music continued.

Back to Ben Folds Five. It has been over 15 years since the group as they stand toured to Australia. For me, this is what I had been looking forward to most. I was not disappointed. The first thing that has to be said is that there was a full size Grand Piano on stage. I don’t know of many people who actually use a grand piano on stage, let alone at a festival event! It weathered the storm and came away unharmed, until Mr Folds got his hands on it! Despite the delay, they played a full hour set with songs from the past including “Kate” and “Song for the Dumped” as well as songs from the new album including “Erase Me”. Ben Folds himself is such an eccentric performer. He leaves nothing in the tank. He was bashing that piano, using his fists and forearms. It was certainly something to behold. At the end of the set, he threw his chair at the piano. This hurt me a little bit inside…
With the delay all the running times were messed up, due to stages getting started quicker than others. Because of this, I missed more of Beck than I would have liked… What I did see was phenomenal. The river stage was packed! So standing up the very back was like watching a tiny any move around on the stage. My four song set opened with “Loser” one of my favourite tracks from the artist! And it went uphill from there. Oh how I am torn that I didn’t see more!

To close Harvest 2012, was Icelandic act Sigur Rós. As they set up the stage I marveled at the array of instruments that were present. You’ve got all the normal stuff, as well as a Celesta, three piece string ensemble, Trumpet, French Horn and Trombone, Xylophone and Glockenspiel and heaps of other random shit. I’ve never quite experienced a sound like the one I heard from Sigur Rós tonight. It gave a new definition to Wall of Sound AND Soundscape. Frontman Jónsi Birgisson’s vocals are otherworldly, and at one point he used the pickups on his electric guitar (which for the entire set he used a violin bow to play) as a microphone. Who even thinks of that?! By song three I had tears streaming down my face from absolute awe. No one could have closed the night better.

Well Harvest, you had me at hello, but you have shown me that you are more than just a pretty face. You blew me away, quite literally. You had everything. There was rain, there was sweltering heat, there was lightning and thunder, there was hail and there was a chilly evening breeze. On top of all that there was amazing music. Cake rocked my socks and had me dancing like a maniac. Ben Folds had me in fits of envy and admiration. And Sigur Ros had me in tears. You win Harvest. You're amaz-balls!