Cloudy skies and the imminent threat of rain ain't enough to scare away the Maitland locals and travellers up and down the M1 from a good time as thousands descend upon the Showground for another dose of Groovin The Moo fun.
As usual with the regional event, the vibe amongst punters is at loving the shit out of life-type levels and the amount of “festival dickheads” seems to be in the minority. Although the general age does seem to be a little younger than in previous years, which is obvious at Melbourne indie-rockers Loon Lake's early afternoon set at the Moolin Rouge tent. Happy and carefree teenagers flailing around to the music with a great sense of togetherness, even if they don't know each other seems fitting given lead vocalist Sam Nolan refers to Maitland as a “land of mates!”
Venturing around the Showground towards the main stage area, there are several obvious signs of just how far GTM has come over the years, with a lot more food (Yum Cha!), beverage and merch stalls around the vicinity. And the plethora of animal onesies is once again a feature of the festival – cow print the most popular, of course. Those young guys and girls wearing next to nothing must be totes jelly of the onesie wearers…
Illy. Pic by Josh Groom.
The main stage area is always the place to be at GTM, although the Moolin Rouge tent denizens would defiantly disagree with that, especially this year (a little more on that later). Rapper Illy is the perfect act to get the crowd amped in the arvo with his easygoing rhymes and catchy hooks. On & On gets the biggest response of the day, while there's a sweet little nod to the Newcastle community with a snippet of hometown legends Silverchair's Tomorrow, a song the MC once covered for triple j's Like A Version.
The delightful and relaxing sounds of Vance Joy boom through the Showground next, a nice contrast to the high energy hip hop we've just witnessed. The singer-songwriter looks at ease in front of the massive crowd, despite playing music probably better suited to a more intimate setting. You know that everyone can't wait until he plays Riptide, but there's a content patience among punters as he performs other tracks, including a cover of The Master Apprentices' Because I Love You, which is pure, mind the pun, joy. When he does close out the set with Riptide, it's as welcomed as you would expect it to be.
Violent Soho have created a beast at the Moolin Rouge tent and it's intriguing as hell for the select few of the crowd who maybe haven't figured out what all the fuss is about with these guys yet – how silly we are, huh? They hammer out their songs at a frenetic pace and there are bodies smashing around everywhere in the mosh pit. It's pretty amazing to see a sea of angsty (or not) music lovers pumped for life as much as they are during this set, which is one of the most memorable of the day.
Violent Soho. Pic by Josh Groom.
Because of the diversity of Groovin's line-up, pace-changing is the name of the game, and Melbourne dance-happy crew Architecture In Helsinki are a complete contrast to Violent Soho. They play a lot of material off their more pop-driven new album, Now + 4EVA, and finish with two (kinda) oldies – a more avant-garde version of Heart It Races and the pleasant as ever Contact High.
The mood is starting to subdue a little bit after a big afternoon, but tell that to Perth rockers Karnivool, who play with an intense commitment over at the main stage area as the sun goes down. It would be hard to fault their crisp performance and Ian Kenny is simply fantastic to watch.
The Naked & Famous are next on the agenda and their set sees the New Zealanders perform plenty of tracks off their latest, slightly darker record, In Rolling Waves, but the biggest reactions come when they play their earlier smash hits, Punching In A Dream and Young Blood. However, Alisa Xayalith's vocals are a little overdone during these two songs, taking away from what could have been epic festival moments.
As punters continue to recharge their batteries in prep for an epic finish, The Jezabels emerge in what is probably the last chance for everyone to sit down and truly soak in an artist's performance for the day. The words of their hit Endless Summer take on a different meaning here tonight – clearly that's what we've all be chasing here at Groovin and probably achieved, even just for a few hours and despite a whole heap of gumboots that would suggest otherwise.
Changing the pace completely is British hip hop star Dizzee Rascal, whose energy levels are through the roof during his killer Groovin set. He covers a few tracks from his earlier grime days but it's the back-to-back combo of Dance Wiv Me and Holiday, his sweet mash-up of Florence + The Machine's You Got The Love - You Got The Dirtee Love – and an absolute rapturous closer in Bonkers that stick out in what was no doubt one of the best performances of the day. The latter track had thousands in front of the main stage area jumping up and down frantically, yet in unison, shaking the Maitland Showground to its core. Epic.
Disclosure. Pic by Josh Groom.
The Presets are about 15 minutes (fashionably) late so it's a toss-up between staying and watching one of Australia's best live dance acts or shuffling over to the Moolin Rouge tent to check out undoubtedly dance music's breakout act of 2013, Disclosure. Choosing the latter ten minutes before they go on stage probably isn't the smartest decision of the day as the tent is absolutely chockers. Like, really chockers. To the point where the hill next to it is jam-packed and you can barely find a space of empty grass. To the point where the entire Moolin Rouge area looks like a sea of dancing ants. To the point where some dude felt the need to climb to the top of the tent and hang around for a couple of minutes, before sliding down one of the poles in the middle of the arena. Actually, we'll just throw him in the minority “festival dickheads” group of the day and get back to the music. We know we've made the right decision when Disclosure kick-start the set with their F For You remix featuring the vocals of Mary J Blige. The Lawrence brothers smash out all of their hits and regular show staples with ease. Their performance is slick and they manage to sound the way they do on record, which is no easy feat at a festival.
Walking through mud and other soggy surfaces to get back to the car to make the journey back home, cows in the neighbouring area moo at us (nope, not kidding) in a final moment that makes you realise that Groovin is boss. Calling this a “boutique” festival from here on in would be an insult to what this event is and should continue to be.
