The 2010 Gum Ball Review (Hunter Valley, NSW)

2 June 2010 by Max Easton

The Gum Ball is two nights and a day of music wedged in the heart of one of the country's most beautiful regions, the New South Wales Hunter Valley. With a line-up encompassing a handful of the best unknown local acts, 2010's festival was as much a weekend of discovery as it was about getting loose.

Somehow, The Gum Ball has existed for six years and this was the only one we'd ever headed along to. In hindsight, that is shocking and tragic. Now that the coals of the bonfires have died down, the tents have been packed away and the hangover has cleared, non-attendance is a thought that will never again cross my mind. With an understated line-up, small crowd and stunning bush surrounds, The Gum Ball played more like a massive backyard house party than a music festival. The punters seemed well versed with Gum Ball's past and seemingly everybody from the six year old kid doin g somersaults at the main stage to the late 40 year old stew-makers were having a great time. Maybe I had taken advantage of the BYO policy too much to notice, but as far as I could tell through double vision, there wasn't a single frown on-site. The Gum Ball was, and is, an absolute goer.

So what the hell is this thing? With something like 500 people in attendance, it comes across as some kind of underground doof in the bush that we'd crashed; as if Corey Worthington went country and we went along cos some mate of ours heard that there were chicks. But believe me, it's very, very legitimate. With two stages sitting adjacent to each other for band turnover, a merch tent selling Gum Ball flanno's, a rusted corrugated iron fence displaying some young gums and the presence of port-a-loo's instead of drop dunnies, it had all the hallmarks of a top festival. Except that $8 beers were thrown out the window in favour of a much appreciated and much abused BYO policy. Give yourself time to think that over and tell me what else you could possibly want from your weekend?

Obviously, with the succulent idea of port-a-loo's, you are now answering that there's nothing else you'd need from a festival. Obviously. But you'd be wrong! The Gum Ball smacked together a couple of dozen bands for the weekend, the majority of whom had little large-scale following, and the vast majority of whom completely delivered. The highlights of the day came early, with key-driven duo The Animators putting together a great set of sombre tunes, including a top cover of Radiohead's 'Everything In Its Right Place.' Followed by what was potentially one of the most unexpected and best festival discoveries I've made of late in the form of gritty 5-piece The Brothers Grimm and you've got yourself a festival by mid-day. 

The Brothers Grimm gave every impression that they're set to be a festival favourite of the future. Harnessing the power of the Fumes and the Vasco Era, they turned a strange stage dynamic of all seated players into a high energy, writhing set of dirty blues-rock. The day continued with acts like two-piece Jackson Firebird (clearly inspired by The Fumes and Ash Grunwald) and the fantastic Abbie Cardwell playing through the daylight hours before the bigger names arrived to complete the night. Zoe K & the Band of Lost Souls played a great set of soul and funk, whilst the Ozi Batla-led hip-hop outfit Astronomy Class seemed to struggle, with poor delivery and a down tempo press-play-and-rap set coming across as confusing rather than entertaining. A frustratingly long wait ensued prior to headlining afro-funk outfit, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, but the wait was worth it for those who managed to stay up for it.

The Gum Ball is a festival that has been slipping under the radar for far too long. Having experienced it, it seems bizarre that so little have heard of a festival that is this much fun. While festivals like the now dead Blueprint promise everything and deliver little, the Gum Ball does the opposite. It is a balls-to-the-wall good time and it's only a couple of hours from Sydney. With all that now said, think back to what you did on the weekend of May 28th and see if it compares. 

Guess we'll be seeing you there next year.

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