Live Review: Scumfest

Scumfest: what a bloody festival! The homegrown venture really showed what Adelaide is capable of, and highlighted the strong community that exists here. With local beers courtesy of Pirate Life Brewing, an art gallery linking the two stages, and a motherfucking half pipe by the main stage, Scumfest really proved to be one of the best festivals one could attend in Adelaide.

Slick Arnold got things going in the morning, debuting a new hip hop collaboration. Powerxchuck tore up the main stage with one of the more crushing performances of the day, and Tombsealer proved yet again why they are the leaders of doom-tinged death metal in Adelaide. The atmosphere of the day was incredible and locals Kitchen Witch gave one of their best performances to date with the vocals of Georgie Cosson soaring over the room while gathering one of the strongest crowds in the first half of the festival. Pro-Tools and Profiteers both gave Scumfest a dose of punk, with the former boasting similarities to NOFX and The Offspring while the latter opted for a much more brutal take, closing their set with a chilling cover of Portishead's Glory Box. Juliette Seizure & The Tremor Dolls sounded great on the main stage, with Mammoth and Crypt then proceeding to give the Scumfest audience a strong dose of southern drenched riffing.

Howl N Bones enchanted the audience with their psychedelic mischief. Sparkspitter were mesmerising to watch, with the festival atmosphere doing a backflip for the duration of their set. Tanned Christ were fucking awesome, playing some brutal churning hardcore; vocalist Drew Gardner threw a wheelie bin at the audience — it was beautiful. I Exist also offered a great performance, driving all the way from Canberra just for Scumfest. She's The Band were super tough, while Space Bong, kings of the underground, were the most epic, with their powerfully crushing set commanding the total attention of the audience. High Tension simply get better and better with every performance; their instrumental cohesion is tight as hell, and Karina Utomo is more and more ambitious as a frontwoman. Cosmic Psychos were the perfect closer for the festival — the crowd went appropriately wild for the Australian masters of the riff. Long live Scumfest!