Live Review: Groovin The Moo Canberra 2022

Autumn leaves and a security guard asking a favour ('Can you promise me you'll have fun?') welcomes you into 2022’s Groovin The Moo Canberra. Up the boulevard known as Northbourne, comes the festival which has brought triple j’s finest to regional areas since its inception way back in 2005 when most of this year’s festival-goers were in nappies.

Grentperez was a welcome surprise for the early birds. He said, “You guys have probably never seen me perform live before because I’ve never seen me perform live before.” His smooth vocals meshed well with a carefully cultivated yet easy-going pop sensibility. His music is a mix of heartfelt lyricism and playful and innocent soul. Certainly, one to watch, typified by the romantic ode, Clementine, sparking spontaneous slow-dancing in the crowd. The only critique of this digestible musician was a need for more up-tempo tunes - an element which will surely come in time once he’s cut his teeth in the festival scene.

Chaii picked up the vibes further in the Moolin Rouge tent with the entire five-piece fully embracing the festival vibe. The Persian-Kiwi rapper part-joked, “We’re just so happy to be out of NZ.” The guitarist cavorted around the back and side of the stage while Chaii herself incited the audience to dance. The sax and flute were definitely the cherries on top. The face-melting guitar solo added another element of showmanship.

Redhook burst onto the main stage - Cattleyard - with a thundering drone of guitars and heavy drums, matched only by the effervescent vocals and grungy theatricality of lead singer Emmy Mack with a shout out to Kelis’ Milkshake and a lukewarm circle pit, complemented by an incongruous horn section. Certainly a strange melange for the main stage. 

Redhook. Pic by Tiffany Williams

Though the cold Canberra air was blowing through the grounds, Sycco provided a summery vibe through a combination of the Brisbane bedroom-pop singer’s angelic vocals and melodic backing. Strengthened somewhat by the live band, new single Superstar, with its catchy chorus, was a springboard for crowd favourite Dribble which prompted the first shoulder-sitters to rise above the crowd: a perfect dream-poppy conclusion to a bouncing set.

Middle Kids have become a staple of the Australian festival scene and this set lived up to expectations, as an afternoon highlight on the main stage with a blend of folky vocals and indie rock instrumentation. 

JK-47 on the Moolin Rouge stole the show in only his second live performance. His words rang true: “Every time I’ll be on this stage I’ll be talking the real shit so if you came here for me you’ll be coming here for that.” Perhaps a little too hard-hitting for many of the GTM crowd, his flow was infectious with a dextrous lexicon matched by contagious choruses. He has a bright future. His energy and his beats are almost impossible not to move with. 

Hockey Dad held the mantle of quintessential triple j darlings, with a rowdy crowd to match. The Wollongong three-piece reflected on their time in the crowd as “grommets” in GTMs gone by, saying it was “surreal” to be on the main stage, but in reality, the humble act are seasoned in this setting. 

As such, it was hard for Jesswar to compete on the smaller stage. Though it was a small crowd, the Fijian-Australian pop-rapper gave a spirited performance that deserved to draw a much larger crowd. With some fiery backing dancers and beats by Carolina Gasolina, this is a show worth seeing late at night in a sweaty club. Special shout-outs from Jesswar included Only Fans hustlers, Rhianna and twerking; only fitting for a set dripping with unapologetic verve.

Montaigne was a surprising burst of energy with a stunning voice that cuts the air, eclectic songs which hover around the sub-pop genre and flamboyant and jagged dance moves to excite those in for the ride. The most notable tracks were a Talking Heads-esque tune and the track she actually collaborated on with David Byrne Always Be You. Of course, the world-renowned musician wasn’t there to accompany her in Canberra but Montaigne and her sister-cum-backing vocalist made up for the absence with an electric performance. The Sydney artist reflected on her Eurovision journey saying “I didn’t get to go… some say I was robbed… but I got Technicolor out of it which changed the way I wrote music.” Indeed, she showed a winning mix of tight instrumentalism and loose theatrics to make for a joyful and captivating live show. 

Suddenly the bulk of Montaigne’s crowd flooded away for Mashd N Kutcher. Part-producers, part-meme-lords, they were luring waves across to Moolin Rouge, combining buzzing beats with hilarious visuals, stirring the crowd into a frenzy with the penultimate homage to Pikachu and the final festive anthem, Get On The Beers. 

Meanwhile, Polaris roared on the triple j stage paying homage to the classic Black Fingernails, Red Wine with a screamo rendition of the Eskimo Joe song. And on the smaller stage, The Plot, DJ collective It’s London Thing drove a minuscule crowd wild with a smorgasbord of carefully curated grime tracks.

Spiderbait turned back the clock and turned up the heat as the sun set on a chilly night. Crowd favourites, Sunshine On My Window and Fucken Awesome spurred young and old to groove as the crowd at the Cattleyard swelled. The band touched on their new compilation album, Sounds In The Key Of J, before finishing with the always raucous, Black Betty, extending the track to a 10-minute-plus rendition that had revellers overwrought with excitement.

Spiderbait. Pic by Ruby Boland

Meanwhile Sydney rapper Masked Wolf went off on Moolin Rouge, especially with TikTok sensation, Astronaut In The Ocean, prompting a massive singalong, especially during the song’s chorus.

Then the Notts from Nelson, better known as Broods, took to the stage with trippy visuals and deep grooves which fused electronic pop, bopping drumbeats and melodic vocals. They’ve come a long way from acoustic brother-sister duo, showing a more complete and intriguing sound with live takes from their most recent album, Space Island.

Special shout-outs to DJs Dijok and Jawbreakers who filled the spaces between live bands on the Moolin Rouge stage with pop anthems, house and disco.

British electronic duo, Snakehips stunned with mind-bending visuals and a set stacked with tracks set to make you move. While they lacked the star power they’ve collaborated with in recent years, their mix was on point, perfect for the shift from chilly afternoon to clammy evening.

Lime Cordiale hit the main stage with some anticipation, delivering a tight show of indie pop songs with warm voices and low-fi animations on the screen behind. Brothers, Oli and Louis Leimbach “made it German” - which the crowd didn’t really understand but were along for the ride nevertheless. The highlight had to be a rehash of their Like A Version, Touch Myself by Divinyls.

Shouse pushed the atmosphere of the Moolin Rouge stage towards an ecstatic doof, with their anthem-like tunes, the 2017 banger, Love Tonight and 2022 track, Won’t Forget You. These tracks typify a set full of driving bass hooks, delicious dance floor rhythms and catchy lyrics.

Then Aussie rap icons, Hilltop Hoods returned to Groovin, proving they still had it with their blend of hard-hitting lyrics and uplifting choruses, a smattering of old and new tracks like Show Business and a spirited rendition of their classic, Nosebleed Section. 

Back in Moolin Rouge, UK producer Riton picked up where Shouse left off, extending the ecstatic party vibe with catchy tunes like the always groove-worthy, Grammy-nominated Fake ID and Rinse And Repeat.

Then Canberra locals, Peking Duk, capped off an eclectic festival, coming back to where it all started, unifying an increasingly loose crowd, young and old, with a high-energy performance that left Maitland in the dust. Though it was the Sunday on the eve of ANZAC Day, the atmosphere was anything but morose; a celebration of the best pop, indie, electronic and rap festival programmers could muster in a world still in the grips of a pandemic.

Peking Duk. Pic by Jordan Munns