Live Review: Groovin The Moo Maitland

A glorious sunny afternoon set the tone for another corker of a Groovin The Moo in Maitland.

The sound of Perth's Methyl Ethel greeted mass droves of punters as they entered the showgrounds. The band's most recent earworm Ubu echoed throughout the venue - it was kinda impossible to not sing along to "Why'd you have to go and cut your hair?"

Allday was having a ball of a time on the triple j stage and performed to a decent sized crowd given it was still early days. He clearly missed the glitter memo that so few of the punters did - there was so much glitter in people's hair and on their faces and arms, it wouldn't be surprising if the cows outside ended up covered in glitter too.

Illinois native K Flay played a rapturous set on the Cattleyard stage. She had everyone's attention as she smashed out a bunch of tracks including the very appropriate FML - "Fuck my life/I love my life". She finished with the dangerously dirty and catchy Blood In The Cut. She delivered the most polished performance of the day so far, though fellow Americans Against Me! were ready to give her a run in those stakes. The veteran rock outfit seamlessly rolled through their set at a high energy, with lead singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace on point with her sweaty headbanging. Unconditional Love is, as Grace explained, an ode to self-love, self-care, smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey and there's no doubt the band were feeling that kind of love from the Maitland faithfuls.

Sydney's Montaigne delivered one of the more diverse performances of the afternoon. Her slinky and free-spirited dance moves enchanted the crowd and they went absolutely nuts over What You Mean To Me and Because I Love You.

It was good to see that some of what made Groovin The Moo so unique in its earlier days still remained, even though it has easily become one of the biggest festivals in the country. The trademark flannos and onesies - worn by really smart people who knew how cold Maitland can get later on in the night - were still there among the glitter. There were even a few guys dressed as crayons, because you are never too old to enjoy colouring in. Shout out to the food trucks that also made the day memorable. Truffle burger equals NOM NOM NOM!

Back at the triple j stage was another unapologetic set from The Smith Street Band. The boys got one of the biggest receptions of the day, particularly when main man Wil Wagner gave a shout out to anyone who is struggling with their mental health, before launching into I Don't Wanna Die Anymore.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the cancellation of buzz artist Tash Sultana. Sultana had to pull out because of she was suffering from Laryngitis, with her pal and fellow rising star Amy Shark filling the void instead. Shark was due to perform earlier in the day, so with a bit of reshuffling, the singer took to the stage in the late afternoon and swooned her way through the set. It was her signature track Adore - the #2 song from this year's Hottest 100 - that got the biggest love from Maitland. It's a shame Sultana couldn't perform, but nobody was mad at Shark's solid effort.

It was then time to pay the Moolin Rouge tent a visit. UK hip hop artist Loyle Carner was doing a bang-up job of keeping the tent hyped before local boys Thundamentals hit the stage. When Thundas emerged, heaps of punters ran into the tent, packing it out almost instantly. Quit Your Job kicked things off and they had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hands. Their Like A Version cover of Matt Corby's Brother was a winner and their ode to weed and soup, Noodle Soup got the mobile phone lights out. Just so Thundamentals know though, not all Sallys can't dance *wink wink*.

The sound of Germany's Milky Chance led a lot of people back to the main stage, especially when anthem Cocoon kicked in. It was the perfect, easy-on-the-ears lead-in to PNAU. The local dance masters were there to party. It was pretty incredible to see a sea of fans in front of the two main stages, up the hill and everywhere else they could fit, going absolutely off when Chameleon dropped. Chameleon vocalist Shakira Marshall was enchanting, adding a dynamic layer to what was already a crazy set.

It was then time to raise those vocal levels for The Darkness' grand entrance. The older hats in the crowd seemed pretty pumped by their appearance, though some of the younger players had headed to Moolin Rouge and The Plot tents by the look of things. The English glam rock outfit looked very comfortable on stage, especially frontman Justin Hawkins. He got a bright yellow cap and vest off one of the security guards and proceeded to prance around on stage, ripping into some epic guitar playing, with the vest ending up in his pants - as you do. He cheekily acknowledged the music coming from the Moolin Rouge tent - "you need to be singing louder than those cunts over there because they're ruining it for everyone" - and I Believe In A Thing Called Love surely put the 'who's louder?' contest to bed.

One of the event's main treats The Wombats got off to a slightly shaky start with some technical issues delaying things by a couple of minutes. Give Me A Try was the first cab off the rank once their set got going, and they played a slick set of hits including Jump Into The Fog, Your Body Is A Weapon and Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves). The well-oiled machine of The Wombats led perfectly into one of our finest rock bands of the past few years, Violent Soho. Throwing a stack of toilet paper out into the crowd, frontman Luke Boerdam declared they were ready to party and with no fuss, smashed out Viceroy. The band rolled through their catalogue - Blanket, Lowbrow, Like Soda, Saramona Said, Covered In Chrome - to name a few - giving a standard Soho performance. There are usually minimal surprises when the Mansfield boys play, however they did bring out Phil Jamieson for a cover of Grinspoon's More Than You Are.

Another awesome Groovin The Moo in the bag!