Good Vibrations has been a staple in my Summer Festival season every year since it began... I love it... Never had a bad year... I didn't go last year as I was due to have Marley, didn't think it would be an appropriate place to go into labour... I was interested in the change of venue though, and looked forward to going this year, especially with the line up, a whole day of great music!!!
It didn't turn out that way...
The venue was crap... Poorly laid out, over sold, poorly catered... If you wanted to go anywhere you had to battle with people... The Roots stage a usual favourite for its great line up and intimate vibe, was just as packed and hard to get in and out of as anywhere else... If you wanted a drink you had to wait half hour, if you wanted to eat you had to wait half an hour and if you wanted to use the bathroom it was another half hour, if you wanted to get in to see an act it took 20 minutes to get out again... Absolutely ridiculous... I really think that the promoters have become waaaay too greedy...
We checked Mafia's first set and it was a highlight, everybody got up and danced within minutes, she should have had a full hour or more, not been a support...
I have wanted to see Salt N Pepa since I missed them last time they were here... They had an hours slot, and when they were playing their own tracks they were amazing... The did miss a verse, but overall I was really happy with the 30 minutes or so that they performed, however they did about 30 minutes of festival karaoke, a singalong to other peoples songs... That sucked, and so did the teenagers in front of us who spent the whole set taking photos of each other...
The Gossip were good despite sh*t sound... I only saw a couple of their tracks but they were rocking it...
Naughty by Nature played mostly stuff that wasn't their best, and did some festival karaoke too (I have never heard Nirvana, The White Stripes or Rage Against the Machine so much, anywhere, even in the days of Goo), and then the highlight, Salt N Pepa joined them and performed 'Push It'... Wicked... Treach must be spewing that his ex brought it to his own show more then he did...
Busta Rhymes, lyrically amazing... At this point I just wanted the whole of 'The Coming' to be played, and I hardly got any of it... There was a lot of start stopping which was driving me crazy... He was good though... I did prefer his set we caught in NYC, it wasn't to dissimilar in set up, just felt more connected to the delivery... Salt N Pepa joined him too, another highlight... I do give respect to Busta for not doing festival karaoke, a true hiphop trooper...
The Killers, they did exactly what they were paid to do KILLED IT! I was far up the back and I still felt that Brandon was singing to me... This is the third time I have seen them, in the intimacy of Festival Hall, the vast expanse of Rod Laver and now outdoors at Good Vibes and they are one of the most consistent bands I have seen...
So there you have it... A lot of fun moments in an overall poorly designed and executed day... Thanks heavens for awesome friends and family that can make a day like this much better then what it was...
