Live Review: Groovin The Moo Bunbury

After working its way around the country, Groovin The Moo reached its final destination of the year in Bunbury. The crowds pushed through virtually at 'doors time' sporting their best Coachella boho chic and enough glitter to choke a unicorn, totally prepped for the oncoming Instagram spray before the Telstra towers could fail for the day.

It takes a band like POW! Negro to kick off a festival opening slot and turn it into one of the hottest sets of the day. Their relentlessly powerful aggression on stage and razor-sharp instrumentals gave them more than enough of a case for shifting up the bill on shows to come.

Methyl Ethel basked in an uncharacteristic gritty base line and pounding tom hits to snap up attention on the field before winning the listeners over with the charming Ubu and Twilight Driving. Fast becoming a festival favourite, their glimmering melodies and grooving rhythms are a fantastic midday escape.

The pit never seemed to stop bouncing for L-Fresh the Lion, the commanding showman with rapid firing rhymes, he tore the tent apart. Backed by the equally powerful Mirrah, his set was one to talk about for the day and few will be forgetting the set topping 1 In 100,000.

Despite capturing the buzzing crowd exiting the L-Fresh set, Allday just couldn’t quite carry the moment. Working left and right and pulling out every stop on stage to will the crowd into it with Clouds, Got It and You Always Know The DJ, it just never took hold.

With bodies spilling out of the tent all over, Amy Shark was easily the first packed stage of the day. Though most seemed to be waiting for her breakout single Adore, it's impossible to ignore the sheer emotion she exudes behind the microphone live. Her distinctly intimate set enthralled and engaged as the waiting appeared to become the devoted.

Against Me! may not have pulled a large crowd for their first track, but as their set rolled on with punchy punk riffs and Laura Jane Grace's aggressive stage presence and pure joy of playing, people flocked en masse. Treating us with the brilliant, anthemic tracks off the Transgender Dysphoria Blues record, Against Me! kicked off the rock portion of the day in perfect fashion.

Having a tent host largely dance acts and then dropping in the heaviest act on the bill randomly was perhaps an odd choice for the festival. Nevertheless, seeing the terrified looks on some faces as UK metalcore outfit Architects dived into Nihilist was a joy in itself. Keeping their set short, sharp and aggressive, Architects commanded destruction in the crowd and received it via a wall of death for Deathwish.

While some fans were disgruntled when Montaigne had to pull out of Groovin The Moo Bendigo, her performance at Bunbury was mind-blowing. The 21-year-old bounced across the stage, sprinting into the photo pit and launching onto the barriers in a set that was as visually astounding at it was aurally. 

The Smith Street Band are made for playing festivals like these and they beamed as the crowd took control of the vocals throughout, be it the older Young Drunk or the newer Birthdays. The energy they shake into every show has the uncanny effect of uniting a crowd, making them a regular must-see act, and this was no exception.

Being a solo act on a large festival stage can be a difficult task, let alone when you’re having to match up to the expectations set upon Tash Sultana these days. While her set seemed to come and go in waves of engagement and momentum as she built her loops up with the library of instruments on stage, it was her actions at the closing of her set that will stay with many in her audience.

With the frontline punters beginning to feel the crush of crowd surging, she halted the performance of her monster Jungle multiple times and threatens to walk off until the mellow returned enough for her to feel safe for all in performing. Eventually shattering the track with a raucous solo outro to a thundering applause from right across the stadium grounds.

As Thundamentals began warming up their set with Never Say Never and Got Love the stage was struck by an unexpected blackout. With the mics still working, they pushed on beneath the light of mobile phone torches and not only finished the track but kept their set rolling with unbelievable hype from the crowd.

The genre-mashing and tropical heart of Milky Chance was a sure-fire hit. Performing as a quartet, their rich pop cascaded across the park and got all shoes shuffling. It's difficult to find a moment when their set wasn't brimming with vigour, but monster hits Cocoon and Stolen Dance were an easy highlight and a sea of people climbed on each other's shoulders at the band's request.

There was still some doubt among the crowd as to whether PNAU would actually be able to deliver on the live reputation they once had after spending a few years off the scene. While it may have been missing some of the wild antics of shows past, the non-stop action of Wild Strawberries, Chameleon, Baby and Embrace, along with some new tracks, seemed to keep the crowd focused enough to dance along. While the spark was in their show, it simply didn't ignite.

Anybody who remembered 2003's Permission To Land was primed for The Darkness. The jump-suited and ever charismatic Justin Hawkins led the band through Growing On Me, Get Your Hands Off My Woman, Black Shuck and Love On The Rocks With No Ice. Rallying the crowd with a Fuck Canberra chant and their screaming glam guitar licks, the relevance of The Darkness hardly matters when the show is this good.

With the darkness well and truly taking hold, The Wombats served up the perfect mix of hits to keep the life in the night. After firing through Jump Into The Fog, Moving To New York, 1996 and Emoticons, it was inevitable set closer Let's Dance To Joy Division's jangling guitar lines that sent the crowd ballistic. Promising to return for a soon-to-be-announced large-scale tour, we're totally ready to do it all over again, and soon.

After false reports that Violent Soho would be hanging up their instruments, it's been confirmed that the band are taking a well-deserved rest after their Moo slots. This meant that the regular all-the-way-agro energy of the Mansfield crew was turned all the way up to skull crushing levels. Luke Boerdam thrashed his way into the chorus of Muscle Junkie and whipped the crowd into a frenzy. From there it was utter destruction as the band tore apart the stage and their gear, tossing parts into the crowd. And so they capped off another fantastic run of dates for Groovin The Moo for 2017.