Sunset Sounds (Brisbane, January 7-8)

13 January 2009 by Richard Wilson

Originally due to be held at Byron Bay but moved because of council approval delays, Brisbane rejoiced that it was finally home to a world class rock festival come January 2009.

First time festivals can be a bit of a gamble. Coupled with the festival selling out in the days prior, it was anyone's guess as to how such a first-time event would fare. From the get-go it seemed like even the organisers were planning on modest ticket sales, with the hour-plus wait to get wristbanded and into the festival being the shortest queue anyone was likely to encounter on the first day.

With only a handful of food outlets, and bars pouring beers from cans to cups (really? surely either pour from kegs or just handing people the cans would be more logical and environmentally friendly), the event was more than just a bit chaotic as things got kick started in the lush Botanic Gardens of Brisbane.

Now that we've got the nasty stuff out of the way, it's time to concentrate on the good stuff. Musically, Sunset Sounds was an event that well and truly delivered.

With three stages, the event was neatly divided three ways, with each stage more or less catering to specific tastes in music. What this meant, at least, was the normal festival practice of hiking from stage to stage (or more accurately, stage to bar, bar to stage) was at least minimised. You had the Garden Stage with a more mellow, pseudo-acoustic lineup for the two days, River Stage catering to the heavier rock and pop side of things and then Hibiscus with a mix of local acts.

Our own tastes took us to the Garden Stage for the bulk of both evenings. Attempting to kick off day one with SoKo, the fiasco with getting into the festival and trying then to sort out the media/photography passes we hadn't received took the better part of an hour, getting us in just in time for crowd favourite, the inimitably catchy "I'll Kill Her". The few minutes we saw was definitely worthy of mention, and it's hard to come up with a more idyllic way to gear up for a festival than the rainforest-surrounded stage with a backdrop of the Brisbane CBD, listening to the SoKo's cute French accent and unassuming ukulele.

Some at this point eager to continue the cutesy/quirky female singer theme made the trek from this point up to River Stage to catch Tegan and Sara's set, but for many, Garden Stage with Gomez was where it was at. The band was in fine form, and one third of the vocals, Ian Ball, was back in the game after illness precluded him from their Brisbane solo show two nights prior. Momentum peaked a few tracks in with "See The World", but what ensued was a set seemingly tailored to more diehard fans, with few crowd favourites from their prolific back catalogue making the grade, an odd choice for a festival set given they're also not touring a new album right now. Their set was nonetheless strong and definitely well received.

A food and drink break for half an hour was the plan. Unfortunately it was also the plan for everyone else in attendance, so right about now was where things once again came to a grinding halt. Once the pain of enormous queues for food and drink were out of the way, it was time to kick things up a notch with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. On their third tour of Australia show that this is a band going from strength to strength. The sass of Jones, combined with the impeccable tightness and pure funk of the Dap Kings demonstrates why this outfit is truly the successor to James Brown's throne.

A quick trip up the River Stage gave a glimpse of UK outfit The Kooks, and also made anyone in attendance thankful that the 10,000-odd punters on the hillside didn't venture out to the other stages with a fraction of the capacity. The Hives followed, delivering their tightly wound alternative rock. Even if you're a fan of their music, if you're not into their egocentric stage presence, their show can be quite hard to swallow. It was a P.A. failure and ensuing delay that gave me the gap I needed to head off and see something else.

Keeping the horns of the Dap Kings and adding some eclecticism to the mix saw The Cat Empire take the headline spot back at the Garden Stage. Surely Sharon Jones was a more appropriate candidate for this slot, but the Empire did their best to live up to the high standard set an hour earlier. A festival friendly set was delivered (Gomez, take note), and included their blistering cover of Paul Kelly's Dumb Things.

By the end of Day 1, most had soon forgotten about the event's chaotic organisation, with the feeling to be replaced with the sort of high that only six hours of world-class music could create.

Day two was a marked improvement. With the majority of punters wristbanded it was just a matter of the requisite bag search before being in -- the entire process taking not more than a few minutes. With that  it was off to yesterday's home of the Garden Stage for a bluesy Thursday afternoon.

C.W. Stoneking was first on stage. The bizarre bluesman was conspicuously out of place at Sunset Sounds, if it weren't for the fact that Triple J and its audience has very much embraced the eccentric Melbourne musician. Playing a good solid mix of songs off his two albums and backed by his band the Primitive Horn Orchestra, his usual backwater mishmash of different styles of blues, gypsy, jazz and folk was transformed into a big, bad sound that's somewhere between New Orleans Dixieland jazz and lederhosen-sporting Alpine polka. Either an impeccably rehearsed persona, or startling honesty, half the Stoneking experience is the imaginative banter between songs.

The only logical segue from C.W. Stoneking into the rock-heavy night that was to follow is Ash Grunwald, a name that in recent years has become synonymous with summer festivals. Flanked by two drummers, one sporting a car door, it's clear that Ash will be drawing from material from his latest release "Fish Out of Water". The groove-laden industrial blues sound got things started for the afternoon, getting much of the crowd on their feet. Grunwald was clearly feeling it too, stopping early on mid-song to give a laconic shoutout to a three-high piggyback at the centre of the throng.

Santogold up at the River Stage was a bit of an oddball. At a festival largely dominated by guitars and bands, seeing a DJ-backed dance/R&B act felt a bit out of place, but it's hard not to go along for the ride in a crowd with the size and energy of that at Sunset Sounds.  The Grates soon followed, with recently injured singer Patience Hodgson hobbling out only to plant herself firmly on a throne at centre stage for the duration of the set. It might have been out of place if it weren't for the larger-than-life Christmas decorations that adorned the stage. Her leg injuries did nothing to dampen her spirits and energy as she bopped and bounced around on the throne for their full set.

Donovan Frankenreiter was heading the bill back at the Garden Stage, and given the choice between him and Franz Ferdinand at the River Stage the choice was made to return to the quieter confines of the Garden Stage. Not disappointing, Frankenreit delivered a feast of his hits from over the years. Swinging from his chilled Jack Johnson years to his more recent funked up stuff, the set was a perfect way to end Sunset Sounds. Having the opportunity to see Donovan Frankenreiter on a smaller stage was a rare treat, with his normal festival appearances seeing him grace much larger venues with much larger crowds. Making the most of the smaller confines, Frankenreiter passed around the microphone and even got in some crowd surfing. Would never have guessed that one of the most high energy sets of the festival would come from anyone as laid back in their music and lifestyle as Donovan Frankenreiter.

Sunset Sounds was an interesting concept. Originally to be held at Byron Bay at Belongil Fields, which has called Splendour in the Grass and Bluesfest home in recent years, the relatively last-minute move to Brisbane was an unexpected blessing for Brisbane residents who've long been without any alternative/rock festivals of their own. Then hearing that the mid-week festival had sold out was an even bigger surprise, and logistically it felt like the organisers were just as surprised. A few more food outlets, better bar operations and some way of handling the afternoon influx of punters on the first day (like wristbanding from much earlier in the day) would be welcomed by most in attendance if the event goes ahead again. Lets hope it does, because there's few concert venues out there with the charm of Riverstage, especially with the City Gardens included.

Album Reviews

Kimbra - Vows

Ben Salter - The Cat

Seasick Steve - You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin On

More Reviews