Live Review: MONA FOMA 2014

With the Australian festival season in full swing, space oddities crash-landed the waterfront city of Hobart, Tasmania for the annual MONA FOMA festival. The proudly non-commercial festival always delivers eclectic assortments of musicians and artists; a tradition that has seen it expand across the city.

On Thursday, I walked into a converted boat warehouse, right on the waterfront, to see Mick Harvey perform songs from Serge Gainsbourg. At the same time, across the Derwent River, Melbourne-based folk band DASH delivered a show that was warmly received, while MAC1 showcased Conrad Shawcross' hypnotic robotic arm, twirling a ball of light with eerily human movement.

When the lineup is as varied as MONA FOMA is wont to provide, you learn to trust Brian Ritchie, curator and Violent Femmes bassist, to deliver something remarkable. Such as Sun Ra Arkestra, a band that I had never heard of before, and one I will be listening to from now on. The intergalactic jazz, fused with Egyptian iconography, delivered a gloriously costumed and daring set. Fronted by living legend Marshall Allen, who turns 90 in May, Sun Ra Arkestra are one of the great jam bands.

After Sun Ra went overtime, most of the crowd began to leave; an unfortunate mistake. Part hip-hop hillbilly, part Florida rocker, Astronautalis confessed that he found the size of the ward MAC2 stage daunting without the support of his band. Utilising energy reserves that could intimidate Death Grips, Astronautalis brought a show with a wave of Tom Waits growls, Isaac Brock rock beats and Eminem's fast-paced syllable cadence. The fusion of autobiographical story-telling and crowd banter made him the festival's stand out act. His manner ranged from humble amazement at the scale of the gig (taking a photo of the crowd at the end of the set to show his mother), to a Bill Hicks level of cynical and self-depreciating hilarity. One minute he would be chilling your spine with a song about forest fires (an uncomfortable reminder of Tasmania's devastating bushfires in January last year); the next, you would be laughing at a profanity-laden anecdote as he referred to his home state of Florida as “America's dick”. Going home and buying a copy of his recent album This is Our Science  felt flat in comparison to the aggressive energy of his live show. Performing from within the audience as often as possible, Astronautalis freestyled crowd-suggested lyrics including; 'shelving', 'Mt Wellington', and 'backwards clothing'. These suggestions were effortlessly interwoven with personal reflections and Kriss Kross references.

Metal heavyweights Psycroptic played on the last afternoon of the festival to an unresponsive home crowd. Although they may have been better suited to an evening time slot, the show was impeccable, with precise dynamic ranges and technical brilliance. A mention must be made of the fill-in bass player Sam Guy, who delivered blindingly fast riffs while simultaneously executing leaping roundhouse kicks.

The jewel in MONA FOMA's crown is the official nightly after party, Faux Mo. Faux Mo  comprises big acts like Sun Ra Arkestra, and small performance artists, scattered and hidden around the sprawling Huon Quays. It is virtually impossible to have an identical experience to the rest of the crowd. While you might be going down a children's slide into a rave being held in a tiny laundry room, your friend stumbled upon a performance artist covering herself in blood and pulling a worryingly long length of rope from her underwear.

Unfortunately, this year, Faux Mo DJ lineup seemed woefully stale (who make up only a small percentage of the acts). I would move from one Beyonce dance set only to find myself in a different room listening to a different Beyonce song. There were exceptions, and overall the incredibly popular after party - which featured a space ship dance party boasting 88 artistic collaborations to be sent into space in 2015 - has almost become a festival in its own right, with ticketing independent from the rest of MONA FOMA.

In its sixth year, the festival seems to be hitting its stride. Not relying on safe commercial artist drawcards, audiences are instead treated to food and wine demos, performance art - such as blacksmiths sculpting while a DJ mixes the sounds of their craft in real time - artists from more genres and styles than my word count permits naming. Other stand-outs included the four hour ambient, trance-inducing, audio visual collaboration between MURAL and video artist Kjell Bjørgeengen, riot grrls (and men) The Julie Ruin, and a wonderful man in drag, with a luxurious glitter beard and fur coat who walked around the Mona Markets (MoMa) being fabulous and DJ'ed in the laundry room at Faux Mo.

2014's MONA FOMA proved that in Brian we trust.